Video: Gift returns surge ahead of holidays

>>> season got off to a record-breaking start and while malls have remained packed it looks like not everyone is there to shop. nbc's craig melvin is a few blocks away in herald square in new york. good morning.

>> reporter: ann, good morning to you. including today there are ten shopping days left until christmas but many retailers say they're only starting to see a surge in returns because it turns out a lot of shoppers got those bags home and realized they needed the money more than the savings. remember those deal finders lined up for deep black friday discounts?

>> ah!

>> the target two-doy sale starts next friday morning at midnight.

>> reporter: how about the stores who interrupted thanksgiving to open earlier than ever? all the hoopla seemed to be working.

>> i overspent. i just overspent. i spent and spent.

>> reporter: shoppers have spent close to $25 billion so far this holiday season . that's up 15% over last year. but also up? returns.

>> we bought an item for each other for the holidays and had to return it.

>> reporter: hit especially hard are the companies that make and sell electronics. everything from tablets to televisions. this year they'll lose $17 billion on returns alone. up 21% since 2007 .

>> every time a retailer has to accept a return it ultimately impacts their profitability.

>> reporter: just 5% of consumers returning electronics said something was wrong with the item, but 27% said it was buyer's remorse.

>> buyer's remorse. right now this is a perfect environment for it. you go to the store and the deals lure you in but ultimately you realize you don't want to patient stuff off for the next six to 12 months.

>> reporter: also fueling returns some retailers are making it easier. last year it cost you six bucks to return something you bought on nordstrom.com. that covered shipping. this year, returns are free.

>> a good return policy is crucial to holiday shopping, both for the gifts i receive and for the gifts i give.

>> reporter: thanks to technology, consumers can also compare prices quicker than ever. and they're not afraid to take something back to save a few bucks.

>> things are kind of tight and, you know, money doesn't go as far as it should. basically you want to make sure you're getting the best deal you can for anything you buy.

>> reporter: now, ann, there is an up side here for retailers. the average shopper hasn't done their shopping and 37 million people say they haven't even started looking for a gift.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45681015/

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Jackson doctor seeking indigent status for appeal (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The doctor convicted of causing Michael Jackson's death is asking a court to appoint a publicly funded attorney to handle his appeal.

Conrad Murray filed an amended notice of appeal in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday stating that he is indigent and unable to pay for an appellate lawyer to try to overturn his involuntary manslaughter conviction.

The 58-year-old cardiologist intends to appeal his conviction but does not yet have an attorney who can prepare briefs and argue his case before the California 2nd District Court of Appeal.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that felony convicts have a constitutional right to assistance of counsel.

A jury convicted Murray last month in connection with Jackson's June 2009 death. Murray is expected to serve roughly two years in jail.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111213/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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Apple's legal war with Samsung raises profile of Galaxy devices ...

Apple?s battle with Samsung over tablet patents may have had a positive effect on Samsung?s profile, at least in some markets. Samsung Australia is saying that?s exactly what happened down under following the reversal of a ban against sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The Samsung tablet will hit store shelves in Australia starting this week, after the Australian Federal Court overturned the preliminary injunction Apple had previously managed to secure. Apple was denied the chance to appeal the Federal Court?s ruling to the High Court on Friday. Preorders for the tablet at some Australian carriers have already begun.

Samsung had originally intended to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in late summer 2011, but at first it voluntarily delayed its launch in compliance with recommendations from the Australian court and then was formally prohibited from selling the device.

The subsequent delay in its launch must have cost Samsung sales, but the company?s Australian VP of Telecommunications, Tyler McGee, was all about the upside in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. He said,??At the end of the day the media awareness certainly made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a household name compared to probably what it would?ve been based on the investment that we would?ve put into it from a marketing perspective.?

McGee anticipates, in fact, that Samsung won?t even be able to bring in enough supply to satisfy demand for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the near term. Telecom analyst Foad Fadaghi isn?t quite so sure Samsung?s rosy estimates will necessarily bear fruit, however, saying that while the case definitely has given Samsung significant mind share, that won?t necessarily translate to actual device sales.

Still, Fadaghi predicts that Samsung will move into second behind Apple in the tablet market in Australia. It is already first in mobile phones and smartphones in the country, having moved into the top spot in August.

Apple?s goal in picking patent fights seems to have been to shut down the competition completely, at least according to Apple?s own lawyers and statements made by former CEO Steve Jobs. But if it is actually raising the profile of Apple?s next-closest competitor, one has to question whether the occasional gains are worth the ongoing expenditure.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Source: http://gigaom.com/apple/apples-legal-war-with-samsung-raises-profile-of-galaxy-devices/

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First molybdenite IC delivers silicon-crushing, chip-shrinking, graphene-blasting action

Molybdenite IC
Never heard of molybdenite? We're not shocked. Its not nearly as hyped as graphene or quantum dots, but it could be the key to smaller, bendable microchips. The problem with silicon is that, in layers less than two nanometers thick, it can become unstable, oxidize and quickly deteriorate. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), on the other hand, can be laid down in sheets just three atoms thick. The semiconductor also earns bonus points for being an abundant, naturally occurring mineral. Earlier this year researchers at the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) demoed the first molybdenite transistor, but the team is moving fast and has already whipped up the first prototype of a complete integrated circuit (we assume with the aid of an all girl army of Kung Fu engineers). Things are looking good for this potential silicon usurper. And best of all, molybdenite is flexible. So, hello bendable computers!

First molybdenite IC delivers silicon-crushing, chip-shrinking, graphene-blasting action originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: EU thinks twice about Iran oil ban (Reuters)

NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) ? The European Union is becoming skeptical about slapping sanctions on imports of Iranian oil, diplomats and traders say, as awareness grows that the embargo could damage its own economy without doing much to undercut to Iran's oil revenues.

Oil accounts for 50 percent of Iranian budget revenues, and those arguing for sanctions say they can deprive Tehran of billions of dollars and derail what the West sees as Iran's attempts to build a nuclear bomb.

But diplomats and oil industry insiders say Europe may calculate that even a small rise in oil prices as a result of an introduction of an EU-de embargo would more than compensate Tehran for any losses from being obliged to re-route displaced s to Asia at discounted prices.

"Maybe the aim of sanctions is to help Italy, Spain and Greece to collapse and make the EU a smaller club," one trader joked.

The remark reflects the growing unease that EU sanctions would hit hardest some of the continent's weakest economies, because Iranian oil provides the highest share of their needs, not to mention the rest of the bloc.

"The likely increase in oil prices that would result from a ban would be felt by all (European) oil refiners, not just those that are big customers for Iranian oil," ratings agency Fitch said last week.

An oil industry source in Greece, which mostly relies on Iranian oil, said: "Greece can't be put with its back to the wall."

The threat to Iran's oil exports and fears about a possible military strike on its nuclear facilities [ID:nN1E7B305X] have helped keep oil prices above $100 a barrel despite sluggish global growth and a gradual return of Libyan oil supplies.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has said it cannot rule out a self-imposed oil embargo to punish the West and on Sunday warned that oil prices could spike to $250 a barrel as a result of sanctions.

The United States has long banned Iranian oil imports and is now moving to ban dealings with the central bank of the Islamic Republic.

Supporters of sanctions say an EU ban would not amount to a supply disruption. Iranian oil displaced from Europe would flow to China, displacing existing sources of Chinese oil towards Europe. They say Beijing, as Iran's buyer of last resort, would then have the leverage to drive a hard bargain on prices.

However, calculations by U.S. research firms and traders show the discount could be as small as a couple of percentage points.

Sanctions critics say the regime of Iraqi former dictator Saddam Hussein was able to withstand sanctions for years.

SAUDI CONTINGENCY

"What's going to happen now is talks with the Saudis, Chinese, Koreans and Indians. Although the political will to impose the sanctions are there, they would only be effective if all the above players helped out -- not followed the sanctions but co-ordinated their response," said a Western diplomat.

Saudi Arabia, the only oil nation with spare capacity, faces a tough choice. Shipping more oil to Europe to replace lost Iranian barrels could mean ceding promising Asian markets to Iran, its political foe.

The Saudis have already started assessing the volume of Iranian supplies that go to their own big buyers.

"It is sort of a contingency plan to know to what extent they can fill the gap and minimize the impact on the market," the source familiar with the Saudi strategy said. "The Saudis want to know their options if something happens."

A source close to the Saudi oil industry in Europe also said Riyadh would consider raising supplies if Iranian oil was lost.

Saudi Arabia has already helped to substitute Iranian supplies once this year, when Tehran threatened to halt oil to India due to a payment dispute which followed U.S. pressure on New Delhi to reduce dealings with Iran.

This week, refiners in India, South Korea and Japan indicated they are reluctant to buy more Iranian crude, fearing that payments troubles could resurface again.

"To make sanctions effective, the Europeans would have to go to the Chinese to ask them not to take more oil," said a senior oil executive, who added that he did not expect sanctions to take place at least until the second quarter of 2012, when seasonal demand eases.

EU politicians have said a decision is unlikely before January at the earliest.

However, industry sources say China has repeatedly shown it is ready to absorb any incremental cheap supplies, especially given that Iran has offered no concession to China or any other buyers in negotiations underway for prices for 2012.

"Plants will be very happy to take more," said one source at China's Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner. "It's definitely good news to Chinese plants if that's the case."

(Additional reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore, Meeyoung Cho in Seoul, Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo, Aizhu Chen in Beijing, Jessica Donati, Christopher Johnson, Zaida Espana, Ikuko Kurahone. Editing Richard Mably and Jane Baird)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111206/wl_nm/us_iran_oil

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DailyCollegian: RT @DanNorton86: Liberty coach Shane Pinder discusses the post-game prayer between the #NittanyLions and the Flames. http://t.co/OprJUwEs

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Seven killed in clashes in Kazakhstan (Reuters)

ALMATY (Reuters) ? Five suspected militants and two security officers were killed in a shootout near Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty, prosecutors said on Sunday, in the latest of a series of attacks in the oil-producing Central Asian state.

The five gunmen barricaded themselves in a house in the village of Boraldai outside Almaty late on Saturday after fatally wounding two security officers, prosecutors said.

"After they refused to surrender voluntarily and put up staunch armed resistance, the five members of the terrorist group, including their leader, were destroyed," the prosecutor-general's office said in a statement.

A string of blasts and shootouts have fractured Kazakhstan's image of stability this year. The long-peaceful, mainly Muslim nation had not until this year seen the outbursts of militancy seen in other parts of the vast region north of Afghanistan.

In the latest case, prosecutors did not say if the militants belonged to any wider extremist network. Law-enforcement bodies could not be immediately reached for further details.

The statement only said the group was led by a 34-year-old man and was responsible for the murder of two policemen in Almaty last month, it said.

"The group's members had been planning to carry out new acts of violence in Almaty," the statement said, adding that the gun battle raged for a few hours until almost midnight.

A video released by the privately owned agency Tengri News showed women and children heading for safety in the dark along village streets. Single shots could be heard in the background.

"They say there are terrorists up there," a local man said in the video, standing near a cafe in the dark. "We have been standing here for more than an hour and cannot get home."

Last month, a 34-year-old man killed seven people, including five members of security forces, in the southern city of Taraz in the most violent attack to date in Kazakhstan. Prosecutors then said he was a "follower of jihadism."

President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled with a firm hand and little tolerance of dissent for more than two decades, said last week that the Taraz killings were "sheer banditry" and had nothing to do with religious extremism.

Authorities had earlier officially ruled out any link to Islamist militancy when a man blew himself up in May at the offices of the National Security Committee in the northwestern city of Aktobe, killing only himself.

But after other unexplained gunfights and bombings, followed by the arrest of 18 people in the oil-hub city of Atyrau in August on suspicion of planning "acts of terror," Kazakhstan adopted a new law on religion in October.

Nazarbayev has backed the law, which bans prayer rooms in state buildings, as a means of eradicating religious extremism.

Urging Nazarbayev to repeal the law, a group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate) threatened violence in a video message shortly before claiming responsibility for two blasts in Atyrau on October 31. The suspected bomber was killed.

(Reporting By Dmitry Solovyov Editing by Maria Golovnina)

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

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Russian voters deal Putin an election blow (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Vladimir Putin's ruling party suffered a serious blow in a parliamentary election on Sunday, exit polls showed, as voters signalled growing unease with his domination of Russian politics before a planned return to the presidency next year.

The result, in which the opposition said Putin's United Russia was boosted by fraud, is likely to dent the authority of the man who has ruled for almost 12 years with a mixture of hardline security policies, political acumen and showmanship.

Two exit polls suggested Putin's party, United Russia, would win 45.5 and 48.5 percent of the votes in the election to the State Duma compared with 64.3 percent in 2007 and that it could struggle even to hold on to a majority in the chamber.

"These elections are unprecedented because they were carried out against the background of a collapse in trust in Putin, (President Dmitry) Medvedev and the ruling party," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal opposition leader barred from running.

"I think that the March (presidential) election will turn into an even bigger political crisis; disappointment, frustration, with even more dirt and disenchantment, and an even bigger protest vote."

Putin made his mark restoring order in a country suffering from a decade of chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He moved quickly to crush a separatist rebellion in the southern Muslim Chechen region, restored Kremlin control over wayward regions and presided over an economic revival.

He has maintained a tough man image with stunts such as riding a horse bare chested, tracking tigers and flying a fighter plane. But the public appears to have wearied of the antics and his popularity has fallen.

Last month he was booed when he spoke at a sports meeting, and many voters are fed up with widespread corruption and a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Putin and Medvedev, who took up the presidency in 2008 when Putin was forced to step down after serving a maximum two consecutive terms, made a brief appearance at a subdued meeting at United Russia headquarters.

Medvedev said United Russia, which had previously held a two thirds majority allowing it to change the constitution without opposition support, was prepared to forge alliances on issues.

"This is an optimal result which reflects the real situation in the country," Putin, 59, said. "Based on this result we can guarantee stable development of our country."

But there was little to cheer for the man who has dominated Russian politics since he came to power in 1999, then to be elected president when Boris Yeltsin resigned months later.

Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the communists appeared to be the main beneficiaries in opposition ranks, their vote almost doubling to around 20 percent, according to the exit polls.

"Russia has a new political reality even if they rewrite everything," said Sergei Obukhov, a communist parliamentary deputy.

Opposition parties complained of election irregularities in parts of the country spanning 9,000 km (5,600 miles) and a Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their sites had been shut down by hackers intent on silencing allegations of violations.

Sites belonging to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, online news portal Slon.ru and the watchdog Golos went down at around 8 a.m.

"Massive cyber attacks are taking place on the sites of Golos and the map showing violations," Golos said on Twitter.

Medvedev has dismissed talk of electoral fraud.

WORSE IN THE CITIES

Independent political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said a separate analysis showed that United Russia fell even further in cities -- where it had between 30-35 percent of the votes and the Communist have 20-25 percent.

"No one expected such a sharp downfall for United Russia ... This is a bad climate for Putin. He has got used to the fact that he controls everything, but now how can he go into a presidential campaign when United Russia has embittered people against their leader?"

Putin is still likely to win the March 4 presidential election and could extend his rule until 2024 if he wins the maximum two more terms.

The result was also a blow for President Dmitry Medvedev, slated under a deal with Putin to take over the prime minister's office after the March election. He led the campaign and his position might now be in question.

Opposition parties say the election was unfair from the start because of authorities' support for United Russia with cash and television air time.

Putin has no serious personal rivals as Russia's leader. He remains the ultimate arbiter between the clans which control the world's biggest energy producer.

But his party has had to fight against opponents who have branded it a collection of "swindlers and thieves" and combat a growing sense of unease among voters at Putin's grip on power. ($1 = 30.8947 Russian roubles)

(Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Ralph Boulton)

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

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'Cowboy builders' blamed for Rome's crumbling Colosseum

An ambitious attempt to save Rome's Colosseum from collapse is being undermined by the authorities' cost-cutting decision to employ ordinary builders rather than specialists to perform the delicate overhaul, restoration experts have claimed.

The precarious state of the landmark, built in AD80, was underlined last year when three large chunks fell off. Discoloured by pollution from Rome's constant traffic and rocked by vibrations from a nearby metro line, the amphitheatre was desperately in need of renovation ? and the funding to pay for it.

Italian shoe magnate Diego Della Valle of Tod's luxury leather goods stepped up in January this year to foot the ?25m (?21.4m) restoration bill, in exchange for advertising rights at the site which attracts millions of tourists a year. The three-year facelift and restructuring is due to begin at the end of this month.

But this week, Carla Tomasi, president of the Rome-based Restorers Association of Italy, called on the government to stop the work or risk causing "irreparable damage'' to amphitheatre.

According to the trade group, a government official charged with overseeing work on Rome's archaeological sites two years ago changed contract bidding rules, in the process largely squeezing out art and archaeology restoration firms in favour of cheaper, large-scale building contracting firms that have less specialist knowledge.

In an open letter to Italy's new culture minister Lorenzo Onarghi, the restorers group called on him to stop the bidding or "to prevent irreparable damage to Italy's most celebrated monument and consequently damaging the image of our country".

This is not the first time the ARI has slated the renovation plans. Last February it complained that an insufficient proportion of the ?25m was being made available for reconditioning the Colosseum's decorative structures, work for which its members were particularly qualified. And yesterday an ARI spokesman said work on the Colosseum was now about to begin in "inauspicious circumstances".

The special treatment given the relatively lowly Ministry of Justice building has furthered angered the restorers. "Recently the government gave the contract for restoring the Ministry of Justice to specialist 19th-century restoration firms. Why then has the Flavian Amphitheatre been afforded less privileged treatment?" asked a spokesman.

But the director of the Colosseum, Rossella Rea, denied that specialists were not being used. "Restorers are always involved; they're our collaborators and they'll be called on if we need to clean travertine or marble," she said.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3503/s/1a9db30c/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cworld0Ceurope0Ccowboy0Ebuilders0Eblamed0Efor0Eromes0Ecrumbling0Ecolosseum0E62715760Bhtml/story01.htm

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US jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent in November

Joshua Lott / Reuters

People wait to be interviewed during a job fair in Phoenix, Ariz., held last month.

By msnbc.com news services

Employment growth picked up speed in November, pushing the nation?s unemployment rate down to 8.6 percent -- its lowest level since March 2009.

The Labor Department reported Friday that nonfarm U.S. payrolls increased by 120,000 last month, accelerating from October?s 80,000 gain and roughly matching analysts? expectations. The U.S. jobless rate fell sharply from the prior month?s 9 percent level.

Private employers added a net gain of 140,000 jobs in November, but governments shed 20,000 jobs, mostly at the local and state level. Governments at all levels have shed nearly a half-million jobs in the past year. The Labor Department revised up its job gains for September and October by 52,000 and 20,000, respectively.

?The labor market is gradually healing. It?s a glacial pace, but we are taking small steps in the right direction,? said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Penn.

More than half the jobs added last month were by retailers, restaurants and bars, a sign that holiday hiring has kicked in. Retailers added 50,000, the sector's biggest gain since April. Restaurants and bars hired 33,000 workers. The health care industry added 17,000.

Still, a worrisome drop in the size of the U.S. workforce means that even with a big decline in the unemployment rate in November, it's still not time to break out the champagne.

The fall in the jobless rate was aided by 315,000 people leaving the workforce. That pushed the participation rate, a ratio of the amount of the population in the labor force, down to 64.0 percent.

Those who exited the workforce, many of whom gave up on looking for work, outnumbered the 278,000 people who found jobs, according the Labor Department's household survey, which is separate from payrolls data.

Even with the recent gains, the economy isn't anywhere close to replacing the jobs lost in the recession. Employers began shedding workers in February 2008 and cut nearly 8.7 million jobs for the next 25 months. Since then, the economy has regained nearly 2.5 million of those jobs.

The jobs report is unlikely to take much pressure off President Barack Obama, whose economic stewardship will face the judgment of voters next November. The outlook for the U.S. economy is also being threatened by Europe's ongoing financial crisis.

Speaking at a Washington, D.C., press event to promote a $4 billion effort to increase the energy efficiency of government and private sector buildings, Obama noted Friday that, despite some ?strong headwinds,? the U.S. private sector has now added jobs for 21 months in a row.

?We need to keep that growth going,? he added.

The relative strength of the jobs report is in keeping with a recent trend, bolstered by upward revisions to the employment counts for September and October. But it is not seen as proving decisive for the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is weighing whether the recovery needs further monetary policy support.

Data ranging from manufacturing to retail sales suggest the pace of expansion could top 3 percent, in contrast to China, where growth is cooling and much of Europe, where growth has stalled.

While the economy's growth pace appears to have accelerated from the third quarter's 2 percent annual rate, Europe's festering debt crisis poses a big threat. At the same time, U.S. fiscal policy is set to tighten in the new year, even if lawmakers extend a payroll tax cut.

Taken together, some analysts believe the headwinds facing the U.S. economy will lead the Fed to ease monetary policy further by buying more bonds.

Though the economy emerged from recession two years ago, about 25 million Americans are either out of work or underemployed, a fact that is hurting Obama's chances of winning a second term.

Analysts say the economy needs to create at least 125,000 jobs every month just to keep the unemployment rate steady. So far this year, job growth has averaged 125,600 jobs a month. At that pace, it would take about 4-1/2 years for employment just to return to where it was when the recession started.

But there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

While the government's survey of employers has shown a still tepid pace of job growth, its separate poll of households that is used to calculate the unemployment rate has suggested more-robust jobs gains.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Do you think the economy is improving?

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Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9164231-employment-growth-picked-up-speed-in-november-jobless-rate-falls-to-86-percent

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