E-learning services in Chennai

E-learning is one of our core expertise areas as it brings together out vision of simplifying of your processes, while adding value to your business. In effect of their passion for innovation and technology, web application development, content management and assessment and reporting applications have been the favoured tasks by professionals at Exemplarr Worldwide Ltd. Many content providers are looking to digitize their print formatted learning material in cost-effective ways. We also help convert CD-formatted content through web publishing. Translation and localization are another of our specializations. We provide excellent quality translations of your content into 15 global languages by well-practiced professionals and can also localize the content according to a specific region's cultural needs.

Exemplarr Worldwide Ltd's all-inclusive and systematic solution needs to be in tone with your specific training needs. So we evaluate the requirements, understand the users and study the performance gaps if any and then devise a suitable instructional design that ensures that your training goals are met completely. We also provide consultancy services to companies on the basis of our analysis and our prevalent experience in this arena. Our QC professionals guide you with the quality checking of the e-learning programs developed by us or already existing in your organization and are available for help and support all the way through. 

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Kanye gets 7 Grammy noms; Adele, Mars, Foos get 6

Adele scored six Grammy nominations on Wednesday, including for record, song and album of the year, but the owner of the 2011's best-selling album with "21" wasn't the night's top nominee—and that wasn't the evening's only surprise.

Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song "All of the Lights." However, the album from which it came—"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010—was shut out of the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.

Other notable omissions in the top categories included country phenomenon Taylor Swift and veteran crooner Tony Bennett.

Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations each, including in the album of the year category. Critical-darling folky act Bon Iver scored four nominations, with two in the prestigious record and song of the year categories; and dubstep star Skrillex may have been the night's biggest surprise, getting five nominations, including a bid for best new artist.

The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy's fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and the Band Perry.

Even though Adele didn't get the lion's share of nominations, she got them where it counted: Her "21," the mournful post-breakup album that produced smash hits like the torch ballad "Someone Like You"—was nominated for album of the year. The searing groove "Rolling in the Deep," which spent seven weeks at No. 1 this past summer, got nominations for both record and song of the year. Only Mars got nominations in all three categories as well.

Other nominees in the record of the year category included Bon Iver's ballad "Holocene"; Mars' ballad "Grenade"; Mumford & Sons' "The Cave"; and Katy Perry's inspirational anthem "Firework." For song of the year, which honors the writers of the tune, contenders included "The Cave," "Grenade, "Holocene" and Lady Gaga's "You and I." 

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Grammy Awards nominations in top categories

The Associated Press (AP) - LOS ANGELES Nominees announced Wednesday in top categories for the 54th annual Grammy Awards:

Record of the Year: "Rolling in the Deep," Adele; "Holocene," Bon Iver; "Grenade," Bruno Mars; "The Cave," Mumford & Sons; "Firework," Katy Perry.

Album of the Year: "21," Adele; "Wasting Light," Foo Fighters; "Born This Way," Lady Gaga; "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," Bruno Mars; "Loud," Rihanna.

Song of the Year: "All of the Lights," Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West, songwriters (performed by Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie); "The Cave," Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons); "Grenade," Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars and Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Bruno Mars); "Holocene," Justin Vernon, songwriter (Bon Iver); "Rolling in the Deep," Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele).

New Artist: The Band Perry, Bon Iver, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, Skrillex.

Pop Vocal Album: "21," Adele; "The Lady Killer," Cee Lo Green; "Born This Way," Lady Gaga; "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," Bruno Mars; "Loud," Rihanna.

Rock Album: "Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul," Jeff Beck; "Wasting Light," Foo Fighters; "Come Around Sundown," Kings of Leon; "I'm With You," Red Hot Chili Peppers; "The Whole Love," Wilco.

R&B Album: "F.A.M.E.," Chris Brown; "Second Chance," El DeBarge; "Love Letter," R. Kelly; "Pieces of Me," Ledisi; "Kelly," Kelly Price.

Rap Album: "Watch the Throne," Jay-Z and Kanye West; "Tha Carter IV," Lil Wayne; "Lasers," Lupe Fiasco; "Pink Friday," Nicki Minaj; "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," Kanye West.

Country Album: "My Kinda Party," Jason Aldean; "Chief," Eric Church; "Own the Night," Lady Antebellum; "Red River Blue," Blake Shelton; "Here for a Good Time," George Strait; "Speak Now," Taylor Swift.

Latin Pop, Rock or Urban Album: "Entren Los Que Quieran," Calle 13; "Entre La Ciudad y El Mar," Gustavo Galindo; "Nuestra," La Vida Boheme; "Not So Commercial," Los Amigos Invisibles; "Drama y Luz," Mana. 

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American students abroad told to resist protests

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Every year American colleges and universities send more than 270,000 students to study abroad and more of them are choosing unconventional destinations, which in places like Egypt can entice students to ignore well-meaning warnings from back home and plunge into the political upheaval in the streets.

"I think the temptation is there, to wrap up in a keffiyeh and try to look like any other Egyptian revolutionary, to feel a little exhilaration from a kind of danger you don't get in America," said Wittney Dorn, 20, of Appleton, Wis., who is studying at the American University in Cairo.

Universities have been repeating the importance of striking the right balance between safety and cultural immersion after the Nov. 20 arrest of three American students during the protests near Tahrir Square, the Cairo roundabout that has been the epicenter of the Jan. 25 uprising against ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Dorn said in an email from Cairo that she's been following the advice she got from both from American University and her home college, St. Olaf in Northfield, to avoid crowds, political demonstrations and Tahrir Square specifically.

"It's not a brilliant idea to go exploring an area where people are being killed, despite how tempting it may be to watch history unfold before one's eyes," Dorn wrote.

A survey earlier this month from the nonprofit Institute of International Education found more than 270,000 U.S. students studied abroad during the 2009-10 school year, up about 4 percent from a year earlier. Most went to western Europe: Britain, Italy, Spain and France. But the survey found increasing numbers in less traditional destinations; Egypt, for example, hosted 1,923 Americans, up 8 percent.

"A lot of students are trying to find places that will help them understand the emerging world," said Peggy Blumenthal, who oversees research at the institute as the senior counselor to the president. They are preparing for careers in public health, the sciences and national security, for example, she said.

Blumenthal said she doubted students who picked more challenging programs were any more likely to ignore security guidelines than others. "I honestly think that it's not just about going abroad to these places for thrill seeking, as much as it's about really wanting to understand," she said.

Many universities and operators of study abroad programs have been trying to prod students out of what can become a comfort zone of huddling with their fellow American students. That push to engage can be broadening in a "safe" country; in a country with a suddenly dicey political situation, it can be hazardous.

"Sometimes you have to take limits to your full immersion for safety's sake," said Eric Lund, director of off-campus studies at St. Olaf College, a liberal arts college about 35 miles south of Minneapolis, where nearly 70 percent of the class of 2011 studied abroad.

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Border staff, teachers join 1-day UK strike

LONDON (AP) - Airline passengers arriving in Britain escaped chaos early Wednesday despite dire predictions of long waits, as border staff joined teachers, hospital workers and weather forecasters in the country's largest strike in decades.

The one-day strike has been called in protest at the government's plan to make public sector pensions less generous in the years ahead. The pension reforms are part of a package of austerity measures designed to get a grip on the country's high borrowing levels.

London's Heathrow Airport and scores of airlines had warned that international travelers could be held in lines for up to 12 hours at immigration halls as a result of staff shortages. But airport managers said flights arriving early Wednesday from the United States, Asia and Europe were largely unaffected, in part because of contingency plans which saw bureaucrats drafted in to staff border desks.

"Immigration queues are currently at normal levels," Heathrow's operator BAA said in a statement. "However, there still remains a possibility of delays for arriving passengers later in the day."

Labor unions said as many as 2 million public sector staff were expected to join the strike, called to oppose government demands that they work longer before receiving a public pension and contribute more money each month.

A government report found taxpayers contribute about 32 billion pounds ($50 billion) each year to public sector pensions, and warned the gap between contributions and payments could rise to 9 billion pounds ($14 billion) by 2015.

Strikers were also protesting sharp public spending cuts, which on Tuesday saw the government extend pay curbs further. When the current freeze runs out, the government has set a 1 percent limit on public sector pay rises through 2014.

Announcing an extension of austerity measures, Treasury chief George Osborne said the age for collecting state pensions would be raised to 67 in 2026, earlier than previously planned.

The decision followed an official forecast which marked down Britain's predicted growth to a feeble 0.7 percent next year, from the previous 2.5 percent prediction made in March.

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Police: officers shoot woman stabbing her child

ATLANTA (AP) - Police officers shot and killed a woman in an Atlanta home when she didn't comply with orders to stop stabbing her young daughter, who also died, authorities said Monday.

Police and fire rescue personnel were called to the home Monday afternoon and were told an 8-year-old boy had been assaulted by his mother and thrown out a window, said an Atlanta Police spokesman, Maj. Keith Meadows.

Meadows said witnesses told officers the mother was alone inside the home with her young daughter. He said officers entered the house and found the mother sitting in a chair, stabbing the child.

Two officers drew their service weapons and ordered the woman to drop a knife, firing at her when she did not comply, Meadows said. He said between 10 and 16 shots were fired.

Police spokesman Carlos Campos said the stabbing victim was dead at the scene, while the 8-year-old boy was hospitalized in stable condition with apparently minor injuries. Police said they did not know if the daughter had been struck by a bullet, and did not know a motive for the attacks on the children.

Campos said the officers involved in the shooting will be placed on a routine administrative leave during the investigation.

Neighbor Lela Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the family had lived in the home about a year and a half. She said the child who died was nearly 5 years old.

The mother's name was not immediately released. 

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Top prize at Gotham Film Awards ends in tie

(AP) New York — In truly independent fashion, the Gotham Independent Film Awards ended with a tie for Best Feature. Terrence Malick's highly imaginative "The Tree of Life," and Mike Mills's flashback comedy, "Beginners," both received the night's high honor.

The unprecedented ruling was announced via video screen to the audience by jury member Natalie Portman who said her peers were "stuck" when it came to selecting a winner, so they "chose to honor both."

"The Tree of Life" starred Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, and also won the Palm d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. "Beginners" was released last year and stars Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.

The Gotham Film Awards kicks off award season, and has honored many Oscar-nominated films, including the 2008 winner for Best Picture, "The Hurt Locker."

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Former Chicago first lady Maggie Daley dies at 68

CHICAGO (AP) - Maggie Daley, the wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and a gracious promoter of the city's cultural and educational programs, has died. She was 68.

The former Chicago first lady, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, died Thursday night, family spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard told The Associated Press. Daley had been a reserved and dignified presence at her husband's side during his 22 eventful years as mayor.

Heard said Daley was surrounded by her husband and children when she died just after 6 p.m. CDT.

"The mayor and his family would like to thank the people of Chicago for the many kindnesses they've shown Mrs. Daley over the years, and they appreciate your prayers during this time," Heard said.

When she first learned she had breast cancer in June 2002, Daley said she was shocked. "But you pick up and you move on. ... I'm not alone here. There are a lot of people who have experienced this," Daley said in the weeks after the diagnosis.

The Daleys' daughter, Lally, had moved up her wedding from New Year's Eve to Nov. 17 so her mother could fully participate. The former mayor said his wife had a difficult summer, and a longtime mayoral aide said she had suffered setbacks and was not getting around as much as she normally did.

When Richard Daley was elected to his first term as Chicago's mayor in 1989, he thanked his wife in his acceptance speech, calling her "the best campaigner in the family." She was with him at the September 2010 news conference when he announced he wouldn't seek another term. He left office in May 2011.

During his time in office, Richard Daley would routinely tear up when he spoke about his wife. They had met while he was campaigning for the Illinois Senate and were married in 1972. Eventually, their partnership became a steady force for the city during his at-times turbulent two decades at the helm of the nation's third-largest city. 

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Ravens beat 49ers 16-6 in duel of Harbaughs

BALTIMORE (AP) - Big brother got the best of little brother in a unique NFL duel.

The Baltimore Ravens tied a franchise record with nine sacks and beat the San Francisco 49ers 16-6 Thursday night, giving John Harbaugh reason to celebrate after the first NFL game featuring brothers as opposing head coaches.

The Ravens (8-3) chased, hindered and battered Alex Smith for much of the night despite playing without middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the team's leading tackler and spiritual leader. Lewis was inactive for a second straight game with a foot injury.

Terrell Suggs had three sacks for Baltimore, which moved a half-game ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North.

The nine sacks tied a franchise record, accomplished twice previously.

San Francisco (9-2) had its eight-game winning streak broken under rookie coach Jim Harbaugh.

John, 49, and Jim, 47, grew up dueling each other in all sorts of games. Competing this time on a national stage, John secured an emotional win over his little brother.

During the final minute, John got a Gatorade bath from his players—twice. After the final whistle, the brothers hugged at midfield.

Baltimore broke a 6-6 tie with a 76-yard, 16-play drive that lasted more than 7 1/2 minutes and ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to tight end Dennis Pitta with 14:56 left. Flacco went 4 for 4 for 34 yards and a touchdown on third down during the drive.

Billy Cundiff wrapped up the scoring with his third field goal, a 39-yarder with 4:16 remaining.

In a game dominated by both defenses, Flacco finished 15 for 23 for 161 yards and Ray Rice ran for 59 yards on 21 carries. 

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Cairo street battles rage on through the night

(Reuters) - Egyptian riot police fired barrages of tear gas at hardcore protesters demanding Egypt's army relinquish power in a sixth night of violence which has led the interior minister, according to one report, to propose postponing elections due on November 28.

Scores of young men, coughing and gasping for air stumbled into dark side streets off Cairo's Tahrir Square to escape the acrid smoke during the to-and-fro battle with police.

But undeterred, tens of thousands still thronged the square peacefully late into the night on Wednesday to protest at the deaths of more than 30 people in the violence and reject the army's offer of a referendum on its rule.

In light of the violence, Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawy presented a report to the military council proposing a postponement of the parliamentary election planned for November 28, Al Jazeera television said on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.

The election, due to begin on Monday, has been billed as Egypt's first free vote in decades.

The army and the Muslim Brotherhood, which expects to do well in the election, says it must go ahead but many protesters are unwilling to trust the army to oversee a clean vote and hand real control of the country to the winner.

The generals' popularity has waned in the nine months since they nudged President Hosni Mubarak from office and swore to steer the country toward civilian democracy, as suspicion grew that they were manoeuvring to stay in power beyond elections.

The head of the military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, has pledged to bring forward a presidential vote and offered a new interim government but the demonstrators are unconvinced.

"The military council must leave and hand power to civilians. They don't want to leave so that their corruption isn't exposed," said 23-year-old student Ahmed Essam.

He said he joined the protests when he saw riot police raining blows on peaceful demonstrators on Saturday. "Everything is like in Mubarak's time," he said.

DEATHS

Gunfire rattled near the Interior Ministry, a symbol of state authority and target of the protesters, on Wednesday night. Several gave accounts of people shot dead but these could not immediately be verified.

At a makeshift clinic near Tahrir, doctor Tareq Salem said four people had died there on Wednesday, two from bullet wounds and two from asphyxiation.

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Plane Crashes Into Superstition Mountains Near Phoenix

A small twin-engine plane crashed into the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix on Wednesday night and there was no apparent sign of survivors, authorities said.

Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site in rugged terrain reported finding two debris field on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact, the Pinal County sheriff's office said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer says the Rockwell AC69 had just departed from Mesa's Falcon Field when it crashed about 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix. Authorities started getting calls reporting an explosion near the peak of a mountain at about 6:30 p.m.

It was unclear how many passengers were aboard the plane, which was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford, Ariz. A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined to comment on the crash and refused to identify himself.

Calls to Falcon Field, which mostly serves small, private planes, weren't immediately returned.

Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.

Rescue crews who arrived by helicopter reported finding 24-inch tires at the crash site, which would indicate a small twin-engine plane.

Pinal County sheriff's spokeswoman Angelique Graham said people who heard an explosion near the Flat Iron area close to Lost Dutchman State Park.

"People said it sounded like fireworks going off," Graham said.

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Helicopter crashes installing Christmas tree in Auckland

The pilot of a helicopter which crashed in central Auckland while installing a Christmas tree has miraculously escaped without serious injuries.

The seven-storey-high tree was being put up near the Te Wero Island bridge connecting the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter on the waterfront.

The crew and pilot are OK, Telecom, which sponsors the tree, said. A St John ambulance spokesman said it was taking one person to Auckland City Hospital with minor to moderate injuries.

Telecom wrote on Twitter: "Can confirm the helicopter that crashed was putting up our Xmas tree. We're really happy to confirm pilot and ground crew all OK."

The accident, which occured about 10.30am (8.30am AEDT) today, was seen live on the TVNZ website as it was streaming the event.

Witness Steve Hall said the helicopter appeared to be trying to lift a tower near the drawbridge.

It then hovered below the tip of the tower where the blades clipped the connecting wire, threw the wire into the air and sent the helicopter into a spin before it crashed into the ground, with the cockpit pointing up into the air.

Mr Hall and several others were watching from a boat moored in the viaduct and said they remarked that the blades were getting close to the wire before they struck.

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Egypt questions 3 detained U.S. students

INDIANAPOLIS — The spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo says three students arrested during protests in the city have been questioned by a prosecutor.

Morgan Roth says the three were supposed to be questioned Tuesday under the observation of university and U.S. Embassy representatives. She thought that was cancelled but later found out they had been questioned with an embassy official present.

The students have been held in Cairo since their arrest Monday night.

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Deadly stampede at Southeast Asian Games soccer final in Jakarta

TWO people have been killed and a young boy was left in a coma after a terrifying stampede when thousands of fans jammed Jakarta's biggest stadium for the Southeast Asian Games soccer final.

An AFP reporter at the scene said hundreds of people were packed tight against ticket barriers as police closed the gates shortly before kick-off at the game late on Monday, with many fans inside forced to crouch in aisles and walkways.

Police said two people were trampled to death after supporters rushed into the sold-out 88,000-capacity venue by breaking through the gate at Section 15, the Jakarta Post reported.

One of the victims was identified as Reno Alvino, 21, while the other has not yet been identified, the Jakarta Globe reported, adding that as the game itself went into extra time, the ambulance carrying both bodies was reportedly still stuck in the stadium complex.

Other reports said several people were taken to the hospital, including a nine-year-old boy who had fallen into a coma.

The harrowing incident followed complaints over poor organization at the sprawling, multi-sport showpiece, and calls for calm ahead of the flashpoint soccer final between arch-rivals Indonesia and Malaysia, AFP reported.

 

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Family handout/Ventura County Star Teen Pleads Guilty to Killing 8th Grade Classmate

A teen who shot and killed his eighth grade classmate in 2008 has reached a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty to second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter with use of a weapon in exchange for a 21-year prison term, which will be served in both youth facilities and prison.

Brandon McInerney, now 17, was 14 when he shot his classmate Larry King, 15, at their Oxnard, Calif., middle school. The plea deal comes ahead of what would have been McInerney's second murder trial. The second trial could have resulted in McInerney being convicted of first-degree murder and being sentenced to 50 years in prison.

The deal denied McInerney credit for time served, so he will end up having served a sentence of nearly 25 years. He turns 18 in January; when he is released, he will be 39. He was charged and tried as an adult.

The deal was reached despite McInerney's lawyers having argued that he was guilty of only voluntary manslaughter. They had argued also that because McInerney had just turned 14 when he shot King, he was, in the words of defense attorney Scott Weprin, "a kid who made a very bad mistake" and who should have been tried as a juvenile -- meaning he would have been free when he was age 25.

Wippert told ABC News that after McInerney's trial there was no "mechanism" to switch the case to juvenile court, a law he said needed to change. 

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Earthquake: M 5.9, Myanmar - usgs

GUWAHATI: An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked India's northeast, Myanmar and Bangladesh Monday, triggering panic among people.

The tremor was felt at 8.47 a.m. in most parts of Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, besides in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The epicentre was located at 24.947°N, 95.226°E in Myanmar, about 130 km east of Manipur capital Imphal, the website of US Geological Survey said.

Seven northeastern states - Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur - are considered by seismologists to be the sixth most earthquake-prone belt in the world.

The region experienced one of the worst earthquakes, measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, in 1897, that claimed the lives of over 1,600 people.

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'Lone wolf' terror suspect arrested in New York

New York (CNN) -- Authorities have arrested a man they claim was plotting to detonate pipe bombs in and around New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday night.

The intended targets of Jose Pimentel, 27, were U.S. military personnel who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as U.S. postal facilities and police in New York and Bayonne, New Jersey, according to Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The suspect was described by Bloomberg as an "al Qaeda sympathizer," though he is not believed to have ever worked with or received training from anyone in that terrorist organization.

Bloomberg announces terror arrest

"There is no evidence he worked with anyone else," Bloomberg said. "He appears to be ... a lone wolf."

The police commissioner identified the suspect as a follower of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric who rose to become a top figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Pimental allegedly tried to contact al-Awlaki directly, but never got a response.

An unemployed native of the Dominican Republican who is a U.S. citizen, Pimentel had lived most of his life in Manhattan, except for five years in Schenectady, New York. He'd had been monitored by authorities since 2009 and his extreme positions "made even some of his like-minded friends nervous," said Kelly.

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Fire outside Reno forces thousands to flee

A wind-stoked fire that erupted early Friday chased thousands of residents from their homes on the outskirts of Reno, as orange flames licked the sky and chewed through 2,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The Caughlin fire destroyed or damaged 25 homes as 60-mph gusts scattered embers and flooded houses with smoke. A 74-year-old man fleeing his home died of heart failure, officials said, and more than a dozen people were treated for heart and respiratory problems.

A firefighter who suffered first- and second-degree burns was hospitalized.

"People are in a state of shock," said Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who declared a state of emergency. "People woke up last night in the middle of the night with their house full of smoke, to suddenly step out on their deck [and] see flames several feet high."

By midday, fire officials said they had halted the blaze's spread, potentially sparing thousands of homes and clearing the way for nearly 10,000 evacuees to return Saturday.

The cause of the fire, which erupted just after midnight, is under investigation. Fierce, erratic winds — which had already downed power lines and knocked over trees — fanned the conflagration and grounded helicopters.

More than 400 firefighters strained to stay in front of the towering flames, which could be seen from Reno's downtown casinos.

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Obama would get a vote of 'no confidence' from just over half of Americans, poll finds

IF Americans could cast a "confidence" vote in the style of European parliaments, US President Barack Obama would not fare well. A 56 per cent majority would give his administration a vote of "no confidence".

In addition, there's more bad news for the White House in a FOX News poll released today. By a wide 68-29 per cent margin, voters say they do not see "any signs the nation's economy has started to turn the corner".

The 56 per cent "no confidence" number includes 30 per cent of Democrats and 62 per cent of independents. By comparison, 40 per cent of voters overall would cast a "vote of confidence" for the administration.

That's similar to Obama's overall job performance rating. Currently 42 per cent of voters approve and 48 per cent disapprove. This is the fifth month in a row where more voters have disapproved than approved of Obama. Last month 43 per cent approved and 50 per cent disapproved.

Related Coverage

Gillard closes gap in PM poll Herald Sun, 3 days ago

Obama disapproval rate hits 50 per cent The Daily Telegraph, 17 Sep 2011

Obama pins hopes on jobs drive The Australian, 8 Sep 2011

Obama battling grim polls The Australian, 7 Sep 2011

68 per cent of voters don't want Gillard The Daily Telegraph, 6 Sep 2011

By a 13 percentage-point margin more voters think Obama's economic policies have hurt (48 per cent) rather than helped (35 per cent) the economy.

Forty-four per cent think Obama's economic policies will help in the long run, while 48 per cent think they will hurt. Clearly the administration has failed to convince voters that their policies will ultimately pay off, as the current views are little changed from last year, when 45 per cent said the policies would eventually help and 44 per cent said they would hurt (October 2010).

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Police and protesters clash in Athens

Anti-austerity protesters have clashed with police in Athens during a march to mark the anniversary of the 1973 uprising that helped bring down Greece's military rulers.

Masked youths on Thursday threw firebombs at police outside of parliament during an annual protest march to the

US Embassy.

"The challenge for the Greek government is to give people hope, not necessarily the kinds of people who are out there demonstrating today, but - if you like - the silent majority.

- Barnaby Phillips, Al Jazeera

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the rioters, and some 60 people were detained for questioning but no injuries were reported.

According to police estimates, 28,000 people took part in the march, making it one of the biggest November 17 demonstrations in years.

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from Athens, described the scene as "something of a lockdown atmosphere" with police out in large numbers.

Authorities said that 7,000 officers have been deployed to the protest, including about 700 riot police equipped with tear gas, shields and batons.

The November 17 demonstration traditionally draws huge crowds in the Greek capital every year.

People march from the polytechnic to the US embassy in protest at US support of the six-year junta, which the US saw at the time as a buffer against communism.

Large protests have also been reported in Crete, Patras and Thessalonika.

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More Americans than not want health law repeal: poll

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the Supreme Court prepares to review President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, more Americans want to see it repealed than want to keep it, a poll released on Wednesday shows.

A Gallup survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults found that 47 percent favor the repeal of healthcare reform, versus 42 percent who want the law kept in place. Eleven percent had no opinion.

But the survey also showed that 50 percent of Americans believe the federal government has a responsibility to make sure everyone has health coverage, compared with 46 percent who do not.

The results, which have a 4 percentage point margin of error, suggest a sharply divided U.S. public as the Supreme Court prepares to begin hearing legal arguments next March from 26 states and an independent business group that want the law struck down as unconstitutional.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans by expanding Medicaid and establishing special state-run insurance markets called exchanges.

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Suspect in shooting near White House arrested

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man with an apparent obsession with President Barack Obama has been arrested in Pennsylvania after the Secret Service discovered two bullets struck the White House while the president was away, authorities said Wednesday.

One bullet smashed into a window of the living quarters of the executive mansion but was stopped by ballistic glass.

The arrest of Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, came days after reports of shots fired on Friday night near the White House while Obama and his wife Michelle were on a trip to California and Hawaii. The president has since traveled on to Australia, second stop on a nine-day Asia-Pacific tour, and the White House had no comment on the unfolding events.

The U.S. Secret Service said it discovered Tuesday that the two bullets hit the White House. U.S. Park Police had earlier linked Ortega, a 21-year-old man from Idaho Falls, Idaho, to the reports of gunfire.

A U.S. Park Police crime bulletin issued before Ortega's arrest said he is known to have mental health issues, adding "Ortega should be considered unstable with violent tendencies."

Authorities are investigating his mental health and say there are indications he believed his attack on the White House was part of a personal mission from God, according to a law enforcement official. There are also indications the man had become obsessed with Obama and the White House, according to two officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

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Crackdowns reach epicenter of Wall Street protests

NEW YORK (AP) — Crackdowns against the Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country reached the epicenter of the movement Tuesday, when police rousted protesters from a Manhattan park and a judge ruled that their free speech rights do not extend to pitching a tent and setting up camp for months at a time.

It was a potentially devastating setback. If crowds of demonstrators return to Zuccotti Park, they will not be allowed to bring tents, sleeping bags and other equipment that turned the area into a makeshift city of dissent.

But demonstrators pledged to carry on with their message protesting corporate greed and economic inequality, either in Zuccotti or a yet-to-be chosen new home.

"This is much bigger than a square plaza in downtown Manhattan," said Hans Shan, an organizer who was working with churches to find places for protesters to sleep. "You can't evict an idea whose time has come."

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman upheld the city's eviction of the protesters after an emergency appeal by the National Lawyers Guild.

The protesters have been camped out in the privately owned park since mid-September. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he ordered the sweep because health and safety conditions and become "intolerable" in the crowded plaza. The raid was conducted in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation" and "to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood," he said.

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Gunman wounded by police in UC Berkeley shooting

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — A man with a gun was shot by police Tuesday inside the business school at the University of California, Berkeley, after hundreds of students and anti-Wall Street activists descended on the campus for a day of protests.

The shooting occurred at the Haas School of Business on the east side of campus, less than a half-mile away from the protest site.

Ute Frey, a spokeswoman for the university, said officials did not yet know whether the suspect was part of the Occupy Cal movement.

"I just hope it wasn't from the protest or the movement, because that's not what the movement is about," said Sadia Saif, a 19-year-old UC Berkeley sophomore.

University officials said a female staff member saw a man carrying what appeared to be a gun in an elevator at the business school after 2 p.m. The staff member called police at 2:17 p.m., saying she saw the man remove the gun from a backpack.

Police said they arrived at 2:19 p.m. and had to locate the suspect in the building. Officers found the suspect in a third-floor computer room where there were at least four students, university officials said.

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Perry vows real change if elected

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, looking to breathe new life into his bid for the Republican nomination, opened an Iowa campaign swing by warning activists not to settle for a candidate who will just propose incremental change.

"The solution is not to nominate someone who is just going to nibble around the edges," said Perry. "Washington doesn't need a new coat of paint, it needs a complete overhaul."

Perry has lagged in recent polls, but he told about 300 activists that he is proposing a fundamental overhaul over all three branches of government. He told them none of the other Republicans seeking the nomination offer that kind of sweeping change.

He vowed to "uproot the three branches of government and overhaul government.

"They each have contributed to the demise of America," Perry said. Perry has scheduled an Iowa speech on Tuesday where he plans to lay out details of his overhaul. But he told the activists it will be sweeping and form the basis of the case he will make to activists who will show up for Jan. 3 precinct caucuses.

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Obama to backers: Everything on the line in 2012

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) — Politicking in his boyhood home, President Barack Obama told supporters Monday that everything they worked for and that the country stands for is on the line in his 2012 re-election bid, warning of a bleak America should a Republican win.

At ease in Hawaii, where he was born and vacations each year, Obama sprinkled his standard campaign speech with personal memories and called himself the "hometown kid." But his message turned urgent in trying to get his backers to think of the next election as a choice between a vision of a big country of opportunity or one where regular people lose their voice.

"You kept up the fight for change long after the election was over, and that should make you proud," Obama said inside a lush resort on the western side of Oahu. "It should make you hopeful. But it can't make you satisfied."

He added: "Everything we fought for in the last election is now at stake in the next election. The very core of what this country stands for is on the line."

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GOP co-chair: Debt talks a 'roller coaster ride'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican co-chair of a committee in charge of slashing the nation's deficit on Sunday called deliberations a "roller coaster ride" and gave no indication that a deal could be struck before the panel's Thanksgiving deadline.

Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling said the panel will fail unless Democrats agree to significant "structural" changes to entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. When asked whether that could be done in a matter of days, he said "we haven't given up hope."

"But if this were easy, the president of the United States (Barack Obama) and the speaker of the House (John Boehner) would have gotten it done themselves," Hensarling said.

The supercommittee has until Nov. 23 to agree on how to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion in the next decade. Any amount less than that would be made up in automatic across-the-board cuts divided evenly between defense and domestic programs.

The panel has been stymied for weeks over taxes. Democrats want to raise revenue by making tax code changes that directly add money to government coffers. Republicans have agreed to increase government revenue, but are demanding large cuts to benefit programs, which they say are bleeding Americans dry.

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Police move in on Portland park, protesters remain

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Several hundred protesters, some wearing goggles and gas masks, marched past authorities in a downtown street Sunday, hours after riot police forced Occupy Portland demonstrators out of a pair of weeks-old encampments in nearby parks.

Police moved in shortly before noon and drove protesters into the street after dozens remained in the camp in defiance city officials. Mayor Sam Adams had ordered that the camp shut down Saturday at midnight, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment's attraction of drug users and thieves.

More than 50 protesters were arrested in the police action, but officers did not use tear gas, rubber bullets or other so-called non-lethal weapons, police said.

After the police raid, the number of demonstrators swelled throughout the afternoon. By early evening, dozens of officers brandishing nightsticks stood shoulder-to-shoulder to hold the protesters back. Authorities retreated and protesters broke the standoff by marching through the streets.

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Obama caps summit diplomacy in Hawaiian home state

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) — President Barack Obama on Sunday tied the hopes of a faster American economic recovery to the booming Pacific Rim region, saying "we're not going to be able to put our folks back to work" unless the Asia-Pacific region is successful as an engine for the world.

"We consider it a top priority," Obama said of the region where his administration is pouring in time and political capital to expand exports and business ties.

The president spoke as he dove into a day of summit diplomacy, proudly using his home state of Hawaii as the American foothold to the Pacific. He gathered with leaders of 20 other nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose nations span from Chile to China and account for roughly half the world's trade and economic output.

In the midst of a hard re-election bid, Obama kept his message on jobs, even as he privately lobbied for help on containing the Iranian nuclear threat.

He was to cap the summit with a solo news conference in which topics on and off his scripted agenda were likely to emerge.

Born in Hawaii, Obama reveled in having the world stage on his home turf, while back east the Republicans seeking to oust him from the White House assailed his foreign policy record.

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Police probe possible shots fired near White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police closed a stretch of Constitution Avenue near the White House Friday night to investigate reports of gunfire in the area and recovered an AK-47 assault rifle.

Sgt. David Schlosser of the U.S. Park Police said the White House did not appear to have been the focus of the incident.

Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said witnesses heard shots and saw two vehicles racing on Constitution Avenue toward 17th Street, and one of the vehicles was abandoned at 23rd and Constitution.

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Deaths at Occupy camps bring pressure for shutdown

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Leaders across the country felt increasing pressure Friday to shut down Occupy encampments after two men died in shootings and another was found dead from a suspected combination of drugs and carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a propane heater inside a tent.

Citing a strain on crime-fighting resources, police first pleaded with and then ordered Occupy Oakland protesters to leave their encampment at the City Hall plaza where a man was shot and killed late Thursday.

The Oakland Police Officer's Association, which represents rank-and-file police, issued an open letter saying the camp is pulling officers away from crime-plagued neighborhoods.

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11-11-11 brings hopes of good luck

Place your bets! Tie the knot! Make a wish!

Friday is the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011, and around the country, many people are planning to mark the triple convergence of 11s with a splash, hoping it will bring them good fortune or at least amuse them for a day.

Marjaneh Peyrovan, who just moved to New York, plans to buy 11 lottery tickets (each, of course, including the number 11). She will check out apartments she has been eyeing. And precisely at 11:11 a.m., she will walk into the office of Diane von Furstenberg, the fashion designer for whom she has long dreamed of working.

"People say on 11/11 things happen, things will come true," she said. "You never know."

Twins Betsy and Katie Overman of Madison, Wis., will celebrate their 11th birthdays with sweet bread topped with a buttercream number 11. Their mother, Julie Overman, plans to put 11 candles in their meals and snacks. And the twins will wear socks festooned with 11s.

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