2 British PM aims to set Afghan goals for troops' exit
by Jo Biddle, AFP
13 mins ago
| PORT OF SPAIN (AFP) - Britain aims to set clear goals in Afghanistan at top-level talks next year to help bring its troops home, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday, amid public anger at the rising death toll.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and all major contributors to the coalition fighting in Afghanistan as well as regional neighbors will be invited to the London conference on January 28.
"What we need is a political push to match the military push we're now agreeing to," Brown told reporters on the sidelines of a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad. |
3 Pakistan's president hands over nuclear powers
by Sajjad Tarakzai, AFP
33 mins ago
| ISLAMABAD (AFP) - President Asif Ali Zardari gave up control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal Saturday in a bid to fend off mounting pressures threatening to weaken his rule further and complicate the war on the Taliban.
Zardari took the decision as an amnesty protecting him and key aides from corruption cases expired and risked flinging the country, struggling to contain a Taliban insurgency in the northwest, into fresh political crisis.
The presidency announced that control of the National Command Authority, which analysts and lawyers confirmed was responsible for nuclear weapons, had shifted to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. |
4 Dubai blackout over debt plans to hit Gulf markets
by Andrew Newby, AFP
41 mins ago
| NICOSIA (AFP) - A lack of details on how Dubai plans to pay off its 80-billion-dollar debt mountain will hit Gulf stock markets sharply this week when they trade for the first time since news broke of the emirate's problems, analysts predict.
"It's a very serious and severe problem that is likely to shake up the Gulf financial system as a whole. I expect Gulf bourses to dive like the September crash last year" following Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, warned Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu-Dahesh.
Abu Dhabi, Dubai's oil-rich neighbour in the United Arab Emirates, is widely expected to use some of its wealth to rescue Dubai, but speculation is rife about what conditions it might impose. |
5 Hopes rise for climate talks as rich countries ante up
by Marc Burleigh, AFP
Sat Nov 28, 1:51 am ET
| PORT OF SPAIN (AFP) - Hopes suddenly rose that a new global climate pact was within reach after rich nations attending a Commonwealth summit here offered to pay poorer countries to help seal the deal.
"Success in Copenhagen is in sight," UN chief Ban Ki-moon stated, referring to the climate negotiations to take place in the Danish capital December 7-18.
He and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, both making exceptional appearances at the Trinidad summit despite not being Commonwealth members, stressed how encouraged they were by Britain and France offering to start a 10-billion-dollar fund for developing nations. |
6 Victory for Putin as France signs gas pipeline deal
by Luc Perrot, AFP
Fri Nov 27, 2:30 pm ET
| RAMBOUILLET, France (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won another victory for his aggressive energy diplomacy strategy Friday, signing a deal bringing French investment to a pipeline project.
In a successful trip that worried Russia's nervous neighbours, Putin also secured French investment to save the struggling Lada car maker and a promise that France will consider selling Moscow a huge amphibious assault ship.
"We have embarked upon complete cooperation with Russia," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon declared, as he and Putin addressed reporters after talks outside Paris with ministers and energy executives. |
7 Lebanon's other women 'out' in force
by Natacha Yazbeck, AFP
2 hrs 23 mins ago
| BEIRUT (AFP) - They remain anonymous, but their voices are out in force and bold print: a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women have braved law and social taboo in Lebanon with a little pink-and-white book.
"Bareed Mista3jil," Arabic for "Mail in a Hurry," is a collection of 41 true stories of women grappling with coming out, religion, family and emigration.
One story is by a woman struggling to reconcile her religion and sexual orientation. Another speaks about the hardships of coming out in Lebanese society and a third deals with rape. |
8 Wall Street braces for Dubai debt fallout, jobs data
by Germain Moyon, AFP
Fri Nov 27, 11:30 pm ET
| NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street braced for repercussions of the Dubai debt crisis to unfold and for looming key economic data, after winding down a turbulent holiday-shortened week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.9 percent on the week to 10,309.92, snapping a three-week streak of gains for blue chips.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite tumbled 3.5 percent to 2,138.44 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat, slipping 0.01 percent to 1,091.49. |
9 Abu Dhabi to aid Dubai on "case by case" basis
By Stanley Carvalho, Reuters
Sat Nov 28, 6:47 am ET
| ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi, wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates, will "pick and choose" how to assist debt-laden neighbor Dubai, a senior official said on Saturday, after fears of a Dubai default sent global markets reeling.
"We will look at Dubai's commitments and approach them on a case-by-case basis. It does not mean that Abu Dhabi will underwrite all of their debts," the official in the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi told Reuters by phone.
Dubai's crisis exploded on Wednesday when the emirate, known for flashy lifestyles and the world's tallest building, said it would delay payment on debt issued by one of its flagship firms, angering investors and sending global markets sharply lower. |
10 Holiday shoppers keen on deals, online spending up
By Jessica Wohl, Reuters
2 mins ago
| CHICAGO (Reuters) - A focus on bargains pulled U.S. shoppers into stores and onto websites over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but many said they would stick to their budgets and avoid purchases if they couldn't find a good deal.
Shoppers turned out in force on Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, and returned on Saturday for more.
Industry executives and analysts have predicted a tough holiday season that may only show a slight improvement over 2008, when retailers logged their worst performance in nearly four decades due to a weak economy and high unemployment. |
11 Afghan talks to seek path to security handover
By Adrian Croft, Reuters
1 hr 42 mins ago
| PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Britain will host talks on Afghanistan on January 28, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, just days before U.S. President Barack Obama sets out his expansion of the war effort next week.
The international conference in London, to be followed by a meeting in Kabul, will address progressively handing security to Afghan control, Brown and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
That would, in theory, allow NATO countries to draw down their forces as public support wanes on both sides of the Atlantic for the costly eight-year-old war. |
12 Commonwealth builds momentum for climate deal
By Pascal Fletcher, Reuters
17 mins ago
| PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Commonwealth nations representing one-third of the world's population threw their weight behind accelerating efforts to clinch an "operationally binding" U.N. climate deal in Copenhagen next month, their leaders said on Saturday.
Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad and Tobago used their summit to bolster a diplomatic offensive seeking wide consensus on how to fight global warming ahead of December 7-18 U.N. climate talks in the Danish capital.
"We believe ... the time for action on climate change has come. The clock is ticking to Copenhagen ... we believe that the political goodwill and resolve exists to secure a comprehensive agreement at Copenhagen," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a news conference in Port of Spain. |
13 Russia, U.S. likely to miss deadline on arms pact
By Denis Dyomkin and Jeff Mason, Reuters
Fri Nov 27, 4:58 pm ET
| MINSK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Russia are unlikely to finish a pact to cut Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons by a December 5 deadline but still aim to close the deal by year-end, Russian and U.S. sources said Friday.
Diplomats from the two biggest nuclear powers have been trying to prepare a new agreement on cutting atomic weapons before the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires.
The new accord will be signed "in a European country" in December, a Kremlin source told Reuters in Minsk, where President Dmitry Medvedev was meeting regional leaders. |
14 Health overhaul: Understanding the pros and cons
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 8:53 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Maybe you've been reading the health care bill in your spare time. Then perhaps you can answer this question:
If Congress makes history and puts a bill on President Barack Obama's desk by Christmas, how long before the uninsured get medical coverage?
If you said three years or more, you'd be right. Yet many people don't realize that to keep costs down, lawmakers made compromises that might not appeal to consumers. |
15 Dubai looks to oil-rich neighbor for possible aid
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 9:35 am ET
| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - As world markets absorbed the shock of Dubai's debt crisis, the ruler of the once-booming city-state left town for an important meeting in a desert palace. His hosts: the leaders of neighboring Abu Dhabi whose balance sheets are flush with oil revenue.
It's not known what promises were made inside the halls in Al Ain during the parade of visitors for an important Islamic feast day on Friday. But their new relationship is clear. Abu Dhabi has the cash and cache to be Dubai's white knight - in a Gulf version of a too-big-to-fail bailout or to help calm markets with promises to intervene if Dubai's fiscal mess deepens.
The direction Abu Dhabi takes will likely set the tone for the coming week as analysts try to sort out what banks and institutions have the most at stake in the money crunch - which has suddenly shifted Dubai's image from a desert dream factory of indoor ski slopes and a "seven-star" hotel to a reckless spender sideswiped by the recession and unable to pay its bills. |
16 Recession sends older Americans to food pantries
By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 7:23 am ET
| ALBANY, N.Y. - Older Americans who were raised on stories of the Great Depression and acquired lifelong habits of thrift now find themselves crowding soup kitchens and food pantries in greater numbers for the first time after seeing retirement funds, second jobs and nest eggs wiped out by recession.
"What we see in line is lots of gray hair, lots of walkers," said Marti Forman, CEO of The Cooperative Feeding Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The help is crucial for many fixed-income seniors, who can't always keep up with rising food prices. |
17 Military divorces increasing from war stress
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 4:54 am ET
| WASHINGTON - The divorce rate in the armed forces continues to edge higher, despite efforts by the military to help struggling couples.
There were an estimated 27,312 divorces among roughly 765,000 married members of the active-duty Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, the Pentagon reported Friday.
That's a divorce rate of about 3.6 percent, compared with 3.4 percent a year earlier, according to figures from the Defense Manpower Data Center. Marriages among reservists failed at a rate of 2.8 percent compared to 2.7 the previous year. |
18 Domestic abuse cases proceed - even without victim
By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writer
59 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Karla Giraldo's face required about 40 stitches after an incident with her boyfriend, a New York state senator. The wife of New York TV personality Dominic Carter had a swollen lip, cut ear, and bruised body after they argued over care for their child.
In both cases, the women testified in court that their partners were not guilty.
Giraldo said it was an accident after initially telling doctors her boyfriend did it on purpose, according to testimony. Carter's wife, Marilyn, said it wasn't her husband, as she claimed on a 911 call, but rather a day laborer who hit her. |
19 Ski resorts fight global warming; Utah gov unsure
By BROCK VERGAKIS, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 8 mins ago
| SALT LAKE CITY - Ski resorts across the country are using the Thanksgiving weekend to jump start their winter seasons, but with every passing year comes a frightening realization: If global temperatures continue to rise, fewer and fewer resorts will be able to open for the traditional beginning of ski season.
Warmer temperatures at night are making it more difficult to make snow and the snow that falls naturally is melting earlier in the spring.
In few places is this a bigger concern than the American West, where skiing is one of the most lucrative segments of the tourism industry and often the only reason many people visit cash-strapped states like Utah during winter. |
20 Carbon credits spell new future for forests
By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 10:39 am ET
| BURNT WOODS, Ore. - Driving through the verdant timberlands of Oregon's Coast Range, Matt Fehrenbacher pointed out a mountainside where every tree had been clearcut.
"That's business as usual," said Fehrenbacher, a forester with The Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation group that manages private forest both to produce lumber and to store carbon as a hedge against global warming.
Later Fehrenbacher walked through the forest he manages for the Van Eck Forest Foundation, showing off tall Douglas firs that are breaking into a new growth spurt after trees around them were cut to let in more sun, dead logs with mushrooms sprouting from them left behind on the forest floor, and hemlock seedlings planted next to stumps left from logs sold for lumber. |
21 Some gays seek renewed focus on civil unions
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 10:01 am ET
| SAN FRANCISCO - Leland Traiman, who runs a sperm bank in California, worries about his lesbian clients in more conservative parts of the country when he hears fellow gay rights activists talk about winning the right to wed.
With 34 states lacking any legal recognition of same-sex relationships, Traiman wonders if all the emphasis on matrimony is misplaced.
"When I speak to women from Florida or Wisconsin or Minnesota, they are like, 'I don't care what it's called, I just want to be able to visit my wife in the hospital and cover my children with my health insurance,'" said Traiman, who helped pass the nation's first domestic partnership law a quarter-century ago in Berkeley. |
22 US and China to reduce emissions, but not enough
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 27, 9:47 pm ET
| AMSTERDAM - Even after the U.S. and China set targets this week for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the world's combined pledges ahead of next month's climate summit fall far short of what experts say is needed to avert dangerous global warming.
Still, emission promises by the two countries, the world's biggest polluters, added much-needed momentum as governments began final preparations for the 192-nation conference in Copenhagen, where parameters will be set for a new climate change agreement.
From Beijing to Trinidad, governments huddled Friday to plan their negotiating strategies. |
23 Changes to USPS Letters to Santa program upend charities' plans
By Mark Guarino, The Christian Science Monitor
Fri Nov 27, 4:00 am ET
| Chicago - A US Postal Service revision to its decades-old Letters to Santa program has some charities scurrying to figure out if and how they can continue giving to needy people who write in to ask for help.
Take organizers of a holiday benefit at Chicago's famed Second City theater. For each of the past 10 years, the event has raised more than $1 million for Chicago families living in housing projects or amid desperate circumstances. The recipe was simple and, until this year, always the same: Musicians and actors performed, money got raised, organizers bought goods and delivered a van load each to about a dozen families.
Families were selected using the postal service's Letters to Santa program. But this year, to protect letter writers' privacy, the USPS will no longer release their addresses, last names, or other private information to charities. Charitable givers, instead of delivering goods to recipients in person, will be required to mail them. (The USPS will assign a code to each letter writer, and it will be the only entity that knows a recipient's address, for delivery of the donation.) |
24 Afghanistan, Iraq: different wars
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 9:28 am ET
| FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK, Afghanistan - Veterans of Iraq recall rolling to war along asphalted highways, sweltering in flat scrublands and chatting with city-wise university graduates connected to the wider world.
Now fighting in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers invariably encounter illiterate farmers who may never have talked to an American as they slog into remote villages on dirt tracks through bitterly cold, snow-streaked mountains.
"Before deploying here we were given training on language, culture, everything. I thought that since I was an Iraq combat veteran, I didn't need any of that stuff. I was wrong. Both countries may be Muslim but this is a totally different place," says Sgt. Michael McCann, returning from a patrol in the east-central province of Logar. |
25 Pakistani president turns over nuclear authority
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 34 mins ago
| ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's president relinquished command of its nuclear arsenal to the prime minister, a political ally, and signaled he was ready to shed more power as he faces growing pressure to resign.
The move came as an amnesty protecting President Asif Ali Zardari and thousands of others from graft charges expired Saturday, risking political turmoil that could distract the U.S.-allied nation from its fight against the Taliban and other militants near the Afghan border.
The political opposition called on Zardari to step down. He enjoys general immunity from prosecution as president, but the Supreme Court could choose to challenge his eligibility for the post since the amnesty decree by ex-military leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf was never passed into law. |
26 10,000 E. African albinos in hiding after killings
By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 10:54 am ET
| NAIROBI, Kenya - The mistaken belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa's albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make up to $75,000 selling a complete dismembered set.
Mary Owido, who lacks pigment that gives color to skin, eyes and hair, says she is only comfortable when at work or at home with her husband and children.
"Wherever I go people start talking about me, saying that my legs and hands can fetch a fortune in Tanzania," said Owido, 36, a mother of six. "This kind of talk scares me. I am afraid of going out alone." |
27 German trial is new twist in Demjanjuk saga
By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 9:57 am ET
| BERLIN - John Demjanjuk once was the focus of the world's attention for the bloodcurdling crimes of which he stood accused. Today, he's attracting notice for being the lowest-ranking person to go on trial for Nazi crimes in World War II.
The latest chapter in a 32-year legal saga brings the retired Ohio autoworker to a court in Munich in a case opening Monday that breaks new ground in Germany's pursuit of alleged Holocaust perpetrators.
If successful, it could significantly lower the bar for who is considered important enough to go to jail for being part of the Nazi apparatus. |
28 Day two of Namibia vote, ruling party set to win
By Agnieszka Flak, Reuters
Sat Nov 28, 10:51 am ET
| WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibians voted for the second day on Saturday in presidential and parliamentary elections that looked set to keep the ruling party SWAPO in power and hand President Hifikepunye Pohamba five more years at the helm.
Voting closes at 1900 GMT (2:00 p.m. EST).
The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), which emerged as a breakaway faction of the ruling South West African People's Organization in 2007, is expected to become the new official opposition and could threaten SWAPO's two-thirds majority. |
29 Honduran favorite aims for Brazil's support
By Anahi Rama, Reuters
Fri Nov 27, 8:55 pm ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The favorite in Honduras' weekend presidential election said on Friday he will try to persuade the world and especially Brazil to recognize him if he wins to end Central America's worst political crisis in decades.
Conservative Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, who has a clear lead over his closest rival in recent polls, urged Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to see a new Honduran president-elect as legitimate even though Sunday's vote follows a June coup.
"We will be knocking at president Lula's door and everyone else's to reestablish channels of friendship with all nations," Lobo, a wealthy farmer, told foreign correspondents. |
30 Afghan mine victims face hard, but hopeful life
By Yara Bayoumy, Reuters
Fri Nov 27, 7:10 pm ET
| KABUL (Reuters) - Moussa Khan had just been making his way back from a long day's work at a copper mine south of Kabul thinking about the son he lost a week earlier to a land mine blast. That day, Khan too stepped on a land mine.
Seven months later, Khan, his lined face wrinkled in concentration, still struggles to find his balance with a prosthetic limb in place of his right leg.
"When I heard the bang, I suddenly found myself flung nine meters away. May God punish them all," raved Khan, 50, his frail body clothed in blue grayish traditional Afghan long shirt and baggy trousers. |
31 Hondurans fearful ahead of disputed polls
by Sophie Nicholson, AFP
Sat Nov 28, 8:09 am ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Fear was palpable in the Honduran capital ahead of Sunday's post-coup elections, which have divided both the Central American country and the continent.
A military crackdown on dissenters after the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya and scores of small explosive attacks on media outlets and political targets have frayed nerves in a city already mired in gang violence.
Zelaya's supporters, who underwent months of repression as they sought to protest his ouster, have called for people to stay at home to boycott the polls and avoid being blamed for possible clashes over the disputed vote. |
32 Amnesty fears crackdown around Honduras polls
AFP
Fri Nov 27, 3:36 pm ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Amnesty International expressed fears Friday the Honduran de facto regime would use excessive force to clamp down on opposition to post-coup polls that have divided the Americas.
Backers of ousted President Manuel Zelaya called for citizens to stay at home on Sunday to boycott the polls and avoid government repression, amid an increasing climate of fear.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a mediator in the five-month crisis, joined the United States in backing the polls, which many in Latin America have rejected in the belief they will legitimize the June 28 military-backed coup. |
33 Pakistan graft amnesty expires
AFP
Sat Nov 28, 5:52 am ET
| ISLAMABAD (AFP) - An amnesty on corruption cases protecting President Asif Ali Zardari, key allies and thousands of others formally expires on Saturday, threatening to fling Pakistan into fresh political crisis.
The National Reconciliation Ordinance, commonly known as NRO, was promulgated in October 2007 by military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Musharraf's decree quashed corruption charges against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated two months later, her husband Zardari and other politicians in an apparent gesture of reconciliation to prolong his rule. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
34 Saddam was telling truth in missing Gulf War pilot
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 57 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein was telling the truth, this time. The United States just didn't believe him.
So it took the most powerful military in the world 18 years to find the remains of the only U.S. Navy pilot shot down in an aerial battle in the 1991 Gulf War.
Michael "Scott" Speicher's bones lay 18 inches deep in Iraqi sand, more or less right where a group of Iraqis had led an American search team in 1995. |
35 For stars, high-tech gaffes hard to hide
By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer
29 mins ago
| CHICAGO - So, you fail to take a deep breath and to count to 10 - and you post something you probably shouldn't on Twitter or Facebook, or somewhere else online.
Hopefully, it blows over without doing too much damage. But what if you're famous and have thousands, if not millions of virtual followers?
NFL star Larry Johnson was released by the Kansas City Chiefs after questioning his coach and posting gay slurs for all the world to see. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was criticized for pulling out a big knife in a video that was posted as a "thank you" to constituents for suggesting ways to cut the state budget. |
36 In Wyoming, basketball drives reservation's pride
By MATT JOYCE, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 28, 10:00 am ET
| ETHETE, Wyo. - The gym is adorned with championship banners, expectations are high, and the players gasp and burn their way through sprints during the first days of basketball practice at Wyoming Indian High School.
The afternoon is growing late and the sun casts long shadows across the snowcapped Wind River mountains. Inside the brick gym, the Chiefs - winners of the 2A state championship in March - run more drills, more sprints. Theirs is an up-tempo, run-and-gun game, and stamina is critical to their chances for a repeat.
Basketball is king on the Wind River Indian Reservation - a 3,440-square-mile expanse of mountains, valleys and rivers that's home to the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes. And the Chiefs, who have built one of Wyoming's most successful high school basketball teams, are the pride of a community beset by poverty, alcoholism and related social ills. |
37 Black Friday sales seen strong, but will it last?
By Martinne Geller and Phil Wahba, Reuters
Fri Nov 27, 4:44 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers turned out in strong numbers to hunt for holiday bargains on Black Friday, though many said they were spending selectively and industry executives questioned whether the momentum would last.
The Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving is often the busiest shopping day of the holiday season, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the retail industry's annual sales.
This year retailers and investors are paying close attention to signs of a consumer comeback that could propel the economy, after the 2008 holiday season saw the worst sales performance in nearly four decades. |
38 Why Big Shopping Bargains Are Bad News For America
By BARBARA KIVIAT, Time Magazine
Sat Nov 28, 9:25 am ET
| The price wars have gone nuclear. From Target's $3 coffeemakers to Best Buy's half-price stoves to Staples's $300 laptops, the theme of this holiday shopping season is, without a doubt, "we sell for less." Even Wal-Mart's commitment to "every day" low prices isn't preventing it from going lower. An online skirmish with Amazon.com that started with $9 hardcover books (books normally sold for three times that amount) has dominoed into other categories, driving down prices on everything from mobile phones to Easy-Bake ovens. The deals are everywhere. |
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