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CENTURION, South Africa (AFP) –
Last man Graham Onions played out a tense final over from Makhaya Ntini as England escaped with a draw on the fifth and final day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Sunday.

The match seemed to be heading for a routine draw when Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen batted together for more than three hours but South African new cap Friedel de Wet produced an inspired spell with the second new ball to leave England hanging on.

"The emotion in our dressing room is excitement about getting so close and bowling so well," said South African captain Graeme Smith.

"We finished the match on top and played the better cricket throughout the Test match. We will go into (the second Test in) Durban with a lot of confidence."

De Wet dismissed Trott in the second over with the new ball and had a spell of three for three in five overs. Five wickets fell in the final 15 overs but Paul Collingwood and Onions survived the last 20 balls .

It was a tense finish reminiscent of the first Ashes Test against Australia in Cardiff earlier this year when England were also nine down at the end.

But England captain Andrew Strauss said the circumstances were different.

"In Cardiff, for the majority of the day, we were behind the eight ball. For the majority of today we were heading for a draw. It would have been very disappointing if we had lost."

England, set 364 to win, finished on 228 for nine.

Trott, who came to the wicket after the dismissal of nightwatchman James Anderson in the third over of the day, defied the South African bowlers for 317 minutes and faced 212 balls in making 69.

Pietersen was more aggressive in making 81 off 143 deliveries as the pair put on 145 for the fourth wicket.

The partnership was only broken two overs after tea when Pietersen pushed the ball into the covers and set off for a suicidal run. Trott did not respond and bowler De Wet had plenty of time to pick up the ball and trot to the batsman's end to break the wicket.

Trott batted through until the second new ball, taken when just over an hour's play remained.

Until then, remarkably few deliveries had behaved unusually off the pitch, in contrast to the previous two days.

But De Wet made the hard new ball fly off a length and it ripped into Trott's right glove and deflected to third slip where AB de Villiers made a diving catch.

De Wet had Ian Bell caught behind four overs later and England were six down with a maximum of 10.4 overs remaining.

Matt Prior also fell to a catch behind off De Wet before Stuart Broad was caught behind off left-arm spinner Paul Harris and Graeme Swann was leg before to Morne Morkel.

South African hopes were raised early in the day when Anderson gloved De Wet down the legside to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.

Alastair Cook defended resolutely for 79 minutes and 56 balls, scoring 12 runs, before he too was caught off a glove, when a ball from left-arm spinner Paul Harris went to Graeme Smith at leg gully off his glove and pad.

But Trott and Pietersen dug in on a pitch which did not provide as much unpredictable bounce as it had on the previous two days.

Only one delivery truly misbehaved before the dramatic closing stages, a ball from De Wet which shot through low and trapped Pietersen, on 39, plumb in front of his stumps.

But umpire Steve Davis no-balled De Wet for overstepping.

TAMPA, Fla. – Penn State became the first team to win three straight volleyball titles Saturday night, overcoming a two-set deficit to beat Texas in five and extend its record winning streak to 102 straight games.
Megan Hodge led the Nittany Lions (38-0) with 21 kills, including the final one that touched off a wild celebration at midcourt.
"They just won three national championships in a row," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "Not a lot of people have done stuff like that. Our seniors just willed us to the win."
Penn State's 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13 win helped it stake a claim as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, volleyball team in NCAA history. And maybe one of the best college teams ever.
The winning streak is second in Division I team sports behind the Miami men's tennis program's 137 straight victories from 1957-64.
The Nittany Lions led 22-19 in the first set and were on the brink of going ahead early. Then Texas called timeout, regrouped and rallied for six straight points to put Penn State behind, an unfamiliar position during most of its incredible run.
The Nittany Lions had only lost six sets this season entering the final match, although one of those came in the semifinals against Hawaii, before dropping the first two to Texas.
But Penn State regained its serving prowess and cruised through the next two sets and had only a few miscues in the final set before closing out the Longhorns.
Destinee Hooker had a game-high 34 kills for Texas, which was trying to claim its first volleyball title since 1988.
But the Nittany Lions were just too much.
Penn State hasn't lost since falling to Stanford in September 2007.

NEW YORK – A report says the oldest sibling of pop group the Jonas Brothers and a former hairdresser have married at a French-style chateau in suburban New York.
People magazine reported a heavy snowstorm bore down on Saturday's wedding between 22-year-old Kevin Jonas and 23-year-old Danielle Delesea at Oheka Castle, a 109,000-square-foot estate in Cold Spring Harbor.
The couple told People that the wedding went on as planned. About 400 relatives and friends attended.
Celebrity event planner Michael Russo created a fairy-tale forest theme that included heated white tents with 14-foot trees and crystals made to look like icicles.
Jonas' brothers Joe and Nick served as his best men.
A message left Saturday night for a representative of Jonas was not immediately returned.

TORONTO (Reuters) –
Canadian consumers are expected to head to big box stores with cash in hand, studies showed on Wednesday, as they scramble to put the finishing touches on their Christmas purchases.

But these same shoppers are also expected to continue their frugal ways and spend between C$570 and C$586 ($538 to $553) on gifts, about the same level as last year when the economic downturn sapped consumer confidence.

"The Canadian consumer has been impressively resilient in the last 12 months, but retailers will need to continue to offer solid value at competitive prices through the next several weeks in order to be successful during the 2009 holiday shopping season," said Pam Wood, a senior manager at The NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company.

NPD found people were being careful with their money and were still cautious about the economy, despite a modest improvement in the last two quarters, with 55 percent of those surveyed indicating they would pay for their purchases with cash instead of credit cards.

The majority are also expected to seek out bargains at big box stores, with more than 60 percent planning to head to names such as Wal-Mart Stores, while about 43 percent plan to hit the department stores such as Sears Canada and Zellers. Another 31 percent intend to shop at electronics retailers and about 30 percent at toy stores.

And they plan to head to the stores where they can count on competitive prices and good customer service, another retail survey found.

"Customers aren't letting retailers off the hook just because it's the busy holiday season," said Rob Daniel, managing director, Maritz Research Canada.

"They have the same high expectations for customer service that they have throughout the rest of the year. Price is still king, but our research tells us that customer experience plays a crucial role, and will be remembered long after a customer has forgotten what they paid."

Clothing, toys and books appear to be the top items on Christmas shopping lists, while gift certificates, electronics and clothing are on most people's wish lists.

With a little over two weeks to go before the big day, the malls and stores are also expected to see increased volume as about half of those responding to the Maritz survey said they still had shopping left to do.

($1=$1.06 Canadian)

(Reporting by Scott Anderson; editing by Rob Wilson)

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have sued a defunct California investment brokerage and its former CEO, accusing them of fraud in selling more than $300 million worth of risky mortgage-backed securities to unsophisticated investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that Brookstreet Securities Corp. and ex-CEO Stanley C. Brooks cost many investors their homes or retirement savings.
The SEC said Brookstreet and Brooks deliberately sold risky mortgage obligations to retirees and others with conservative investment goals and continued to promote them even after learning they could quickly become worthless. In an effort to save the company, the SEC charged, Brooks directed the unauthorized sale of obligations from customers' cash-only accounts, leading to large losses.
Irvine, Calif.-based Brookstreet closed in 2007. The SEC earlier sued 10 Brookstreet representatives and accused them of misrepresenting the mortgage obligations to investors.
"These were complex mortgage derivative securities with Byzantine pricing, valuation and trading characteristics," said Robert Khuzami of the SEC's enforcement division. "Selling them to retirees and conservative investors was profoundly and egregiously wrong."
Brooks' lawyer, H. Thomas Fehn, said Tuesday the SEC "identified the wrong villain" in suing the firm and Brooks, whom he said is "involuntarily retired" and no longer selling securities.
Fehn blamed Brookstreet's clearing firm, National Financial Services, which he said extended loans to Brookstreet customers to buy securities, then "got nervous" and called in the loans when credit markets tightened.
National Financial, an arm of Fidelity Investments, denied wrongdoing.
"The SEC filed charges of fraud against Brookstreet and its former CEO. The complaint speaks for itself," said the National Financial spokesman, Vincent Loporchio. In the past, Loporchio has said that the decision to take margin loans is made by investors and their brokers, not clearing firms, which handle settlement of transactions.
The SEC lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Santa Ana, Calif.

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama Administration hailed a
congressional report that predicted most Americans will pay no
more for insurance coverage under health-care legislation being
debated in the U.S. Senate.

On average, 134 million Americans insured through large
employers will see no rise in premiums and may pay 3 percent
less than they would if Congress failed to pass a health-care
overhaul plan, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said
yesterday. Subsidies also will lower costs as much as 59 percent
for 18 million people buying their own insurance.

The agency released its analysis as the Senate began
debating the biggest revamp of U.S. health care in four decades.
Senator Evan Bayh, the Indiana Democrat who requested the study,
said it proves coverage can be expanded without boosting
expenses for those already insured. Republican leaders said
premiums will still rise for millions of Americans.

The numbers “came out better” for the Democratic
leadership “than I would have expected them to,” said Robert
L. Laszewski, an Alexandria, Virginia-based consultant to the
insurance industry. Still, there’s a difference between lowering
individuals’ insurance expenses and curbing the growth in
health-care spending, he said.

The legislation will provide “welcome relief on costs,”
said Dan Pfeiffer, a spokesman for President Barack Obama, on
the White House blog. The proposal calls for spending $848
billion over 10 years to add more than 30 million people to
insurance rolls.

Without Subsidies

The legislation would raise premiums by 10 to 13 percent
for 14 million people who buy their own coverage and make too
much for subsidies, the budget office found. The subsidies are
limited to people making as much as four times the federal
poverty guidelines, or $88,000 a year for a family of four.

This group would pay more because the legislation
establishes minimum coverage requirements, the budget office
said. Under the overhaul, insurers led by UnitedHealth Group
Inc. of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and WellPoint Inc., of
Indianapolis, would be mandated to cover items such as maternity
care and are banned from limiting lifetime or annual benefits.

The budget office found most who end up paying more will do
so voluntarily, said Pfeiffer, the White House spokesman.

“Where the CBO does see premiums rising, it’s not because
Americans are paying more for the same coverage,” he said.
“It’s that they’re making a choice to purchase better plans
that weren’t previously available.”

72 Percent of Services

People will buy policies paying 72 percent of covered
services, instead of a minimum 60 percent under the legislation
and typical now, the study found. Subsidies are tied to the 70
percent coverage.

The legislation, like a House-passed measure, would require
that Americans get health insurance or pay a penalty and set up
online exchanges for comparison shopping. The bills require
insurers to accept new customers, regardless of preexisting
conditions.

“What was the whole idea here?” said the No. 2 Republican
leader in the Senate, Jon Kyl of Arizona, in a speech on the
chamber’s floor. “The whole idea of health-care reform was to
reduce the cost of health care.”

Senator Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, the top Republican in
the Senate, said a “bill that is being sold as a way to reduce
costs actually drives them up.â€

Laszewski, the consultant, said the study is only a partial
victory for Democrats because the issue of runaway health-care
costs is unresolved.

“If we don’t get costs down, those subsidies are going to
be meaningless before too long,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Nussbaum in New York
anussbaum1@bloomberg.net .

WASHINGTON – Riven by partisanship, the Senate plunged into a widely anticipated debate Monday over sweeping health care legislation that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have vowed to approve and Republicans have sworn to block.
Debate is expected to last for weeks over the legislation, which includes a first-time requirement for most Americans to carry insurance and a mandate for insurers to cover any paying customer regardless of medical history or condition.
"We must avoid the temptation to drown in distractions and distortions," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in the first moments of the first speech, a jab at Republicans that was reciprocated minutes later.
"Well, I don't know what's more preposterous: saying that this plan 'saves Medicare' or thinking that people will actually believe you," Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said of Reid's oft-made statement.
At a cost of nearly $1 trillion, the legislation is designed to extend health care to millions of American who lack it, abolish insurance industry practices such as denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions and cut back on the rise of health care spending overall.
Despite its huge price tag, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the 2,074-page bill would reduce federal deficits by $130 billion over the next decade. In all, CBO said 31 million uninsured individuals would receive insurance if the bill were enacted, many of them assisted by federal subsidies. As much as 94 percent of the eligible population would wind up covered. The legislation would be paid for through a combination of cuts in projected Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers, a payroll tax on the wealthy and taxes on drug makers, medical device manufacturers, owners of high-cost insurance and others.
It has taken months to advance the legislation to the floor, Democrats struggling with their own internal divisions as well as Republican opposition.
Democrats control 60 seats in the Senate, precisely the number needed to trump a promised Republican filibuster. While Reid spent most of the day jousting with Republicans, his ability to steer the bill to passage will depend on finding ways to finesse controversial provisions within the measure. None is more important than calls for the government to sell insurance in competition with private firms. Liberals favor the plan; moderate and conservative Democrats oppose it. As drafted the bill establishes a so-called government option, although each state can block it.
Even before Reid rose to speak, the two parties were squabbling over a new Congressional Budget Office study assessing the legislation's impact on the cost of insurance.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said it showed that "whether you work for a small business, a large company or you work for yourself, the vast majority of Americans will see lower premiums than they would if we don't pass health reform."
Not so, said a statement from McConnell's office: "Most people will end up paying more or seeing no significant savings."
The 28-page report was less clear-cut than either side said.
It said that by 2016, premium prices for Americans working at large companies, about 134 million people, would be between zero and 3 percent lower on average than would otherwise be the case.
At small companies, estimated to provide coverage for 25 million by 2016, the average premium would be between 1 percent higher to 2 percent lower on average. That did not factor in the federal subsidies that would be available to the firms to spur them to provide coverage. Those receiving the assistance would have premiums as much as 11 percent lower on average.
CBO said for non-group coverage, premiums would rise by between 10 percent and 13 percent on average. But more than half that group is expected to receive federal subsidies that would result in premiums as much as 59 percent less costly on average. Individuals purchasing coverage without any federal assistance would presumably face higher costs, although CBO's letter did not indicate how much more.
The debate over premiums was only one of many expected as the Senate dug into a complicated bill that seemingly delved into every corner of the health care system.
But both parties seemed to have political considerations in mind as the day wore on.
The first proposed change to the legislation, offered by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., would increase insurance benefits for women, mandating that policies include an annual health screening.

As the health care debate has unfolded in Congress, both parties have spent months vying for the support of women.

Not to be outdone, Republicans issued a statement saying that as written, an advisory committee that recently drew criticism for proposing a delay in routine mammogram screening would have even greater authority.

The two sides also sparred over issues important to seniors, whom polls show are particularly concerned about the impact of health care.

Reid sought Republicans' agreement that Social Security would be protected as debate moved ahead.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., objected, saying Reid had refused to extend the same protection to Medicare.

Not long afterward, Sen. John McCain proposed stripping out a total of $440 billion in Medicare cuts to home health providers, hospitals, hospices and other organizations, saying those reductions could not be sustained politically.

In a slashing attack on the White House and Democrats, the Arizona Republican accused the bill's supporters of resorting to "Bernie Madoff accounting, Enron accounting" to mask the true impact on the deficit.

The House approved its version of the health care bill last month. It would have to be reconciled with any Senate-passed measure before legislation could go to the White House for Obama's signature.

____

Associated Press reporters Donna Cassata, Laurie Kellman and Erica Werner contributed to this story.

ATLANTA – The chief food supplier for the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq inflated prices and defrauded the U.S. government for multibillion-dollar contracts to feed American troops, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Kuwaiti logistics firm Public Warehousing Co. — which the Defense Logistics Agency says is the military's prime food supplier in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan — has been charged with making false statements, submitting false claims and committing wire fraud, said acting U.S. Attorney Gentry Shelnutt.
The company, also known as Agility, has received more than $8.5 billion in food supply contracts. Federal prosecutors say its contract with the government is still in effect and scheduled to expire in December 2010.
Agility said in a statement it is "surprised and disappointed" by the federal charges and that it has long cooperated with federal reviews and audits designed to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately.
It said the government has consistently found the company's prices to be "fair and reasonable" and that supply records show it was more successful in delivering food to the military in a war zone than some contractors working within the U.S.
The government's six-count federal indictment claimed the company manipulated a complex funding formula to defraud the U.S. government of at least $68 million while supplying soldiers in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Nelan.
She added, however, that the total could grow far beyond that sum because the investigation is ongoing.
The indictment said the company provided false invoices and statements to a logistics center, bought high-priced food items and then knowingly inflated prices. And it said the company received rebates and discounts from vendors that it did not pass to the government as required by the contract.
The company also inflated fees by asking vendors to manipulate the way the products were packed, enabling it to bill the government twice as much as it should have, prosecutors said. And they said the firm encouraged a vendor in Conyers, Ga., to conceal fees that should have been paid to the company, leading to inflated prices.
"The defendants, tempted by monetary gain, betrayed the trust invested in them by the U.S. Army," said Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson, the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. "And now they must face the consequences."
The alleged scheme was first outlined in a civil whistleblower complaint filed by Kamal Mustafa Al-Sultan, the general manager of a contracting firm that partnered with Public Warehousing Co. in 2002 to submit a bid on a contract.
The lawsuit, filed in 2005 and unsealed this week, said that Agility, chief executive Tarek Abbul Aziz Sultan Al-Essa and supplier Sultan Center Food Products Co. have knowingly overcharged the government for fresh fruits and vegetables since 2003.
Agility, which is scheduled to make a first court appearance Friday, could face probation and a fine of up to twice the company's illegal gains or twice the loss to the U.S. Prosecutors also stressed that more charges could be filed as investigators dig deeper.
"Others who have engaged in similar conduct should beware," Shelnutt said. "This indictment is only the first step."

HONG KONG – One of America's best-known entertainment news shows is launching an Asian edition.
Los Angeles-based E! Entertainment Television will launch a weekly half-hour edition in Asia that combines both Hollywood and regional entertainment news in the second quarter of 2010, the international media arm of U.S. Internet and cable TV operator Comcast Corp., said in a statement sent Tuesday.
"E! News Asia" is part of a new push for localized content in Asia, Hong Kong-based Comcast International Media Group said.
E! Entertainment Television has already launched local editions of "E! News" in Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Latin America. The company will also add subtitles to more of its shows that air in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, the statement said.
"The Asia-Pacific region is one of the global media industry's most exciting areas of growth ... The expansion of our activities to include local production is the next stage of our business' evolution as viewership reaches critical mass," Christine Fellowes, the Asia-Pacific managing director for Comcast International, was quoted as saying in the statement.
E! programming is seen in more than 120 countries, reaching 600 million homes, according to Comcast.

Washington –
The US Supreme Court has declined to decide whether the federal statute of limitations bars the prosecution of a former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member accused of kidnapping and murdering two black teens in 1964.
James Ford Seale was tried, convicted, and sentenced to three life prison terms in 2007. His lawyers challenged the prosecution on grounds that a five-year statute of limitations for kidnapping had long since passed.
By declining to take up the case, the high court's action leaves in place a decision by Mr. Seale's trial judge allowing his prosecution to go forward and upholding his conviction and life sentences. But the issue remains unresolved in future cases.
The statute of limitations issue is significant because it could undermine efforts by the Justice Department to prosecute suspects in as many as 22 other alleged racially-motivated killings and civil rights crimes dating to the 1950s and 1960s.
Justices John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia issued a statement saying the high court should have agreed to resolve the issue now. "The question is narrow, debatable, and important," Justice Stevens wrote. "I see no benefit and significant cost to postponing the question's resolution. A prompt answer from this court will expedite the termination of this litigation and determine whether other similar cases may be prosecuted," he wrote.
A 40-year-old case
The statute of limitations issue arose during the federal prosecution of Seale, a former Klan member from Mississippi suspected of kidnap and murder.
Seale was identified by federal agents forty-five years ago as the primary suspect in the teens' deaths. The agents turned their findings over to local law enforcement officials in Mississippi, but no state charges were ever filed.
In 2007, federal prosecutors resurrected the cold case, indicting Seale on federal kidnapping charges.
The two victims, Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, were abducted by members of the KKK on May 2, 1964 while hitchhiking near Meadville, Miss. They were taken to a remote location and beaten.
Then Seale and others allegedly taped their mouths and hands, and tied their bodies to a steel engine block before dumping both teens, still alive, into the Mississippi River.
They were reportedly first targeted for abduction because the KKK suspected Mr. Dees of engaging in civil rights work.
The issue of limitations
Lawyers for Seale challenged his indictment, arguing that a five-year federal statute of limitations on kidnapping had long since run out.
Prosecutors countered that there was no statute of limitation for a kidnapping that resulted in a death.
The trial judge agreed with that view, but a three-judge appeals court panel in New Orleans reversed the conviction. The full Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals then took up the case and split 9-9 on the question.
That action reinstated Seale's conviction and life sentences. But the appeals court took the somewhat unusual step of asking the US Supreme Court to resolve the underlying question of whether the five-year statute of limitations applied in the Seale case.
The central question in the case was whether a 1972 amendment by Congress designating kidnapping a non-capital offense retroactively reduced the statute of limitations to five years for a crime committed in 1964.

Seale's lawyers acknowledge that kidnapping was a capital offense in 1964 and thus had no statute of limitations under federal law. But they argue that the law changed in 1968 and 1972 with action by the Supreme Court and Congress.

In a dissent to the decision of the full Fifth Circuit to take up the Seale case, Judge Jerry Smith blamed the Justice Department for delaying more than 40 years in prosecuting Seale for this "despicable crime."

"The government now asks this court to bail it out by declaring a result that cannot be reached except by a strained explication of the applicable statutes and caselaw," he wrote. "The result of the government's inaction under myriad attorneys general is, to say the least, unfortunate. Because, as the [appeals court] panel held, Seale's conviction is barred by the statute of limitations, Seale must be set free and cannot be successfully prosecuted for this unspeakable crime."

Judge Smith said: "It is a necessary consequence of having a government of laws that wrongdoers at times must be released without further punishment."

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NEW YORK – A private forecast of economic activity rose for the sixth straight month in September, a sign the economy may keep growing early next year despite rising unemployment.
The number of new claims for jobless benefits jumped more than expected last week. Claims had fallen in five out of the previous six weeks, and most economists expect that trend to continue but at a slow pace, with employers still reluctant to hire.
The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading economic indicators rose 1 percent last month after a 0.4 percent gain in August, beating economists' expectations.
The group said the indicators' 5.7 percent growth rate in the six months through September was the strongest since 1983, but joblessness is weighing on the rebound. Dips in manufacturing hours worked and building permits, a gauge of future construction, were the only two measures out of 10 that weighed down the index. It is meant to project economic activity in the next three to six months.
The six-month rate is consistent with annual economic growth of about 8 percent, said Paul Dales, U.S. economist at Capital Economics. It's unlikely the rebound will be that strong, however, as the index may be "distorted" by the Federal Reserve's rock-bottom interest rates and market liquidity measures, he said.
The government will report on third-quarter economic growth next week. Many economists think gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced in the United States_ grew about 3 percent after falling for a record four straight quarters. But many wonder if that pace can continue in the current quarter and next year as unemployment rises and consumers remain hesitant to spend.
Lack of job growth is a major problem. The Labor Department said the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 531,000 last week, from an upwardly revised 520,000 the previous week. Wall Street economists had expected only a slight increase, according to Thomson Reuters.
Economists consider jobless claims a gauge of layoffs and a sign of companies' willingness to hire.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, fell to its lowest level since mid-January. But claims remain well above the 325,000 that economists say is consistent with a healthy economy.
The report is "slightly disappointing," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note to clients. "But it does not change the core story, which is that ... a clear downward trend in claims has emerged" over the past two months.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Ethan Harris expects the economy to grow at a 3.3 percent pace in 2010, even though the Federal Reserve forecasts the unemployment rate will stay above 9 percent.
There's a "shift away from being so reliant on U.S. consumer demand," he said. Spending on homes and apartments, along with businesses restocking their inventories could propel the economy even as shoppers stay home, he added.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 97 points, and broader indices also rose.
A rebound in the housing sector and manufacturing is helping drive economic activity higher, aided by government stimulus programs and demand from overseas.
Caterpillar was among companies signaling that emerging markets like China and India would be leading the global recovery. The heavy equipment maker said Asia is its best-performing region. Drugmaker Pfizer and handbag maker Coach also said sales are picking up in Asia, and they're rushing to add salespeople and open new stores.
Still, manufacturing won't add jobs in the U.S. Hiring by the nation's restaurants, shops, banks and other service providers is needed for that to happen. Consumer spending powers those businesses, and as long as unemployment is rising and credit tight, shoppers likely will remain wary of big spending.
Profits and sales were down for another quarter at UPS. The world's largest package delivery company said this week that customers are shipping fewer and lighter packages. In some cases, they're choosing slower and cheaper shipping options.
The government also said Thursday that people continuing to claim unemployment benefits dropped to 5.9 million for the week ended Oct. 10, the fifth straight weekly drop.

Recipients filing for aid for the government's extended benefit programs dropped about 50,000, to 8.8 million in the week ended Oct. 3. The federal government is funding up to 53 extra weeks of benefits on top of the 26 weeks states usually provide. But economists say that decline is likely due to jobless benefits running out, rather than people finding jobs.

____

AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report from Washington.

The dog (Canis lupus familiaris, pronounced /ˈkeɪ.nis ˈluːpəs fʌˈmɪliɛəris/) is a domesticated subspecies of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history. The domestication of the gray wolf took place in a handful of events roughly 15,000 years ago in central Asia. The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture in all parts of the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs. As a result of the domestication process, the dog developed a sophisticated intelligence that includes unparalleled social cognition and a simple theory of mind[citation needed] that is important to their interaction with humans. These social skills have helped the dog to perform in myriad roles, such as hunting, herding, protection, and, more recently, assisting handicapped individuals. Currently, there are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.

Over the 15,000 year span that the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of landraces, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behavior have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles. As the modern understanding of genetics developed, humans began to intentionally breed dogs for a wide range of specific traits. Through this process, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth. It is common for most breeds to shed this coat, but non-shedding breeds are also popular.

Dog Supplements

GENEVA – More than 30,000 Iraqis have moved to the United States under a resettlement program that began in 2007 while much smaller numbers have gone to other countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has recommended to the participating countries the names of 82,500 Iraqis who should be moved, but so far only 33,000 have been able go to their new homelands, said spokesman Andrej Mahecic.
"Everyone is urgent," said Mahecic, but he stressed that priority should be given to medical emergencies and to women and children at particular risk.
He said the refugees have been determined to be in need of international protection and that no other solution is possible.
The program started slowly in 2007 after the United States in particular came under criticism for accepting few refugees but "things are picking up," said Mahecic.
The administration of former President George W. Bush, which was criticized for failing to move faster in helping Iraqi refugees, blamed its slow pace on enhanced security checks.
UNHCR says more than a half million Iraqi refugees are in need of resettlement, but that the agency hasn't been able to examine each case yet. Most of the 2 million Iraqi refugees overall are living without permanent homes in neighboring Syria and Jordan.
The agency said a total of 33,117 Iraqi refugees have been resettled since the program began in 2007, with 3,752 the first year, 17,770 last year and 11,595 in the first six months of this year.
Canada was in second place, accepting 1,890 total Iraqi refugees, followed by Australia with 1,757 and Sweden with 1,180.
Other countries that have received Iraqi refugees under the program included Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, Britain and Brazil.

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – If her check were bigger, 76-year-old Agnes Conti might be able to spring for a better cut of meat for her pot roast. She could afford to send her nine grandchildren more than $20 for their birthdays and Christmas. She'd be able to spring for some nice new clothes, like she sees on QVC, not what she settles for at Walmart.
If only. The government has said the Social Security checks Conti and tens of millions of other seniors rely on as their primary source of income will not increase next year as consumer prices have fallen overall. And while the retired hospital clerk will get by, she'll be watching her spending even closer, knowing she can't expect the annual raise she's been accustomed to.
"We were good citizens all our lives. We went to work, we lived by the book, we weren't on welfare, we didn't ask the city for anything," Conti said while taking a break from crafts at a senior center here. "And what do we get?"
At the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center in this Fort Lauderdale suburb, seniors lamented the cost-of-living freeze, praised a White House plan for $250 checks to soften the blow, but took all of the news in stride, saying they've had a lifetime of experience living on a fixed income and would manage with the money they currently receive.
Frank Ferreira sits in the center's lobby, near a decorative fireplace and an autumn centerpiece. The 90-year-old retired truck driver loves to sing, even practicing on a karaoke machine at home, and loves to dance even more. He gets about $890 a month from Social Security, most of which he hands over to his daughter to help pay his share of the bills.
The money isn't the biggest issue, Ferreira said. It's the message the government is sending about caring for seniors.
"I could use a little more, but that's all right, I get along," he said. "But I think that we deserve it, the elderly. You can't just discard them. You've got to help them."
Nearby, 89-year-old Miriam Danzinger is shuffling along with a walker. She gets about $1,300 monthly in Social Security, and after rent and other expenses, including a MediGap plan, she has little to spare. Her daughter helps pay her bills.
When her Chevrolet Cavalier broke down a few months back, Danzinger was forced to give it up. When she goes to the store, she's thrifty, having learned how to cut grocery costs when she ran a coffee shop. She lives as simply as possible.
"Listen, there's no money. People are going hungry," she said. "But what can I say? I'm only a little ant."
The freeze in next year's checks is the first since automatic Social Security cost-of-living increases were adopted in 1975, and follows a 5.8 percent increase in January, the largest since 1982. By law, the adjustments are pegged to inflation, which is negative this year because of lower energy costs.
The Obama administration plan to send $250 stimulus payments to about 57 million seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities, would amount to a roughly 2 percent raise for the average Social Security recipient. If approved, the checks would cost about $13 billion, though there is no plan yet how to finance them.
While seniors here have grown used to the annual raises, many of them said they're willing to cut the government some slack given the recession and the federal deficit.
"When they have the money, they give us the raise. If they don't have it, they don't have it," said Lucy Polieto, a retired waitress who lives in Southwest Ranches. She wears a glittery gold sweater and chains around her neck, and walks with a spry bounce that belies her 94 years. "Sometimes, I'm so surprised when I look at the check and I get a raise."
The news this week that checks would be stagnant is buffered by some positives: Seniors won't be getting any less than they already do, most recipients' Medicare part B premiums will freeze as well, and the president's plan could soften the blow. But because the stimulus payments would be a one-time check, not a raise that would continue over their lifetime, for many seniors it means thousands of dollars, compounded, that they'll never see.
For those in poverty, the raise could have made a huge difference. But for the average senior simply living on a fixed income, it is seen less in dollars and cents, and more in the tangible costs they might be more careful with.
Polieto cooks eggplant, chicken cacciatori and pasta fazool. A raise could have given her more leeway with her grocery bill.
"Then I could buy some steaks, maybe," she said. "But I'd rather have a pork chop."

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
Bangladesh, with its growing economy and success in integrating Islamic schools, can serve as a "tremendous advertisement" for democracy worldwide, the US envoy there said Thursday.

Ambassador James Moriarty, on a visit to Washington, renewed US assessments that December's elections that brought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina back to power were the freest in the South Asian country's history.

Speaking at the Asia Society, Moriarty said the nation long identified with dire poverty will easily maintain more than five percent annual growth thanks largely to the growing competitiveness of its textile industry.

"In terms of the US interest, if you see a Muslim-majority democracy of 160 million people climbing out of the abyss of poverty and becoming a reasonably prosperous middle-class country, it's a tremendous advertisement for what the combination of democracy and free markets can do in the world," he said.

Moriarty said Bangladesh may be able to offer lessons on how to integrate madrasas -- the Islamic schools that face criticism in parts of the world for graduating extremists.

He pointed to Sheikh Hasina's offer to support so-called kawmi madrasas -- those independent of the government -- if they agree to adopt a national curriculum.

"They've taken a fairly sophisticated view of, 'We're going to go after the guys who know are bad guys and we're going to work with the guys who are still in the system,'" Moriarty said.

The government hopes "instead of turning out kids who can only recite the Koran in Arabic and were only fit to teach other kids to recite the Koran in Arabic, we're going to have the madrasas adding to the national pool of talent," he said.

But Moriarty acknowledged Bangladesh still had major problems including poverty, bitter partisanship and corruption.

Moriarty said Bangladesh was making progress against corruption but that the scourge still "stymies democratic development."

"It discourages domestic and foreign investment and, frankly, could potentially derail the government of Bangladesh's ambitious agenda for the next four years and beyond," he said.