Biden urges Turkey to impose new sanctions on Iran (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey ? Vice President Joe Biden has called on Turkey to impose new sanctions against Iran, while praising Ankara for its role in pressuring Syria to stop its bloody crackdown on protesters.

Biden's comments ? published Friday in the Turkish daily Hurriyet ? raise further pressure on President Bashar Assad's regime. A top U.N. human rights official warned Thursday that Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army.

Assad, trying to defeat an 8-month-old revolt challenging his rule, faces widespread international condemnation at the growing death toll, with Turkey, a major critic of the autocratic leader's actions, announcing a new set of economic sanctions against his regime earlier this week.

"We look forward to the broadening of international sanctions as a means to bring about change in Syria," Hurriyet quoted Biden as saying on Friday.

He also urged Ankara to adopt further sanctions against Iran, which the West suspects is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

On Friday, Biden met President Abdullah Gul and Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek in Ankara. Biden was scheduled to visit Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is recovering from a surgery at his Istanbul home on Saturday, U.S. officials said.

Biden also said that the United States "will continue to work with Turkey on pursuing shared interests in the Middle East and North Africa."

"We continue to support a diplomatic solution to our concerns with Iran," Biden said. "However, we also believe that putting pressure on Iran's leadership is necessary to secure a negotiated settlement and that is why we encourage our partners, including Turkey, to take steps to impose new sanctions on Iran."

An Iranian general said Saturday that Tehran would target NATO's early warning radar in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic after an International Atomic Energy Agency report said for the first time that Tehran was suspected of conducting secret experiments with the sole purpose of developing nuclear arms.

Ankara agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO's missile defense system, which is capable of countering ballistic missile threats from its neighbor. Turkey insists the shield doesn't target a specific country, but Tehran says the radar is meant to protect Israel from Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with the Jewish state.

The U.S. and its Western allies also suspect Iran of trying to produce atomic weapons, and Israel, which views Tehran as an existential threat, has warned of a possible strike on Iran's nuclear program.

Biden was also expected to encourage Turkey to repair ties with its formerly close ally Israel. As a long-serving member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Biden cemented his reputation as an unyielding supporter of Israel, winning the respect of many in the Jewish community.

Relations between Turkey and Israel remain strained following last year's Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish-American.

"It pains us to see the two of them at odds because they're both such close partners of the United States," Antony Blinken, national security adviser to Biden, told a teleconference briefing from Washington on Monday. "And the bottom line is that improved relations between Turkey and Israel would be good for Turkey, good for Israel and good for the United States and indeed good for the region and the world so that's something we will continue to encourage."

The leaders also discussed Turkey's conflict with autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels. The U.S. has deployed four Predator drones to Turkey from Iraq and also agreed to sell three helicopter gunships to help fight the rebels, who stage attacks on Turkish targets from their bases in northern Iraq.

Gul said after his talks with Biden that cooperation between the countries against Kurdish rebels "will continue more strongly."

Biden said the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of December would not leave "chaos behind."

"As the majority of U.S. forces have already withdrawn from Iraq, we do not expect that the security environment in northern Iraq will change dramatically," Biden said.

Turkey also closely works with U.S. forces in NATO operations in Afghanistan and Libya, though it is not directly involved in combat.

Turkey, however, is also home to radical Islamic groups who oppose Turkey's cooperation with Washington and regard Osama bin Laden, killed May 2 in American helicopter-borne raid in Pakistan, as a hero.

A group of Islamist, some carrying posters of bin Laden, burned down an American flag in Istanbul during an anti-American protest outside a central mosque.

Biden, meanwhile, voiced concern over human rights issues in Turkey.

"We have made known our concerns over such issues as lengthy pre-trial detention and restrictions on the freedom of expression affecting journalists and the Internet," he said, adding that Turkey's plans for a new constitution should "deepen respect for human rights for all Turkish citizens."

Turkey is also under pressure to reopen a seminary that trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs. The Halki Theological School on Heybeliada Island, near Istanbul, was closed to new students in 1971 under a law that put religious and military training under state control. The school closed its doors in 1985, when the last five students graduated.

"In many ways, Turkey has shown great tolerance toward minority religions. The continued closure of the seminary is an anomaly and an unnecessary mark against Turkey's international image," Biden said.

From Turkey, Biden will travel to Greece, where he will meet with new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, who took office earlier this month.

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

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NY politican arrested on new corruption counts

By Jonathan Dienst, NBC New York

NEW YORK -- Just weeks after being acquitted on federal corruption charges,?State Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. was arrested again by the FBI on new bribery and extortion charges -- money he allegedly solicited to help pay legal bills from his earlier case. ?

Boyland is accused of soliciting more than $250,000 in payoffs in exchange for helping an amusement park businessman. That businessman was an FBI informant who recorded the meetings. ?

Officials said Boyland accepted $7,000 in cash payments as well as campaign contributions in excess of campaign finance limits.

He is also accused of soliciting a $250,000 payoff in exchange for a scheme to help two undercover operatives try to buy and renovate a Brooklyn hospital for $8 million and then resell it for $15 million.

'I have legal fees'
The charges in this latest case allege that while on trial in federal court in Manhattan, Boyland was out soliciting additional bribes.

According to the criminal complaint, Boyland said he needed money because of costs piling up from his federal case.

"I?have legal fees for this legal thing that I have .... I?have a good attorney, I?just can't pay him," he is accused of telling an undercover FBI?agent.

Boyland, who appeared in court in sweats and sneakers and was released on $100,000 bail, left court without comment. When asked if he planned to stay in office, Boyland shook his head yes. When asked if he had anything to say to his constituents, he shook his head no.?

Defense attorney Michael Bachrach said it was unfortunate we "are here again" and said he would respond to the charges at a later date.

"The extent of the charged corruption is staggering,? said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, who accused Boyland of auctioning of his seat to the highest bidder. "In this instance, the 'bidders' were working for the FBI.?

On Nov. 10, Boyland was acquitted in a separate case in Manhattan of conspiring to collect $175,000 in bribes to influence health care organizations in Brooklyn and Queens.? ?

After his acquittal, Boyland said he was looking forward to getting back to work.

FBI NY Director Janice Fedarcyk said Boyland asked for the meetings with the undercovers in person so his phone calls would not be taped.?

"Recording phone calls is not the only method the FBI has available to fight public corruption," she said.

If convicted in this latest case, he could face a maximum 30 years in prison.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/30/9111237-ny-assemblyman-william-boyland-jr-arrested-on-new-corruption-counts

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The Math That Saved Apollo 13 Just Sold for $388,375 [Space]

This is the Lunar Module Systems Activation Checklist Book of Apollo 13. The handwritten numbers are part of the calculations made by Commander James Lovell, just two hours after a service module's oxygen tank explosion left them marooned in space. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MgxrI15Plq4/the-math-that-saved-apollo-13

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Report: States cut funding for tobacco prevention

(AP) ? States have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs 12 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1999, according to a new report that a coalition of public health groups released Wednesday.

States have scaled back spending on tobacco programs as they grapple with budget deficits that have forced layoffs, furloughs and cuts for basic services.

They will collect $25.6 billion in tobacco taxes and legal settlements from the tobacco industry this fiscal year. But they will spend just 1.8 percent of that, or $456.7 million, on programs to prevent or stop tobacco use, according to the report released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society, and several other groups.

That's about 12 percent of the $3.7 billion the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends, the report says.

"There are no easy cuts anymore. There's the old expression, tried and true, it's not fat anymore, we're talking about bone," said Debra Miller, director of health policy for the Council of State Governments. "All revenue is looked at as revenue for the highest priority programs. ... They aren't ignoring the whole idea of tobacco cessation and the public health issues, the budgets are just such a problem right now.

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia are spending less than a quarter of the amount recommended by the CDC.

Only one state, Alaska, is meeting or exceeding its CDC recommendation for the year, spending $10.8 million this year. Connecticut, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio did not allocate any funding for tobacco prevention programs this fiscal year. Neither did the District of Columbia.

"At a time when they're getting as much revenue as ever ... they're spending less than ever," said Danny McGoldrick, vice president of research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "It's really a penny-wise, pound-foolish decision because we're going to pay for it (in the long-term)."

States on average have never spent as much the CDC would like, but the total has declined dramatically in recent years, McGoldrick said. States have cut funding 36 percent in the past four years, the report says.

In contrast, tobacco companies spent $10.5 billion to market their products in 2008, the most recent year tracked by the Federal Trade Commission.

About 46 million Americans smoke, while more than 3 percent of American adults use smokeless tobacco, according to the CDC. Smoking-related health care costs $96.7 billion annually nationwide, the report says, and tobacco-related diseases are responsible for about 443,000 deaths a year in the U.S.

Tobacco companies agreed in 1998 to settle lawsuits several states brought over smoking-related health care costs by paying them about $206 billion over more than two decades. States first received full payments under the settlement in 1999.

The largest U.S. tobacco company, Altria Group Inc. ? based in Richmond, Va., and maker of Skoal smokeless tobacco and top-selling Marlboro cigarettes ? pays a majority of that. States should use more of the settlement money for youth smoking prevention and health-related initiatives, said Altria spokesman David Sutton.

"The money's there and that's one of the primary reason it was put in place was for these very type of programs," Sutton said.

Many states also have raised tobacco taxes in order to increase revenue and supplement funds provided by the tobacco industry.

___

Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-30-US-Tobacco-Prevention-Funding/id-0d787d799adb457185ae3c35664e92f7

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Yelawolf Recruits YouTube Fan For Radioactive Debut

Mona Moua's video lands her on rapper's 'Write Your Name.'
By Rob Markman


Yelawolf
Photo: MTV News

It's not every day an artist takes a fan and gives them a feature on an album, but with Radioactive, Yelawolf did just that, placing singer Mona Moua on his debut LP.

After Moua failed to get into a sold-out Minneapolis show, she went home and recorded "Ode to Yelawolf" and uploaded the original composition to YouTube.

"It was actually really good," Yela told MTV News about the song and video Moua uploaded back in April. "Her melody was good, she could play guitar. ... I was a bit blown away by how talented she was."

In the video, Moua strums the guitar while singing about her disappointment after not getting into the sold-out show. "No Trunk Muzik for me," she sang before integrating Yela song titles like "Mixing Up the Medicine" and "Pop the Trunk" into the rest of her sullen lyrics.

Little did Moua know that the heartfelt display would land her on 'Wolf's "Write Your Name" on Radioactive, which dropped last week. "We had a record called 'Write Your Name' about the unsung hero, and it just so happened that her tone, it just fit perfectly," he said, crediting the idea to Ghet-O-Vision head Kawan "KP" Prather. "KP had the idea to bring her out and put her on the hook and she killed it."

Produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, "Write Your Name" mixes the drums from Rick Ross' "Aston Martin Music" with a new, melancholy piano melody. On the track, Yelawolf uses his small-town come-up from Gadsden, Alabama, to exemplify how much more untapped talent may be waiting in the wings. Moua sings the all-too-perfect hook, "I'll write your name across the sky and take away the stars, 'cause you light up the night/ You're as high as the moon, when you're here with me/ That's why I'm gonna write your name for the world to see."

Have you heard "Write Your Name" yet? Share your reviews in the comments!

Related Videos Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675012/yelawolf-write-your-name-mona-moua.jhtml

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Egypt vote tests troubled political transition (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egyptians vote on Monday in the first big test of a transition born in popular revolutionary euphoria that soured into distrust of the generals who replaced their master, Hosni Mubarak.

In the nine months since a revolt ended the ex-president's 30-year rule, political change in Egypt has faltered, with the military apparently more focused on preserving its power and privilege than on fostering any democratic transformation.

Frustration erupted last week into bloody protests that cost 42 lives and forced the army council to promise civilian rule by July after the parliamentary vote and a presidential poll, now expected in June, much sooner than previously envisaged.

Oppressed under Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties stood aloof from those challenging army rule, unwilling to let anything obstruct elections that may open a route to political power previously beyond their reach.

It is not clear whether voters will punish them for that or whether the Brotherhood's disciplined organization will enable its newly formed Freedom and Justice Party to triumph over the welter of lesser-known parties and individuals in the race.

Free elections are an intriguing novelty in a nation where the authorities and security forces rigged polls for decades in favor of Mubarak's now-dissolved National Democratic Party.

A high turnout among Egypt's 50 million eligible voters could throw up surprises, perhaps revealing whether a silent majority favours stability or the radical overhaul demanded by the youthful protesters who overthrew Mubarak.

BENCHMARK OF PROGRESS

Shadi Hamid, research director at the Doha Brookings Center, said the parliamentary vote phased over weeks until January 10 was the first real benchmark of progress in Egypt's transition.

"It will also tell us how much Egyptians are invested in this political process. If turnout is low, it will mean there is widespread disaffection among Egyptians and they don't believe that real change is possible through the electoral process."

Parliament's lower house will be Egypt's first nationally elected body since Mubarak's fall, and those credentials alone may enable it to dilute the military's monopoly of power.

Yet army council member General Mamdouh Shahin said the new assembly would have no right to remove a government appointed by the council using its "presidential" powers -- a stance the new parliament may try to challenge.

On Friday, the army named Kamal Ganzouri to form a new cabinet, a choice rejected by protesters in Tahrir Square demanding that generals step aside immediately in favor of a civilian body to oversee a transition to democracy.

Ganzouri said on Sunday that any parliamentary majority that emerged from the elections may move to install a new government.

The military had envisaged that once upper house polls are completed in March, parliament would pick a constituent assembly to write a constitution to be approved by a referendum before a presidential election. That would have let the generals stay in power until late 2012 or early 2013.

The faster timetable agreed under pressure from the street has thrown up many questions about how the process will unfold and how much influence the army will retain behind the scenes.

The United States and its European allies, which have long valued Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, have urged the generals to step aside swiftly, apparently seeing them as causing, not curing instability in the most populous Arab nation.

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wl_nm/us_egypt_election

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Italy's borrowing rates skyrocket, Monti scrambles (AP)

ROME ? A week into his new job, Premier Mario Monti is running out of time to reassure nervous investors that his government has a strategy to deal with Italy's crippling debts.

The nation's borrowing rates skyrocketed Friday after a grim set of bond auctions, with a new auction looming Tuesday. Another borrowing debacle could ratchet up fears that Italy has entered a debt spiral driving it toward bankruptcy and the 17-nation eurozone into its most acute crisis yet.

Monti's government of so-called "technocrats" is battling to convince investors that it has a successful strategy to reduce the country's euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) debt. But Friday's dismal bond auction results for the eurozone's third largest economy temporarily battered Europe's stock markets.

The auction outcome also is likely to fuel calls for European Union officials to do more to jump-start economic growth and the European Central Bank to use more firepower to cool down a rapidly escalating debt crisis.

"We still haven't found a response that reassures investors," said Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission. "As long as we're unable to do that, we'll have very serious problems and discussions in Europe." He spoke during a visit to Portugal, which, like eurozone members Greece and Ireland, has taken an EU bailout to avoid bankruptcy.

Stephen Lewis, an analyst at Monument Securities, agreed with that outlook.

"The signs are that the euro will need a highly skilled financial engineer at the controls if it is to withstand the strains it is likely to face in the five remaining weeks of this year," he said.

Driving market fears is the knowledge that Italy is too big for Europe to bail out.

Given the size of its debts ? Italy must refinance euro200 billion by the end of April alone ? the government is depending on investors for money. But when borrowing rates get too high that can fuel a potentially devastating debt spiral which could bankrupt the country.

Friday's auctions showed that investors see Italian debt as increasingly risky.

The country had to pay an average yield of 7.814 percent to raise euro2 billion ($2.7 billion) in two-year bills ? sharply higher than the 4.628 percent it paid in the previous auction in October. And even raising euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) for six months proved exorbitantly expensive, as the yield for that spiked to 6.504 percent, nearly double the 3.535 percent rate last month.

Following the grim auction news, Italy's borrowing rates in the markets shot higher, with the 10-year yield spiking 0.34 percentage point to 7.30 percent ? above the 7 percent threshold that forced other euro nations into bailouts.

Solid returns on Wall Street helped European markets recover from earlier losses Friday fueled by fears over Italy.

The EU monetary chief, Olli Rehn, also tried to reassure markets. After meeting in Rome with Monti on Friday, he emerged to praise new economic reforms that are "going in the right direction," such as liberalizing professions, encouraging employers to hire, and making it easier for them to transfer workers.

But Rehn also said he expects more "bold measures" to follow.

Italy must adopt "a comprehensive and wide-ranging package of reforms to kick-start growth and offer young people not only more jobs but also better jobs," the monetary affairs commissioner said.

Rehn was in Rome to monitor Italy's compliance with promises to liberalize its labor market, reduce the bloated public sector and sell some state assets.

Analyst Raj Badiani, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London, said Monti must deliver more.

"I don't think the markets have turned against Monti" and his "first stab" at promised reforms, Badiani said. "However, I argue that he will need to consider more draconian labor market reforms to reverse Italy's woeful productivity performance since the adoption of the euro."

Other analysts were less accommodating toward Monti, a former European Union competition commission with a reputation for taking tough stands.

"Mario Monti has failed so far to impress bond markets he has the power and authority to do what is required," said Louise Cooper, a markets analyst at BGC Partners.

Monti was appointed to replace premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose conservative coalition squabbled for months over measures such as pension reform, which were urgently sought by EU and European Central Bank officials.

But Monti has no political party behind him, meaning he is at the mercy of lawmakers from Italy's infamously bickering parties to back him on painful doses of austerity, with the next election looming in early 2013.

Italy was not the only euro-using country to have a disappointing auction this week.

Even Germany ? the region's strongest economy and the main funder of eurozone bailouts ? suffered a shock Wednesday when it failed to raise all the money it sought, its worst auction result in decades.

Spain saw its borrowing rates ratchet sharply higher, even after a landslide election victory for the conservative Popular Party, which has made getting Spain's borrowing levels down its top priority.

"Within the eurozone, the more favorable political climate in Spain and Italy has not brought any improvement in market sentiment," said Herve Goulletquer, head of fixed-income research at Credit Agricole.

Monti has promised to balance Italy's budget by 2013. He has pledged to introduce "fair but incisive" structural reforms, his office said after a Cabinet meeting Friday. Monti has promised to reform the pension system, reinstate home property taxes eliminated by Berlusconi's government, and slash spending on government offices.

But even as Italy struggled to rescue itself, other signs of Europe's debt crisis emerged.

Standard & Poor's announced it is lowering its long-term sovereign credit rating for Belgium, citing a threat to exports and the euro country's lack of a permanent government. The agency cut Belgium's credit rating from AA+ to AA.

Belgium has been without a permanent government for 530 days, as a series of negotiators has struggled without success to bridge the country's divide between its French-speakers and its Dutch-speakers.

On Friday, Moody's also downgraded Hungary's sovereign debt to junk status ? from Baa3 to Ba1 with a negative outlook ? a decision Hungary hotly criticized. Hungary is not a member of the eurozone, but trades with many of its members.

This week's developments have ratcheted up the pressure on the European Central Bank to step up its bond purchases in the markets, though Germany adamantly opposes that. The current program is designed to support bond prices in the markets, thereby keeping a lid on the borrowing rates.

So far, the ECB has been buying limited amounts of bonds and has to sell an equivalent amount of assets.

The ECB said Monday it bought bonds worth only euro4.5 billion ($6 billion)last week, down from euro9.5 billion ($12.7 billion) a week earlier.

Potentially, the ECB has unlimited financial firepower through its ability to print money, and many countries in the eurozone, including France, want the bank to act more decisively to solve the debt crisis.

However, Germany finds the idea of monetizing debts unappealing, warning that it lets the more profligate countries off the hook for their bad practices.

Analyst Badiani said financial markets are "despairing over the very public disagreement between the French and German governments about how to use the ECB to regain control of the crisis, which has curbed the markets' appetite for sovereign debt across Europe."

But EU chief Barroso insisted that Germany isn't opposed "in principle" on eurobonds.

Germany's view is that "eurobonds can be considered once there's a higher level of integration and discipline in the eurozone," Barroso said.

____

Barry reported from Milan. AP writers Pan Pylas in London and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed to the story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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How much crazier can Black Friday get?

A Black Friday shopper takes a rest with purchases at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Vickie D. King) NO SALES

A Black Friday shopper takes a rest with purchases at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Vickie D. King) NO SALES

A consumer rests herself and her bags in Herald Square during the busiest shopping day of the year, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in New York. Some of the nation's major chain stores opened late Thursday, competing for holiday shoppers on the notoriously busy Black Friday to kick off a period that is crucial for the retail industry. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Black Friday shoppers line up outside of a Kmart store in Salem, Ore., early Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Statesman-Journal, Timothy J. Gonzalez)

This photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff?s Office, shows Jerald Allen Newman, 54, after his arrest Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, at a Walmart store in Buckeye, Ariz. Buckeye police are coming under fire for a video posted online Friday that shows Newman on the floor of the store with a bloody face after police took him to the ground. Police say he was resisting arrest but his wife and witnesses say he was just trying to protect his grandson during a chaotic rush for discounted video games. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

Black Friday shoppers take a rest at Westfield Galleria at Roseville in Sacramento, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Hector Amezcua) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

(AP) ? Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?

As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.

Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.

"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"

Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.

A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.

In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.

"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."

Black Friday ? named that because it puts retailers "in the black" ? has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.

The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.

"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity ? when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."

There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.

The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.

"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"

To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.

In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.

"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.

The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.

In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.

Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.

"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.

Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.

Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.

To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.

"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.

___

Associated Press Writers Julie Walker in New York, Christina Rexrode in Raleigh, N.C., John C. Rogers in Los Angeles and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-26-Black%20Friday-What's%20To%20Blame?%203rd%20Ld-Writethru/id-77a65dea90c64931b64c29feeb91ff0f

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