Evening Edition

In Brussels, the heart of the European Union, tens of thousands of people from 30 countries joined the city’s biggest march in a decade as riot police barricaded the EU headquarters against the backlash to brutal spending cuts.

Spain staged its first general strike since 2002 and thousands more also rallied in cities from Portugal to Poland, although leaders such as France’s Nicolas Sarkozy pressed on with a “historic” attack on soaring overspending.

Police barricaded banks and shops and blocked access to the European Union building, where labour leaders hoped to mass up to 100,000 people from 30 countries in the afternoon to say “no to austerity”.

“We’re here to say ‘no’ to the multiplying number of austerity plans, whether adopted by governments or by European institutions,” said Bernard Thibault, head of the major CGT French trade union, as the march took off.

Following a spat with Paris and weeks of bickering, the European Commission issued a two-page statement criticising France after a lengthy closed-door meeting of the 27 commissioners.

“The Commission considers that France has not yet transposed the directive on free movement into national legislation that makes these rights fully effective and transparent,” the statement said.

The correspondence exposes some of the tensions among the scientists who sought to balance profession rivalry, suspicion and friendship in their quest for biology’s Holy Grail.

“Strained relationships and vivid personalities leap off the pages,” the report says.

“The reason that I’m pushing China about their currency, it’s because their currency’s undervalued,” Obama said, when asked at a “backyard” meeting with voters in midwestern Iowa why he was pressuring Beijing on the issue.

“People generally think that they are managing their currency in ways that make our goods more expensive to sell and their goods cheaper to sell here,” he added, saying that fueled the yawning US trade deficit with China.

After heavy downpours lashed the Celtic Manor course overnight and early Wednesday, European captain Colin Montgomerie delayed his team’s tee off for the second day of official practice.

By contrast Pavin and the Americans were back on the course as the rain fell, determined to get a feel for wet weather golf on the challenging 7,378-yard par-71 layout.

On day two of Paris Fashion Week, Belgium’s Dries Van Noten sketched an ethereal collection that fused an ultra-feminine, oriental esthetic with boldly masculine cuts, from man-sized suit jackets or waistcoats to roomy shorts.

“It’s the 40s, the 70s and the 90s all mixed,” the designer told AFP backstage. “The forties for their elegance, the quirkiness of the seventies and the androgyny of the 90s.”

“Five dollars for a bottle of water at the airport,” exclaims 20-year-old Veith. “That’s pretty heavy.”

The Aussie, as the currency is known, has jumped almost 20 percent against the US dollar since June to post-financial crisis highs — stunning foreign visitors who were expecting more value from the greenback.

The French economy will grow by 1.5 percent this year, two percent in 2011 and 2.5 percent a year from 2012 to 2014, with inflation set to be a moderate 1.5 percent in 2010 and 2011, the budget said.

The public deficit will hit a record 7.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, far above the 3.0-percent limit laid down by EU rules, on the basis of projections in the budget.

Tickets in all categories were available for most sports during the October 3-14 sporting showpiece, with places still on sale even for the opening and closing ceremonies and the 100-metre finals.

About two million tickets were put on sale for the multi-sport Games, but rumours have long circulated in the capital that the response has been lacklustre amid delays in finalising the sales network.

Butt, together with fast bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, was banned from playing by the ICC after allegations made by Britain’s News of the World they’d been involved in a plot to bowl deliberate no-balls during last month’s Test against England at Lord’s as part of a betting scam.

The allegations have since become the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation.

Up to 5,000 protesters also marched in Warsaw, Spanish unions staged a general strike and trade unions called protests in 11 other capitals to oppose measures such as spending cuts and pension and labor market reforms.

Unions said they achieved their goal of bringing 100,000 people onto the streets of Brussels, but police put the figure at 56,000 and said 218 people were detained for minor offences. Attendance at other rallies appeared to be much smaller.

Requested funding increases for financial regulators are not likely to be included in a stopgap spending bill to fund government operations through early December, complicating efforts to put the sweeping law in place, according to congressional and regulatory sources.

The delay is likely to last through early December and could stretch into 2011.

The bill, expected to be passed on Wednesday with heavy support from Democrats but a mixed reaction from Republicans, treats China’s exchange rate as a subsidy. That would open the door to extra duties on Chinese goods entering the United States, some of which are already subject to special levies.

The measure could play well in the U.S. congressional election on November 2, with voters worried about their jobs and a sluggish economy. But it must win Senate approval and be signed into law by President Barack Obama — by no means a sure bet.

Echoing a move BP made after the Texas City blast in 2005, Dudley also said on Wednesday he was appointing a new safety guru, Mark Bly, who would ensure safe practices across the organization.

BP shares closed up 3.9 percent at 421 pence, against a 0.2 percent drop in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index.

Holding the latest in a series of backyard meetings with middle-class voters, Obama heard one small businessman’s fears that his tax plans could “strangle” job creation. The president also fielded concerns about high unemployment and the impact of his healthcare overhaul.

It was a marked contrast to the enthusiastic university crowd that greeted Obama Tuesday in Wisconsin when he sought to fire up his youthful base of support, and showed the obstacles his Democratic Party faces in the November 2 elections.

AIG is close to finalizing a plan for the government to sell its stake in the insurer, which would see the Treasury Department convert $49 billion of preferred stake into common shares to be sold over time, Chairman Steve Miller said on Wednesday.

AIG also is close to a deal to sell two life insurance units in Japan to Prudential Financial Inc for about $4.8 billion in cash, a source familiar with the matter said.

The commission met for less than three hours amid growing worry about government debt problems in Europe. The U.S. deficit is an underlying market concern, but it has not stopped investors worldwide from buying U.S. Treasuries — considered the world’s safest bet.

The commission’s work is “not going to be easy, it’s not going to be fun, and in many cases, it’s not going to be popular. It is going to require sacrifice,” said Co-Chairman Erskine Bowles at the outset of the meeting.

After months of speculation, the state KCNA news agency announced early on Wednesday that the untested Kim Jong-un, thought to be in his late 20s, had been made second in command to his father at the ruling Workers’ Party’s powerful Central Military Commission.

Rising with him were the ailing Kim Jong-il’s sister and her husband, creating a powerful triumvirate ready to take over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding after World War Two.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board, most of them Americans, and 11 people on the ground. Suffering from advanced prostate cancer, al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds in August 2009 by Scotland’s government. He returned to Libya, outraging people on both sides of the Atlantic. He is still alive.

“The release on compassionate grounds was deeply, deeply flawed and perhaps even intentionally skewed to allow for al-Megrahi’s release,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairing a Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

The assessment by U.S. Brig. Gen. Rob Baker is the most direct link by American military brass between Iraq’s nearly seven-month impasse on forming a government and a recent spike in violence that has included rocket strikes blamed on Shiite militias and targeted killings by suspected Sunni hit squads against security officials and government workers.

Baker’s comments also boost U.S. pressure on Iraqi political leaders to finally pull together after March elections, which were narrowly won by a Sunni-backed coalition but without enough parliament seats to push aside the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki – who seeks to hold on to power.

But as her party defends its record with its majority in jeopardy, two prominent Democrats await ethics trials. Two other party members gave Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarships to relatives. Most importantly, lobbyists, corporations and special interests still have unimpeded ways to buy access to members of Congress.

Take House Majority Whip James Clyburn’s annual charity golf tournament, which provides college scholarships for needy students in his South Carolina district and funds the endowment he established at South Carolina State University.

Police fired shots in the air to disperse protesters at a general strike in Spain. Greek bus and trolley drivers walked off the job, joined by doctors who staged a 24-hour strike at state hospitals. Unions claimed a crowd of 100,000 marched on European Union headquarters in Brussels.

From Ireland to Greece, workers united around the theme that they are victims of a debt crisis caused by reckless high-spending bankers undermining Europe’s cherished welfare state. They complained of higher taxes, job cuts, soaring unemployment and smaller pensions.

Obama addressed all those concerns, and more, during his two-day, four-state tour that ended Wednesday in Richmond. In the middle, he drew raucous cheers at a college rally in Wisconsin.

Despite all his mingling with middle class voters, however, Obama’s chief focus was on people who never showed up: congressional Republicans and their corporate allies who, the president said, are trying to thwart his administration’s progress and turn the clock back to the George W. Bush era.

Berlusconi had staked his coalition’s survival on the outcome of the vote in the lower chamber of Parliament. He garnered 342 votes in favor of his government compared to 275 votes against, with 3 abstentions.

Shaken by a nasty break with one of his two main coalition partners over the summer, Berlusconi called the vote to confirm he could still command a comfortable majority in the legislature, which is halfway through its five-year term.

With their House and Senate majorities on the line, Democratic leaders called off votes and even debates on all controversial matters.

“It would be one thing if you have a chance to pass something, then by all means have a vote,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Wednesday. “But it was pretty clear that it was going to be mutually assured destruction.”

LePage, a favorite of tea partiers, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he regretted the words he chose Sunday in the small coastal town of Brooksville but that he wasn’t backing down in his criticism of the administration for what he describes as free-spending, antibusiness policies.

A Democratic Party official said it showed LePage is hotheaded and ill-suited to govern.

“Our hopes for this meeting were to learn about giving in China, and share our own views,” Buffett said in a news release from him and Gates late Wednesday. “We had a terrific exchange of views, and learned a great deal about the good work that is already under way.”

Some reports had said some invitees to the private dinner in Beijing were reluctant to attend because they did not want to be pressured.

Jury selection began Wednesday when 53 prospective jurors were introduced to the defendant, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who briefly turned toward the group in his light blue sweater over a white shirt and a dark tie. He has been described by federal authorities as a bomb maker, document forger and former bin Laden aide. He’s charged with conspiring to kill Americans in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. The attacks killed 224 people, including a dozen Americans, and were widely viewed as a precursor to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The trial will be closely watched by those debating the feasibility of civilian trials of high-profile Guantanamo detainees arrested around the world. Some were subjected to harsh interrogations at secret CIA-run camps where the gathering of trial evidence yielded to an immediate need to unearth terrorism threats.

The impoverished nation has long used both carrots and sticks to get what it wants: offering dialogue and promises to dismantle its nuclear program to get aid, and when it runs into resistance, conducting missile and atomic tests and threatening to destroy rival South Korea.

Analysts see little prospect of that strategy changing, although some speculate that Pyongyang could seek a period of calm – after a turbulent past two years – to minimize confrontation with the outside world as it enters a time of transition in its top ranks.

Relatives smiled, hugged and yelled “Viva Chile!” as officials reported one of the rescue drills made twice the progress Tuesday than had been expected.

They promised the families that preparations for the rescue effort on the surface would be ready by Oct. 12, and said they are planning for the possibility the miners could be pulled up nearly a month ahead of the official schedule.

Even recent history – such as recordings from 9/11 or the 2008 election – is at risk because digital sound files can be corrupted, and widely used CD-R discs only last three to five years before files start to fade, said study co-author Sam Brylawski.

“I think we’re assuming that if it’s on the Web it’s going to be there forever,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges.”

The long recession technically ended in mid-2009, economists say, but U.S. Census data released Tuesday show the painful, lingering effects. The annual survey covers all of last year, when unemployment skyrocketed to 10 percent, and the jobless rate is still a stubbornly high 9.6 percent.

The figures also show that Americans on average have been spending about 36 fewer minutes in the office per week and are stuck in traffic a bit less than they had been. But that is hardly good news, either. The reason is largely that people have lost jobs or are scraping by with part-time work.

The money was pledged by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in March for use this year in rebuilding. The U.S. has already spent more than $1.1 billion on post-quake relief, but without long-term funds, the reconstruction of the wrecked capital cannot begin.

With just a week to go before fiscal 2010 ends, the money is still tied up in Washington. At fault: bureaucracy, disorganization and a lack of urgency, The Associated Press learned in interviews with officials in the State Department, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the White House and the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy. One senator has held up a key authorization bill because of a $5 million provision he says will be wasteful.

Obama talked about his beliefs when he was asked, “Why are you a Christian.” The question was posed by a woman at a backyard conversation here, part of a series of meetings Obama is holding to talk informally with Americans.

Some conservatives and political opponents have questioned Obama’s Christian faith. In fact, a Pew Research Center poll in August found that 18 percent of people wrongly believe Obama is Muslim – up from 11 percent who said so in March 2009. Just 34 percent said they thought Obama is Christian.

Emanuel, widely expected to announce a decision about his candidacy within days, recently called the tenants renting his home on Chicago’s North Side and asked them to move out so he could move back in, spokesman and close friend Rick Jasculca said Tuesday.

But the couple said no. They extended their lease until next year just days before Mayor Richard Daley announced he wouldn’t seek re-election, Jasculca said, and told Emanuel they don’t want to leave.

In a speech Wednesday at Duke University, Gates said this disconnect has imposed a heavy burden on a small segment of society and wildly driven up the costs of maintaining an all-volunteer force.

Because fewer Americans see military service as their duty, troops today face repeated combat tours and long separations from family. The 2.4 million people serving in the armed forces today represent less than 1 percent of the country’s total population.

According to the Kansas-based organization Kids and Cars, 48 children have died of hyperthermia after being left or becoming trapped in a hot car or truck. The previous record of 47 was set in 2005, says Janette Fennell, the group’s founder and president.

“I’m devastated,” Fennell said Wednesday.

The nationwide exposure has landed the South Dakota Republican on many a pundit’s short list of 2012 presidential contenders, and Thune acknowledged Wednesday the thought has crossed his mind.

“I’d be less than honest if I said I hadn’t thought about it, based upon the amount of encouragement that I’ve received from people across South Dakota and my colleagues here in the Senate and people across the country,” Thune said on Wednesday on a conference call with South Dakota reporters.

Offering a somber assessment of the conflict, which ended in 1975 with the humiliating fall of Saigon, Kissinger lamented the anguish that engulfed a generation of Americans as the war dragged on.

And he said the core problem for the U.S. was that its central objective of preserving an independent, viable South Vietnamese state was unachievable – and that the U.S. adversary was unbending.

Besh had just taken out a large loan to pay off his partners when the storm shut him down and sent his customers looking for dry ground.

“We came back fast and furious, but we were here with a refrigerator full of food and no one to cook it for,” Besh recalled.

And now that Volvo of Sweden has been sold to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. of China and the new owner is assessing Volvo’s products, little is changing near term for the C30, except the price, a slight styling update and stiffer suspension for an uplevel model.

Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, for the 2011 C30 increased $500 from 2010. The base model starts at $25,450, with manual transmission and 227-horsepower, turbocharged, five-cylinder engine. With automatic transmission the 2011 C30 starts at $26,700, and the uplevel C30 with sporty R-Design body kit and sport suspension starts at $27,800 with manual transmission.