China leader warns about unrest due to economy (AP)

BEIJING ? The Chinese leadership's law-and-order czar is warning that China is ill-prepared for social unrest generated by changes in the economy, in the latest sign that the government is worried about the consequences of flagging growth.

The government needs better methods for dealing with "the negative effects" of the economy, Politburo member Zhou Yongkang said in remarks to provincial officials Friday that were published Saturday by the official Xinhua News Agency. Zhou called for innovative approaches to social management ? a euphemism for a clutch of policies as diverse as stepped-up policing and unemployment insurance meant to dampen unrest.

"Especially when facing the negative effects of the market economy, we still have not formed a complete mechanism for social management," Zhou said. How to do so, he said, "is the great and urgent task before us."

Zhou's remarks underscore growing government uneasiness about an economic slowdown and the social unrest it might bring. In the past week, a much-watched index showed manufacturing contracting sharply, and the government lowered controls on bank reserves to encourage more lending. Meanwhile, strikes and other job actions have ticked up recently as factories retrench to confront higher labor costs and reduced demand for exports from Europe.

Zhou urged provincial officials to eliminate wasteful spending that has contributed to the mass protests, riots and other unrest that have proliferated in recent years.

In another instance of frayed tensions, Xinhua reported that hundreds of people overturned four police and government cars Friday in the central city of Xi'an after a truck hit and killed a girl and police did not arrive at the scene for two hours.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_unrest

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Workers mass at Shanghai factory in latest unrest (AP)

SHANGHAI ? China is seeing a fresh upsurge in labor unrest as slowing demand for its exports in Europe and the U.S. hits manufacturers already juggling tight credit and weakening growth at home.

In one of the latest labor actions by restive young Chinese workers, hundreds of laid-off factory staff gathered Friday outside a Shanghai factory of a Singaporean supplier to major consumer electronics companies such as Motorola and HP.

Some workers said they were beaten by police earlier during the protests ? one showed bruises on his forehead.

Reports of recent strikes at factories and other major employers, especially in southern China, reflect increasing pressure on Chinese manufacturers already grappling with surging costs for labor and materials. The country's manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years, according to a survey released Thursday.

This week, Beijing began reversing its two-year effort to cool the world's second-biggest economy as worries that slowdowns in factory production and property overshadow longer-term efforts to tame inflation and temper China's excessive reliance on investment as a driver of growth.

In recent months, troubles with financing have stalked both the construction and manufacturing sectors, as factories and even the powerful Railway Ministry ran short of cash. Migrant workers often ended up with delayed or unpaid wages.

The 300-400 workers at the factory gate of Hi-P International in the eastern industrial suburbs of Shanghai said it was their third day of protesting over mass layoffs due to the company's decision to relocate some manufacturing.

They said they were seeking more information, and improved terms for themselves.

"We all work for this company, and now if the company is going to move, they owe us an explanation. So we are waiting for a solution," said Chang Yan, a woman in her mid-20s who like most of the others was wearing a blue factory jacket embossed with a red Hi-P logo.

The workers, who said they were from various regions outside Shanghai, also accused the factory of violating labor standards.

"Sometimes, they ask us to work 18 or 19 hours in a day. Sometimes the overtime is even longer than a normal 8-hour work day," said Tao Yong, a worker in his mid-30s.

Police in vans and unmarked cars watched but did not intervene.

Company officials contacted by phone in Shanghai and Singapore refused comment on the protest. Shanghai city government and police also did not immediately respond to inquiries about the strike or the workers' claims of injuries from scuffles with police.

Reflecting the tougher times for manufacturers, Hi-P International's net profit margin plunged 80 percent from a year earlier in third quarter to 2.1 percent from 11.6 percent ? mainly due to higher costs. Net profit in July-September fell 42 percent to 6.5 million Singapore dollars ($5.1 million) from a year earlier, according to its latest financial report.

The company, founded in 1980 as a tooling factory, said its third-quarter revenue rose 34 percent, but so did costs for materials and taxes.

The New York-based group China Labor Watch said Hi-P was shifting some of its production to the nearby city of Suzhou and had not paid the legally required amount of compensation to workers, who were laid off without notice.

According to its website, Hi-P International is a contract manufacturer for the wireless telecommunications, consumer electronics and computing and automotive industries, with two-dozen factories and about 18,000 employees.

Hi-P has factories in five other Chinese cities besides Shanghai and Suzhou. Motorola and other major electronics companies are among its customers.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_re_as/as_china_labor_unrest

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Campaigns turning more to Web to link with voters (AP)

NEW YORK ? As they peruse the Internet, voters in New Hampshire and Iowa are probably seeing ads for Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama alongside those for shoes and holiday gifts. The ads will then follow those voters around the Web, popping up on news sites, Google searches and on social networking sites like Facebook.

Online advertising, once used primarily as a way to reach young and heavily wired consumers, has emerged as an essential communications tool in the 2012 presidential contest. While few expect Web ads to supplant television commercials anytime soon, strategists say online ads may be the most nimble, efficient and cost-effective way to reach voters.

"Online advertising cuts through because of its ability to target. It's unparalleled in any other medium," said Romney's digital director, Zac Moffatt. "TV may be more effective for driving a big message, but per usage, the Internet is more powerful. We are probably one presidential cycle from everyone believing that."

Web ads can take many forms, from small display boxes to clickable videos to 15- or 30-second commercials known as "pre-rolls" a viewer sees before the start of a news clip or YouTube video.

Targeting is key. While campaigns invest heavily in television ads to reach a mass audience, Web ads are geared specifically to people based on their ZIP code, demographics and, most importantly, their Internet browsing history.

That means someone who has visited the Obama campaign website will likely start seeing his ads on a number of different Web pages. And those who use Google to search for information on the Republican candidates might notice a Romney campaign pre-roll the next time they watch a TV show online.

Campaigns also buy ads on websites that cater to the different demographic groups the campaigns are hoping to reach.

"When someone expresses interest in politics online, it's an incredibly good time for the campaigns to talk to them," said Andrew Roos, a Google account leader who works with Democratic campaigns on Web ad strategy. "You want to grab people when they are paying attention and ask them to take another action, like send money or attend an offline event. It's an old-school organization principle that has been working its way online."

Campaigns were slow to adapt to online advertising even as the corporate world flocked to the Web with product ads years ago. Internet ad revenue climbed to nearly $7.9 billion in the third quarter of 2011, up 22 percent from the same time last year, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau, which tracks online ad spending.

Corporations now spend from 18 to 28 percent of their advertising budget online, while campaigns historically have spent no more than 5 percent.

Chris Talbot, a freelance campaign digital strategist, noted that big companies can devote considerable time, money and research to figuring out what works online and what doesn't. Campaigns don't have that luxury.

"There is no `next quarter' in politics, so campaigns usually revert to a template of what's worked in the past," he said.

In 2008, Obama and Republican presidential rival John McCain both did limited online campaign advertising. Web ads grew more prevalent in the 2010 midterm elections, when 85 of the top-spending House races and 600 interest groups bought display ads on Google.

To be sure, plenty of Internet users say they aren't thrilled with the proliferation of online ads, particularly those that follow them from site to site.

A USA Today/Gallup poll taken in late 2010 found 9 out of 10 respondents said they pay little attention to online ads. Two-thirds said they don't believe advertisers should be able to target them based on their past Web searches.

"The only way it works is on a mass scale. Most people ignore ads on the Web," said Aaron Shapiro, head of the digital marking firm HUGE.

Web ads' biggest advantage, many strategists say, is accountability.

"Online ads are very metric driven ? you can figure out how many impressions you got, how many people clicked, how many people signed up for an email address. All of that is calculated in real time," Google's Roos said. "It's much more efficient than direct mail and TV."

The Romney campaign's Moffatt said Web ads became part of the media strategy when officials there realized how much their own viewing habits had changed.

"Strategists here acknowledge they really don't watch live TV," Moffatt said.

___

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_el_pr/us_online_campaign_ads

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Kanye West, Adele Lead 2012 Grammy Nominations

The 2012 Grammy Awards will air February 12 on CBS. Tonight, that network revealed the nominees in all the major categories, with Kanye West leading the way with seven nods, while Adele, Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars were all close behind him, earning six each.

Adele - Someone Like You (VMA Performance)

Visit the Academy's official site for a look at all the nominees, and check out the most significant categories below.

Record of the Year
Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
Bon Iver, “Holocene”
Bruno Mars, “Grenade”
Mumford & Sons, “The Cave”
Katy Perry, “Firework”

Song of the Year
Kanye West, “All of the Lights”
Mumford & Sons, “The Cave”
Bruno Mars, “Grenade”
Bon Iver, “Holocene”
Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”

Best New Artist
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

Album of the Year
Adele, "21"
The Foo Fighters, "Wasting Light"
Lady Gaga, "Born This Way"
Bruno Mars, "Doo-wops and Hooligans"
Rihanna, "Loud"

Pop Vocal Album
Adele, "21"
Cee Lo Green, "The Lady Killer"
Lady Gaga, "Born This Way"
Bruno Mars, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans"
Rihanna, "Loud"

Best New Artist
Bon Iver
Nicki Minaj
The Band Perry
J. Cole
Scrillex

Country Album
Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party"
Eric Church, "Chief"
Lady Antebellum;, "Own the Night"
Blake Shelton, "Red River Blue"
George Strait, Here for a Good Time"
Taylor Swift "Speak Now"

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/2012-grammy-nominations-revealed/

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Nokia links up with Bluetooth 4.0 for indoor positioning, because anything Google can do, it can do better

Not to be outdone by the mobile mammoth that is Google, Nokia's prepping its own version of indoor maps for wireless users. Rather than run the risk of being a me too! product, Espoo's Research labs have chosen Bluetooth 4.0 as the main ingredient for its in development location service. The Finnish company's hoping to get a slew of partners onboard so it can begin outfitting retail shops, malls and other well-trodden public spaces with inexpensive antenna arrays that would track a user's movements via device-embedded Bluetooth tags. But indoor positioning for mobile-wielding users isn't the only endgame here, as the tech could also find its way into shopping carts -- useful for gathering analytics on consumer habits. It's certainly a privacy trade-off, but by now you should be well comfy with the notion that digital convenience always comes at a cost. Hit up the source below to take a peek at the proposed equipment.

Nokia links up with Bluetooth 4.0 for indoor positioning, because anything Google can do, it can do better originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/30/nokia-links-up-with-bluetooth-4-0-for-indoor-positioning-becaus/

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Syracuse's Boeheim not worried about job status (AP)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. ? After his Syracuse Orange had run away to another victory, men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim turned his focus to a far more important matter.

Boeheim said Tuesday that "what happened on my watch" will be revealed once police complete their inquiry into child molestation accusations against his former longtime assistant.

"I never worried about my job status in 36 years," Boeheim said at his first postgame news conference since Bernie Fine was fired Sunday. "I do my job. What happened on my watch, we will see. When the investigation is done, we will find out what happened on my watch."

Advocates for sex abuse victims said Boeheim should resign or be fired for adamantly defending Fine and verbally disparaging two former Syracuse ball boys, two of the three men who have accused Fine of molesting them.

"Based on what I knew at that time, there were three investigations and nothing was corroborated," Boeheim said. "That was the basis for me saying what I said. I said what I knew at the time."

He said he didn't regret backing Fine when the allegations were first made public.

"I've been with him for 36 years, known him for 48 years, went to school with him," Boeheim said. "I think you owe a debt of allegiance and gratitude for what he did for the program. That's what my reaction was. So be it."

Fine has denied the allegations.

Boeheim received a standing ovation when he walked onto the court that bears his name for the game against Eastern Michigan that the Orange won, 84-48.

Boeheim said there's a misconception that he's bigger than the program because of his long tenure and great success. He has 863 career wins, fifth all-time in Division I.

"If I was gone today, this program would be fine. This program would do great," he said. "Ten years from now, this program will do great. This is not Jim Boeheim. This is Syracuse University's basketball program. It is not about me. It never has been about me."

Asked to comment on Boeheim's status earlier Tuesday, Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor said:

"Coach Boeheim is our coach. ... We're very pleased with what he said Sunday night, and we stand by it."

After initially saying Fine's first two accusers were lying to make money in the wake of the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal, Boeheim backed off those comments Sunday.

"What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found," Boeheim said in a statement. "I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse."

One of the accusers, Bobby Davis, first contacted Syracuse police in 2002 regarding Fine, but there was no investigation because the statute of limitations had passed. Kevin Quinn, a Syracuse spokesman, said police did not inform the university of Davis' allegations then.

On Tuesday, Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said Dennis DuVal, a former SU basketball player who was police chief in 2002, knew of the allegations against Fine.

Fowler said DuVal, who played for the Orange from 1972-74, was aware of Davis' accusations in 2002 that Fine sexually abused him.

Because Davis said the abuse stopped 12 years earlier, Syracuse Det. Doug Fox told him the statute of limitations had passed, meaning an arrest was not possible. Fox advised his supervisor in the abused persons unit, but didn't file a formal report. The detective is still with the department, but not in the same unit.

A phone message left with DuVal was not immediately returned.

Fowler said Syracuse police will change their procedures moving forward.

"I was not the chief in 2002 and I cannot change the procedures in place at that time or the way this matter was then handled," Fowler said in the statement. "But what I can and will do as chief today is ensure that moving forward all reports of sexual abuse are formally documented."

On Nov. 17, Davis' allegations resurfaced.

Davis, now 39, told ESPN that Fine molested him beginning in 1984 and that the sexual contact continued until he was around 27. A ball boy for six years, Davis said the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four. Davis' stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, who also was a ball boy, told ESPN that Fine began molesting him while he was in the fifth or sixth grade.

Boeheim said during his news conference that ball boys have never traveled with the team.

A third accuser went public Sunday. Zach Tomaselli, who faces sexual assault charges in Maine involving a 14-year-old boy, said he told police last week that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room.

Now the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Secret Service have taken the lead in the Fine investigation.

Also Sunday, ESPN played an audiotape, obtained and recorded by Davis, of an October 2002 telephone conversation between him and Fine's wife, Laurie. ESPN said it hired a voice recognition expert to verify the voice on the tape and the network said it was determined to be that of Laurie Fine.

During the call to the woman, Davis repeatedly asks her what she knew about the alleged molestation and she says she knew "everything that went on."

On Tuesday night, Boeheim began his postgame news conference by reading a statement:

"It's hard to put everything into words," Boeheim said. "I thought a lot today about different things. I'm saddened in many ways by what's unfolded, and I'm looking forward to a time when we can talk and learn from what has happened.

"There is an important investigation going on, which I fully support, and I can't add anything to that by speaking more about that now," he said. "The investigation and all that we can learn from it is what is important."

Before the game, some fans offered their support for Boeheim.

"I feel sorry that he stuck up for a friend," said 40-year-old Mike Wong of Syracuse. "He was just sticking up for Bernie. He didn't understand the situation. I think the chancellor did the right thing."

"It's sad," added 29-year-old Michael Knowles of Syracuse. "We've all stuck up for a friend and then realized we shouldn't have. He (Boeheim) didn't do anything wrong."

Not everyone agrees.

In the last home game against Colgate 10 days ago, Fine's customary seat was left vacant, and players tapped it as a symbolic gesture in support of Fine. On Tuesday night, there was no empty seat.

And the Rev. Robert Hoatson, president of Road to Recovery, a group that supports victims of sexual abuse, was pushing for another empty seat.

"We want to keep saying that Jim Boeheim should resign or be fired," Hoatson said.

___

AP Writers Michael Hill in Syracuse and Michael Gormley in Albany contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_sp_ot/us_syracuse_fine_investigation

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In Detroit, Jewish Resurgence Led By Young Aims To Transform City

The JTA:

DETROIT (JTA) -- Blair Nosan grew up in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, attended the University of Michigan and then, like thousands of other young Jews from the beleaguered state, moved away.

Though she grew up in a heavily Jewish area, Nosan, 26, had felt disconnected both from her Jewish identity and the nearby city, which was undergoing its own debilitating population drain. Over the last decade, 25 percent of Detroit's residents have taken flight. Some 5,000 young Jews left Michigan between 2005 and 2010, according to a 2010 survey by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

Read the whole story: The JTA

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/30/in-detroit-jewish-resurge_n_1121690.html

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