Clemson, KSU tumble; top 5 stay same in AP ranking

Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd wipes his face as he paces on the sideline in the final moments of their 31-17 loss to Georgia Tech in an NCAA college football game in Atlanta, on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd wipes his face as he paces on the sideline in the final moments of their 31-17 loss to Georgia Tech in an NCAA college football game in Atlanta, on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Clemson offensive tackle Landon Walker (72) sits on the bench in the final moments of their 31-17 loss to Georgia Tech of an NCAA college football game in Atlanta, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Kansas State running back John Hubert (33) fumbles when hit by Oklahoma linebacker Corey Nelson (7) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011, in Manhattan, Kan. Oklahoma recovered the ball on the play. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Clemson and Kansas State tumbled in The Associated Press college football poll after losing for the first time this season, and the top five teams in the rankings held their ground heading into the showdown between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

Clemson slipped five spots after losing 31-17 at Georgia Tech and Kansas State fell seven spots to No. 17 after getting thumped 58-17 by Oklahoma.

LSU received 47 first-place votes from the media panel, Alabama had 10 and No. 5 Boise State had one.

No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Stanford held on to their spots after victories, while the Broncos were idle.

Georgia Tech's upset pushed the Yellow Jackets back into the rankings at No. 22 and Auburn jumped back in at No. 25.

The losses by Clemson and Kansas State leave six undefeated teams in major college football ? the top five and No. 14 Houston.

The Harris poll has the same top five as the AP poll. In the USA Today coaches' poll, the only difference in the top five is Stanford is No. 3 and Oklahoma State is fourth.

The rest of the top 10 in the AP rankings had Oregon at No. 6, Oklahoma moving up four spots to No. 7, Arkansas at No. 8 and Nebraska and South Carolina right behind.

Clemson at 11th was followed by Atlantic Coast Conference rival Virginia Tech.

Michigan is No. 13, its best ranking since Nov. 4, 2007.

Michigan State is No. 15, followed By Penn State, Kansas State, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona State.

The final five were Southern California, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Auburn.

The defending national champion Tigers have fallen out of the rankings three times this season, only to work their way back in.

Falling out after losses were two Big 12 teams.

Texas A&M (5-3) was upset at home 38-31 in overtime by Missouri and is unranked for the first time this season.

Texas Tech moved into the rankings last week for the first time this season by beating Oklahoma. The Red Raiders followed that up with a 41-7 loss at home to Iowa State and are unranked again.

Texas Tech accomplished a rare feat with their dramatic swing, becoming only the second team since the AP expanded to a Top 25 in 1989, to receive no votes in the rankings one week, be ranked the next week, then receive no votes the following week.

Washington did that in in September 2009, when the Huskies beat No. 3 USC 16-13 to jump into the rankings at No. 24, then lost to Stanford 34-14 the following week.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-10-30-T25-College%20FB%20Poll/id-acbc92656ebe4d7991c6145843ee1029

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Montel Williams: Israel leads in medical marijuana

Emmy Award-winning television personality Montel Williams speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. Williams says Israel is at the forefront of providing patient access to medical marijuana. Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. He has since been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by disease. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Emmy Award-winning television personality Montel Williams speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. Williams says Israel is at the forefront of providing patient access to medical marijuana. Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. He has since been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by disease. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Emmy Award-winning television personality Montel Williams speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. Williams says Israel is at the forefront of providing patient access to medical marijuana. Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. He has since been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by disease. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Emmy Award-winning television personality Montel Williams speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. Williams says Israel is at the forefront of providing patient access to medical marijuana. Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. He has since been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by disease.(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Emmy Award-winning television personality and patient activist Montel Williams said Sunday he was impressed with Israel's liberal attitude toward medical marijuana, and he believes the U.S. could learn a thing or two from the Jewish state.

Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and he has since been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by the disease.

The former host of the popular long-running talk show "The Montel Williams Show" is in Israel on a fact-finding mission to learn about its medicinal cannabis practices. He is meeting with legislators, scientists and physicians.

At the height of his TV career, Williams was one of the most recognizable faces in America alongside fellow daytime TV hosts Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue and Geraldo Rivera.

"We need to get out of the dark ages and into the new ages," he told The Associated Press. "Not every patient can use cannabis, but for those who can ? why deny it?"

In Israel, certain doctors can approve cannabis prescriptions and disperse them to patients, said Itay Goor-Aryeh, the head of the pain management unit at the Sheba Medical Center in central Israel.

He said that while marijuana use is strictly regulated, many doctors prefer prescribing it to patients who qualify because it is "the lesser of evils."

"Those patients, if they do not get cannabis, they will get morphine-like drugs and other harmful drugs," said Goor-Aryeh. "I think that in many ways, cannabis is tolerated and is less addictive that morphine-based drugs."

Sixteen U.S. states have decriminalized the use of medical marijuana to some extent. Critics claim dispensaries are often no more than drug trafficking fronts.

Williams said that those merely seeking to smoke pot won't go through the lengthy bureaucratic process when they could just "go down the street."

Williams, 55, said he takes cannabis on a daily basis.

"For me, there is nothing else that can do what it does," he said. "It helps me suppress my pain ... When I am not using cannabis I am thinking about my pain every 45 seconds."

He said the drug has been "vilified to substantiate the false reason why it was banned in the first place," and that he hoped it would one day become a regular prescription drug.

"There are chemicals within that plant," he said, "and some of the leading science on where and how those chemicals work is being done right here in this country," referring to Israel.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-10-30-ML-Israel-Montel-Williams/id-c1e4ae9cb41e4b91bc88bcd00f34a6ad

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Attack near UN office kills 5 in Afghanistan

A US soldier checks the damage at offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR, caused by a suicide bomber, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. A suicide vehicle bomb struck a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices in the southern city of Kandahar early Monday, killing four people and severely damaging a U.N. agency's building, Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

A US soldier checks the damage at offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR, caused by a suicide bomber, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. A suicide vehicle bomb struck a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices in the southern city of Kandahar early Monday, killing four people and severely damaging a U.N. agency's building, Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

An Afghan security guard, who was wounded in a suicide bombing, is taken to the hospital for treatment, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. A suicide vehicle bomb struck a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices in the southern city of Kandahar early Monday, killing four people and severely damaging a U.N. agency's building, Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

A US soldier, right, and an Afghan security man check the damage at offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR, caused by a suicide bomber in the southern city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. A suicide vehicle bomb struck a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices in Kandahar early Monday, killing four people, Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

Afghan security men take position during an exchange of fire with armed insurgents next to the site of a suicide bombe attack, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a checkpoint in a neighborhood near a guest house used by the United Nations in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar early Monday. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

An Afghan security guard, who was wounded slightly in a suicide bombing, stands at the site, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a checkpoint in a neighborhood near a guest house used by the United Nations in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar early Monday. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) ? Insurgents driving a suicide truck bomb and attacking on foot killed five people, including three United Nations employees, near the offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency in the southern city of Kandahar on Monday, officials said. Afghan forces and the militants exchanged fire for nearly seven hours before the militants were killed.

One insurgent slammed an explosives-rigged pickup truck into a checkpoint near the UNHCR's offices at about 6:10 a.m., and immediately afterward, three insurgents rushed into area, which houses several international aid organizations, the Interior Ministry said.

The insurgents seized control of at least one building, and the ensuing gunbattle with Afghan and NATO forces lasted until 1 p.m., the ministry said.

The UNCHR said three of its staff were killed and two wounded in the combined assault and bombing. It did not say whether they were Afghans or foreigners.

"This is a tragedy for UNHCR and for the families of the dead and wounded," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "It also underscores the great risks for humanitarian workers in Afghanistan."

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a slightly different version of the events.

"A car bomb was exploded at the gate of a local NGO that shares a common wall with the UNHCR compound," he said in statement. "When the wall collapsed, suicide attackers entered the U.N. premises."

Ban said: "Three U.N. security guards were killed and two others were wounded. Two security contractors were killed as well."

The U.N. Security Council condemned the terrorist attack "in the strongest terms" and called on the Afghan government to bring the perpetrators to justice and to take "all necessary steps" to protect U.N. personnel and installations.

In recent days, the UNHCR said the number of refugees returning from Pakistan had dropped sharply because of the deteriorating security situation and lack of opportunities in Afghanistan.

The assault was the second major attack in three days to target foreigner workers or NATO troops in the country, spotlighting the insurgents' ability to continue to carry out major attacks, despite a 10-year NATO campaign against them. The U.S.-led coalition is gradually handing over security responsibilities to its Afghan counterparts and plans to withdraw its combat forces by the end of 2014.

"Despite the insurgency's failures this past year, it remains capable and, enabled by safe havens in Pakistan, continues to contest (Afghan and NATO) progress in some parts of the country," German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a coalition spokesman in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul.

Jacobson also said the coalition and its Afghan partners had made significant gains against the Taliban and that incidents like the bombing in Kandahar were not indicative of the insurgents gaining strength.

"It is not to gain a military victory. It is to gain media" attention, he said.

The blast caused extensive damage to the U.N. agency's building. Associated Press video showed large chunks of the building's outer walls and its windows blown out, and the interior was in shambles. The street around the building was strewn with rubble.

The Taliban, for whom Kandahar is a traditional stronghold, claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Qari Yousef said the insurgents were targeting what he claimed was a guest house affiliated with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

The UNAMA does not operate a guest house in the area. The U.N. mission's mandate is to help the Afghan government with security, governance and economic development.

Following the bombing, five people ? four security guards and the district police chief ? were killed during the gunbattle with the insurgents, the Interior Ministry said. Six people, including a policeman, were wounded.

The ministry strongly condemned what it described as "an inhuman and un-Islamic terrorist attack against the Afghans."

UNAMA spokesman Dan McNortan said all of the agency's staff, both Afghan and foreign, was accounted for.

The attack comes two days after the Taliban launched a brazen midday suicide bombing in Kabul, striking a NATO convoy on Saturday and killing 17 people, including five NATO service members, one Canadian soldier and eight civilian contractors.

___

Associated Press writers Tarek El-Tablawy, Deb Riechmann and Amir Shah contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-31-AS-Afghanistan/id-d5027ea525de4e8c8232f7956f90ffe0

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China arrests 12,000 in online drug sale sweep (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? Chinese police have arrested 12,125 people during a crackdown on the sale of narcotics online and have confiscated more than 300 kg of illegal drugs, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Police were tipped off to the scale of the problem after uncovering chatrooms in the two western cities of Lanzhou and Xian that were being used to peddle drugs, it said.

"Newcomers were only allowed to enter the chat room after being introduced by 'acquaintances' and taking drugs live via webcam," Xinhua cited a police officer as saying.

Police began detaining suspects in early September, the report added. The youngest was 14, it said.

"Criminal suspects turned to the Internet as it is harder for them to be detected that way," it said.

Websites must "take responsibility in fighting such illegal activities" and new laws be drafted to cope with this new problem, Xinhua added.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111030/wr_nm/us_china_drugs_internet

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New hybrid technology could bring 'quantum information systems'

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2011) ? The merging of two technologies under development -- plasmonics and nanophotonics -- is promising the emergence of new "quantum information systems" far more powerful than today's computers.

The technology hinges on using single photons -- the tiny particles that make up light -- for switching and routing in future computers that might harness the exotic principles of quantum mechanics.

The quantum information processing technology would use structures called "metamaterials," artificial nanostructured media with exotic properties.

The metamaterials, when combined with tiny "optical emitters," could make possible a new hybrid technology that uses "quantum light" in future computers, said Vladimir Shalaev, scientific director of nanophotonics at Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center and a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The concept is described in an article published on October 28 in the journal Science. The article appeared in the magazine's Perspectives section and was written by Shalaev and Zubin Jacob, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada.

"A seamless interface between plasmonics and nanophotonics could guarantee the use of light to overcome limitations in the operational speed of conventional integrated circuits," Shalaev said.

Researchers are proposing the use of "plasmon-mediated interactions," or devices that manipulate individual photons and quasiparticles called plasmons that combine electrons and photons.

One of the approaches, pioneered at Harvard University, is a tiny nanowire that couples individual photons and plasmons. Another approach is to use hyperbolic metamaterials, suggested by Jacob; Igor Smolyaninov, a visiting research scientist at the University of Maryland; and Evgenii Narimanov, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. Quantum-device applications using building blocks for such hyperbolic metamaterials have been demonstrated in Shalaev's group.

"We would like to record and read information with single photons, but we need a very efficient source of single photons," Shalaev said. "The challenge here is to increase the efficiency of generation of single photons in a broad spectrum, and that is where plasmonics and metamaterials come in."

Today's computers work by representing information as a series of ones and zeros, or binary digits called "bits."

Computers based on quantum physics would have quantum bits, or "qubits," that exist in both the on and off states simultaneously, dramatically increasing the computer's power and memory. Quantum computers would take advantage of a strange phenomenon described by quantum theory called "entanglement." Instead of only the states of one and zero, there are many possible "entangled quantum states" in between one and zero.

An obstacle in developing quantum information systems is finding a way to preserve the quantum information long enough to read and record it. One possible solution might be to use diamond with "nitrogen vacancies," defects that often occur naturally in the crystal lattice of diamonds but can also be produced by exposure to high-energy particles and heat.

"The nitrogen vacancy in diamond operates in a very broad spectral range and at room temperature, which is very important," Shalaev said.

The work is part of a new research field, called diamond photonics. Hyperbolic metamaterials integrated with nitrogen vacancies in diamond are expected to work as efficient "guns" of single photons generated in a broad spectral range, which could bring quantum information systems, he said.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Purdue University. The original article was written by Emil Venere.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Z. Jacob, V. M. Shalaev. Plasmonics Goes Quantum. Science, 2011; 334 (6055): 463 DOI: 10.1126/science.1211736

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/dMaFu9p4EmE/111028142510.htm

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Turkey survivor emerges from quake rubble

Turkish rescuers tend Ferhat Tokay, 13, after he was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ercis, Van, Turkey, early Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Rescuers, working under floodlights, pulled the 13-year-old boy alive from the rubble of the collapsed apartment building 108 hours after Sunday's earthquake that hit eastern Turkey. (AP Photo)

Turkish rescuers tend Ferhat Tokay, 13, after he was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ercis, Van, Turkey, early Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Rescuers, working under floodlights, pulled the 13-year-old boy alive from the rubble of the collapsed apartment building 108 hours after Sunday's earthquake that hit eastern Turkey. (AP Photo)

An unidentified earthquake survivor carries free soup and lemons distributed by Turkish Red Crescent in a tent city set up in a soccer field in Ercis, Van, Turkey, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. The death toll after the powerful Sunday quake hit eastern Turkey has now reached over 500. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Earthquake survivor Bilal Kilic, 70, father of 12 stands in front of a tent where 15 his family members has spent the night without any heating in a tent city set up in a soccer field in Ercis, Van, Turkey, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. The death toll after the powerful Sunday quake hit eastern Turkey has now reached over 500. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

In this image taken from a video footage by Anatolia, rescuers pull Ferhat Tokay, 13, center left, from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ercis, Van, Turkey, early Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Rescuers, working under floodlights, pulled the 13-year-old boy alive from the rubble of the collapsed apartment building 108 hours after Sunday's earthquake that hit eastern Turkey. (AP Photo/Anatolia via APTN) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, TURKEY OUT, ROJ TV OUT, TV OUT

Turkish rescuers carry Ferhat Tokay, 13, after he was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ercis, Van, Turkey, early Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. Rescuers, working under floodlights, pulled the 13-year-old boy alive from the rubble of the collapsed apartment building 108 hours after Sunday's earthquake that hit eastern Turkey. (AP Photo)

ERCIS, Turkey (AP) ? A 13-year-old boy, trapped for five days inside fallen debris, used a rock in a desperate attempt to dig a hole and free himself from a building that collapsed in a massive earthquake that struck eastern Turkey, his uncle said Friday.

Rescuers from Azerbaijan pulled Ferhat Tokay out of the debris of a multistory building early on Friday, the latest survivor to emerge from the devastation of the 7-2-magnitude quake that leveled buildings and killed at least 570 people.

Some 2,500 were injured in the temblor that brought down about 2,000 buildings and left thousands homeless.

Tokay was working in a shoe shop on the ground floor of a multistory building in Ercis when the quake hit on Sunday.

"With a rock, he tried to open up a hole," the uncle, Sahin Tokay, told NTV television hours after the rescue. "He thumped on walls to try to open up a space for himself."

Tokay said the boy also placed shoes under his head and used them as a pillow to sleep, peering through a tiny gap to distinguish between day and night.

"He was hungry on the first day, but the hunger pangs later disappeared," Tokay said.

The state-run Anatolia news agency said the boy drank rain water which helped keep him alive.

For the family who had anxiously waited outside the crumbled building for days, Ferhat's rescue was a miracle.

Rescue teams sent the boy's father and other relatives away from the site to get some rest in the early hours of Friday, saying there was no chance of finding him alive. Soon after, they were called back with news that the crew had reached him.

"He didn't even have a scratch on him!" the uncle said.

Television footage showed the boy smiling at people standing around his hospital bed.

"He said he was hungry and asked for food," he uncle said.

"He also got his father to promise not to play tile rummy (in coffee houses) anymore" Tokay said in reference to a popular pass-time for men in Turkey.

The 213-person team from the Azeri Special Risk Rescue Service, equipped with sniffer dogs, have pulled out 10 survivors since arriving to offer services late Sunday, including Tokay and 18-year-old Imdat Padak who was brought out late Thursday.

Attesting to the dangerous nature of the rescue operations, rubble fell on a sniffer dog called Cip while searching for Padak inside a gap, seriously injuring its paws, the Azerbaijani team said.

The government's crisis management center said a total of 187 people have been freed from rubble alive. Search and rescue operations have ended in the provincial capital of Van, but were continuing in Ercis.

Turkish authorities delivered more tents after acknowledging distribution problems that included aid trucks being looted before they reached Ercis. Tents, prefabricated homes, blankets and heaters also started arriving from a dozen countries, after Turkey said asked for assistance to help shelter people left homeless in near-freezing conditions.

Israel, which has a troubled political relationship with Turkey, sent emergency housing units, blankets and clothing. Britain, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Romania and Ukraine also contributed.

About 2,000 buildings have been destroyed and authorities declared another 3,700 buildings unfit for habitation.

__

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-28-EU-Turkey-Quake/id-a10d1a7b8fba4927aac27d5e2de6324a

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Cain momentum continues; South could be key (The Arizona Republic)

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Euro zone strikes deal on 2nd Greek package, EFSF (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Euro zone leaders struck a deal with private banks and insurers on Thursday for them to accept a 50 percent loss on their Greek government bonds under a plan to lower Greece's debt burden and try to contain the two-year-old euro zone crisis.

The agreement was reached after more than eight hours of hard-nosed negotiations involving bankers, heads of state, central bankers and the International Monetary Fund. It aims to draw a line under spiraling debt problems that have threatened to unravel the European single currency project.

Under the deal, the private sector agreed to voluntarily accept a nominal 50 percent cut in its bond investments to reduce Greece's debt burden by 100 billion euros, cutting its debts to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, from 160 percent now.

At the same time, the euro zone will offer "credit enhancements" or sweeteners to the private sector totalling 30 billion euros. The aim is to complete negotiations on the package by the end of the year, so Greece has a full, second financial aid programme in place before 2012.

The value of that package, EU sources said, would be 130 billion euros -- up from 109 billion euros when a deal was last struck in July, an agreement that subsequently unravelled.

"The summit allowed us to adopt the components of a global response, of an ambitious response, of a credible response to the crisis that is sweeping across the euro zone," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters afterwards.

Graphic on talks' market impact, click http://r.reuters.com/van64s

As well as the deal on deeper private sector participation in Greece -- which emerged after Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel engaged in the negotiations with bankers -- euro zone leaders also agreed to scale up the European Financial Stability Facility, their 440 billion euro ($600 billion) bailout fund set up last year.

The fund has already been used to provide help to Ireland, Portugal and Greece, leaving around 290 billion euros available. Around 250 billion of that will be leveraged 4-5 times, producing a headline figure of around 1.0 trillion euros, which will be deployed in a variety of ways.

Leaders hope that will be enough to stave off any worsening of the debt problems in Italy and Spain, the region's third and fourth largest economies respectively.

Riskier assets across the board rallied in Asia, with stocks outside Japan up nearly three percent at 0600 GMT in response to the agreement. The euro hit a seven-week high.

Earlier, U.S. stocks rallied after news emerged of the intention to boost the power of the EFSF fund.

The EFSF will be leveraged in two ways, either by offering insurance, or first-loss guarantees, to purchasers of euro zone debt in the primary market, or via a special purpose investment vehicle that will be set up in the coming weeks and which is aimed at attracting investment from China and Brazil.

The methods could be combined, giving the EFSF greater flexibility, the euro zone leaders said.

"The leverage could be up to one trillion (euros) under certain assumptions about market conditions and investors' responsiveness in view of economic policies," said Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council.

"There is nothing secret in all this, it is not easy to explain but we are going to more with our available money, it is not that spectacular. Banks have been doing this for centuries, it has been their core business, with certain limits."

PROOF OF THE PUDDING WITH MARKETS

Japan and Canada welcomed the euro zone agreement. China's official Xinhua news agency said the outcome was "positive but filled with difficulties".

As with the July 21 agreement, which quickly broke down when it became difficult to secure sufficient private sector involvement and market conditions rapidly worsened, the concern is that Thursday's deal will only work if the fine print can be promptly agreed with the private sector, represented by the Institute of International Finance.

Charles Dallara, the managing director of the IIF, said those he represented were committed to making the deal work.

"On behalf of the private investor community, the IIF agrees to work with Greece, euro area authorities and the IMF to develop a concrete voluntary agreement on the firm basis of a nominal discount of 50 percent on notional Greek debt held by private investors with the support of a 30 billion euro official ... package," he said in a statement.

"The specific terms and conditions of the voluntary PSI (private sector involvement) will be agreed by all relevant parties in the coming period and implemented with immediacy and force. The structure of the new Greek claims will need to be based on terms and conditions that ensure (net present value) loss for investors fully consistent with a voluntary agreement."

Euro zone leaders will be hoping the agreement, which will also be accompanied by a recapitalisation of the European banking sector by around 106 billion euros, will finally draw a line under a crisis that has roiled financial markets and threatened to tear apart the euro single currency project.

"While the headlines look good, the devil is in the details," said Damien Boey, equity strategist at Credit Suisse in Sydney.

"It's great news that they've managed to increase the bail-out fund to 1 trillion euros plus agree on some sort of haircut arrangement for the private investors in Greek debt.

"The problem is, we don't actually know how they are planning to increase the bail-out fund size from 440 billion euros to a trillion. On top of that, there are some questions as to whether one trillion euros in itself is enough."

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said the final details on the Greek package, which follows a programme of 110 billion euros of loans granted to the country last year, would only be worked out by year-end.

And EU finance ministers are not expected to agree on the nitty-gritty elements of how the scaled up EFSF will work until some time in November, with the exact date not fixed.

As part of efforts to attract investors into the special purpose vehicle attached to the EFSF, Sarkozy said he would talk to Chinese President Hu Jintao in the coming days. Beijing has so far been a big buyer of bonds issued by the EFSF, which is triple-A rated by credit agencies.

ITALIAN INTENT

As well as the three-way package to strengthen their crisis fighting powers and try to resolve the situation in Greece, euro zone leaders called on Italy to take more rapid action on pension reforms and other structural measures to try to avoid the economy heading the same way as Greece.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised to raise the retirement age to 67 by 2026, and pursue other adjustments to the country's economic model, steps the EU praised but said would only be positive if they were implemented.

"The key is implementation. This is the key. It is not enough to make commitments, it is necessary now to check if they are really implementing," said Barroso.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111027/india_nm/india601451

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CNN Thinks HTML Is Computer Espionage [Hacking]

Holy crap, are Reddit users launching a nefarious cyber-attack on the Pentagon's underwater drones? Apparently some very confused CNN producers thought so, broadcasting HTML source from a Reddit page to accompany a story about high-level government security breaches. Sigh. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hwbO8i_EXKw/cnn-thinks-html-is-computer-espionage

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'Rum Diary' A 'Love Letter To Hunter,' Johnny Depp Says

Aaron Eckhart and Giovanni Ribisi also talk about writer Hunter S. Thompson's impact on the film.
By Ahsika Sanders, with reporting by Kara Warner

Johnny Depp in "The Rum Diary"
Photo: FilmDistrict

From the first few moments of the trailer's island music, bright colors and eye-catching castmembers, "The Rum Diary" looks like a whimsical vacation to paradise realized onscreen.

Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson during the author's own travels to Puerto Rico in the late '50s, the film casts "Pirates of the Caribbean" leading man Johnny Depp as the alcoholic, struggling writer-turned-journalist Paul Kemp, who struggles to find a balance between work, play and the island's increasingly tumultuous politics.

When MTV News caught up with the film's stars, they explained how the film is a fitting tribute to Thompson's final story, as well as to his legacy.

"The whole thing is really a love letter to Hunter," Depp said, whose friendship with Thompson led to the discovery of the late author's unpublished manuscript and eventually the idea to make it into a film. "The film from the very inception, opening that cardboard box and finding the manuscript to 'The Rum Diary' and saying to Hunter, 'What's wrong with you? Why don't you publish this?' and him saying, 'Well we should produce this,' the chain of events that happened over the years and then us trying ignorantly to drum up the money was just a very funny experience," Depp said of the story's journey from page to screen.

"Even though my partner is not right next to me, we're going to still produce this film together, and ultimately we did," Depp said of deciding to move forward with the production after Thompson's death in 2005. "Even if his presence, if he wasn't visible, we still produced the film together."

Aaron Eckhart stars alongside Depp in a second villainous role since his stint as Harvey "Two-Face" Dent in "The Dark Knight." Depp's love and passion for Thompson and his work made the film a more meaningful experience, Eckhart said.

"I think that Johnny has taken up the mantle and has preserved his legacy and is now offering all those people out there who have never heard of Hunter, an opportunity to be familiar with his work," he said. "Hunter was always there. He always had his chair, his empty chair on set with us, and Johnny and [director] Bruce [Robinson] had a ritual that they did everyday ... but his spirit was always there."

"Avatar" bad guy Giovanni Ribisi added that for him, the story was about "having a voice and maintaining your independence and your individuality" and that Thompson's perception of that ideal is universal and timely.

"I think Hunter S. Thompson was such a strong factor in a time in the sixties, he was almost the fulcrum for that [time], where people were waking up," he said. "It was about a rebellion against this capitalist structure and the mise en scene in the story. In the book you know where America is coming and really doing its thing to this beautiful culture Puerto Rico, that setting is just incredible. That for me is what it's about. I think, as much as I hate to say it, I think it's very apropos to today's psychology."

Check out everything we've got on "The Rum Diary."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Related Photos

• Cocktails Inspired By Johnny Depp's Movies

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673375/rum-diary-johnny-depp.jhtml

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Video: Is Savannah ready for the Halloween costume reveal?

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/44948861#44948861

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New Meta Muppets Parody Trailer Possibly Best Yet [Video]

It's no secret that we're pretty darn excited about the new Muppets movie coming out this Thanksgiving. I mean, it's the Muppets. And the latest trailer is aces. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/kAG8zPtAwsI/new-meta-muppets-parody-trailer-possibly-best-yet

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Doc accused of illegal prescriptions at Starbucks (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/153791567?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Banks get credit: No debit fees (Politico)

Following President Obama and Senator Dick Durbin?s (D-Ill.) attacks on Bank of America?s new debit card fees, most other major U.S. banks have decided against imposing similar charges.

Following a lengthy consumer testing trial, J.P. Morgan Chase has decided not to impose debt card fees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Morgan Chase is the third largest bank in terms of debit-card market share by purchase volume, with 14.8 percent.

Continue Reading

U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup, PNC and KeyCorp, other large American banks, have also said that they will not introduce new debit card fees, although none of them have admitted to being influenced by the public outcry against Bank of America.

It?s hard to imagine, however, that the criticism from Obama and widespread outrage that followed Bank of America?s announcement did not play a role in keeping smaller banks from announcing their own fees.

Bank of America announced a new $5 monthly fee on debt cards in September, a development that was greeted with public dismay. Wells Fargo also announced that it was testing its own $3 monthly debit-card fee in five states. Together, the two banks make up 40.5 percent of the debit-card market by purchase volume.

Obama recently slammed debit-card fees, arguing that government should be able to stop its implementation.

?Well, you can stop [the fee] if you say to the banks, ?you don?t have some inherent right just to, you know, get a certain amount of profit if your customers are being mistreated,?? Obama said.

Durbin went a step further, and urged customers to close their Bank of America accounts.

?Bank of America customers, vote with your feet, get the heck out of that bank,? Durbin said earlier this month. ?Find yourself a bank or credit union that won?t gouge you for $5 a month and still will give you a debit card that you can use every single day. What Bank of America has done is an outrage.?

Bank of America claims that the Dodd-Frank financial regulations passed in 2010 pushed them to implement a $5 monthly debit-card fee.

The Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill limited banks to a charge of 21 cents for each debit card transaction. Previously, banks would charge an average of 44 cents per swipe.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1011_67068_html/43420199/SIG=11m4tvfss/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67068.html

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If Conservatives Are Racist, Why is Herman Cain Leading in the GOP Polls? (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | As a black woman, I'm watching with fascination the current GOP situation. Many liberals, me included, believe if you're a conservative, you might, and I say might, be a racist.

But then along comes Herman Cain, who has been rising in the Republican polls. A CBS/New York Times poll places him as the front-runner with 25 percent support. Mitt Romney gets 21 percent.

The black businessman's numbers rose from just 5 percent in September. Rick Perry, who everyone thought would surge full speed ahead, dropped from 23 percent to 6 percent.

When I first saw Cain on the political scene, I assumed he was just a candidate who had no hope of beating Romney or even Michele Bachmann. My thinking was based on one fact: Cain is black. It's as if I forgot all about the fact Barack Obama is not white.

Obama won the election, but he's backed by liberals. I expect liberals to be more accepting of a person of color. Why do I hold this view?

I think about the Republican National Convention and marvel at the fact I can count the number of dark faces. I think about Southern conservative voters and their history of racism. I think about Jim Crow laws and George Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr.'s eloquent speech at the 1963 March on Washington.

Is it the modern conservative movement of today? No, but when I listen to Newt Gingrich or see a member of the tea party holding a sign that compares Barack Obama to a monkey, those images come back.

It's a myth to say every black voter will vote for a black candidate. Although I believe Cain's 9-9-9 plan is an intriguing approach that may just work once everyone got used to it, I'm opposed to any candidate who calls homosexuality a "sin" and a "choice."

But it would be a lie if I didn't say I'm pleased to see a black man as the current front-runner for the GOP. Although Gingrich places third in the current poll with 10 percent, racial progress is happening. If not, Obama would not be president and Cain would not be leading in the Republican polls.

After all, it's 2011, not 1963.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111026/us_ac/10297175_if_conservatives_are_racist_why_is_herman_cain_leading_in_the_gop_polls

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Emergency call: The man who mistook the moon for a UFO (The Week)

New York ? A patient operator calms a confused Briton who reports an "enormous light blazing" in the sky above his house

The audio:?Our place in the cosmos can be a bit disorienting, which might partially explain why a British man recently dialed his country's version of 911 to report an unidentified flying object above his house. Confused and nervous, he told the rather steely operator peppering him with questions that there was an "enormous light blazing" in the sky. "I don't know what the hell it is," the man says. "It's not an airplane, but it's hovering." Two minutes after he hung up, the man called back. "I made a mistake," he said. "You won't believe this? It's the moon." (Listen to the audio below.) The police released the tape to the public this week to serve as a reminder not to clog up emergency phone lines.

The reaction: What's especially striking is "the genuine panic from the man,"?says Aaron-Spencer Charles at Britain's Metro. It's clear why the operator initially treated this?as "a serious matter."?Well, what's not to take seriously about reporting "a Death Star hovering over" your house??says The Daily What. In any case, "I feel very sorry for the people who have to deal with these phone calls," says Casey Chan at?Gizmodo, "but very happy" that amusing callers like this exist. Check out the audio:

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111027/cm_theweek/220758

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Mortgage applications bounced last week: MBA (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Applications for home mortgages rose last week, recouping some of the steep decline a week before as demand for both purchases and refinancing perked up, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 4.9 percent in the week ended Oct 21.

The index had tumbled nearly 15 percent the week before.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications gained 4.4 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases was up 6.4 percent.

The refinance share of total mortgage activity eased to 77.3 percent of applications from 77.6 percent. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.33 percent, unchanged from the previous week.

The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Diane Craft)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111026/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_mortgages1

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Facebook Will Give Trusted Friends Keys to Your Account [Facebook]

It's 2:30am. You're blind drunk and desperately trying to log into your FB account on your phone—ya know, to see if that hottie from the last bar Friended you yet—but your damn beer sausage fingers entered the wrong password one too many times. What's a lush to do? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ySfkBmA892o/facebook-will-give-trusted-friends-keys-to-your-account

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Susan Piver: Depressed? How to 'Just Cheer Up!'

This morning I woke up with a feeling of depression. This is not unusual for me. Perhaps you can relate. I have struggled with depression for my entire life since I was a child. I really don't know why and I sort of don't really care why anymore. Nonetheless, I have had to find a way to work with it because it has bordered on being debilitating at many different points in my life.

The feeling I woke up with was very familiar: A sense of heaviness throughout my body and a sense of being held down by unseen hands pressing on crown, chest and belly. A style of mental activity that no matter where I looked in my life: my work, my relationship, bank account, home, body, the future -- it all looked bleak. Very bleak. When this happens I become anxious and want to dispel this matrix immediately. To do so, I dive into stories about how it got to be this way and how it is all my fault. True stories, I might add. I missed this opportunity. I made that wrong choice. My abilities are limited. Yes, true -- on one hand. And utterly useless on the other.

Fortunately, I am old enough and practiced enough to recognize (at some point... ) that my mind is playing a very unpleasant trick on me. Trying to nail the "story" of my depression does not change my mood. I catch myself. At this point, a number of options are possible.

There are schools of thought that suggest that the negative stories we tell ourselves are basically made up in the first place and we should make up positive ones to replace them. I've tried this. It doesn't work for me. It actually creates more confusion, especially when I'm exhorted to believe them at all costs, otherwise, when they fail, it's my fault.

What does seem to work for me is to let go of all stories and take a fresh start, moment to moment. But how?

Here are two ways of liberating ourselves from negative thought patterns. The first is to find whatever therapy or therapies work for you and then work them, work them, work them. Discover the genesis of and habitual patterns that encase such mind states. Identify the warning signs and figure out how to intercede. This is very wonderful.

The second way is to liberate each negative thought on the spot. With this second choice, meditation is very, very helpful. It trains you to observe your thoughts as they arise and make a choice about what to do with them.

For me, one of the most deceptively simple pieces of advice for working with depression was given by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan meditation master who transmitted the Shambhala Buddhist teachings. It was this: "You could always just cheer up."

When I first heard that, I was kind of offended. What do you mean, "cheer up?" It sounded like what people used to tell me when I was little, a variation of "Why are you so serious?" "You're too sensitive." "Get over yourself." Stuff that used to make me really mad. But as I've considered and employed this advice over the years, I see that Trungpa Rinpoche meant something entirely different. He meant that you could always simply let go of what was plaguing you -- no matter how heavy and sorrowful -- and take a breath of fresh air. There is no moment in which this is not possible.

I've tried it countless times. When I catch myself falling into a pit of despair over ill loved ones, for example, or my finances, also suffering from illness I might add, or my inability to make my dreams manifest -- as I plummet, I say to myself, "You could always just cheer up." Amazingly, even if it's only for a moment, I do. It has nothing to do with talking myself out of what is bothering me by convincing myself that it will all be OK for this reason or that. It has nothing to do with fake-deleting negative thoughts and fake-inserting wishful thoughts, a.k.a. positive thoughts. It has to do with letting it all, all, all go and reconnecting with -- well, what would you call it? The present moment. Nowness. Space.

You could do it too. It's really simple to get the sense of how. Have you ever been in a fitness class, for example, where they tell you to tense up your shoulders... hold... hold... hold... and then release? When you do this, there is a sudden rush of clean energy. You can also do this with your mind. When you feel depressed -- or grief-stricken or angry or disappointed -- you could tune into it. Locate the feeling in your physical or emotional body, or in the environment and open to it, take its temperature, note its textures. Intensify it -- the feeling, not the story behind the feeling -- and then let go. Intensify, intensify, intensify -- LET GO. Try it. See what happens. What happens for me is there is a sudden rush, no matter how big or small, of life force and renewed energy.

The therapy path for working with depression meets depressive patterns as wave forms. Which is awesome. In this way, we can work with the ongoing and pervasive presence of negativity. The "cheer-up path" for working with depression meets such patterns as particles. We can work with each one in the moment it appears. Together, these two approaches, wave and particle, can create quantum change in our relationship to depression.

And know this: It all begins with catching yourself, with the ability, no matter how momentary, to see what is happening in your own mind, to flash on the reality of your inner state as if a lightning strike suddenly lit up a dark valley. Then you can step outside of your heavy, convincing, painful thought patterns. With this step away, you introduce a moment of possibility... of change... of a fresh start... you cheer up. At which point, everything is possible.

This ability to observe your thinking is the fruit of meditation practice. In a very real sense, this -- noticing and letting go, noticing and letting go, is what you are practicing. I hope you will find a way to make meditation a part of your life. (I teach it via twice-weekly videos sent to your inbox as part of The Open Heart Project, but there are many wonderful places you could go to learn.)

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Follow Susan Piver on Twitter: www.twitter.com/spiver

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-piver/meditation-and-depression_b_1030107.html

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'Huge relief': Banks agree to take loss on Greek debt

BRUSSELS?? European leaders clinched a deal Thursday they hope will mark a turning point in their two-year debt crisis, agreeing after a night of tense negotiations to have banks take bigger losses on Greece's debts and to boost the region's weapons against the market turmoil.

After months of dawdling and half-baked solutions, the leaders had been under immense pressure to finalize their plan to prevent the crisis from pushing Europe and much of the developed world back into recession and to protect their currency union from unraveling.

World stock markets surged higher Thursday on the news. Oil prices rose above $92 per barrel while the euro gained strongly ? a signal investors were relieved at the outcome of the contentious negotiations.

"We have reached an agreement, which I believe lets us give a credible and ambitious and overall response to the Greek crisis," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters after the meeting ended early Thursday. "Because of the complexity of the issues at stake, it took us a full night. But the results will be a source of huge relief worldwide."

U.S. President Barack Obama also welcomed the deal, saying Europe's new debt plan lays a "critical foundation" for a comprehensive solution to the continent's financial crisis.

In a statement, Obama said the U.S. looks forward to the rapid implementation of the plan.

Europe's strategy unveiled after 10 hours of negotiations focused on three key points. These included a significant reduction in Greece's debts, a shoring up of the continent's banks, partially so they could sustain deeper losses on Greek bonds, and a reinforcement of a European bailout fund so it can serve as a ?1 trillion ($1.39 trillion) firewall to prevent larger economies like Italy and Spain from being dragged into the crisis.

After several missed opportunities, hashing out a plan was a success for the 17-nation eurozone, but the strategy's effectiveness will depend on the details, which will have to be finalized in the coming days and weeks.

"These are exceptional measures for exceptional times. Europe must never find itself in this situation again," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after the meetings.

Japan and Canada welcomed the euro zone agreement. China's official Xinhua news agency said the outcome was "positive but filled with difficulties."

The most difficult piece of the puzzle proved to be Greece, whose debts the leaders vowed to bring down to 120 percent of its GDP by 2020. Under current conditions, they would have ballooned to 180 percent.

To achieve that massive reduction, private creditors like banks will be asked to accept 50 percent losses on the bonds they hold. The Institute of International Finance, which has been negotiating on behalf of the banks, said it was committed to working out an agreement based on that "haircut," but the challenge now will be to ensure that all private bondholders fall in line.

It said the 50 percent cut equals a contribution of ?100 billion ($139 billion) to a second rescue for Greece, although the eurozone promised to spend some ?30 billion ($42 billion) on guaranteeing the remaining value of the new bonds.

The full program is expected to be finalized by early December and investors are supposed to swap their bonds in January, at which point Greece is likely to become the first euro country ever to be rated at default on its debt.

"We can claim that a new day has come for Greece, and not only for Greece but also for Europe," said Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose country's troubles touched off the crisis two years ago. "Let's hope the worst is over."

Since May 2010, Greece has been surviving on rescue loans worth ?110 billion ($150 billion) from the 17 countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund since it can't afford to borrow money directly from markets.

In July, those creditors agreed to extend another ?109 billion ? but that plan was widely panned as insufficient.

Now, in addition to ?30 billion in bond guarantees, the eurozone leaders and IMF said they will give Greece ?100 billion ($139 billion) in new loans.

With the banks being asked to shoulder more of the burden, though, there were concerns they needed more money in their rainy-day funds to cushion their losses. So European leaders have asked them to raise ?106 billion ($148 billion) by June.

"While the headlines look good, the devil is in the details," said Damien Boey, equity strategist at Credit Suisse in Sydney.

Protecting the weak
The last piece in the complicated plan was to increase the firepower of the continent's bailout fund to ensure that other countries with troubled economies ? like Italy and Spain ? don't get dragged into the crisis. The third- and fourth-largest economies of the eurozone are too large to be bailed out like the smaller euro nations Greece, Portugal and Ireland have already been.

To that end, the ?440 billion ($610 billion) European Financial Stability Facility will be used to insure part of the potential losses on the debt of wobbly eurozone countries like Italy and Spain, rendering its firepower equivalent to around ?1 trillion ($1.39 trillion).

With the banks being asked to shoulder more of the burden, though, there were concerns they needed more money in their rainy-day funds to cushion their losses. So European leaders have asked them to raise ?106 billion ($148 billion) by June.

The last piece in the complicated plan was to increase the firepower of the continent's bailout fund to ensure that other countries with troubled economies ? like Italy and Spain ? don't get dragged into the crisis. The third- and fourth-largest economies of the eurozone are too large to be bailed out like the smaller euro nations Greece, Portugal and Ireland have already been.

To that end, the ?440 billion ($610 billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will be used to insure part of the potential losses on the debt of wobbly eurozone countries like Italy and Spain, rendering its firepower equivalent to around ?1 trillion ($1.39 trillion).

That should make those countries' bonds more attractive investments and thus lower borrowing costs for their governments.

In addition to acting as a direct insurer of bond issues, the EFSF insurance scheme is also supposed to entice big institutional investors to contribute to a special fund that could be used to buy government bonds but also to help states recapitalize weak banks.

Such outside help may be necessary for Italy and Spain, whose banks were facing some of the biggest capital shortfalls.

Using the insurance promise, the eurozone also hopes to attract big institutional investors from outside the eurozone, such as sovereign wealth funds, to contribute to a separate fund that would back up the EFSF.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45055736/ns/business-world_business/

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