Libyan who sparked revolution sworn in as minister (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? The man whose arrest in February sparked Libya's revolution was sworn in as a minister in the new interim government on Sunday but said he had been hesitant about taking on the new job.

Fethi Tarbel, Libya's new sport and youth minister, wiped away tears after he took he swore a pledge of allegiance to Libya with one hand placed on the Koran, the Muslim holy book.

Standing in front of Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib and National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Tarbel was among a small group of ministers who had not taken part in the first inauguration of Libya's government last month.

The interim government will lead the North African country still reeling from a civil war that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi to elections in seven months' time.

Tarbel, a human rights activist and lawyer who represented families of the Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996, was arrested in Benghazi in February.

His detention sparked a demonstration by families of the victims of the Abu Salim massacre in the eastern town's Shajara Square on the night of Feb 15-16. They were then dispersed by police, which sparked larger riots on Feb 17 that began Libya's uprising.

Tarbel, 39, told Reuters that he was reluctant at first to take up his post when El-Keib asked him, as he already sat on the NTC in Benghazi.

"I told him 'No I can't because there was an agreement that NTC members should not accept posts as ministers'," he said.

"But he then announced my name as minister for youth and sport when he announced his government. I asked him to give me three days to think about it."

Tarbel said he asked advisers, family and NTC members about taking up the post but they advised him against it.

"Most of them said that it was better if I didn't accept it as it is a big ministry with a huge task. Most of the Libyan population is young," he said.

"After that I accepted, and I don't know how I did it."

Other ministers sworn in on Sunday included Defence Minister Osama Al-Juwali and Oil Minister Abdulrahman Ben Yazza.

(Reporting by Ali Shuaib; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/wl_nm/us_libya_minister

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Police are all ears when it comes to sound cannons

Sound has long been used as a weapon. The Germans put sirens on Stuka dive bombers in World War II to amplify the terror to unlucky souls below. Jamaican maroons ? fugitive slaves ? used the abeng horn to unnerve British colonial soldiers.

The U.S. Army blasted rock music to torment former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. And according to the Bible, Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho by having his priests blow rams' horns.

Now, the power of loud noise is being harnessed by police departments.

A device known as the sound cannon is joining Tasers, rubber bullets and pepper spray in law enforcement's expanding arsenal of nonlethal weapons.

It's officially called the Long Range Acoustical Device, or LRAD, and it has two primary uses. One is as a high-tech megaphone that generates a beam of sound that can cut through the din of a noisy protest far better than conventional public-address systems.

It also functions as a tactical weapon ? projecting a high-pitch chirping sound that makes people cover their ears and run away. And with a maximum volume of 149 decibels, the LRAD can get about as loud as a jetliner on takeoff.

Pittsburgh police used LRADs mounted on an armored vehicle to break up demonstrations jamming the city's downtown during the G20 international economic conference in 2009. More recently, New York police officers used small, hand-held LRADs to bark orders as they ousted the Occupy Wall Street protest from Zuccotti Park.

The Los Angeles Police Department has an undisclosed number of LRADs, but they are larger devices fixed to vehicles, which they say might have been helpful in breaking up the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at City Hall this week. Police did not have hand-held units.

LAPD Cmdr. Bob Green said orders to disperse made with bullhorns went largely unheard because of the din of crowd chants and helicopters hovering overhead. The police had to use pickup trucks with massive speakers to get the orders across.

"It's frustrating when you're not heard in those situations because ultimately it's all about communications," Green said. "Bad things happen when the batons are out and the adrenaline is flowing. So, if there's something better out there to get the message across, let's have it."

The device was developed for the Pentagon by San Diego military contractor LRAD Corp. after the Sept. 11 terror attacks as a sonic weapon to help control unruly crowds, foil hijackers and keep other potential threats at bay.

The Pentagon and law enforcement agencies are among the biggest customers, but there are civilian uses as well.

LRAD sells sound cannons to yacht owners as a means of keeping pirates from boarding. In 2005, an LRAD sound cannon staved off an attack by pirates on a five-star German-built cruise ship, called Seabourn Spirit, off the coast of Somalia.

The company also markets versions of the device for wind farms and aircraft owners, to scare off birds. There are six models, from one resembling a small stereo speaker to another as large as a home satellite dish. They are priced from $5,000 to $100,000.

There are a few competitors in the acoustic device market, among them HPV Technologies Inc. of Irvine and Ultra Electronics USSI of Columbia City, Ind.

"Interest in our technology has never been stronger," said Scott Stuckey, vice president for business development at LRAD. "It offers a safe solution for potentially dangerous situations."

Unlike a traditional loudspeaker, the device directs a loud beam of sound across a room like a spotlight ? hence the name, sound cannon.

Although it may be nonlethal, critics say that it could damage hearing or cause psychological harm.

Joshua Paul, a student at Rutgers University who was at the Occupy Wall Street rally, described the sound from the LRAD as "high-pitched and very disabling."

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/4eJtlxQRBoA/la-fi-sound-cannon-20111202,0,256407.story

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Bucs' Freeman out with right shoulder injury (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman is inactive for Sunday's game against Carolina, ending a streak of 36 consecutive starts.

Freeman hurt his right throwing shoulder during the Buccaneers' final offensive play of last week's 23-17 loss to Tennessee and was limited in practice during preparation for the Panthers.

The third-year pro has started every game since moving into the lineup when the Bucs were 0-7 in his rookie season. He led them to a surprising 10-6 record in 2010, but has struggled this year. Tampa Bay took a five-game losing streak into Sunday's game.

Josh Johnson started against Carolina. His backup was Rudy Carpenter, who was promoted from the practice squad on Saturday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_buccaneers_freeman_out

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Italy PM meets unions ahead of crisis plan approval (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Mario Monti met unions on Sunday to build support before the cabinet approves a 20-billion-euro package of austerity measures aimed at shoring up Italy's strained finances and stemming a crisis that threatens to overwhelm the euro zone.

Ministers are scheduled to sign off on the package of tax increases and spending cuts on Monday, though sources in the prime minister's office said the cabinet meeting may be brought forward to Sunday afternoon.

Expected measures include an increase in the retirement age for many workers, liberalization of professional services, a hike in income tax for higher income brackets and new taxes on private assets and housing.

The measures come at the start of one of the most crucial weeks since the creation of the single currency more than a decade ago with European leaders due to meet on Thursday in Brussels to try to agree a broader rescue plan for the bloc.

Italy, with a public debt of around 120 percent of gross domestic product, has been at the centre of Europe's debt crisis since yields on its 10-year bonds shot up to around 7 percent, similar to levels seen when countries such as Greece and Ireland were forced to seek a bailout.

Adoption of the package is seen as vital for re-establishing Italy's shattered credibility with financial markets after a series of unfulfilled promises by the previous centre-right government of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Unions said the cuts will hit poorer workers and pensioners hard but there was broad political support for Monti's plan, which is expected to be approved in parliament before Christmas.

"The choice isn't between a light package and a tough package, it's between a tough package today and the risk of bankruptcy for the country tomorrow," Angelino Alfano, secretary of the centre-right PDL party told SkyTG24 television.

With Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, close to a debt emergency that would destroy Europe's financial defenses, EU leaders will meet in Brussels this week hoping to agree steps to bind the bloc more closely with tougher fiscal rules.

SEVERE

Sources present at discussions on the new fiscal measures said they would total around 20 billion euros ($27 billion).

An extra 4 billion euros would come from automatic cuts to tax breaks and welfare measures outlined but not clearly identified in the austerity package presented by the previous government.

Monti will have to balance the competing needs of showing budget rigor while not choking off growth, without which it will be impossible to reduce a 1.8-trillion-euro debt mountain.

About half of the overall package will be used to cut the budget deficit and help balance the budget by 2013 despite the economic downturn and rising borrowing costs.

The other half will free up resources to try to regenerate Italy's chronically stagnant economy, which is widely expected to go into recession next year.

Changes to pensions will be key in the new reform plan, with eligibility requirements toughened up for so-called seniority pensions which are based on a combination of workers' age and the years for which they have paid contributions.

Programmed cuts to the national health service budget are expected to be accelerated by one year, to reduce spending by 2.5 billion euros in 2012 and 5 billion euros from 2013, a local government source said.

A local housing tax (ICI) may also be reintroduced, bringing in estimated revenue of at least 3.5 billion euros per year, although this total could increase depending on possible adjustments to the assessment basis on which the tax is raised.

Other expected measures include further increases in value added tax rates and a ban on cash transactions above 500 euros in an effort to tackle tax evasion.

But the package will contain no reform of job contracts which hinder companies from laying off workers, a measure seen as key to overhauling the labor market but which is bitterly opposed by unions.

($1 = 0.7446 euros)

(Writing By Catherine Hornby and James Mackenzie; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/bs_nm/us_italy

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AP Sources: House GOP bill renews jobless benefit

(AP) ? House Republicans are drafting legislation to renew an expiring unemployment benefits program, officials said Thursday, and intend to add it to a planned extension of a Social Security payroll tax cut due to run out on Dec. 31.

The measure is expected on the House floor as early as next week, and marks the second sign in as many days that lawmakers in both parties are eager to close out the year with a compromise on key elements of President Barack Obama's jobs program.

Republican officials say the cost of the extension of both programs will be covered within the measure, making sure deficits don't rise as a result.

The officials who spoke did so on condition of anonymity to provide details in advance of a formal announcement.

With unemployment hovering around 9 percent nationally, Obama urged Congress in September to renew and expand the payroll tax cut he signed a year ago, and called as well for an extension of benefits that can cover up to 99 weeks for the long term jobless.

The core state-paid unemployment insurance program guarantees coverage for six months but Congress typically has provided additional weeks of federal jobless benefits in bad times. The latest cycle of additional benefits began in 2008, the last year of George W. Bush's administration.

Letting extended jobless assistance expire would mean that more than 6 million people would lose benefits averaging $296 a week next year, with 1.8 million cut off within a month.

It was unclear what changes, if any, Republicans intend to propose for the unemployment benefit portion of the bill.

A struggle already has broken out over steps to pay for the payroll tax cut.

Senate Democrats want to levy a 3.5 percent surtax on million-dollar tax filers to cover the costs, while Senate Republicans unveiled an alternative on Wednesday that relies on freezing federal workers' pay through 2015 and reducing the government's bureaucracy by 200,000 jobs. The bill also would raise Medicare premiums for the wealthy, and take steps to deny unemployment benefits and food stamps to anyone with a seven-figure income.

Senate Republicans said their legislation would offset the cost of the payroll tax cut extension, and generate about $110 billion in additional savings that could reduce deficits. They circulated statistics from the Internal Revenue Service reporting that tax filers with $1 million or more in income had received a total of $20.8 million in unemployment benefits in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available. Their bill would impose a 100 percent tax on those payments.

Neither of the two alternatives appears likely to win the 60-vote Senate majority needed to advance in votes anticipated Thursday night, a double-barreled rejection that would presumably clear the way for final negotiations on a compromise.

With lawmakers eager to adjourn for the year at mid-month, Republican and Democratic leaders have also begun discussions on legislation to avert a 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients, officials said.

The measure generally has bipartisan support, since it has the backing of the American Medical Association as well as patient advocacy groups.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-01-Congress-Payroll%20Tax/id-610669190e374810981bf0253361b2cf

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Gingrich begins Iowa push with call for civic duty (AP)

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa ? Americans are going to have to do more for themselves if they want the government to do less, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Thursday.

The former House speaker's call for "more responsible" citizens is the crux of the message he said he planned to stress as he approached the final month of campaigning for votes in Iowa's leadoff nominating caucuses.

"Whether you are a parent or grandparent or an aunt or an uncle you have responsibilities to your community, your neighborhood," Gingrich told about 500 employees of an insurance company at its Des Moines headquarters. "And we're all going to have to roll up our sleeves and be a little bit more responsible in the next 30 years."

While warning that he alone couldn't turn the country around as president, Gingrich also expressed confidence in his resurgent campaign.

Gingrich is riding a wave of late support, having lost most of his national campaign staff over fundraising and strategy issues in June. He met with some of Iowa's many Republican state lawmakers and picked up backing from a former top supporter of rival Herman Cain.

"I'm going to be the nominee," Gingrich said in an ABC News interview. "It's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I'm going to be the nominee."

Gingrich's demeanor Thursday, loose and cheerful, belied the increasing intensity in the once slow-moving campaign for Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses.

While a driving snow in central Iowa heralded the coming caucuses, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was preparing to air his first advertisement in Iowa, a spot for Friday touting his business background and plan to cut the budget.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also planned to introduce a new ad Friday, his seventh, focusing on his Christian faith.

Two nationally televised debates are scheduled within the next two weeks in the state.

Despite leading in some national and Iowa polls, Gingrich has little of the campaign infrastructure on the ground. Identifying supporters and turning them out at roughly 1,700 precinct-level political meetings requires an organizational network other candidates have spent more time developing than Gingrich has.

Last month, he hired back two of the Iowa staffers who quit in June, and added three more this week.

Gingrich joked Thursday that a methodical march to the caucuses would have been no challenge.

"We had a chance in June to do it easy, and thought to ourselves, why would you want to do that?" Gingrich said during an Associated Press interview.

He said he's now scrambling to build a campaign organization while hoping a winning message can resonate with undecided caucusgoers.

Gingrich's scholarly style ? he's a former college history professor ? and blunt candor have produced standout debate performances that have boosted his fundraising in recent months.

Without scolding, he said lasting economic recovery would require sacrifice.

"So every person who says they want a smaller bureaucracy and less power in Washington, you better sign up to do more things yourself," he told the AP.

It was a message that won over Charlie Gruchow. A tea party organizer in Iowa, he had been a strong supporter of Cain. But the reports of sexual harassment and an alleged extramarital affair had damaged Cain, said Gruchow, who said he would support and likely work for Gingrich's campaign.

Gingrich's path is far from certain.

Polls of Iowa GOP caucusgoers have shown Romney continually strong but not dominant, underscoring a healthy contingent of Republicans looking for an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.

Gingrich's history as a Washington insider with nuanced positions, such as support for allowing some illegal immigrants to remain in the country, has prompted rivals to begin attacking him in the conservative state.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul released a blistering Internet video Wednesday, raking Gingrich in part for receiving more than $1.5 million from the embattled federally backed mortgage company Freddie Mac for consulting work after he left Congress.

"If we want nuance, we have that in Romney," said Iowa Republican activist Chuck Laudner. "What we want is clarity."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich

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Why The New Spotify-Powered Apps Are Free and Desktop-Only? For Now [Spotify]

At Spotify's big press event in New York today, CEO Daniel Ek announced that, as suspected, Spotify has become a music platform atop which app developers can build their own apps. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Qpu8F6npxFc/why-the-new-spotify+powered-apps-are-free-and-desktop+only-for-now

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1st Penn State abuse suit comes from new accuser

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a young boy more than 100 times after meeting him through the charity he founded, then threatened the boy's family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit identifies the plaintiff, an adult, only as John Doe. It claims Sandusky abused the boy at the coach's State College home, at Penn State facilities and on at least one bowl game trip.

The plaintiff is not among eight victims named in a grand jury report released earlier this month that detailed a series of alleged assaults involving Sandusky and boys as young as 10. Sandusky has acknowledged showering and embracing young boys but denies molesting them.

According to the lawsuit, Sandusky gave the boy gifts, travel and privileges after meeting him through his charity, The Second Mile, in 1992. The abuse began shortly after and lasted until 1996, the suit said.

Sandusky is charged with abusing eight boys, some on campus, over 15 years, allegations that were not immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though high-level people at Penn State apparently knew about at least one of them.

The scandal has resulted in the departure of school President Graham Spanier and longtime coach Joe Paterno. Athletic Director Tim Curley has been placed on administrative leave, and Vice President Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the university's police department, has stepped down.

Schultz and Curley are charged with lying to the grand jury and failure to report to police, and Sandusky is charged with child sex abuse. All maintain their innocence.

Attorney Jeffrey Anderson planned a news conference for Wednesday morning to discuss the lawsuit, which was filed in Philadelphia.

Sandusky's lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-30-Penn%20State-Abuse/id-dc4bdd6de9694dc3a8e9afd00bbb8967

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