Taliban renew Afghan offensive despite UN plea

By Hamid Shalizi and Rob Taylor

KABUL | Sun 1 May 2011, 8: 28 am EDT

KABUL (Reuters)-insurgents under the leadership of the Taliban at least 11 people killed in Afghanistan in a renewed springtime offensive on Sunday despite a huge security clampdown, hours after the United Nations pleaded for all parties to avoid civilian casualties.

The hardline Islamists have warned citizens to stay away from public gatherings, military bases and convoys, as well as the Government offices, because these sites would be the target of a wave of attacks begins on Sunday.

Both sides of the conflict have vowed to protect civilians – the civilian toll hit record levels in 2010--but more than half of the deaths on Sunday were ordinary Afghans.

"Our mission is to ensure that citizens and Afghan people are not affected by now 11 years of conflict," said Staffan de Mistura, the head of the UN in Afghanistan, Reuters Television in his heavily guarded compound in the capital Kabul.

"What we are concerned about, and I believe that every Afghan is concerned about is whether the Afghans and Afghan citizens will again the victims of a long conflict," said de Mistura.

The vast majority of civilian casualties in Afghanistan are caused by insurgents, figures from the United Nations and other human rights groups Show, although there are still many caused by foreign hunting militants with air strikes and night raids.

The increasingly sophisticated Taliban communication network quickly wanted to Mistura's comments. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid foreign troops must also protection of citizens and their "rising atrocities" stop.

CHILD BOMBER

The new wave of attacks began early on Sunday with what appeared to be a surprising and rare tactic--the use of a bomber kid in the dangerous South Eastern Province of Paktika.

The bomber, wearing a vest packed with explosives, four civilians were killed and 12 wounded, said a Government spokesman of the. A statement from the Office of the Governor of Paktika province, near the borders with Pakistan, said that the bomber was 12 years old.

In neighboring Ghazni, two police and two civilians were killed in a gunfight after insurgents opened fire on a passing police vehicle in the main city of the province, police said. A bomb planted on a bicycle near Ghazni police headquarters injured 13.

In the South of volatile forces the Governor of the province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, thousands of security ordered on high alert, with police and Afghan soldiers manning checkpoints at each roundabout in Kandahar city.

Gunmen on a motorcycle killed an Afghan soldier in Kandahar. In Logar Province, South of Kabul, were two members of a Community police unit killed by a roadside bomb, police officials said.

Military commanders expect a spike in violence with the onset of spring and summer "fighting season", although the usual winter lull was not seen as u. S-led forces pressed their attacks against the insurgents, especially in the southern heartland of the Taliban.

Suppressing violence has taken on even greater importance this year, with a gradual withdrawal of foreign combat troops set to begin in July as part of a transfer to Afghan security forces. That withdrawal is set to be completed by the end of 2014.

Senior military officials say recent intelligence reports give the fresh campaign of violence would last about a week and be mounted by the Taliban, supported by the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network and other insurgents.

Security is increased at military bases and Government buildings throughout the country, while in Kabul extra police at checkpoints known as "the ring of steel" are stationed.

The Taliban said on Saturday the objectives of their attacks would foreign troops, senior officials of the Government of President Hamid Karzai, also companies work for the NATO-led ISAF International Security Assistance Force ().

Washington and ISAF commanders believe that they breach against a growing rebellion have been made since last year were 30,000 extra u.s. troops sent to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan attacks very hit record levels in 2010, with civilian and military victims of the worst since u. s.-backed Afghan forces the Taliban Government was overthrown in late 2001.

The United Nations has some of its staff in Afghanistan moved after receiving what is being said credible threat of increasing attacks in various locations across the country.

The United Nations is several times the target. Seven foreign staff were killed last month when demonstrators overran a UN compound in the North.

De Mistura said indiscriminate use of bombs by the Taliban in cities and elsewhere had caused huge numbers of victims among the civilian population, while air raid by the NATO-led force had also caused many deaths.

The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2010 rose 15 percent from the previous year to 2,777, according to figures from un with responsible for about three quarters of the insurgents. "Afghan citizens have paid the price of war for too long," said de Mistura.

(Additional reporting by Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR; Written by Paul Tait; Edit by Andrew Marshall)

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Israel stops Palestinians cash to go after Hamas

Israel's Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz holds a press conference in Jerusalem, February 23, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Ronen ZvulunBy Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM | Sun may 1, 2011 8: 31 am EDT

Jerusalem (Reuters)-Israel has suspended tax transfers to the Palestinians, the Minister of finance said on Sunday, for fear of the money will be used to finance Hamas after President Mahmoud Abbas struck a deal with the Islamists.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by U.S.-backed Abbas, asked of foreign powers to prevent Israel blocking transfers, allowing up to 70% of the income. A senior Palestinian official said Israel, by its action, had "a war started."

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he had suspended a routine transfer of 300 million shekels (88 million dollars) in customs and other charges which Israel on behalf of the Palestinians under interim peace deals collects.

Steinitz said in an interview on Israel Army Radio, which feared the money for the funding of Hamas, an Islamic militant group that runs the Gaza Strip and whose Charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish State.

Israel had threatened sanctions last week in response to Abbas surprise announcement of a Hamas unit which provides for the formation of an interim Government and elections later this year.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the PA was "in contact with all international parties and influential forces to stop Israel from taking these measures," the official WAFA news agency reported.

"Threats ... will not stop us to close our reconciliation process. It is our policy and we must work harder to finish our divisions as soon as possible, "added Fayyad.

The PA is also heavily dependent on donor support, including the United States, who said that future assistance will depend on the shape of a new Palestinian Government, expects to be formed under the agreement unit.

ISRAELI OPPOSITION

In public comments, the Israeli Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his opposition to the unity pact and said that the reconciliation "all those in the world," Middle East want peace to worry.

"Peace is possible only with those who live in peace with us, and not with those who want to try to destroy us," said Netanyahu, who came to Britain and France later this week for talks with their leaders.

Palestinian leaders have been invited by Egypt to Cairo for a three-day ceremony begins on Monday, which will end with the signing of the agreement of the unit, Palestinian officials said.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said it could take up to six weeks to form a new Government. He said that it would be made up of Independents with no connection Abbas the Fatah movement, or Hamas, and foreign States should have no reason to boycott it.

Hamas is shunned by the West about his refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept the interim peace agreements.

U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a permanent peace agreement were revived in September but quickly fizzled after Netanyahu refused to extend a limited moratorium on building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, territory Palestinians want as part of a future State.

Abbas has said he would return to negotiations unless construction in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel in a 1967 war caught, was stopped. Netanyahu has said that is an unacceptable condition for negotiations.

Tax transfers make the PA, which uses limited self-rule in the West Bank, with $ 1 billion to $ 1.4 billion per year. Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, said that by withholding the money, "Israel has a war began even before the formation of the Government."

Steinitz noted that Israel tax revenue in the past, during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000 had held back.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta and Tom Perry in Ramallah, writing by Dan Williams and Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Yemen since Saleh teeters transition deal fails to sign

The soldiers of the army is waiting for a barrier blocking a demonstration demanding the ouster of Yemen President Ali Abdullah Salehin the southern city of Taiz 1 May 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Khaled Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed AbdullahBy Sudam

SANAA | Sun 1 May 2011, 7: 47 am EDT

SANAA (Reuters)-A Wave-mediated deal to relieve Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh of power wobbled on the verge of collapse on Sunday after he refused to sign, raising the threat of increasing instability in the State of the Arabian peninsula.

The pact would have made Saleh, a wise political survivor who has been in power for 33 years, the third ruler ousted by a wave of pro-democratic popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world. He had the result of the deal on Saturday to sign it.

Yemen opposition, furious about the last change of heart, said that she considered rising pressure on the President step aside after three months of street protests demanding his ouster.

"We are studying the options of escalations and waiting for a U.S.-European stance on Saleh's refusal to sign," said a senior opposition leader Reuters, declining to be named because no formal decision had been taken.

A Gulf source said a formal signing ceremony in Riyadh on Sunday in which the opposition due to seal the deal was signed after Saleh in Sanaa was postponed. Download source package gave no word on whether or when it may be rescheduled.

The United States and neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia, the Yemen standoff resolved to avert from the chaos that a Yemen wing of al Qaeda a greater threat to the region could make.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers were to meet to discuss the crisis. But the opposition said it would not travel to Riyadh on Sunday to the talks, saying that there was no reason to attend.

Gulf Cooperation Council mediators told opposition Yemen on Saturday as leader of his party would sign but had refused to sign in his capacity as President as required by the deal. The GCC Secretary General, who for the signing in Sanaa, Yemen left without securing Saleh signature.

STILL HOPEFUL

But Yemen opposition said it still hoped that Gulf States Saleh would extract the signature. Both Saleh and the opposition, including both Islamists and leftists, had in principle accepted the deal.

"The case is now with the Gulf States. If they can convince Saleh, that would be good, "said Mohammed Basindwa, an opposition figure tipped as a possible interim Prime Minister, late on Saturday.

If it is brought back on the table, it would be a deal, Saleh appoint a Minister-president of the opposition at the head of a transitional Government, which would be a presidential election for 60 days after he shows. It would also grant immunity from prosecution to Saleh, his family and aides.

Protesters say they will continue on the streets to Saleh leaves. They also called for him to be tried for corruption and the death of the estimated 144 demonstrators.

In further violence, gunmen launched attacks with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire on Sunday against a building in the southern province of Abyan governorate, three Government soldiers guarding the site, killing and wounding four others, a local official said. He blamed the attack on al-Qaeda.

Violence is also recently broken out in southern Yemen, where analysts say the Government, which has tried to contain separatists in the South and Shi'ite rebels in the North, fears separatists trying to take advantage of Yemen of leadership crisis to renew a push for separation.

Analysts say that a 30-day window for Saleh to resign would be enough time to disgruntled forces of the old guard to stir problems in Yemen, where half the population owns a gun and al-Qaeda has gained a foothold in the mountainous regions.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Americans favor Republicans poll: budget handling

The employee departs U.S. Capitol, 8 April 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin LamarqueBy David Morgan

WASHINGTON | Thu Apr 29, 2010 4: 49 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-U.s. Congressional Republicans would do a better job than Democrats in dealing with the budget of the UNITED STATES, according to a poll released Friday shows part of President Barack Obama at a disadvantage as legislators near another showdown on federal spending.

The poll findings underscore the challenge facing Obama as seeking public support for his proposals to address the growing US budget deficit--an issue that could play a key role in the efforts of the President to win re-election in 2012.

The USA Today/Gallup survey 1013 US adults examined whether Americans have more confidence in the ability of Republicans or Democrats in Congress to deal with six major issues facing the country.

Federal budget was the only issue, in which respondents clearly preferred one over the other party, with 48 percent favors Republicans and Democrats 36 percent.

The poll found that Americans would prefer Republicans by smaller margins for four other topics: Afghanistan, the US economy, immigration and jobs. Democrats hold a small advantage in handling health care, found in the vote.

The poll, conducted April 20-23, had a 4 percentage-point margin of error.

The federal budget deficit is forecast to hit $ 1.4 trillion in the current financial year ending on 30 September.

Congress receives combat budget again next week, when lawmakers return from their annual spring break, with a disclosure involves Federal expenditure during the financial year 2012 starts on 1 October.

Republicans this spring used the threat of a Government shutdown to win concessions on tax cuts and spending 2011 from Obama's fellow Democrats.

A battle of the first line will be over an impending vote to raise the Federal debt ceiling 14.3 trillion, which Republicans will be used as a lever for precise new reductions in expenditure.

Analysts say failure to raise the debt limit could have devastating consequences for global economic markets and the economic future of America. The United States will reach the ceiling by mid-May, but the Treasury Department says it can avoid the default until 8 July.

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Microsoft stock tumbles after Windows sales dip

Sam McDermott plays a Fable III PC game "at the Microsoft booth at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus

SEATTLE | Fri 29 april 2011 6: 33 pm EDT

SEATTLE (Reuters)-Microsoft Corp shares fell as much as 5 percent on Friday, a day after the software company a dip in sales of its Windows operating system reported.

the world's second-largest tech company behind Apple Inc. met Wall Street earnings estimate and beat on the total sales in its earnings report on Thursday.

But investors were busy with lower personal computer sales nag Windows, Xbox sales bringing down profit margins and losses in online business.

Microsoft shares closed 3 percent at $ 25.92 on Nasdaq after a late-day rally. Earlier in the they hit a low of $ 25.36, had a decrease of 5 percent that would have been the largest one-day percentage decline since July 2009, the shares closed at that level.

The shares ended around the level they were on Monday, before a run-up to quarterly figures. The stock was sharply after chip maker Intel Corp forecast earnings above Wall Street estimates, feeding optimism that a dip in sales last quarter PC a long-term trend has not indicated.

"Everyone, including myself, hit the table on the Intel trade," said analyst Colin Gillis BGC Partners. "And it just doesn't happen."

PC sales fell 1% last quarter, according to research firm Gartner [ID: nN13301394]. Microsoft's results show that, although it said business question was surpassing the weak consumer demand for PCs.

The stock is down 16 percent in the last 12 months, compared with a 16 percent gain in the Nasdaq.

"There were two catalysts for the sharp fall of Microsoft," said Joe Cusick, senior market analyst at Chicago-based firm online brokerage optionsXpress. "One, the stock broke through the 200-day moving average of $ 26.08, and UBS lowered their target price for the stock."

UBS analyst Brent Thill on Friday that its price target on Microsoft $ 32 from $ 35 cut, citing the long-term threat of the tablets to the traditional PC business.

"Even though they had good earnings, the PC market and there is still uncertainty about whether or not Microsoft with the growing Tablet and handheld devices from the likes of Samsung and Motorola can compete," said Cusick.

Options traders, many of whom bets on Microsoft shares jump earlier in the week--maybe as a hedge placed the possession of the stock in the case of a fall--moved to a more critical mode.

"There is nothing too rosy in Microsoft options trading on Friday, compared with some of the bullish trade we saw for revenue," said Caitlin Duffy, equity options analyst in the Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"For the most part, we see sell call options in the short term," she said, indicating traders are looking to get rid of their rights to the shares to buy.

Microsoft analysts generally kept their belief that Microsoft a rough patch in PC sales will survive. 25 of 35 analysts surveyed by Star Mine recommend buying the stock. Only says sell.

As a result of the decline of Microsoft's it is close to be overshadowed by old enemy IBM in terms of market value. Apple, which Microsoft struck last year, is the most valuable U.s. 321 billion dollar tech company, Microsoft is second 225 billion dollars and IBM is third 207 billion dollars.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Doris Frankel. Edit by Robert MacMillan, Bernard Orr)

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Pope John Paul beatified before the huge crowd

A view of the crowd in Saint Peter's Square during the beatification mass for Pope John Paul II led by Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, may 1, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Stefano RellandiniBy Philip Pullella and Catherine Hornby

VATICAN CITY | Sun 1 May 2011, 6: 51 am EDT

Vatican City (Reuters)-the late Pope John Paul moved during a joyful ceremony that more than a million people, the largest crowd since his funeral in Rome six years ago, pulled off a major step closer to sainthood on Sunday.

"From now on Pope John Paul is called ' blessed '", Pope Benedict, wear brilliant white and gold robes, solemnly proclaimed in Latin, establishing that its predecessor would feast day October 22, the day of the inauguration of John Paul's history-making pontificate in 1978.

The cheers of the crowd was a carpet with a smiling John Paul revealed seconds after Benedict read the proclamation.

St Peter's Square was jam-packed and the crowd stretched as far back as the Tiber River, more than half a kilometre (550 meters) away. The crowd of followers, many with national flags and singing songs, had moved to the Vatican area from all directions, from before dawn to get a place good for the mass.

Police estimated the crowd at more than one million people. Many camped during the night on the square, which was decorated with posters of the late Pope and one of his most famous statements, "don't be afraid!"

In his sermon, Benedict noted that the late Pope, whom he praised as "the strength of a titan" have had and who gave millions of people "the power to believe" thousands of times, crowds had blessed from his window overlooking the same square.

"Bless us now," said Benedict.

Many of the participants were from John Paul's native Poland. Dozens of red and white Polish flags above the crowd and a cheer bobbed did when a group of Poland a large banner read released "thank you, God", which balloons.

"We were at the funeral and we had to be here to see beatified him," said Janusc Skibinski, 40, who drove 29 hours with his family from their home near the border with Belarus.

A place of honor was reserved for Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, French nun who suffered from Parkinson's disease but whose inexplicable cure is attributed to John Paul's speech to God to perform a miracle, giving the grounds for his beatification.

After the proclamation, Normand ceased to be a silver reliquary with a vial of blood taken from the Pope in the last few days of his life in case it was needed for a transfusion.

The Vatican will have to write another wonder John Paul's intercession after the beatification in order for him to be declared a Saint.

The Pope was beatified on the day the church celebrates the feast of divine mercy, which this year fell on May 1, coinciding with the main workers accommodation in the Communist world. The timing was ironic, given the role of the Polish Pope in the fall of communism in his homeland and in Eastern Europe.

DELEGATIONS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

Some 90 official delegations from around the world, including members of five European royal families and 16 heads of State, attended the beatification.

They included the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has been widely criticized for human rights violations in his country. Mugabe is banned from traveling to the European Union, but the Vatican--a sovereign State--is not a member of the block.

Pope John Paul on Friday, the coffin was excavated from the crypts below St Peter's Basilica and will be posted for the main altar. It will continue and the Basilica remains open until all visitors who want to view have done.

It will then be moved to a new crypt under an altar in a side chapel in the vicinity of Michelangelo's statue of the Pietà. The marble slab which covered his first Cemetery will be sent to Poland.

John Paul's beatification has set a new speed record for modern times, rather than six years and one month after his death on 2 April 2005.

While the overwhelming majority of Catholics welcome, there are a minority, with some saying that it happened too fast.

Liberals in the Church say that John Paul with theological dissidents who wanted to help the poor, particularly in Latin America was too harsh. Some say he is ultimately responsible for sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, because they occurred or came to light when he was responsible.

Ultra-Conservatives say he was too open to other religions and that he is the liturgy "infected" by local cultures, such as the African dances, on his travels abroad are allowed.

(Edit by Mark Trevelyan)

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Sony to resume of some services of PlayStation

A woman runs on a floor advertisement for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game console in an electronic shop in Tokyo, April 27, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Yuriko NakaoBy Isabel Reynolds

TOKYO | Sun 1 May 2011, 7: 06 am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters)-Sony said it would some services on the PlayStation Network this week resume and offer incentives to customers to try to prevent them turning to competitors after the theft of personal information belonging to 78 million user accounts.

Sony executives apologized for the violation of the large amounts of data at a press conference in Tokyo on Sunday, the first public comments by senior management to the crisis.

"We deeply apologize for causing great unrest and effort to our users," said Kazuo Hirai, Sony's number 2 and the frontrunner to succeed CEO Howard Stringer, bowing deeply three times during a lengthy press conference. Stringer was not at the event.

Many Playstation users around the world had been irked by the fact that the first warning of one of the largest Internet security burglary ever came a week after Sony a problem with the network on April 19, found.

The warning that user credit card information might be stolen also came just hours after Sony unveiled its first tablet computers at an event where executives made no mention of the Playstation violation.

Sun News led to thousands of comments on the official PlayStation fan page on Facebook, some of them from users who said they'd switch over to Microsoft's Xbox Live games network.

Sony said it would offer some free content, including 30 days of free membership to a premium service to existing users and in some regions credit card renewal fees.

It said compensation would only be paid if user damage. Sony has not work except to say that there is no evidence that credit card data was actually stolen. It has confirmed that the theft of names and addresses.

Since the violation, safety is improved on Sony's computer systems, the company said, adding that improve the level of data protection and encryption would be implemented. The u.s. Federal Bureau of Investigation had asked to probe the violation, Sony said.

"The negative impact on Sony is probably in the short term, but the industry as a whole will suffer a longer-term impact," said Kazutaka Oshima, President of Rakuten Investment Management.

"I think this will have an effect on Amazon and other e-commerce companies. Sony can had some security problems, but I don't think they had a particularly large hole. "

Peppered with questions about allegations that Sony was slow to inform users of the intrusion, a grim-faced Hirai said the company wanted first of all to know what kind of information can be stolen.

Hirai said he had known about the infiltration when he first tablet computers from Sony unveiled on 26 April.

"We made the announcement as soon as we can, which turned out to be the day after the launch," said Hirai, executive vice president of Sony.

The violation would be a big setback for Sony. Although video game hardware and software sales worldwide are down, the PlayStation Network is a key initiative for the electronics company, which an analyst estimates brings in about $ 500 million in annual revenue.

Hirai said Sony could not yet the effect on the profit, but at this point saw no effect on the launch timing for its new handheld games-device or tablets.

"This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers but our whole industry. Of course these illegal attacks point to the widespread problem with cyber-security, "Hirai said in a separate statement.

"Furthermore, the organisation has worked around the clock to these services back on line and do only after we had higher levels of security verified about our networks."

The incident has led to legal action and investigation by the authorities in North America and Europe, home to almost 90% of the users of the network, which allows gamers to download software and compete with other members.

Sony shares tumbled 4.5 percent on Thursday. Markets were closed on Friday.

It is unclear whether the Hirai explanation will convince users that the network is safe and investors that Sony's strategy of exploiting synergies between hardware and content via online services, which he has expanded with movies and music, is manageable.

Hirai told the news conference that Sony would continue to build its network-related companies as a key strategy for the company. Hirai was appointed the position of the No. 2 in March after a leading role in the development of the network.

Sony is the latest Japanese company to come under fire for disclosure is not bad news quickly.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. was criticized for covered how the nuclear crisis following the earthquake of 11 March. Last year, Toyota Motor Corp. was slammed for less than candid about problems about a massive vehicle recall.

(Additional reporting by Taiga Uranaka, Chikako Mogi and Mari Saito, editing by Anshuman Daga, Nathan Layne and Dean Yates)

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China manufacturing growth slows in April, hit by tightening

An employee works in the workshop of a textile factory in Huaibei, Anhui Province, March 25, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/StringerBy Simon Rabinovitch

BEIJING | Sun 1 May 2011, 6: 24 am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters)-China's manufacturing growth slowed in April, a survey showed on Sunday, suggest that tightening efforts of the Government have weighted DPS World's second largest economy heavier than expected.

The official purchasing managers index fell to China in April of 53.4 52.9 in March, well shy of market forecasts of an increase to 54.0.

The survey, which is designed to be a snapshot of conditions in China's huge manufacturing industry, was largely in line with a separate PMI sponsored by HSBC published on Friday which clung near a seven-month low on 51.8 in April.

With inflation running at its fastest in nearly three years, that China has a series of policy measures taken to curb prices, requires raising interest rates and the banks reserves multiple times, ordering banks to borrow less and accelerate the pace of currency appreciation.

On the positive side of the great book the official PMI showed that these steps at least partially have hit the mark. A sub-index measuring input prices dropped to 66.2 in April, a seven-month low, from 68.3 in March.

But the survey also flashed worrying signals for the global economy, one that is ever more reliant on Chinese demand has become as a source of growth with the United States, Europe and Japan still struggling to recover from the financial crisis.

"Overall, the PMI shows there is still a possibility that the Chinese economy might slow down, especially if falling demand growth leads to changes in stocks, raising the possibility of slowing economic growth," said Zhang Liqun still, a researcher of the Government.

The new orders sub-index weakened on an eight-month low of 53.8 in April from 55.2 in March. Much of that drop was driven by slower growth in export orders, whose sub-index immersed until 51.3 of 52.5.

"The fall show that export growth will continue to slow down," Zhang said in a comment on behalf of the China Federation of logistics and purchasing, which compiles the official PMI.

STILL ROBUST GROWTH

Despite the continued tightening of Beijing campaign over the past six months expect economists surveyed by Reuters still the Chinese economy to expand at a pace nearly double digits this year. They predict that the 9.5% in 2011 after last year's 10.3% expansion will grow.

In a measure of that robust momentum was the 26th consecutive month that the official PMI stood above the threshold of 50 that enlargement of contraction.

The world bank said on Thursday that it is too early for China to stop its policy tightening as it raised its annual-average inflation forecast in a quarterly review of the economy.

Stubborn price pressures have sparked market talk that Beijing the yuan to rise at a faster clip could, or even more drastic measures by pressing by means of a large revaluation of the currency.

The Government has in the past consistently excluded a one-time revaluation, say that there are no grounds for a major shift in exchange rate policy. Still showed his appetite for a stronger yuan gradually in recent weeks by guiding to a succession of record highs against a weak dollar.

Investors are waiting for the next round of the Chinese monetary tightening. The central bank has raised interest rates four times since October and economists surveyed by Reuters expect another increase in the next two months.

(Additional reporting by Sally Huang; Edit by Benjamin Kang Lim)

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Obama wants to put an end to the oil industry tax breaks

President Barack Obama speaks about his birth certificate from the briefing room of the White House in Washington, April 27, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin LamarqueBy Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON | SAT Apr 30, 2011 6: 02 am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-President Barack Obama on Saturday kept pressure on Congress to tax breaks for oil and gas companies, say they were enjoying huge profits, as he wanted to limit political impact of rising gasoline prices.

With public anger over the costs at the pump hit Obama popularity if he up his 2012 reelection bid touring, he insisted his call rolling back $ 4 billion in "unjustified tax subsidies" in a time of budget cutbacks in Washington.

But opposition Republicans continued their efforts to cast blame on the Democratic president for an increase in gas prices that Americans wallet in a time of persistently high unemployment and slow economic recovery is overload.

"When we for spending from the federal budget are washing, oil companies are making huge profits and you at the pump struggles we can afford to do without, this tax giveaways are not equal," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "They are not smart. And we need to end them. "

Oil companies Posted sharply higher first-quarter profit this week with oil prices above $ 100 per barrel on the turmoil in the Middle East and the growing global demand for energy.

The lead, Exxon Mobil, beursgenoteerd's world's most valuable company, beat analysts forecasts by posting a 69 percent increase in profit to 10.65 billion dollars, the largest gain since the third quarter of 2008.

Obama insisted he remained committed to "safe and responsible oil production here at home", but said that the money from the oil industry tax subsidies would be better invested in the development of alternative energy sources.

REPUBLICAN REBUTTAL

The Republicans in response, Congressman James Lankford of Oklahoma, said an oil State, Americans were looking for leadership in addressing gas prices but that Obama "a tax increase on energy and the prospect of reduced supply has only offered" and had the industry in the new arrangements being suffocated.

He said the Obama proposal withdraw oil industry tax breaks would be counterproductive, and vowed that Republicans in the House of representatives would try to give their own energy initiative of creation next week.

"The President may think he punishes CEOs of large companies, but his plan will hurt the daily consumer of energy and the jobs of millions of hardworking people in U.s. based companies in jeopardy," said Lankford.

But the Republican attitude is far from uniform. President of the Commission of Parliament's budget, Paul Ryan said on Thursday that he supports cutting tax breaks for the oil industry in searching for ways to fight rising gasoline prices and corporate tax loopholes.

Gasoline prices are a very politically loaded question become after pressing national to $ 4 per gallon, and Republicans see it as a weak point for Obama in their efforts to defeat him in the election 2012.

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll published on Tuesday, said 71 percent of those polled gasoline prices were causing them severe financial difficulties, while 55% of the way that Obama his job as President was treatment rejected.

Obama has insisted there is no "magic bullet" for bringing down gas prices. But the White House is worried that if gas prices continue to rise, the issue can drown out the economic recovery message in the heart of his re-election strategy.

(Edit by Mohammad Zargham)

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U.s. agency closer to blowing up levee

By Christine Stebbins

CHICAGO | SAT Apr 30, 2011 10: 50 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters)-a u.s. Government agency moves a step closer on Saturday to the blowing of a Mississippi River levee control floods after a court decision paved the way for it to proceed.

U.s. Army Corps of Engineers officials said they sent ships to the birds point levee near Cairo, Illinois, which is a mix of slurry that can be used to detonate the levee. The ships are set to arrive in Cairo of Hickman, Kentucky, late on Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps told "that is one of the many decisions we make and if we ever before the decision (to explode)," reporters.

"After that, the next decision is taking the ships and preposition them. The following is in charge of the pipes and the next is to operate (detonate), "he added.

He provided no timetable for decisions and said the Corps was closely watching river levels expected to crest by Tuesday.

A Federal Appeals Court said earlier on Saturday, the Corps had the right to violate the levee to prevent floods in Cairo, as permitted by law a 1928.

The State of Missouri originally sued to stop the Corps plan, arguing that inflating the levee would flood 130,000 acres of Missouri agricultural land and extensive damage. The States of Illinois and Kentucky took the other side, saying that cities in their States might be flooded as the levee were not inflated.

A lower court ruled against Missouri on Friday, and the State then petition to the u.s. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"I am pleased that the court quickly rejected the request from Missouri. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the Army Corps must be able to take any action for the protection of life and homes in Cairo and the surrounding communities, "in a statement.

Cairo, a historic town of 2800 people, is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Both rivers have risen as a result of days of rain and the melting and runoff from the winter's heavy snowstorms.

Cairo Mayor Judson Childs late Saturday ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city as of midnight, according to the Corps.

In Missouri, some 230 residents have evacuated and the National Guard has command posts set up, the Governor said.

The Corps said it would detonate explosives in the levee as the River reached in Cairo of 61 feet and was rising. But the potential could blow the levee even if the River 61 feet not achieve if there is too much stress on the system.

The River, to 59.2 feet on Saturday afternoon, is expected to rise to 60.5 feet by Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

(Reporting by Christine Stebbins, editing by Greg McCune)

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Analysis: the dollar decline Is more dangerous than it seems?

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A crumpled U.S. one dollar bill is displayed in Toronto October 22, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Mark Blinch

By Steven C. Johnson

NEW YORK | Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:42pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Neither Washington nor Wall Street is losing much sleep yet over the dollar as it slips close to all-time lows. But perhaps they should be.

The dollar has shed some 8 percent against major currencies this year, and if the decline quickens, it could provoke protectionism from America's trade partners, worsen inflation at home and spark a general loss of confidence in U.S. assets.

That would all make it much more difficult to finance the country's huge deficits, and could threaten to send the U.S. economy into another recession.

In fact the burgeoning national debt is where all the negatives for the dollar converge, with America's prized AAA credit rating under threat and large corporations like Caterpillar urging Washington to get its act together.

"There's no sign of panic yet. But the situation can change on a dime," said Brown Brothers Harriman strategist Lena Komileva. If the U.S. economy weakens and U.S. lawmakers fail to find a way to slash a yawning budget deficit, "that could create a run on the dollar."

U.S. policymakers, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, insist they want a strong dollar, but investors say their actions suggest otherwise.

The Fed has held interest rates at zero since late 2008, in contrast to other central banks that have begun raising rates to fend off inflation.

That's been an invitation for investors to borrow dollars at virtually no cost and swap them for higher-yielding currencies and assets such as oil and equities. Gold and silver have hit record highs and the euro is hovering near $1.50, about 10 cents from its all-time peak hit in 2008.

Standard & Poor's put another chink in the dollar's armor this month when it warned it could cut the United States' credit rating if lawmakers don't find a way to slash a massive federal budget deficit within two years.

Corporate America is voicing its concerns as well. The chief executive of Caterpillar Inc on Friday called for a resolution to the long-running budget battle, saying that finding a way to strengthen the economy would help control the nation's rising deficit and improve long-term competitiveness.

'REMARKABLY NONCHALANT'

Bernanke argues that the U.S. economy remains too fragile for tighter policy and suggested the Fed's pro-growth measures will help the dollar down the road.

"If we do what's needed to pursue our dual mandate for price stability (and) maximum employment, that will also generate fundamentals that will help the dollar in the medium term," he said at a press briefing this week.

Adnan Akant, who helps manage about $20 billion in currency assets for Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, a New York unit of BNP Paribas, put it this way: "You don't get a strong dollar by raising rates. You get it by having low inflation and a stronger economy that requires you to raise rates."

But that's cold comfort for emerging market countries who claim Fed policy encourages investors to pour money into their economies in pursuit of higher returns, pushing up inflation.

"The cheap dollar is exporting inflation to the rest of the world and that creates problems," Komileva said. "What worries me is the prospect of more protectionism, which could create a lot of volatility in markets."

So far, efforts by countries such as Brazil to limit capital inflows have had little effect. Instead, the real has soared to two-year highs against the greenback, which could undermine Brazil's exports and damage the broader economy.

Europe would be just as unhappy to see the euro set a new high above $1.60, which would complicate indebted euro zone countries' ability to grow their way back to health. It would also increase the chances of a Greek debt restructuring, which would hurt European bank balance sheets.

The euro is currently at $1.4825, after weakening from $1.3345 at the beginning of the year, and would probably be higher but for Europe's own debt crisis.

"This administration and this Fed are remarkably nonchalant about the dollar's place in the world," said James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer. "I think it's quite worrying."

WATCHING TREASURY YIELDS

There's no doubt a weaker dollar will boost U.S. exports -- which is good news for corporate balance sheets and stocks. The White House has set a goal of doubling exports by 2015 as a key way to create jobs.

It also forces developing countries that rely too much on exports to become more consumption-oriented, helping reduce inflation, said Eswar Prasad, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

But a weak dollar makes imports, including oil, more expensive for U.S. consumers, and it could also lead to higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. All of this could hurt demand and economic growth.

So far, the dollar decline has been orderly, with the 10-year Treasury yield at a manageable 3.30 percent -- hardly what one would expect in a currency crisis.

But many investors fear those low yields were largely engineered by the Fed, which has been buying about $75 billion worth of Treasuries a month since November.

When it ends those purchases in June, other buyers may require higher yields to step in.

"When it comes to the U.S. economy, it's not that obvious that the benefits of a weaker dollar outweigh the costs," said David Woo, currency strategist at BofA-Merrill Lynch.

DEALING WITH THE DEFICIT

In the late 1970s, the last time the U.S. found itself facing rising inflation and a loss of confidence in its assets, the Fed was forced to push interest rates through the roof, thrusting the economy into recession.

"You don't have to be that old to recall those years, when Roman hotel clerks would look down their noses at dollar travelers checks because of the dollar inflationary crisis," Grant said.

The situation is certainly not as parlous today, though there are signs that some investors are starting to slap a higher risk premium on dollar assets.

U.S. Treasury data shows China and other large foreign creditors' demand for U.S. government debt has cooled since the Fed began its $600 billion bond-buying program last year.

Private buyers have their doubts as well. PIMCO, the world's largest bond fund, announced in February it had sold all U.S. Treasuries in its $236 billion Total Return Fund, and chief investment officer Bill Gross said he expected interest rates to climb, the dollar to fall and the United States to eventually lose its AAA credit rating.

The quickest way to reverse the dollar decline, Woo said, would be for Congress and the White House to reach a deal on slashing the deficit. That would increase demand for dollars and push the euro back to $1.30 in coming months.

But if politics get in the way and the fiscal situation is left to fester, things could get ugly fast, particularly if higher bond yields force the Fed to restart its bond-buying program later this year, said Douglas Borthwick, managing director of currency execution firm Faros Trading.

"That's when you'll see a tipping point," he said. "Then S&P and the Chinese central bank and others will step up their rhetoric and the dollar will be on a very rough road."

(Additional reporting by Glenn Somerville; editing by Martin Howell)

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Syrians protest from rooftops after army action

Editor's NOTE: photo taken on Government tour an adherent of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad up a picture of President on market Hamidiya in Damascus, April 30, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Khaled Suleiman al-Khalidi al-HaririBy

AMMAN | SAT Apr 30, 2011 8: 50 pm EDT

AMMAN (Reuters)-women and children in the beleaguered Syrian city of Deraa Sung "God is greatest, against the tyrant" of roofs in the night after troops backed by tanks stepped up a crackdown on the city, said a resident.

Troops stormed in Deraa, cradle of a six-week-old rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule, a week ago to try to crush protests that are scattered all over the country of 20 million. Power and communications have been disrupted.

On Saturday, tanks shelled the old quarter of the southern city and security forces stormed the Omari mosque, a central point for protests.

"The shelling has intensified. It's the worst night. Women and children are on their roofs chanting "God is more ' against the tyrant," a resident in the neighborhood in the old quarter Manshia told Reuters by telephone.

He said security forces were entering homes and dragging men to buses.

The chants echoed the calls of Iranian demonstrators who took to rooftops in Tehran chanting "allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) during unrest following the elections in 2009.

Foreign correspondents are largely excluded from Syria since the protests escalated and began the crackdown.

A Syrian rights group said at least 560 civilians have been killed in the six-week-old uprising in support of demands for greater political freedom and action against corruption that has flourished under the Baath party, in power since 1963.

The uprising, unthinkable only months ago, flared after mass protests ruling authoritarian leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. Scattered demonstrations in Bahrain and escalated to the civil war in Libya.

EMERGENCY LAW LIFTED

Newly appointed Prime Minister Adel Safar was quoted as saying by State News Agency SANA as saying that his Government would in the coming weeks a "full plan" of political, judicial and economic reforms.

The promise was not likely to dampen the intensity of the protests. A serious crackdown followed the once-unthinkable gesture of lifting a decades-old emergency law this month.

The Government has little influence as Assad, his family and the security apparatus has a stranglehold on power.

Syria accuses armed groups for the violence. Soldiers on Friday killed 19 people when they are on demonstrators who tried to Deraa of nearby villages in a show of solidarity layoffs, a medical source said. Syrian rights groups put the death toll at 62 Friday.

SANA quoted an official military source as saying on Saturday that army and security forces units had his hunting "armed terrorist groups" who had attacked properties in Deraa.

The source said six members of the Group were killed in the operation, 149 wanted people were arrested, and a large cache of weapons and ammunition seized. Two members of the security services also were killed and seven injured.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman; Written by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Edit by Ralph Boulton)

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Germany says al-Qaida suspects planned bomb attack

Photo shows a house in Düsseldorf, 30 April 2011, in which German police arrested al-Qaeda suspects on Friday.

Credit: Reuters/Wolfgang RattayBy Diana Niedernhoefer

KARLSRUHE, Germany | SAT Apr 30, 2011 2: 11 pm EDT

KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters)-three suspected al Qaeda members had a bomb attack in Germany for four months when she was arrested, federal prosecutors said were planned.

Rainer Griesbaum, a Federal Ministry, told a press conference on Saturday that the trio, led by a 29-year-old Moroccan, had planned to explode their device in a crowded area but not yet picked a target.

"They were still in the experimental phase," Griesbaum said. "They were planning to a device packed with pieces of metal in the middle of a large crowd explode."

German authorities said the suspects, arrested on Friday, had discussed plants the bomb on a bus or at a bus stop.

The three were detained in police raids in Düsseldorf and the nearby city of Bochum at 6: 30 pm on Friday after authorities, who had followed the group, decided that they could get close to carrying out an attack.

Prosecutors said that the public was not in danger.

BILD newspaper reported that the Eurovision Song Contest, watched by more than 100 million television viewers, a possible target. The contest will be held in the Western City of Duesseldorf on 14 May.

The suspected leader, a 29-year-old college drop-out identified as Abdeladim El-k., was charged with planning a terror attack in Germany and a member of a foreign terrorist organization. The other two suspects are still called into question.

Griesbaum said the 29-year-old Moroccan had attended an al-Qaeda terror camp in the Waziristan region of Pakistan near the Afghan border in 2010. He returned to Germany in May 2010 and tried to build a terrorist network from here with an estimated seven to eight members.

"But it can also be more than that," said Joerg Ziercke, Chairman of the federal crime Office (BKA), at the press conference at the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe. "We will learn more with our investigation."

The suspects had cheered Thursday, bombing in Marrakesh where 15 people were killed, Griesbaum said.

NOT A SUICIDE ATTACK

The other suspects are a 31-year-old electrician identified as Jamil s., who holds dual German and Moroccan nationality, and a 19-year-old with German and Iranian citizenship, in the midst of c., who was in high school.

Jamil s. was charged to regulate the financing of the attack and papers for Abdeladim El-k. In the midst of c. was responsible to provide encrypted communications.

Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday that the CIA, as well as Morocco's intelligence service had worked with the German authorities in the investigation.

Ziercke said the three had inspected public buildings, and information about explosives downloaded from the internet.

"But we have no indication that they were planning a suicide attack," said Ziercke.

Authorities said they decided to launch the raid on Friday when the suspects are a "detonator of a bomb" discussed by hexamine extracting from barbecue firelighters and mixing that with hydrogen peroxide and citric acid.

Last year, a court in Duesseldorf convicted four militants who admitted "a monstrous massacre" of plan with car bomb attacks on U.S. targets. They were known as the "Sauerland group" after the area of Western Germany where they were caught.

European countries have struggled with militant threats for years, regularly arresting individuals or groups suspected of planning attacks some fear can mirror bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005 where more than 200 people died.

Berlin considers Germany as a potential target, because the nearly 5,000 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, the third largest contingent of the fight against the Taliban-led insurgency 150.000-strong international force.

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Robert Woodward)

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Obama slopes of recovery help for tornado-hit South

Volunteers from neighboring Blount County, Alabama help clean up debris in the community of Pleasant Grove, April 30, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Marvin GentryBy Verna Gates

PLEASANT GROVE, Alabama | Sun 1 May 2011, 7: 32 am EDT

PLEASANT GROVE, Alabama (Reuters)-the Government ramped up efforts on Saturday to help thousands of homeless victims of the country the second deadliest recorded tornado outbreak, where at least 350 people died.

President Barack Obama, that the destruction of the tornado in the hardest-hit state of Alabama on Friday examined and called it "heartbreaking", was sending top officials to the disaster zone to escalate this weekend federal assistance.

With some estimates put the number of homes and buildings destroyed at close to 10,000, State and federal authorities in the South of the u.s. were still coming to terms with the scale of the destruction of this week the country's worst natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Thousands of stunned survivors, many of whom have relatives and friends killed by twisters that blotted out had seen whole communities, were camped out in the shattered shells of their homes or moved in shelters or with friends.

A catastrophe risk modeler, EQECAT, predicts insured property losses of between $ 2 billion and $ 5 billion of the havoc caused by the swarm of Tornadoes which by means of seven Southern States this week gouged.

"It's like living in some other world. Destruction is everywhere, "said Pastor John Gates of the United Methodist Church in Pleasant Grove, Alabama, a community with a population of some 10,000 West of Birmingham.

Alabama, the hardest hit State, revised down its fatalities 249 on Saturday after initially reporting 255 dead. At least 101 more deaths reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana.

Thousands of people were hurt and pain.

Stories of survival of the deadly twisters were still emerging but one report of a Jefferson County, Alabama, emergency official of three people pulled alive from their devastated home after three days turned out to be false.

The number of deaths, which is expected to increase, was the second highest inflicted by Tornadoes in u.s. history. In 1925, 747 people were killed after twisters the u.s. Midwestern States of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana hit.

Unlocking federal assistance, Obama signed late on Friday major disaster declarations for Mississippi and Georgia, to add to the one already signed for Alabama.

Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Lincoln, housing and urban development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills were all affected areas in Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday, bezoekenFEMA said.

TORNADO HIT SUCH AS "EXPLOSION"

Obama, aware of the criticism that President George w. Bush was too slow to respond to the 2005 Katrina disaster, a visit to the devastated city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday to pledge full federal assistance for States hit.

In many devastated communities, recalled scenes of tangled piles of rubble, timber, vehicles and personal belongings to the destruction seen in the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Electricity and water were still out in many areas.

In the small Alabama Phil Campbell, which lost 28 residents, Travis Roberts, 64, credited his wife Brenda fear of storms for saving their lives. When she was 35 years ago their property bought, he built a storm cellar for $ 600.

He invited seven of his neighbors to them in the basement when the twister hit but they chose to ride out in their homes. Now, five dead and two critically injured.

"It was not the wind, it was an explosion," said Travis are shattered at home as he got help from volunteers.

"It is no exaggeration to say that whole communities were wiped out," Yasamie August, spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, told Reuters.

Officials said even solidly built brick houses managed to resist the power of some of the twisters.

The winds of a in Smithville, Mississippi, was recorded reaching 205 km per hour. It was a rare EF-5 tornado, the highest rating on the Fujita scale of tornado intensity that improved measures.

"If you're talking about a EF-5 tornado level there is no place that really is safe," said Jeff rent of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. "That kind of tornado sucks the grass and concrete."

Were many whose homes lost roofs and windows only camping in with tarps and plastic sheeting about them but those whose homes were completely destroyed were forced to move in with family or friends or go into Government shelters.

There were 659 people in shelters in Alabama, August said. Tennessee had 233 people in shelters.

Volunteers in many communities turned out to help. "Big grills are set to offer people eat everywhere. The community has really pulled together, "said Tammy Straate, 29, a Pleasant Grove, foster mother of 11 children.

Tornadoes are an integral part of life in the American South and Midwest but rarely are they so devastating.

Recovery can cost billions of dollars and even with federal disaster aid efforts by the States concerned to bounce back from recession may complicate.

(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Saint Petersburg, Peggy Gargis will be doing in Birmingham, Leigh Coleman in Mississippi, Pascal Fletcher in Miami, writing by Pascal Fletcher; Edit by Bill Trott)

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SEC to address mutual fund fees after July

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON | Fri 29 april 2011 3: 30 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-U.s. securities regulators don't expect finalizing new rules on mutual funds distribution costs to all new regulations required by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law were made, a top regulator said on Friday.

Elisse Walter, a Commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission, discussed the Agency's Upcoming agenda for money market funds, target date funds and other investment company regulation in an address before the mutual fund Directors Forum.

In her speech, on behalf of SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, her appearance at the last moment had to cancel, said Walter that the Agency plans to return to the issue "with full force" after the deadline of July for Dodd-Frank rules.

Last July, the SEC proposed new rules on so-called "12b-1 fees, which are deducted from investment funds are to pay for Fund promotion and other services for shareholders.

Some SEC officials, including Schapiro and Walter, are concerned that investors may not realize that the fees are deducted from their funds or how the money is used.

The plan last July proposed certain limits on sales charges and also aimed at enhancing transparency for investors, partly by funds to prohibit the use of the obscure reference "12b-1 fees" in communication with investors.

"Fees must be set in a way that is fair," Walter later told reporters on the sidelines of the event. "One of the things that always suffer from me personally is that it is very difficult for investors to understand what they pay and when."

Walter said the 12b-1 plan has generated more than 2,400 comment letters, many raise concerns about things that want to retain investor choice in payment options and also the use of 12b-1 fees to pay for the costs in connection with the management of 401K plans.

In addition to this plan, said Walter that the SEC has also other large items on the agenda, such as finalizing its proposal on target date funds and do more on money market mutual fund reform.

The SEC is slated to hold a round table discussion on the reform of money market fund on 10 May.

(Reporting by Sarah n. Lynch; editing by John Wallace)

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Buffett admits error events, Sokol unforgivable says

A sign with a picture of President Warren Buffett welcomes a picnic Berkshire Hathaway shareholders at the annual meeting of BH in Omaha (Nebraska), April 30, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Rick WilkingBy Ben Berkowitz

OMAHA, Nebraska | Sun 1 May 2011, 4: 44 am EDT

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters)-Warren Buffett said he was wrong not on David Sokol on purchases of Lubrizol Corp. stock while his former top Lieutenant was pitching the chemical company as a possible takeover target for Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

It was that kind of answer investors had Hyam to hear from Buffett at this year's Berkshire annual meeting, usually a lovefest for tens of thousands of shareholders, and on which the Sokol episode had cast a cloud.

Sokol said Buffett Berkshire for knowledge rules by not to reveal its January purchase Lubrizol shares, less than four weeks after the commencement of negotiations with Citigroup Inc. bankers about the company had violated.

Sokol, who chaired Berkshire MidAmerican Energy Unit, ran his NetJets aircraft-leasing unit, and was a top Buffett deal maker, was considered a leading contender to succeed 80-year-old Buffett and Berkshire's chief executive.

But he resigned last month when his game Lubrizol was revealed. Sokol was given a $ 3 million profit on that game when Berkshire agreed to buy Lubrizol for about $ 9 billion.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing Sokol, a person familiar with the matter said. The controversy has Buffett's management called in question.

"I, of course, a big mistake by not say: ' well when did you buy it? '" Buffett said on Saturday, as he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger fielded shareholder questions for five hours from the stage of the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Buffett calling the Sokol situation "inexplicable and inexcusable", he uses 20 years ago had used to describe the failure by the management at Salomon Brothers Inc., which he chaired, to tell regulators of wrongdoing tied to a Treasury scandal provide the same language.

He later told Reuters Insider are many criticism on 30 March press release announcing Sokol of dismissal "inept" had been.

Berkshire class A shares closed Friday at $ 124,750, and the class B shares closed at $ 83.30. Both groups were well represented at the meeting.

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Gaddafi's son killed in air strike: Libyan Government

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi speaks during a live speech in this still photo taken from video 30 April 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Libya TV via Reuters TVBy Lin Noueihed

TRIPOLI | Sun 1 May 2011, 7: 29 am EDT

TRIPOLI (Reuters)-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO air attack on a house in Tripoli which killed his youngest son Saif al-Arab and three young grandchildren, said a Government spokesman on Sunday.

Libyan officials took journalists to the House, which is hit by at least three missiles. The roof was completely collapsed in places, leaving mangled rods of steel hanging down underneath splintered chunks of concrete.

"What we have now is the law of the jungle," Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a press conference. "We think now it is clear to everyone that what happens in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians."

Death is not independently confirmed. But they would certainly heap pressure on NATO--who denies targeting the Gaddafi family--of opponents of the mission who say that it goes beyond the UN mandate to protect civilians.

It would also be the vulnerability of Gaddafi himself.

Fighting in Libya the civil war, which rose from protests for greater political freedom that are scattered throughout the Arab world, has reached stalemate in recent weeks with neither side can achieve a decisive battle.

Ibrahim said Gaddafi the youngest son, Saif al-Arab, was killed in the attack. Saif al-Arab, 29, is one of the less prominent sons Gaddafi, with a limited role in the power structure. Ibrahim described him as a student who had studied in Germany.

The grandchildren slain Benjamins, said Ibrahim.

"The leader himself is in good health. He was not harmed. His wife is also in good health.

"This was a direct effect to kill the leader of this country. This is not permitted by international law. It is not allowed by a moral code or principle. "

NATO DENIES GADDAFI TARGET

NATO denied targeting Gaddafi, or his family, but said that air attacks on military targets in the same area of Tripoli as the bombed site seen by reporters had launched.

The Alliance said "NATO remained its precision strikes against Government military installations in Tripoli's night, including striking a known command and control building near Bab al-Azizia shortly after 1800 GMT Saturday night," in a statement.

NATO commander of Libya operations, Canadian Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, said that the goal was part of a strategy to rid command centers threaten citizens.

"All NATO targets are military in nature ...We do not target persons, "he said in a statement.

Each appearance of an assassination attempt on Gaddafi is likely to lead to accusations that the British and French-led strikes are the crossing of the provisions of the UN resolution in place to protect the public.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a longtime ally of Gaddafi, called it attempted murder.

"There is no doubt that the order was given to kill Gaddafi. It doesn't matter who else is killed, kill Gaddafi ... a murder, this is a murder, "he said in Caracas.

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Commission of international affairs in the lower House of the Russian Parliament, Interfax reported: "more and more facts show that the purpose of the anti-Gaddafi Libyan Coalition to physically destroy."

It calls upon the Western coalition to a quick evaluation of the actions.

"I am aware of unconfirmed media reports that some of the Gaddafi family members may have killed," of NATO Bouchard said. "We deplore all loss of life."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said refused to comment on what he called "unconfirmed report" about members of the Gaddafi family is killed in the NATO strike.

But he told BBC television: "the policy of NATO and the Alliance is absolutely clear. It is in accordance with the UN resolution 1973 and it is about preventing a loss of civilian life by focusing on Gaddafi of war-making machine, so that is of course tanks and cannons, rocket launchers, but also command and control as well. "

SECOND CLOSE CALL IN 24 hours

Gaddafi, who was seized in a 1969 coup d ' état to power, fighting a revolt by rebels seized much of eastern Libya. He describes the rebels as religious extremists and Western agents who want to check out the oil from Libya.

Within part of the villa hit late on Saturday, a beige Bank was virtually untouched, but debris had admitted on some striped upholstered chairs. The blasts were heard across the city.

A table football machine stood outside in the garden in a prosperous residential area. Glass and debris covers the lawns and what looked like a unexploded rocket lay in a corner.

It appeared to be the second NATO strike near Gaddafi in 24 hours. A rocket struck near a tv station early on Saturday when the Libyan leader was making an address in which he said that he would never step down and conversations offered to rebels.

The rebels say they don't trust Gaddafi. The last few days have seen fierce bombardment of rebel outposts in the West. A rebel in the mountain city of Zintan spokesman Government troops the city with up to 30 powerful Grad rockets has showered late in the evening.

Tripoli also has a sea blockade on the western outpost of Misrata, potentially deprive the rebels of an essential support link to their eastern heartland explained.

Celebratory rifle fire and car horns rang out rebels in the Eastern capital of Benghazi as news of the attack spread.

The announcement of the attack was on State television, which later left hundreds of people around the Gaddafi compound sing life created.

"We will fight and if we have to fight," said Ibrahim. "The leader offered peace to NATO and NATO rejected yesterday."

Gaddafi's daughter was killed in a U.S. air strike in 1986, after a bomb attack on a West Berlin discotheque killed two U.S. soldiers ordered. Washington linked Tripoli to the attack.

(Additional reporting by Tarek Amara and Abdelaziz Boumzar in Dehiba, Deepa Babington and Michael Georgy in Benghazi, Matthew Tostevin in Tunis, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Written by Ralph Boulton; Edit by Angus MacSwan)

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Sales of consultant practices slip in Q1

By Philipp Gollner

SAN FRANCISCO | Fri 29 april 2011 3: 26 pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)-advisors eager to make money or build their practices by sales or mergers a slight setback in the first quarter as less listings were consumed, according to a new report.

The number of registered investment advisors who sold or merged their companies dropped to 23 from a record 25 in the quarter last year, while the average size of acquired companies slid 39 percent to 904 million dollars of client assets under management of $ 1.5 billion for all deals done in 2010.

The data were collected by Charles Schwab Corp., the largest provider of investment products, trade and detention services into the community of registered investment advisor.

The first quarter deal count is off the pace for all 2010 when Schwab tallied 109 takeovers of Rias with managed assets total of 156 billion dollars. That was the highest total deal since Schwab follow RIA acquisitions in 2003.

David DeVoe, managing director of strategic business development at Schwab Advisor Services, warned that data from a single quarter insufficient for drawing conclusions about the annual trends.

IN-CHANNEL LISTINGS

RIAs that are approaching retirement or looking to build their practices through affiliations with larger companies increasingly combine with other RIAs than with banks, broker-dealers or between persons with an interest in the companies buy.

The trend interchannel acquisition, which is about two years ago, started well for 55% of first quarter deals, underline for RIAs ' "growing sophistication in M & A. ..o in order to achieve their business, "said DeVoe.

Schwab closely parallel the findings released April 27, a report by Bank of New York Mellon's Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, another great broker for customers of RIAs.

Banks, which prominent buyers of small advisors early last decade, "have faded in prominence" as active buyers, according to Pershing. In 2010, approximately half of all active buyers

other RIAs.

Although the average size of deals in the first quarter fell, were a larger number of acquired companies in the $ 250 million to $ 1 billion range, DeVoe said. The other side, making the average deal size down, is that active buyers also buy more small practices.

Pershing reported that 18 percent of all practices or merged 2010 was sold the assets of 100 million dollars or less. That is double the percentage of small offers tallied by Pershing in the years 2004-2009.

MOTIVATIONS

The main drivers of the buyers are the desire for new geographic markets, new services and specialist knowledge in areas such as trust and accounting, DeVoe said.

Dan Inveen, whose consulting firm Pershing FA insight composed the study, said financial considerations remain the principal motivation of most small sellers.

"Unless the owner of the desired resolution is a firm formwork, a kind of a sale, merger or acquisition is inevitable," he said.

An alternative to outright sale is for RIAs to buy holdings in rivals, especially if they fill a strategic gap.

"We see more of a networking trend place," said Mike Watson, Director of practice management solutions at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., another major custodian for customers of independent advisors. "These RIAs are definitely interested in having conversations with each other."

(Reporting by Philipp Gollner, edited by Jed Horowitz)

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