Evening Edition

The efforts of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to shore up the debt-laden Irish economy were called into question as the euro sank to a two-month low, dipping under 1.34 dollars.

As political anger at Cowen and the Irish government grew at home, Portugal — tipped to be the next eurozone economy to need a bailout — was bracing itself for a general strike on Wednesday.

It could take several weeks for the budgetary process to be completed and Cowen would then have to formally dissolve parliament and set an election date, meaning an election may not be held until February or March.

Cowen, who entered a coalition government with the Green Party in 2008, bowed to calls from its disgruntled junior partner to call an election in the wake of Ireland accepting a bailout worth up to 90 billion euros (122.5 billion dollars).

Cowen promised Monday to call an election but only when he had seen through a budget which he said was crucial to obtaining EU and IMF loans worth up to 90 billion euros (122.5 billion dollars).

The beleaguered prime minister was responding to calls by the junior partners in his governing coalition, the Green Party, for an election in January.

It could take several weeks for the budgetary process to be completed and Cowen would then have to formally dissolve parliament and set an election date, meaning an election may not be held until February or March.

Two independent members of parliament on whom the government depends to pass legislation said they were likely to withhold their support, raising fears that the crucial budget might not be passed at all.

The global tiger summit in Saint Petersburg, the first ever meeting of world leaders devoted to saving the fabled beast, agreed a plan aiming to double the numbers of wild tigers between now and 2022.

The Russian strongman said that the world’s population of wild tigers had declined by a factor of 30 over the last century to 3,200 individuals while their habitat area was only seven percent of what it was before.

Painting a stark picture of the short-term fate of the world’s largest economy, minutes from the Fed’s last meeting showed that growth would be around half a percentage point less than expected this year and in 2011.

Minutes from a November meeting showed that already anemic growth predictions have been slashed to 2.4-2.5 percent this year and 3.0-3.6 percent in the next.

They also warned that Greek wages were too high and said the country, saved from imminent insolvency in May, faced potential problems in repaying on time — although solutions were available in that case.

The expert auditor from the International Monetary Fund, Poul Thomsen, said: “The programme is at a crossroad.”

Extracts in which the 83-year-old German pope broke a Roman Catholic Church taboo and said condoms were acceptable in some cases have whetted the public appetite for “Light of the World”, which is being published in 18 languages.

“We’ve had over 12,000 pre-release orders over the last month and the numbers are about to jump pretty rapidly,” said Neil McCaffrey from Ignatius Press, the US publishers of the book.

Survivors recounted scenes of panic and fear on the narrow bridge as people were trampled underfoot by the surging crowds on Monday, with some reportedly falling or jumping into the river below or grabbing on to electricity cables.

Prime Minister Hun Sen described the disaster as Cambodia’s worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-1979 reign of terror, which left up to a quarter of the population dead. He declared a national day of mourning on Thursday.

Rescue hopes were dealt a fresh blow when a remote-controlled robot sent into the Pike River mine to collect vital data broke down and the drilling of a bore hole stalled when it hit hard rock.

“This is a very serious situation and the longer it goes on, hopes fade, and we have to be realistic,” police superintendent Gary Knowles, who is coordinating rescue efforts, told reporters.

Frustrated relatives of the missing, who were shown the video before its release, expressed anger at stalled rescue efforts as a robot sent into the mine broke down and an exploratory bore-hole was slowed by hard rock.

But New Zealand police commissioner Howard Broad said there were still high levels of explosive and poisonous gases in the mine, making it impossible to send in rescue teams.

In 2009, 2.6 million people contracted the HIV virus that causes AIDS, down 19 percent from the 3.1 million recorded in 2001, said UNAIDS, the UN agency spearheading the international campaign against the disease.

“Fifty-six nations around the world have stabilised or significantly reduced infections,” UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe told journalists.

“America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag” promises to be filled with the folksy wisdom that won Palin a massive and adoring fan base, many of whom are expected to line up for hours for the chance to get a book signed.

It is billed as a tribute to veterans, hunting and the Tea Party her publishers say will read “like a bible of American virtues for anyone hoping to understand the truths that lie at the heart of the nation.”

The Tibetan movement in exile, based in the northern Indian hill station of Dharamshala since 1960, directly elected a political leader in 2001 for the first time.

“Since then, His Holiness has always said he has been in a semi-retired state,” spokesman Tenzin Taklha said.

Kim Aris, 33, who lives in Britain, was met by his 65-year-old mother at Yangon airport after flying in from Bangkok.

“I’m very glad and I’m very happy,” Suu Kyi told an AFP reporter who witnessed the reunion along with some of the dissident’s relatives, well-wishers and a gaggle of photographers.

Dublin’s government is on a knife-edge. Damaged Prime Minister Brian Cowen has rebuffed calls for a snap election and insisted the budget would go ahead as planned on December 7 before he calls an early poll.

Opposition leader Enda Kenny hinted in parliament that his center-right Fine Gael party might let the budget pass, saying it would act in the national interest, and challenged Cowen to bring it forward to next week, but the prime minister refused.

With higher income consumers more positive about their financial prospects but lower income consumers still struggling, retailers are reaching out with smartphone and iPad apps, extending store hours for the holiday season kick-off that starts November 26 this year.

Sears and Wal-Mart Stores Inc are even open on U.S. Thanksgiving Day that Thursday.

News of the pontiff’s comments in a book came days before a U.N. report on Tuesday showed that even Africa was making inroads into the epidemic, with a fall in infection rates over the past decade coinciding with greater availability of condoms.

“It does open the opportunity for discussion,” Paul De Lay, Deputy Executive Director of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said of the pope’s statement, citing past confusion among many African Catholics over the Church’s approach to AIDS.

The clarification, which some moral theologians called “groundbreaking,” was the latest step in what is already seen as a significant shift in Catholic Church policy.

It came at a news conference to launch the pope’s new book, “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Sign of the Times.”

The credibility of the eventual result will weigh heavily when U.S. President Barack Obama reviews his Afghan war strategy next month amid rising violence and sagging public support, especially after a fraud-marred presidential election last year.

Consistent allegations of vote fraud in both polls has raised questions about the credibility of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government at a time when U.S. and NATO officials have been re-examining their long-term commitment in Afghanistan.

The newspaper said the man had held three meetings with NATO and Afghan officials but that U.S. officials had confirmed on Monday “they had given up hope” he was the leader identified as Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.

“The fake Taliban leader even met with President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace,” the newspaper said, again citing unidentified officials.

China’s chief negotiator in international climate change talks, Xie Zhenhua, made the comment while spelling out his government’s position ahead of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 over a new global pact to fight global warming.

Scientists and overseas bodies have said that since 2006-2007, China’s greenhouse gas pollution has surpassed the United States’, the world’s top emitter for the 20th century.

“They are for sale as far as I am concerned,” Patrick Honohan said on Tuesday. “I have been an advocate for a number of years for small countries to have foreign owners for their banks.”

Dublin has already said it will intensify reform of the banks and surplus activities will have to be discarded.

Europe’s aviation safety authority EASA also chipped in with some positive news, lightening its compulsory inspection regime for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine, after one such engine partially disintegrated on a Sydney-bound Qantas flight on Nov 4, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Singapore.

Qantas will put two of its six A380s in the air from Saturday but the others will take “some time” to return, pending engine fixes, and the A380 — the world’s largest passenger jet with an average list price of around $350 million — will stay off routes to Los Angeles, among the its most lucrative, the airline said on Tuesday

Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

The heightened new security procedures by the Transportation Security Administration, which involve either a scan by a full-body detector or an intimate personal pat-down, have spurred passenger outrage in the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday airport crush.

The position was an acknowledgment that the church’s long-held anti-birth control stance against condoms doesn’t justify putting lives at risk.

“This is a game-changer,” declared the Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit writer and editor.

Home Secretary Theresa May told the House of Commons that the number of non-EU nationals permitted to work in the U.K. from April 2011 will be capped at about 22,000 – a reduction of about one-fifth from 2009.

But thousands of people who are allowed to work in Britain on intracompany transfers aren’t included in those figures – or under the new quota. Critics said that means it’s unclear how Prime Minister David Cameron’s government will meet a pledge to cut net immigration, which also includes students and families of visa holders, to below 100,000 by 2015, from about 196,000 last year.

Daily doses of Truvada cut the risk of infection by 44 percent when given with condoms, counseling and other prevention services. Men who took their pills most faithfully had even more protection, up to 73 percent.

Researchers had feared the pills might give a false sense of security and make men less likely to use condoms or to limit their partners, but the opposite happened – risky sex declined.

Bilal said Tuesday that he underwent the procedure for an art project that was commissioned by a new museum in Doha, Qatar, in the Arab Gulf.

Titled “The 3rd I,” it is one of 23 contemporary works commissioned for the opening of the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art on Dec. 30. The exhibition is entitled “Told/Untold/Retold.”

Many travelers said that the scans and the pat-down were not much of an inconvenience, and that the stepped-up measures made them feel safer and were, in any case, unavoidable.

“Whatever keeps the country safe, I just don’t have a problem with,” Leah Martin, 50, of Houston, said as she waited Monday to go through security at the Atlanta airport.

The FBI on Monday searched the New York offices of Level Global Investors LP, and the Stamford, Conn., headquarters of Diamondback Capital Management LLC, a law enforcement official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss an ongoing case.

Another FBI official said the agency also searched a third site, at 30 Federal St. in Boston. Hedge fund Loch Capital Management LLC has its headquarters at that address.

“Our dogs are part of the family. That’s why they go everywhere we go,” said Mike Eubank, 51, of Overland Park, Kan., who piles the dogs, his wife and three kids into a motorhome for trips to a lake where Eubank keeps a boat.

Nearly a quarter of pet owners have taken a vacation with their animals in the last two years, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications.

It was as if he were a carnival barker trying to convince a skeptical crowd that what it was about to see was indeed real. His energy and enthusiasm were clear.

“I forgot to mention optimist is another quality,” new general manager Sandy Alderson said.

The 28-year-old had tried to grab his younger brother during the riverside stampede that left at least 378 dead Monday night, but he was pushed against the support poles of the narrow suspension bridge. His little brother fell down and immediately was crushed under four or five other falling people.

He found his dead sibling at a local hospital, with a broken neck and crushed face. “I’m totally in shock,” he said.

Obama, fresh from claiming vindication after last week’s GM public stock offering, is joining Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday at a Chrysler auto plant in Kokomo, Ind. This month in Indiana, Democrats lost a Senate seat and two House seats and were driven into the minority in the state legislature.

While Obama is embarking on a mission to change the public’s mood, the story is much the same elsewhere in auto manufacturing states: The industry might be on the mend, but neither Obama nor the Democrats are reaping the benefits.

Last month, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission published a detailed explanation of the distinction between the two – a distinction that makes a big difference because it can trigger a range of strict rules.

On Monday, commission staff declared that sets of drinking glasses depicting comic book and movie characters were indeed children’s products, undercutting the position of the importer of the glasses, which said they were marketed to adults.

No eyewitnesses. No confession to police. The only DNA evidence of any consequence belonged to an unknown mystery man. And, oh yeah, for the first year she was missing, the whole world – including police – assumed that a congressman who had been having an affair with Levy was the culprit.

Even so, Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique was convicted Monday of murdering the Washington intern, nearly a decade after Levy went missing.

A former prosecutor himself, Easley portrayed the matter during a court hearing as little more than a paperwork error, and his attorney later declared the charge showed there was never any corruption. Under a plea agreement, Easley accepted responsibility for campaign forms that failed to disclose a helicopter flight he took in 2006.

“As the candidate, I have to take responsibility for what the campaign does,” he told the judge. “The buck has to stop somewhere. It stops with me, and I take responsibility for what occurred in this instance.”