Earthquakes rattle economy far and wide

Earthquakes rattle economy far and wide

Amid the grief over the loss of more than 1,000 lives, the West Sumatra and Jambi earthquakes will mean enormous medium-term material losses with repercussions going beyond the borders of both provinces.

The cost of the losses will be in the trillions of rupiah, but the government says the real blow to the national economy will come from devastated infrastructure affecting availability of goods and services.

The State Ministry for National Development Planning has dispatched a team to verify the scale of the losses, starting with inventories needed to help those directly affected, as part of an emergency program.

“Emergency measures may take two months, then rehabilitation of infrastructure to get the wheels of the economy turning again,” Minister Paskah Suzetta said Friday.

Paskah said the government would launch a rehabilitation program that would include the erection of houses for those who lost homes in the quake. He said to rehabilitate a 30-35 square meter house would cost about Rp 1.5 million (US$156) per square meter, or about Rp 50 million per house.

“That is for an anti-quake house. Commercial buildings and hotels are not our responsibility but we will provide aid. We will prioritize people’s houses and infrastructure,” he said.

Under the 2010 budget law, the government is allowed to add up to Rp 24 trillion in spending for priority projects. The adjustment should be proposed to the House of Representatives within the first three months next year.

PT Asuransi Maipark Indonesia, an insurance company focusing on earthquake related insurance, estimates financial losses from destroyed buildings caused by the two earthquakes on Wednesday and Friday, both above 7 magnitude scale, could reach about Rp 2 trillion.

Maipark’s director Bisma Subrata said this only included the cost of destroyed buildings. The economic loss might be higher as Maipark’s simulation had yet to include the cost of destroyed infrastructure, bridges and power facilities, he said.

Bisma said that Jambi might have suffered higher losses than West Sumatra. “Based on our simulation, the economic losses in Jambi could reach Rp 1.2 trillion, while the losses in West Sumatra may reach about Rp 821 billion,” he said.

“Jambi suffered bigger losses because its position is closer to the epicenter of the quake ” Bisma said.

Provincial electricity distribution was severely disrupted in both provinces. Fahmi Mochtar, president director of state power utility PT PLN, said 220 transformers, 235 kilometers of medium voltage cables; 445 kilometers circuit of low voltage cables plus buildings and vehicles were destroyed or damaged.

“We estimate PLN’s total losses are Rp 169.9 billion,” Fahmi said.

As of Friday afternoon, PLN claimed that about 60 percent of its power generator facilities in Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra, were operating normally, but with repeated blackouts.

A cement plant belonging to PT Semen Padang has not been operating since Wednesday night due to power cuts. The factory needs up to 120 megawatt of power to produce 17.400 tons of cement per day.

The company said the factory would resume operations no later than 10 days after the quake, factoring in a commitment by PLN that it would channel power to the cement plant at the latest by Wednesday.

The company said the potential losses from the lost of production could reach up to Rp 120 billion.

Commodity traders says shipments of rubber and palm oil from Sumatra will be delayed for more than a week as access to the famous Teluk Bayur port in the city is disrupted, as well as plants, roads and buildings.

About 90,000 metric tons of palm oil set for October delivery is likely to be delayed, Bambang Aria Wisena, head of organizational affairs at the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, said as quoted by Bloomberg. Transport problems may delay delivery of 50,000 to 60,000 tons of rubber, Asril Sutan Amir, chairman of the Rubber Association of Indonesia, said. Indonesia is the world’s top producer of palm oil and second-biggest grower of rubber.

Financial services in banks are expected to be normal again on Monday, after days of disruption to the banking facilities in the city, the central bank said Friday. As part of its contribution, the central bank said it would restructure loans of debtors suffering from the quake.

BI deputy governor Muliaman D. Hadad said the restructuring was made possible by a regulation, issued in 2006, that allowed special treatment for debtors in disaster areas and affected by them.

As of August, loans in West Sumatra stood at Rp 15 trillion, or 1.1 percent of outstanding loans nationally. Savings reached Rp 16.2 trillion, or 0.9 percent of nationwide savings. The rate of non-performing loans (NPLs) in August stood at only 2.19 percent.

West Sumatra has 180 commercial bank branches and 227 rural bank offices.

DE Setijoso, president director of Bank BCA, said while some branches had problems with the conditions of their buildings, the bank had managed to shift operations to other branches.

“Internet banking and mobile banking are still working. Relatives in Jakarta can send money to families in Padang,” he said.

Bambang Setiawan, director of Bank Mandiri, said Mandiri had shifted human resources from damaged branches to other branches which did not suffer damage.

Sulaiman Arif Arianto, director of Bank BRI, said the bank was ready to restructure small loans.
“We are ready to restructure small loans. We expect it can improve the conditions.”

Rehabilitation costs Of previous earthquakes

Aceh & Nias (2004) : $2.1 billion
Yogya & Central Java (2006) : $560 million
Pangandaran (2006) : $200 million
Bengkulu & West Sumatra (2007) : —
West Java (2009) : $156 million

From various sources

Aditya Suharmoko and Alfian , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta

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Lost hamlets to become mass graves after huge quake

Lost hamlets to become mass graves after huge quake

Combing the rubble: Two members of Australia’s Queensland Search and Rescue team look for victims in the wreckage of a damaged building in Padang, West Sumatra, on Sunday. Authorities estimate Tuesday’s 7.6-magnitude earthquake may have killed about 3,000 people. JP/J. Adiguna

West Sumatra decided Sunday to turn a hillside in Padang Pariaman regency, where three hamlets and hundreds of villagers were swallowed by landslides after a powerful earthquake, into mass graves, as hopes faded for more survivors.

“The decision on the mass grave was agreed today in a meeting with local leaders. There is little possibility of survivors and we are prioritizing those with a higher chance of survival,” said West Sumatra administration spokesman Dede Nuzul Putra in Padang, the provincial capital.

“The victims have been buried more than five days, it is unlikely they could survive."

The hamlets of Kapalo Koto, Cumanak and Lubuk Laweh in Patamuan district disappeared along with 400 people when the 7.6-magnitude quake hit West Sumatra last Wednesday, swallowing them up in a torrent of mud and rocks .

The landslides produced an area of devastation at least five kilometers wide, making it difficult for rescuers to find the victims.

Padang Pariaman Regent Muslim Kasim said Sunday only 28 bodies have been retrieved from the area of the hamlets since Thursday after the arrival of three excavators. Few in the area survived the disaster.

However, a joint rescue team consisting of local people, the National Search and Rescue Team, military and police personnel, and foreign volunteers, were still working to locate victims.

“According to the existing regulation, any area where a landslide occurs has to be closed to any [future] settlement,” said Priyadi Kardono, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.

He added that following disaster management operating procedures, efforts to locate victims would continue until a week after the disaster.

“After that period, we will ask whether victims' families agree to the bodies not being retrieved. Should they demand that the search continue, we would continue.”

There is no clear word on the total death toll from the quake. The UN put the toll at 1,100.

The government earlier said 715 were dead and 3,000 missing, but later revised the figure Sunday to say 605 people were confirmed dead and 960 missing, presumed dead.

The missing include those buried in the landslides.

Elsewhere in Parit Malintang district in Padang Pariaman, one of the hardest-hit regencies, hundreds of children lined up in the streets Sunday begging for donations from motorists as aid had yet to reach them four days after the quake.

Jasmani, a 55-year-old widow with eight children in South Parit Malintang, whose house was toppled by the quake, said she had to order her children to beg for donations in the streets.

"This is what we received," she said, displaying one kilogram of rice and a packet of biscuits.

Aid and rescue efforts have been concentrated in Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 people where several tall buildings collapsed and hundreds died.

The quake was equally devastating in Padang Pariaman, where rescuers have all but given up hope of finding any survivors in the rubble of the 140-room, Dutch-colonial style Ambacang Hotel. Around 200 people were in the hotel when it collapsed. Search teams have found 29 bodies and no survivors in the last two days.

“After four days, finding survivors is almost impossible," Lt. Col. Harris, the chief of the 50-member rescue team, which comprises military, police and Red Cross personnel, said as quoted by Reuters.
“The smell of decomposing bodies was very strong."

According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 83,700 houses, 200 public buildings and 285 schools were destroyed. Another 100,000 buildings and 31 kilometers of road were badly damaged, and five bridges have collapsed.

Hundreds of doctors, nurses, search and rescue experts and cleanup crews arrived Saturday at the Padang airport from around the world with tons of food, tents, medicine, clean water, generators and a field hospital.

With no electricity, fuel shortages and telecommunication outages, the massive operation was chaotic.

Deliveries came on C-130 cargo planes from the US, Russia and Australia. Japanese, Swiss, South Korean and Malaysian search and rescue teams scoured the debris. Tens of millions of dollars in donations came from more than a dozen countries to supplement the US$400 million the Indonesian government said it would spend over the next two months.

The UN said there were sufficient fuel stocks in the area for only four days, but with the road to a major depot cut off by landslides, gasoline prices had jumped six-fold. Areas with "huge levels of damage to infrastructure were in need of basic food and tents for temporary shelter", it said.

Andreas D. Arditya and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb , The Jakarta Post , Padang

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Flu sharpens tone of U.S. immigration debate

Flu sharpens tone of U.S. immigration debate

PHOENIX (Reuters) – A new strain of flu has stirred a heated debate in the United States about immigration, an emotional topic that is never far from the surface in this country of migrants.

The swine flu has killed up to 176 people in Mexico. North of the border in Texas, the outbreak killed a Mexican toddler and it has sickened scores of people in several other states.

"People always want to find a culprit, and it's easy to target people who can't really defend themselves," said Carlos Garcia, a Hispanic activist in Phoenix.

In recent days, at least three U.S. congressmen called for travel across the Mexico border to be stopped or restricted to prevent the spread of the virus -- a measure the government has said would be ineffective.

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin blamed the spread of "contagious diseases" on "uncontrolled immigration" in a blog, and other conservative talk show hosts made similar claims.

In response, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists urged the media to be "fair and prudent" when covering the flu and resist scapegoating Mexican immigrants.

"Immigrants, of course, have long been favorite and convenient scapegoats for some for everything from high taxes to infectious diseases," it said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "Facts haven't much mattered."

The NAHJ noted U.S. citizens also cross the border. There are more than 4,000 weekly flights from the United States to Mexico, and about 80 percent of visitors to Mexico last year came from the United States.

DAMAGE TO PROSPECTS FOR REFORM?

Despite the spread of the virus, President Barack Obama has remained committed to comprehensive immigration reform that would include tightening border controls and offering legal status to many of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the shadows.

In a news conference on Wednesday, Obama said he would continue to seek a legislative framework for reform this year.

"We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody," he said.
Immigration reform advocates believe the president's prospects for reviving the issue this year remain on track.

"Politically I don't think that next week or next month is going to be a good time to be trying to pass an immigration reform bill" said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national employers' coalition.

"But as people think this through and get over that first rush of panic, they are going to realize that this is an argument for more effective control and regulation that only comprehensive reform can provide," she added.

Hispanic activists believe dialogue will continue and aim to push ahead with marches advocating the immigration reform on Friday in California and other parts of the country.

"I hope that Americans are smart and they are humane and that they will see that a public health concern has nothing to do with what we believe is social justice." said Jorge Mario Cabrera Valladares, of the Center for Human Immigrants Rights of Los Angeles.

"The immigration reform dialogue should continue in spite of what we're facing now."

(Editing by Mary Milliken and Alan Elsner)

Barcelona, Real remain locked in title battle

Barcelona, Real remain locked in title battle

BARCELONA (AFP) – Barcelona's weary collection of international globe-trotters produced a workmanlike performance to beat Valladolid 1-0 on Saturday with Samuel Eto'o scoring the only goal.

Barcelona remain six points ahead of Real Madrid, who beat Malaga 1-0, in the race for the Spanish title with nine games left to play.

Having lost three out of four matches following World Cup and international breaks this season, Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team knew they could not afford to drop points.

Barcelona began the game with Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry on the bench but while they controlled the game they struggled to create openings.

That was until Eto'o coolly beat the Valladolid keeper shortly before half-time with a match-winning lob.

The second half was more even and Messi and Dani Alves were introduced to bolster a Barcelona team whose next mission is a home Champions League quarter-final first leg clash with Bayern Munich in midweek.

"Valladolid made the game difficult for us by creating a high tempo and this was on top of the ten days away with international teams," said Guardiola.

"The players responded well and you have to value who we were up against and these three points are very important.

"Valladolid have been the only team in the league who have had the bravery to actually attack us and the response from my players was very good."

Meanwhile, Real Madrid stayed in second place with a sixth successive away victory.

Real coach Juande Ramos was forced to field a weakened team with several players out injured, most notably Arjen Robben who has been a key performer this season.

After a goalless first half, Gonzalo Higuain made the breakthrough powering through the Malaga defence and finishing well.

"We have not concentrated too much on Barcelona, all we can do ourselves to win the league is to win all our games and wait for them to make mistakes," said Ramos.

"We had a lot of players who came into the match tired after playing with their national teams but in general terms the team did well."

Villarreal, who tackle Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday, slumped to a 3-0 defeat against Almeria who won through first half goals from Alvaro Negredo, Pablo Piatti and Jose Mane.

Villarreal's miserable night got even worse when Robert Pires, a former Arsenal player, was sent-off with 30 minutes left while midfielder Santi Cazorla suffered a broken leg and will miss the rest of the season.

Sevilla consolidated their third place with an important 1-0 win away to Recreativo Huelva courtesy of a Frederic Kanoute penalty after 33 minutes following a foul by Poli Fernandez on Renato.

Real Betis looked to have ended their winless streak against Numancia in their relegation battle but a late penalty, which also saw keeper Ricardo Pereira sent-off, was converted by Carlos Aranda and it earned the visitors a point in a 3-3 draw.

Aranda earlier equalised Sergio Garcia's opener for Betis and then Jose Barkero put Numancia ahead before Jesus Capi and Ricardo Oliveria turned the game around late on.

Numancia had the final say though through Aranda's spot kick.

Athletic Bilbao ended a seven-match streak without a win with a 2-1 victory over in-form Mallorca.

Fran Yeste converted a penalty after just three minutes following a David Navarro handball and then Javi Martinez put them back ahead after Jose Jurado had equalised.

On Sunday, Atletico Madrid play Osasuna and Valencia meet Getafe looking to find more consistent form as they push for a place in the Champions League.

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Gunman 'lying in wait' kills 3 Pittsburgh officers

Gunman 'lying in wait' kills 3 Pittsburgh officers

PITTSBURGH – A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest and "lying in wait" opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday, killing three of them and turning a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield, police said.

Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn't clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.

Poplawski, armed with an assault rifle and two other guns, then held police at bay for four hours as the fallen officers were left bleeding nearby, their colleagues unable to reach them, according to police and witnesses. More than 100 rounds were fired by the SWAT teams and Poplawski, Harper said.

The three slain officers were Eric Kelly, 41, Stephen Mayhle, 29, and Paul Sciullo III, 37. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years, Mayhle and Sciullo for two years each. Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Poplawski had gunshot wounds in his legs but was otherwise unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Harper said. He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation.

The shooting occurred just two weeks after four police officers were fatally shot in Oakland, Calif., in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001. The officers were the first Pittsburgh city officers to die in the line of duty in 18 years.

"This is a solemn day and it's a very sad day in the city of Pittsburgh," Harper said. "We've seen this kind of violence happen in California. We never would think this kind of violence would happen in the city of Pittsburgh."

At 7 a.m., Sciullo and Mayhle responded to a 911 call from Poplawski's mother, who remained holed up in the basement during the entire dispute and escaped unharmed, Harper said.

When they arrived at the home, Sciullo was immediately shot in the head. Mayhle, who was right behind him, was also shot in the head.

"It appears he was lying in wait for the officers," Harper said.

Kelly, who was on his way home after completing his overnight shift when he heard the call for help, rushed to the scene and was killed trying to help Sciullo and Mayhle, Harper said. SWAT teams and other officers arrived and were immediately fired on as well.

Don Sand, who lives across the street from Poplawski, said he was woken up by the sound of gunfire. Hunkering down behind a wall in his home, he saw the first two officers go down and then saw Kelly get shot.

"They couldn't get the scene secure enough to get to them. They were just lying there bleeding," Sand said. "By the time they secured the scene enough to get to them it was way too late."

Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson, who lives nearby, was one of the first officers to arrive. He saw Mayhle by a bush to the right of the door; Kelly was in the street and McManaway, his hand injured, was kneeling beside him, yelling that Kelly needed help.

Donaldson suggested using a police van to get them. They draped a bulletproof vest on the window to protect the driver and several officers got into the van to get Kelly and McManaway.

During this time, Poplawski was somehow distracted, Donaldson said.

"We were fortunate that he didn't fire on us. I don't know why he was distracted, but he apparently didn't see us coming down to get them," he said. "It could have been worse."

Poplawski had feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon," said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.

Perkovic, 22, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, "Eddie, I am going to die today. ... Tell your family I love them and I love you."

Perkovic said: "I heard gunshots and he hung up. ... He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot."

Poplawski had once tried to join the Marines, but was kicked out of boot camp after throwing a food tray at a drill sergeant, Perkovic said.

Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said Poplawski feared that President Barack Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he "wasn't violently against Obama."

Vire, 23, said Poplawski once had an Internet talk show but that it wasn't successful. He said Poplawski owned an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum.

Obama has said he respects Americans' constitutional right to bear arms, but that he favors "common sense" gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he would approve some curbs on assault and concealed weapons.

Poplawski had been laid off from his job at a glass factory earlier this year, said another friend, Joe DiMarco. DiMarco said he didn't know the name of the company, but knew his friend had been upset about it.

The last Pittsburgh police officers killed in the line of duty were Officers Thomas L. Herron and Joseph J. Grill, according to a Web site that tracks police killings. They died after their patrol car collided with another vehicle while chasing a stolen car on March 6, 1991.

In 1995, an off-duty officer was shot with his own gun after he confronted a group of teenagers about graffiti. Tests later showed the officer had been drinking.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 133 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2008, a 27 percent decrease from year before and the lowest annual total since 1960.

Poplawski had often fought with neighbors and had even gotten into fist fights with a couple, Sand said.

"This is a relatively really quiet neighborhood except for him," Sand said. "He was just one of those kids that we knew to stay clear from."

Harper confirmed police had responded to calls from the Poplawski house several times but said the incidents were still being investigated.

Rob Gift, 45, who lives a block away, said the well-kept single-family houses with manicured lawns are home to many police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other city workers.

"It's just a very quiet neighborhood," Gift said.

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Wash. police: Father kills 5 children, himself

Wash. police: Father kills 5 children, himself

GRAHAM, Wash. – A father apparently shot to death five of his children, ages 7 to 16, at their mobile home and then killed himself near a casino miles away, police said Saturday.

Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, called it a domestic violence situation and a murder-suicide.

"We believe they all died of gunshot wounds," Troyer said.

Police found the father's body early Saturday in his still-running car near the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle. He had apparently killed himself with a rifle, although no note was left in the car, Auburn Police Sgt. Scott Near said.

Later in the day, a relative stopped by the mobile home and called authorities after seeing a child lying motionless on a bed through a window. Pierce County deputies checked the mobile home, which is about 20 miles southeast of the casino, and found four of the children dead in their beds and the fifth in the bathroom.

Troyer said investigators believe the husband and the wife, who was not home, were not estranged.

The mother's aunt, Penny Flansburg, was at a loss to explain the crime.

"They were pleasant together," Flansburg said. "We can't even figure out why."

Flansburg identified the couple as Angela and James Harrison and the children as Maxine, Samantha, Heather, Jamie and James. The father worked as a diesel mechanic, and the mother works at Wal-Mart, Flansburg said.

Ryan Peden, a classmate of the eldest daughter, said she told him Friday night that her parents had gotten into a fight and her mother had left. The father followed the mother and tried to get her to return, said Peden, 16.

Neighbors in the Deer Run mobile home park, a neat, well-kept community nestled among towering evergreens, were shocked and weeping at the news.

"How could something like this happen?" asked Mary Ripplinger, whose kids were playmates of the slain children. "Everyone's asking: Why did he do it? It's not right."

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor described the crime as a "horrible thing."

"This was not a tragedy. It was a rotten murder," Pastor said. "This appears to be the terrible work of the biological father. If that doesn't break your heart, I don't know what does."

Another neighbor, Dale Lund, told The Seattle Times the 7-year-old boy who was killed played at times with his grandson and the boys shared the same school bus stop and attended the same elementary school together.

He said the dead boy played in his own yard most of the time.

"They pretty much kept to themselves over there," Lund said.

Dozens of investigators were on the scene trying to reconstruct the crime and discover a motive.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of neighbor's name, Ripplinger instead of Riplinger)

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Europe praises Obama, pledges few Afghan troops

Europe praises Obama, pledges few Afghan troops

STRASBOURG, France – European leaders enthusiastically praised President Barack Obama's new Afghan strategy at a NATO summit Saturday but held their ground on a central disagreement and offered only military trainers and extra security forces for upcoming elections.

Violent anti-war protests that marred the alliance's 60th anniversary celebrations were a stark reminder that much of Europe has no appetite for the other, costlier half of Obama's Afghan equation: more combat troops.

"I am pleased that our NATO allies pledged their strong and unanimous support for our new strategy," Obama said. "We'll need more resources and a sustained effort to achieve our ultimate goals."

As protesters battled police outside, NATO risked angering Muslims around the world by giving the post of secretary-general to the prime minister of Denmark, who fueled anger three years ago by backing a Danish newspaper's right to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The 28 leaders at the summit also approved measures to repair ties with Russia — virtually frozen since the Russo-Georgian war in August.

Afghanistan is seen as a crucial test of the power and relevance of the alliance, which was founded at the height of the Cold War to counterbalance the Soviet Union and now is struggling against a rising insurgency far beyond its borders.

The escalating war has highlighted doubts in Europe about the ability of NATO's 58,000 troops to stem the Taliban insurgency. Worries about casualties and costs have contributed to opposition to a conflict many Europeans see as an unnecessary distraction during economic crisis.

Despite a security crackdown on both sides of the Franco-German border, thousands of anti-war protesters fought running street battles with police, setting ablaze a hotel and a customs post and forcing the leaders' spouses to cancel a visit to a nearby cancer hospital.

During the summit, jointly co-hosted by France and Germany as a symbol of European unity, Obama briefed NATO leaders about his new strategy aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan while rooting out Taliban and al-Qaida hard-liners in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After the meeting, Obama heralded what he called "concrete commitments" from NATO allies on Afghanistan, saying their agreement to send up to 5,000 more trainers and police was "a strong down payment" toward securing the country.

Obama's new strategy has him adding 21,000 U.S. troops to an American force of 38,000.

The White House said NATO countries agreed to send 3,000 personnel on short-term deployments, to help stabilize Afghanistan before elections in August. An additional 1,400 to 2,000 will provide training for Afghanistan's national army.

NATO's outgoing Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance would set up a trust fund for the Afghan National Army, and provide monitoring and liaison teams that would work with Afghanistan's fledgling security forces.

The alliance must ensure "no more terrorist danger emanates from Afghanistan," German Chancellor Angela Merle said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown echoed Obama's argument that Afghanistan was key to Europe's security.

"Now we are working to build a successful, democratic Afghanistan and that will be that our streets will be safer in Britain," he said. "With important presidential elections to come in the next few months we must not allow the Taliban to disrupt the democratic process."

It was not immediately clear how the selection of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen would effect the war effort. Fogh Rasmussen's candidacy for NATO's top civilian post was initially opposed by Turkey, whose leaders pointed out that the choice would antagonize predominantly Muslim Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Fogh Rasmussen appeared arrogant to many Muslims, when he refused to apologize for the 12 drawings of the Prophet Muhammad — including one of which showed the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — that sparked angry protests in 2006 throughout the Middle East and South Asia.

NATO said it had agree to address various Turkish "concerns." Turkey said its requests had included the closure of a Kurdish satellite television broadcaster based in Denmark; the establishment of contacts between NATO and Islamic countries; appointment of a Turk as an aide to Fogh Rasmussen, and senior NATO command positions for Turkish generals.

Fogh Rasmussen denied making undue concessions to the Turks, and pledged to improve relations between NATO and the Muslim world.

"I will make a very clear outreach to the Muslim world and do my utmost to ensure a positive cooperation and intensified dialogue with Muslim countries," he told a news conference after the summit.

Nine months after relations frayed over Moscow's invasion of Georgia, Russia has become an important element in NATO's Afghan war plans. Repeated Taliban attacks on NATO logistics convoys in Pakistan have made southern resupply of the international forces in landlocked Afghanistan increasingly hazardous.

Moscow, which also worries about the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in Central Asia, has offered its road and rail network as an alternate overland supply route.

A summit statement said leaders decided to resume the work of the NATO-Russia Council — a joint body whose work was suspended after the war in Georgia. It said a meeting with Russia's foreign minister would be held soon.

The alliance also officially recognized France's return to full participation on NATO's military councils after a 43-year absence, and welcomed Albania and Croatia as its newest members.

Looking to the future, the leaders issued a declaration Saturday that formally launches the creation of a new "strategic concept" or road map to define NATO's roles, missions and way of functioning.

It would be the first such revision of the alliance's purpose and function since 1999.

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NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea fired a rocket over Japan on Sunday, defying Washington, Tokyo and other world leaders who suspect the launch was cover for a test of its long-range missile technology. President Barack Obama warned the move would further isolate the communist nation.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came just minutes after the launch.

Sunday's move was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

"I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council," Obama said in Prague, Czech Republic, calling on Pyongyang to refrain from further "provocative" actions.

But China, Pyongyang's biggest source of economic aid and diplomatic support, urged all sides to maintain calm and exercise restraint. It offered to play a "constructive role," though some fear it could block a unified response to the launch at the Security Council.

North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental "Kwangmyongsong-2" communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program.

The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology — one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.

They contend the launch violates a U.N. Security Council resolution barring the regime from ballistic missile activity, part of efforts to force North Korea to shelve its nuclear program and halt long-range missile tests.

State Department spokesman Fred Lash called the launch a clear violation of Resolution 1718, adopted five days after North Korea carried out a nuclear weapons test in 2006. The U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity," he said late Saturday in Washington.

Japan's U.N. mission immediately requested a meeting of the 15-nation council Sunday, spokesman Yutaka Arima said. Mexico's mission to the United Nations set the meeting for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), spokesman Marco Morales said. Mexico holds the 15-nation council's presidency this month.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regretted North Korea's move "against strong international appeal" at a time when nuclear disarmament talks involving six nations remain stalled.

"Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability," Ban said in a statement from Paris.

At the United Nations, diplomats already have begun discussing ways to affirm existing sanctions on North Korea against its nuclear program and long-range missile tests.

However, diplomats said the U.S., Britain and France, each of which holds veto power on the 15-nation council, are unlikely to secure agreement on new sanctions in the face of probable resistance from China, North Korea's closest ally, and Russia, the other two nations with veto power. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

In Japan, chief Cabinet spokesman Takeo Kawamura also said it was not immediately clear if the rocket was mounted with a satellite as North Korea has claimed.

In Seoul, an unnamed government official told the Yonhap news agency the trajectory of the rocket suggests it was mounted with a satellite but said it was unclear whether the bid to get the satellite into orbit was successful.

"Even if a satellite was launched, we see this as a ballistic missile test and we think this matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council," Kawamura said. "We are highly concerned by this matter."

Resisting weeks of pressure to call off the launch, North Korea advised international aviation and maritime authorities last month of the rocket's flight path.

The first stage of the rocket dropped about 175 miles (280 kilometers) off the western coast of Akita into the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. The second stage was aimed for the Pacific at a spot about 790 miles (1,270 kilometers) off Japan's northeastern coast, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said in Tokyo.

Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong, and positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas to monitor the launch.

No attempt at interception was made since no debris fell onto its territory, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said in Tokyo, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

However, in addition to calling for the Security Council meeting, Japan threatened to add more bilateral sanctions onto those it imposed after the July 2006 launch of a similar Taepodong-2 long-range missile that fizzled 42 seconds after takeoff.

South Korea, which technically remains at war with the North because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 in a truce rather than a peace treaty, put its forces on heightened alert.

North Korea, one of the world's poorest nations, is led with absolute authority by leader Kim Jong Il, who is poised to preside over the first session of the country's new parliament on Thursday. The appearance will be his first major public appearance since reportedly suffering a stroke last August.

Amid the controversy over the rocket launch, North Korea announced last week it would put two American reporters detained at the border with China on trial for allegedly entering the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts."

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture, were seized by North Korean soldiers on March 17.

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Study: Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected

Study: Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer – Fri Apr 3, 1:03 am ET

WASHINGTON – Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years. A new analysis of changing conditions in the region, using complex computer models of weather and climate, says conditions that had been forecast by the end of the century could occur much sooner.

A change in the amount of ice is important because the white surface reflects sunlight back into space. When ice is replaced by dark ocean water that sunlight can be absorbed, warming the water and increasing the warming of the planet.

The finding adds to concern about climate change caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, a problem that has begun receiving more attention in the Obama administration and is part of the G20 discussions under way in London.

"Due to the recent loss of sea ice, the 2005-2008 autumn central Arctic surface air temperatures were greater than 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above" what would be expected, the new study reports.

That amount of temperature increase had been expected by the year 2070.

The new report by Muyin Wang of the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean and James E. Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, appears in Friday's edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

They expect the area covered by summer sea ice to decline from about 2.8 million square miles normally to 620,000 square miles within 30 years.

Last year's summer minimum was 1.8 million square miles in September, second lowest only to 2007 which had a minimum of 1.65 million square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The Center said Arctic sea ice reached its winter maximum for this year at 5.8 million square miles on Feb. 28. That was 278,000 square miles below the 1979-2000 average making it the fifth lowest on record. The six lowest maximums since 1979 have all occurred in the last six years.

Overland and Wang combined sea-ice observations with six complex computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to reach their conclusions. Combining several computer models helps avoid uncertainties caused by natural variability.

Much of the remaining ice would be north of Canada and Greenland, with much less between Alaska and Russia in the Pacific Arctic.

"The Arctic is often called the Earth's refrigerator because the sea ice helps cool the planet by reflecting the sun's radiation back into space," Wang said in a statement. "With less ice, the sun's warmth is instead absorbed by the open water, contributing to warmer temperatures in the water and the air."

The study was supported by the NOAA Climate Change Program Office, the Institute for the Study of the Ocean and Atmosphere and the U.S. Department of Energy.


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The Starting Point: From Madonna's adoption bid to the Unabomber

The Starting Point: From Madonna's adoption bid to the Unabomber

The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news stories that occurred overnight. Look for updates throughout the day on Yahoo! News and in the news box on Yahoo.com.

Top stories overnight: President Barack Obama traveled to France last night to urge NATO allies to come on board with his new strategy for Afghanistan. According to The Associated Press, European governments are currently unwilling to deploy significant new ground forces, but are amenable to increasing humanitarian and development assistance to the beleaguered government in Kabul.

North Korea finalized preparations for a controversial rocket launch slated to take place on Saturday, Reuters reported. The communist nation said the rocket will carry a satellite into space. South Korea and Japan believe the launch is actually a long-range missile test. At the G-20 summit in London, Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak issued a statement that promised a "stern, united response" if North Korea goes ahead wtih the launch.Finally, Madonna may not adopt a second child from Malawi, a judge ruled today. The pop star's efforts to adopt a 4-year-old orphan were reportedly rejected because she was not a resident of the African nation. That requirement was waived in 2006 when she adopted her son David. Madonna plans to appeal the ruling to the Malawi Supreme Court.

Popular stories overnight: Last night, an American aircraft attacked a group of men believed to be members of a Sunni paramilitary group, The AP reported. The U.S. military said the gunmen were observed planting a roadside bomb near Taji, which is the site of a large U.S. air base about 12 miles north of Baghdad. One of the militants died in the attack; two others were captured and handed over to Iraqi police.Readers were also interested in this AP story about a CDC study that found traces of perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel, in samples of powdered baby formula. The report shed little light on how dangerous the chemical was to infants, but scientists have said that significant amounts could affect thyroid function.

Looking ahead: The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling today on whether the state's gay marriage ban violated the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

Today in history: Theodore "Ted" Kaczynski was arrested in 1996. Known in the press as the Unabomber, Kaczynski carried out a series of mail bombings that made him the target of a massive FBI investigation. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Birthdays: Actress Amanda Bynes, 23. Actress Jennie Garth, 37. Musician James MacDonough (Megadeth), 39. Singer Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), 41. Actor-Comedian Eddie Murphy, 48. Actor David Hyde Pierce, 50. Actor Alec Baldwin, 51. Musician Mick Mars (Motley Crue), 53. NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, 61. Singer Tony Orlando, 65. Singer Wayne Newton, 67. Actress Marsha Mason, 67. Actor Eric Braedon, 68. Primatologist Jane Goodall, 75. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, 79.


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Thousands flee Fargo ahead of menacing floodwaters

AP – Homes along the Wild Rice River in South Fargo, N.D. near its confluence with the Red River, are seen, …

By PATRICK CONDON and DAN SEWELL, Associated Press Writers Patrick Condon And Dan Sewell, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 43 mins ago

FARGO, N.D. – Thousands of shivering, tired residents got out while they could and others prayed that miles of sandbagged levees would hold Friday as the surging Red River threatened to unleash the biggest flood North Dakota's largest city has ever seen.

The agonizing decision to stay or go came as the final hours ticked down before an expected crest Sunday, when the ice-laden river could climb as high as 43 feet, nearly 3 feet higher than the record set 112 years ago. The city got a one-day reprieve Friday night when the National Weather Service pushed its crest projection back from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, saying frigid temperatures had slowed the river's rise. While the weather service targeted the crest near 42 feet, it said feet 43 is still a possibility.

"It's to the point now where I think we've done everything we can," said resident Dave Davis, whose neighborhood was filled with backhoes and tractors building an earthen levee. "The only thing now is divine intervention."

Even after the floodwaters crest, the water may not begin receding before Wednesday, creating a lingering risk of a catastrophic failure in levees put together mostly by volunteers.

National Guard troops fanned out in the bitter cold to inspect floodwalls for leaks and weak spots, and residents piled sandbags on top of 12 miles of snow-covered dikes. The freezing weather froze the bags solid, turning them into what townspeople hoped would be a watertight barrier.

Hundreds more Guard troops poured in from around the state and neighboring South Dakota, along with scores of American Red Cross workers from as far away as Modesto, Calif.

Homeowners, students and small armies of other volunteers filled sandbags in temperatures that barely rose into the double digits.

The river swelled Friday night to 40.8 feet — more than 22 feet above flood stage and beyond the previous high-water mark of 40.1 feet in 1897. In one flooded neighborhood, a man paddled a canoe through ice floes and swirling currents.

Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker cautiously expressed hope that the river would stay below 43 feet — the limit of the reinforced dikes. Walaker said there was not enough time to build the levees any higher.

Fargo escaped devastation from flooding in 1997, when Grand Forks was ravaged by a historic flood 70 miles to the north. This year, the river has been swollen by heavier-than-average winter snows, combined with an early freeze last fall that locked a lot of moisture into the soil. The threat has been made worse by spring rains.

"I think the river is mad that she lost the last time," said engineer Mike Buerkley, managing a smile through his dark stubble as he tossed sandbags onto his pickup truck after working 29 straight hours.

Some 1,700 National Guard troops helped reinforce the dikes and conduct patrols for leaks. Police restricted traffic to allow trucks laden with sandbags, backhoes and other heavy equipment to get through.

Guard member Shawna Cale, 25, worked through the night on a dike, handing up sandbags that were 30 to 40 pounds and frozen-solid.

"It's like throwing a frozen turkey," said sister-in-law Tawny Cale, who came with her husband to help with the sandbags and then to help Shawna move her valuables as she evacuated.

"When it hurts when you lift your arms, you have to stop," Shawna Cale said.

City Administrator Pat Zavoral said the cold firms up the bags, strengthening the dikes. "If you lay loose bags and now they're frozen, they're like a frozen ice cube. It's good shape."

Authorities said they were keeping about 300,000 of the 3 million sandbags they had Friday in warm buildings for use as needed. Sandbags that are already frozen when piled onto a dike do not fit together snugly.

But the freezing temperatures actually helped stave off worse flooding; officials said the river was rising more slowly because the freezing temperatures prevented snow from melting.

The White House said it was monitoring flooding in North Dakota and Minnesota, and President Barack Obama has dispatched the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the region. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama has personally spoken with the governors of both states and with Fargo's mayor.

The president called North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad on his cell phone during a news conference in Bismarck on flooding problems there and in Fargo. "If there's anything more that we can do, we will do it," Obama said after Conrad held the phone up to a microphone.

Authorities in Fargo and across the river in Moorhead — a city of about 30,000 people — expanded evacuations Friday across several blocks. About 2,600 households in Moorhead — about a third of the city — were asked to leave their homes. Hundreds more in Fargo were asked to evacuate.

Some residents were roused from their sleep around 2 a.m. Friday and told to leave after authorities found a leak in a dike. They expected to be able to patch it securely.

More than 100 inmates were taken from the county jail in Fargo to other lockups in the region, and Moorhead planned to evacuate the police station because of encroaching floodwaters. U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan said Northwest Airlines was sending two jetliners to move hospital patients to safer areas.

The effort to fortify flood-prone neighborhoods took place around the city, with officials building a contingency dike system as a second line of defense should the river breach riverside neighborhoods. But some residents were left between the two sets of dikes.

"There are people who are angry about being on the wrong side of the dike," said Tim Mahoney, a Fargo city commissioner whose home is in one of the "wrong-side" neighborhoods.

"We have a 500-year flood that we're combatting, and we think we're doing as well as we can," Mahoney said.

Residents in another of those neighborhoods placed pumps in their yards in hopes of keeping water out of their homes.

Tina Kraft took everything of value or importance in her basement and first floor and moved it upstairs.

"We've prepared for it as best we can," she said. "We really just have to be ready for our house to be flooded."

Deanne Mason and her husband were awakened by the sound of backhoes and tractors building the backup dike.

"I'm not so worried about losing my house," she said. "It's just stuff. But it's emotionally draining to watch this."

In the small town of Oakport Township just north of Moorhead, fire crews watched as a fire destroyed a home surrounded by sandbags that protected it from floodwaters.

Clay County Emergency Operations Center spokesman Dan Olson said fire crews couldn't get closer than 200 feet from the home because the area around it was so flooded. No injuries were reported and the cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

On the Canadian side of the northern-flowing Red River, ice-clogged culverts, ice jams and the rising river threatened Manitoba residents. Several homes were evacuated north of Winnipeg and several dozen houses were flooded.

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Lights out in 84 countries for Earth Hour 2009

CHICAGO – The lights are going down from the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, the Eiffel Tower to Sears Tower, as more than 2,800 municipalities in 84 countries plan Saturday to mark the second worldwide Earth Hour.

McDonald's will even soften the yellow glow from some Golden Arches as part of the time zone-by-time zone plan to dim nonessential lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to highlight global climate change.

"Earth Hour makes a powerful statement that the world is going to solve this problem," said Carter Roberts, chief executive of the World Wildlife Fund, which sponsors Earth Hour. "Everyone is realizing the enormous effect that climate change will have on them."

Seven times more municipalities have signed on since last year's Earth Hour, which drew participation from 400 cities after Sydney, Australia held a solo event in 2007. Interest has spiked ahead of planned negotiations on a new global warming treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark this December. The last global accord, the Kyoto Protocol, is set to expire in 2012.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged the convention to reach a fair and effective climate change agreement and promoted Earth Hour participation in a video posted this month on the event's YouTube channel.

"Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message," Ban said. "They want action on climate change."

Other videos have been posted by celebrities such as rocker Pete Wentz and actor Kevin Bacon and WWF has offered Earth Hour iPhone applications. Search engine Yahoo! says there's been a 344 percent increase in "Earth Hour" searches this February and March compared with last year.

New studies increasingly highlight the ongoing effects of climate change, said Richard Moss, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and WWF's climate change vice president.

"We have satellites and we have ships out at sea and we have monitoring stations set up on buoys in the ocean," Moss said. "We monitor all kinds of things people wouldn't even think about. The scientific research is showing in all kinds of ways that the climate crisis is worsening."

But not everyone agrees and at least one counter-protest is planned for Saturday.

Suburban Philadelphia ice cream shop owner Bob Gerenser, 56, believes global warming is based on faulty science and calls Earth Hour "nonsense."

The resident of New Hope, Pa., and owner of Gerenser's Exotic Ice Cream planned to illuminate his store with extra theatrical lighting.

"I'm going to get everyone I know in my neighborhood to turn on every light they possibly can to waste as much electricity as possible to underline the absurdity of this action ... by being absurd," he said.

Earth Hour 2009 has garnered support from global corporations, nonprofit groups, schools, scientists and celebrities — including Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

McDonald's Corp. plans to dim its arches at 500 locations around the Midwest. The Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont hotel chains and Coca-Cola Co. also plan to participate.

Nearly 200 U.S. cities, towns and villages have signed on, from New York City — which will darken the iconic Empire State Building and Broadway marquees — to Igiugig, population 53 on Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska.

Among the efforts in Chicago, 50,000 light bulbs at tourist hotspot Navy Pier will dim and 24 spotlights that shine on Sears Tower's twin spires will go dark.

"We're the most visible building in the city," said Angela Burnett, a Sears Tower property manager. "Turning off the lights for one hour on a Saturday night shows our commitment to sustainability."

The Commonwealth Edison utility said electricity demand fell by 5 percent in Chicago and northern Illinois during last year's Earth Hour, reducing about 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

"It goes way beyond turning off the lights," said Roberts of the WWF. "The message we want people to take away is that it is within our power to solve this problem. People can take positive constructive actions."

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Top bank regulator placed on leave pending review

AP – In a March 18, 2009 file photo, Scott Polakoff, acting director, Office of Thrift Supervision testifies …Related

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1 hr 21 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A top bank regulator has been placed on leave pending a Treasury Department investigation into regulators' approval of backdated cash infusions for troubled thrifts.

The Office of Thrift Supervision said Thursday that its acting director, Scott Polakoff, was placed on leave "pending a review by the Department of the Treasury of the OTS' August 2008 actions related to post-period capital contributions."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner named OTS Chief Counsel John Bowman to replace Polakoff as acting director, the agency said. The OTS gave no further details on the Treasury Department's review and how it might relate to Polakoff.

Polakoff, who is the agency's chief operating officer, had held the acting-director position only since last month following the resignation of OTS Director John Reich. Agency spokesmen and Polakoff could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

Late last year it was revealed the OTS had approved in May a backdated infusion of $18 million for IndyMac Bancorp to March 31, allowing it to meet first-quarter government requirements for reserves held against possible losses.

Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac failed in July and cost the federal insurance fund for banks nearly $9 billion. The OTS removed Darrel Dochow, the agency's official in charge of the Western region, from that position and he later resigned from the agency.

Treasury Department Inspector General Eric Thorson wrote in a letter to members of Congress that the OTS had also allowed other thrifts to record capital infusions in an earlier period than when they were received.

Thrifts have been the most troubled regulated institutions during the financial crisis and among the most spectacular failures.

By law, they must have at least 65 percent of their lending in mortgages and other consumer loans — making them particularly vulnerable to the housing downturn. Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual was the largest bank to collapse in U.S. history, with around $307 billion in assets. It was later acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion.

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Google Aims to Connect Ads for TV, YouTube

Internet Giant Also Plans to Pare 200 Sales and Marketing Jobs After Years of Rapid Hiring

Google Inc. is developing technology to connect its TV-ad brokering business to YouTube and eventually video on other Web sites, as it struggles to lure bigger advertisers to both services.

The Mountain View, Calif., company also disclosed it was cutting its sales and marketing staff by nearly 200 positions, the company's biggest round of layoffs not associated with a merger.

Google's director of television ads, Michael Steib, said in an interview that the company is working on technology that allows advertisers to buy ads across Google TV, which sells on-air commercials; YouTube; and video on other Web sites through the same interface. Google is testing the service, called Google TV Ads Online, with a small group of advertisers, he said. People familiar with the matter say the service -- which would leverage Google TV's targeting technology -- is likely to be introduced in the coming months.

The company is hoping that the new service will make it easier for bigger brand advertisers to spend across both services, which are under pressure to ramp up their business despite the sour economy.

Associated Press

Google's layoffs are the biggest in the Internet giant's history outside of a merger restructuring.

But the feature is also part of Google's bigger vision of tying together various platforms to make it easier for advertisers to manage and measure their spending across traditional and online media, says Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube's director of product management for advertising. Google earlier this year canceled its efforts to broker ads across print and radio, but the company says it is confident that TV and video will be different.

For the new effort to work, YouTube needs to secure longer-form video such as TV shows and movies, for which users are often willing to tolerate longer ads. While it is in talks with major media companies, YouTube to date has only signed a small number of full-length content deals with companies such as CBS Corp.

Whether Google TV advertisers -- many of whom are just experimenting with the service -- will take advantage of the online video integration remains to be seen. Some TV ads may not be suited to run before or alongside online video. Mr. Steib said Google is working to determine the best formats.

There are big strategic battles at stake. As more consumers watch TV online, Google and other Internet companies see fresh opportunity to wrest business from traditional TV-ad sellers such as stations and cable companies. But those companies are fighting back by creating their own online services and ad-selling platforms that compete with YouTube and Google TV.

The service could position Google to sell ads against Internet-delivered TV as well. The company has been striking deals to make YouTube available through devices that play Internet-content on television, such as Apple Inc.'s Apple TV.

Google is working on the new service as it continues to experience shakeout from the broader economic turmoil. The company laid off 100 recruiters earlier this year and has significantly cut back on temporary workers, terminated products and trimmed perks. Google ended the fourth quarter with 20,222 full-time employees.

The latest staff cuts suggest that Google, whose ads alongside search results still sell relatively well, expects that the tough times will continue and could get worse. While it has been trying to diversify, 97% of the company's revenue still comes from online advertising. Google, which hired thousands of employees annually several years ago, has been scaling back that growth.

In a blog post announcing the changes, Omid Kordestani, Google's senior vice president of global sales and business development, said the company "over-invested in some areas in preparation for the growth trends we were experiencing at the time."

Write to Jessica E. Vascellaro at jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com

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Obama wants high-paying, high-skill jobs in future

AP – President Barack Obama holds an 'Open For Questions' town hall style meeting in the East Room of the …

Thu Mar 26, 4:24 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama fielded questions on jobs, the auto industry, universal health care, mortgages, education, veterans' care and legalization of marijuana as he kicked off a first-of-its-kind Internet era Town Hall at the White House. Obama said job creation in America is difficult in a time of economic hardship and that the work of the future should be in more high-paying, high-skill areas like clean energy technology.

Obama was asked at his virtual town hall meeting when people can expect a return of jobs that have been outsourced to other nations. He said the United States has suffered a "massive loss of jobs" because of the deep recession and the turmoil in the financial industry.

Obama also said many of the lost jobs in recent years involve work that was done by people getting very low wages and those with limited work skills. He said it will take some time — perhaps through the rest of the year — before vigorous hiring resumes, and that might not happen until businesses see evidence the economy is rebounding.

Speaking before taking questions sent in by online readers and from people assembled at the White House, Obama said the precedent-setting online town hall meeting Thursday was an "an important step" toward creating a broader avenue for information about his administration.

The president said, "When I was running for president, I promised to open the White House for the American people. This is an important step toward achieving that goal."

Before the meeting got under way, the White House had gotten over 100,000 online questions.

Obama says the current model for the U.S. auto industry is unsustainable and the Big Three manufacturers will have to change their ways.

Obama said the auto industry must be preserved, not only symbolically but for the satellite industries such as suppliers. However, he said his job is to protect U.S. taxpayers and he wouldn't spend federal dollars on "a model that doesn't work."

Obama said sales of new vehicles had been around 14 million, a number that has dropped to 9 million during the economic downturn. In part, that was due to Americans struggling to get auto loans and fears of big-ticket purchases as jobs disappear.

The president said even as the economy bounces back, Detroit can't focus on building more SUVs and counting on low gas prices.

Obama says the ideal path to universal health care is to build on the current system that relies in part on employer plans rather than scrap what has existed for generations.

Asked why the U.S. couldn't opt for a European system, Obama said the United States has a legacy of employer-based plans that have filled the needs of a majority of Americans. He said the country has a set of institutions that aren't easily transformed.

He said he is looking to Congress to find that optimal system and it needs to be overhauled now rather than waiting for decades.

He said the biggest driver of the nation's long-term deficit is Medicare and Medicaid.

Obama was asked about what help is available to Americans who are still making their mortgage payments but are struggling. He replied that his administration has made it easier for Americans to refinance. He says 40 percent of mortgages are now eligible for refinancing. And he said homeowners need to take advantage of that.

Obama says the number of refinanced mortgages is already starting to go up "significantly."

He says it's a way for homeowners to cut their monthly payments.

Obama says the best way to improve the nation's education system is with more money and more reform.

Obama said that greater investment in early childhood education and rewarding talented teachers would significantly improve the system.

He said the current school system — with three months off at midyear — was designed for an agriculture society centuries ago.

Obama said the only reason he had been elected president was because of the education he received, in large part through scholarships and his family's sacrifice. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

Obama also said there has to be a way to ease bad teachers out of the classroom. He was responding to a question from a Philadelphia-area schoolteacher. The woman looked away and refused to answer when Obama asked if she'd seen any teachers whose work was so bad she wouldn't want her own children in that class.

Obama said some people just aren't meant to be teachers.

He also said there needs to be other ways to evaluate teachers besides standardized tests. He said those tests can't measure progress in a struggling school, and that they represent the biggest flaw in the No Child Left Behind program.

Obama said that if teachers are forced to teach based solely on a test, fewer students will be inspired to learn.

Obama says when it comes to making sure returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have the support they need, government can't do the job alone.

He says communities and churches need to reach out to veterans and celebrate their return, and that businesses need to make jobs available to them.

Obama noted that veterans returning from Vietnam weren't treated well in many cases. He called that "inexcusable."

Obama repeated his support for increased funding for veterans programs, and the treatment of health problems such as post-traumatic stress.

Obama had some fun with at least one question, saying he doesn't think legalizing marijuana is a good strategy for turning around the economy.

Obama told the audience that one of the most popular questions was whether legalization of the illicit drug would help pull the nation out of the recession. The president jokingly said: "I don't know what this says about the online audience."

In a serious response, he said he didn't think that was a good economic policy.

Obama called nurses the backbone of the country's health care system and suggested they are unappreciated.

He said that at a time when his daughter Sasha had a serious medical issue, nurses rather than physicians were doing the bulk of the work at the hospital. Obama said: "It was the nurses who were there when she had to get a spinal tap and all the things that were bringing me to tears."

He said nurses must play a key role in setting the country's emerging health policy and said there actually is a shortage of nurses at a time when the country is experiencing rising joblessness.

"It's a way for the president to do what he enjoys doing out on the road, but saves on gas," press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the online meeting yesterday.

By 9 a.m. Thursday, the White House Web site had already logged more than 100,000 questions.

Obama used the Internet to build a grass-roots movement that delivered the presidency and raised unheard-of money. Now in power, he is employing the same online network and style to speak — unfiltered — with Americans.

The president already has taken that tactic on the road, spending two days on the West Coast last week at town hall-style meetings and appearing on Jay Leno's late-night talk show. It offered easier questions and a chance to get his message to the widest possible audience.

"It's not a whole lot different than were we in California doing the meeting," Gibbs said. "It's just we'll have people hooked up from a lot of different places all over the country, but he'll be able to do all that from the East Room."

Already, the White House is connecting the old-school press conference with the new-media event. It will be an easy contrast between skeptical reporters and supporter-selected questions.

Political operatives say the White House's strategy is a way to reach a demographic key to Obama's election.

"In the new world of online media, formal press conferences are just one element or program to get the message out — to those, usually older, who watch such things on TV. The online version he is doing is an alternative way to get out the same message, in this case on the budget, targeted toward a different audience, usually younger," said Morley Winograd, a former adviser to Vice President Al Gore who now runs the Institute for Communication Technology Management at the University of Southern California.

"In both cases the questioners are just props — or, in some cases, foils — for the star, Obama, to deliver his message. But in the latter case, they get to self-nominate instead of be selected by elites," Winograd said.

In a way, it's part campaign-style politics and part "American Idol," said political strategist Simon Rosenberg.

"Barack Obama is going to reinvent the presidency the way he reinvented electoral politics," said Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network and a veteran of presidential campaigns. "He is allowing everyday people to participate in a way that would've been impossible in the old media world."

Obama's campaign allowed supporters to organize themselves to go door-to-door and raise money. Because of that, many felt an ownership of the campaign and devoted countless hours to giving Obama the Democratic Party's nomination and then the presidency.

Obama's aides are taking that step forward, incorporating tools that let visitors to the White House Web site pick the questions Obama will answer, turning the president's Thursday event into a democratic press conference.

"Average people get to shape the outcome, like 'American Idol,'" Rosenberg said. "This is not a couch-potato age. Average people are expecting to be part of the process."

Yet the process lends itself to softer questions and ones the White House is eager to answer, Republicans noted.

"The president is going back to the safe confines he was always most comfortable with, in this case a friendly audience where the focus is on the sale rather than the substance," GOP strategist Kevin Madden said.

Obama remains a popular figure, although the country and Congress are reluctant to embrace his budget proposals. Aides say that the more the president talks about his plans — and frames his budget proposal through real-world needs — the more Americans would be swayed.

In that vein, Obama aides want to keep the questions about energy, health care and education, the three key priorities in his first budget document. Some of the questions will be from the Web site, others via YouTube and some from an audience of about 100 people representing teachers, nurses and small-business employees.

"The president just thinks it's another opportunity to talk directly with the American people about the challenges that we have, the choices and the decisions that we're making, and the path that we're taking to get us back to prosperous days," Gibbs said.

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