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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
U.N. Panel Finds Climate Change Behind Some Extreme Weather Events
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The report predicted that certain types of weather extremes would grow more numerous and more intense as human-induced global warming proceeds in coming decades.
PSU taps ex-FBI director Freeh for investigation
FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2011 file photo, former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky sits in a car as he leaves the office of Centre County Magisterial District Judge Leslie A. Dutchcot in State College, Pa. Sandusky, who is charged with sexually abusing eight boys in a scandal that has rocked the university, said in an telephone interview with Bob Costas Monday night on NBC News' "Rock Center" that there was no abuse and that any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay, not molestation. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Andy Colwell, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2011 file photo, former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky sits in a car as he leaves the office of Centre County Magisterial District Judge Leslie A. Dutchcot in State College, Pa. Sandusky, who is charged with sexually abusing eight boys in a scandal that has rocked the university, said in an telephone interview with Bob Costas Monday night on NBC News' "Rock Center" that there was no abuse and that any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay, not molestation. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Andy Colwell, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Former FBI director Louis Freeh, tapped to lead Penn State's investigation into the child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach, said his inquiry will go as far back as 1975, a much longer period than a grand jury report issued earlier this month.
Freeh was named Monday to oversee the university board of trustees' internal investigation into the abuse allegations that ultimately led to the ouster of longtime football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier.
Freeh said his goal was to conduct a comprehensive, fair and quick review.
Penn State has faced criticism since announcing that its internal investigation would be led by two university trustees, Merck pharmaceutical company CEO Kenneth Frazier and state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis.
Faculty members on Friday called for an independent investigation of how the university handled abuse allegations, and the faculty senate endorsed a resolution asking for an investigation to be led by a committee whose chair has no links to Penn State.
In announcing Freeh's appointment, Frazier stressed the former FBI director's independence. Freeh will be empowered to investigate employees up to and including the board of trustees itself, Frazier said.
"No one is above scrutiny," Frazier said.
Retired Air Force Col. and astronaut Guion Bluford also will be part of the investigation, Frazier said. Bluford is a 1964 Penn State graduate.
Freeh's investigation firm, Group International Europe, was hired by soccer's governing body this year to look into the bribery case involving FIFA's presidential election. FIFA banned candidate Mohamed bin Hammam for life for bribing voters. The ruling body also banned 11 Caribbean soccer leaders and disciplined others in the corruption scandal.
Freeh founded Group International Europe after leading the FBI from 1993 to 2001. He previously served six years as a special agent.
Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting eight boys over a 15-year period. Authorities say some assaults happened on campus and were reported to administrators but not to police.
Amid the scandal, Penn State's trustees ousted Spanier and Paterno. The trustees said Spanier and Paterno failed to act after a graduate assistant claimed he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in a campus shower in 2002.
Paterno, who has the most wins of any major college football coach, has conceded he should have done more. Spanier has said he would have reported a crime if he had suspected one had been committed.
Sandusky has said he is innocent. He has acknowledged he showered with boys but said he never molested them.
Former school administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are charged with not properly alerting authorities to suspected abuse and with perjury. They maintain their innocence.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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Retailers hope holiday shoppers defy economy
Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images
It's beginning to look a lot like the holiday shopping season at stores like Macy's Herald Square in New York.
By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer
With the unemployment rate stuck above 9 percent and housing prices heading lower again, many American households have little to celebrate. But that doesn?t seem to have dampened expectations for?a relatively strong?holiday shopping season.
?The last thing parents cut back on is Christmas presents for their child,? said Toys R Us CEO Gerald Storch. ??So Christmas always comes.?
After a rough year, retail sales have already begun to perk up well before the unofficial Black Friday start of the shopping season the day after Thanksgiving. Consumer spending rose?0.5?percent?in October after a?1.1 percent increase in September as sales rose on?everything?from big-ticket electronics to sporting goods to books, according to the Commerce Department.
?Households may not be in especially celebratory mood, but they do seem willing to ramp up purchases in the final months of the year," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group.
The National Retail Federation is looking for an ?average? holiday shopping season ? up 2.8 percent ? after a surprisingly strong 5.2 percent gain in 2010. That would be just a bit better than the 10-year average increase of 2.6 percent.
Some retailers are even more upbeat.
?We?re very encouraged and very confident about the holiday season," said Macy's spokesman Jim Sluzewski. ?We?ve told Wall Street to expect our sales to be up?4 percent to 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter. That?s relatively consistent with the sales increase we?ve seen all year."
Profit increases may be harder to come by, especially for discount retailers attempting to win over cash-strapped households. Discounters are?expected?to fight to gain?market share by paring prices to the bone.
Global retail giant Wal-Mart signaled what shoppers, and its competitors, can expect with?quarterly?results that showed profits fell? even as?sales rose. Rivals Target and Costco will have to respond to Wal-Mart's aggressive cost-cutting or risk losing sales, said Deborah Weinswig, Citi?Investment Research retail analyst.
?You?re seeing Wal-Mart take a very aggressive stand on pricing,? she said. ?We?re seeing a very new Wal-Mart and they are taking no prisoners.?
Department store chains are?turning to exclusive brands to avoid the increasingly intense price competition on items sold elsewhere. Kohl?s said its 20 percent boost in third-quarter profits was helped by strong demand for its exclusive Jennifer Lopez line. About half the company?s sales come from private label or exclusive brands, up from a quarter in 2004. Macy?s is relying on exclusive brands Tommy Hilfiger, Martha Stewart and Armani jeans to boost its bottom line.
As in years past, retailers have worked hard to better manage the supply of goods. If they order too much, they either have to?slash prices more, which cuts into?profits, or risk getting stuck with unsold merchandise. If they order too little, and their customers can?t find what they?re looking for, they?ll shop elsewhere.
Getting the right balance was even more difficult as widespread uncertainty about the economic outlook this summer prompted retailers to keep inventories lean. That could reduce the need for heavy promotional price-cutting, especially among high-end retailers with evergreen luxury brands.
?I think shoppers are always looking for a deal,? said Lord & Taylor CEO Brendan Hoffman. ?But I don?t think you'll see super-deep discounts as compared to the last couple of years. The world's gotten promotional over the last few years and will continue to be so this year, but probably not noticeably more than over the last few years.?
The recent uptick in retail sales volume comes as consumers have begun to catch a bit of a break, which could help ease the pressure on holiday shopping budgets. Overall, prices fell in October ?- largely due to a hefty 3.1 percent drop in gasoline prices ?- the first monthly decline since June. Weekly earnings also bumped up last month, by 0.3 percent, though they?re still 1.7 percent below last year.
Retailers have also continued to ramp up online sales, which still make up a small portion of overall sales. But online shopping is growing more than twice as fast as in-store sales. More than two-thirds of retailers expected their e-commerce revenues to grow 15 percent or more, according to a survey by NRF's Shop.org division. Online giant Amazon posted a 44 percent increase in sales in the third quarter, helped by strong demand for its new Kindle Fire e-reader, which is expected to boost holiday sales.
To better reel in online shoppers, retailers have spruced up websites, created apps for mobile devices and turned to social media to try to extend the reach of their promotions. Three-quarters said they were expanding their presence on Facebook and 45 percent are boosting their Twitter presence. About a third said they plan to?use a variety of digital channels to reach out to consumers with daily offers of deals and other promotions
More than 40 percent said they planned to offer free shipping, which has helped boost traffic for?shipping companies. FedEx expects to ship record volume this holiday season: more than 260 million shipments, a 12 percent increase from 2010, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The company expects shipments to peak at 17 million packages on its busiest day, which it figures will come on Dec. 12. That's 10 percent more than its busiest day last year. UPS has been more cautious in its forecasting, saying much depends on the turnout for the last two weeks of the season.
How much do you plan to spend on the holidays this year?
A look at the people who will actually be out shopping next Friday, as well as the hot trends this year, like comparison shopping, with CNBC's Courtney Reagan.
Related:
Black Friday backlash: Some retailers pull back
Full coverage: Holiday retail
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USC holds off No. 4 Oregon 38-35
Oregon running back LaMichael James finds room to run during the first half of their NCAA college football game against Southern California in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Oregon running back LaMichael James finds room to run during the first half of their NCAA college football game against Southern California in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Southern California wide receiver Marqise Lee, left, evades Oregon defender Troy Hill during the first half of their NCAA college football game in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley, left, throws on the run as tailback Curtis McNeal, right, blocks Oregon defender Dewitt Stuckey during the first half of their NCAA college football game in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) ? Matt Barkley threw for 323 yards and four touchdowns and No. 18 USC held off No. 4 Oregon 38-35 on Saturday night when Alejandro Maldonado missed a 37-yard field goal to tie the game with five seconds left.
Trailing 24-7 in the third quarter, Oregon mounted a furious comeback and narrowed it to 38-35 with 7:05 left in the fourth quarter. Barkley led his team to the Oregon 15, but Marc Tyler fumbled and the ball was recovered by the Ducks with 2:54 to go.
Oregon marched down the field but Maldondado's kick, which was brought five yards closer because of a USC penalty, went wide left.
The loss snaps a 21-game winning streak for the Ducks (9-2, 7-1 Pac-12) at Autzen Stadium, which was the longest in the nation. It also stopped Oregon's winning streak in conference games at 19.
Robert Woods, who was held out of some practices this week with ankle and shoulder injuries, caught seven passes for 53 yards and two scores. With the victory, USC (9-2, 6-2) kept the Ducks from clinching a spot in the inaugural Pac-12 championship game.
The loss had greater implications for Oregon after No. 2 Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State 37-31on Friday night, which is sure to shake up the BCS standings. The Ducks had jumped to fourth in those rankings after a decisive 53-30 victory over then-No. 3 Stanford last week.
But against USC, they were playing catch up from the start.
The Trojans scored first on Barkley's 59-yard touchdown pass to Marqise Lee in the first quarter, then added Barkley's 12-yard scoring pass to Woods early in the second to go up 14-0.
The Ducks didn't' look like themselves until an efficient scoring drive midway through the second quarter. Darron Thomas hit true freshman Colt Lyerla with a 35-yard pass before striking fellow frosh De'Anthony Thomas with a 29-yarder for the touchdown. The seven-play drive covered 88 yards in just 2:15.
But USC answered with Barkley's 4-yard touchdown pass to Woods. The TD, Barkley's 73rd, moved him past Carson Palmer for second on Southern California's career touchdown list. Matt Leinart had 99 for the Trojans.
The Ducks had a chance to narrow it before the half, but De'Anthony Thomas was out of bounds when he pulled down a Darron Thomas pass to the end zone. On the next play, James fumbled and the ball was recovered by USC.
James, who dislocated his elbow earlier in the season and missed two games, was hit in the arm on the play, and was holding the elbow as he was helped up by trainers.
The Trojans opened the second half with Andre Heidari's 26-yard field goal to make it 24-7, but Oregon again showed a flash of its usual speedy offense with a quick drive capped by Kenjon Barner's 10-yard touchdown run.
The Ducks, known for their second half adjustments, couldn't slow USC's momentum and the Trojans scored on the subsequent series with Marc Tyler's 3-yard run. Barkley added a 5-yard scoring pass to Randall Telfer to make it 38-14.
De'Anthony Thomas narrowed it again for the Ducks with a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and the Autzen Stadium crowd got back into the game with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
Barner had an 8-yard touchdown run to close the Ducks to within 38-27 with 12:44 left in the game. The Trojans ate a lot of time up with their next series, but Barkley was intercepted by John Boyett, putting the Ducks in business on their own 40. Oregon scored on James' 1-yard run, and the 2-point conversion was ruled good after review to make it 38-35.
Darron Thomas threw for 265 yards and a touchdown for the Ducks. Barner ran for 123 yards and two scores.
But USC still got its first victory in the state of Oregon since 2005.
The Trojans cannot play in the postseason because of NCAA sanctions. The league's southern representative is still up for grabs between Arizona State, Utah and UCLA.
There were cheers before the game started when NBA stars LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and several others showed up on the sidelines. James and Anthony even tossed around a football.
The players were have been working out at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., just outside of Portland.
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