Evening Edition

Granting a request by Milan magistrates, Judge Cristina Di Censo said the first hearing would take place on April 6, in a move that brings a long-running probe into the premier’s private life to a head.

Following the announcement, the prime minister’s camp reiterated its claims that Berlusconi was the victim of a witch hunt by his political opponents.

The firms said the merger would strengthen their position amid greater competition for business in emerging economies, from 24 hour trading and from smaller, more innovative trading platforms.

At the same time, NYSE Euronext chief executive Duncan Niederauer — who will be the CEO of the yet-unnamed new company — rejected suggestions that the deal was actually a takeover of the iconic but technologically outpaced New York Stock Exchange by the Frankfurt firm.

As European finance ministers met to discuss ways to shield the euro from more turmoil, the Eurostat agency confirmed the eurozone returned to growth in 2010, expanding 1.7 percent after a record 4.1 percent contraction in 2009.

But the single currency area sputtered in the last quarter of the year, coming in slower than the 0.4 percent predicted by economists who blamed the slowdown on winter storms curbing activity and weak German and French growth.

Barclays said net earnings jumped 36 percent to £3.56 billion (4.24 billion euros, $5.8 billion) from £2.63 billion in 2009, as write-downs shrank and it almost doubled profits at its investment arm.

It said it was paying £3.4 billion in staff bonuses, down 7.0 percent compared with 2009, although total pay rose by a quarter as Barclays included payments deferred during the global financial crisis.

The consumer price index, the key gauge of inflation in the world’s second economy, was “lower than market expectations” according to the National Bureau of Statistics but still above Beijing’s four percent full-year target.

A Dow Jones Newswires poll of 15 economists before had forecast 5.4 percent growth.

Chevron blasted the decision as a “product of fraud,” while lawyers representing the Ecuadoran Amazon communities that filed the decades-old lawsuit claim $8 billion is far too low.

“We’re preparing an appeal because we believe that the amount is insufficient compared to the damages caused,” said attorney Pablo Fajardo, noting the ruling came from a court in the town of Lago Agrio in the province of Sucumbios, near the Colombian border.

“The classic gaucho is disappearing,” Lisandro Floral, a 30-year-old who manages a farm of 3,800 hectares (9,400 acres) deep in the Pampas, told AFP.

Floral has forsaken the horse and the boleadoras — the traditional rope and leather ball sling used by gauchos to capture running cattle or game — in favor of a 4×4 equipped with a satellite positioning system.

Against a backdrop of persistent nationwide walk-walkouts and street protests, the junta promised to rapidly restore constitutional rule following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

US President Barack Obama said the transition under way in Egypt was a model for autocratic Middle Eastern allies and encouraged the Iranian people to press their quest for democracy after protests on Monday in which two people died.

But in one of his most direct reactions to events in Iran, US President Barack Obama offered encouragement to protesters, saying he hoped they would have the “courage” to keep expressing their “yearning for greater freedoms.”

MPs singled out Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who had called for protests in Tehran on Monday in support of Arab uprisings that quickly turned into anti-government demonstrations and ended in clashes with police in which several people were also hurt, including nine security force members.

The Islamic National Accord Association which has 18 seats in the 40-member house has “suspended its membership” in the Shiite-majority kingdom’s parliament, a member, MP Khalil al-Marzooq, told AFP by telephone.

The decision was taken because of “the deterioration in security and the negative and brutal way in which (the authorities) dealt with the protesters, killing two of them,” he said.

However the three-time Tour de France champion is well aware the International Cycling Union (UCI) is likely to appeal Tuesday’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Nevertheless, fans of the Spanish climbing ace will be rejoicing at the return of the man who seemed on schedule to replace Lance Armstrong as a serial winner of the Tour de France.

“Alberto Contador has been officially cleared by the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) and has been authorised to return to competition immediately,” the spokesman, Jacinto Vidarte, said in a statement.

“If everything goes well, the rider will take the start, tomorrow, at the Tour of Algarve” in Portugal.

Contador’s future has hung in the balance since he announced last August he had tested positive for minute traces of the banned substance clenbuterol during last July’s Tour de France.

He has repeatedly denied knowingly taking any banned substances, blaming the result on a steak he says was contaminated with traces of the drug.

The schedule gives the date, time and venue for every one of the 640-plus sessions across the 26 Olympic sports.

“There is a recognition now that the men’s 100m is a pretty serious moment and we have planned that to be fairly early on the evening of Sunday, August 5,” London Games chief Sebastian Coe said.

Seven enchanted but exhausted couples smooched their way to a new world record in Thailand with the longest continuous kiss lasting more than 32 hours — and kept going.

The contestants broke the previous world record of 32 hours seven minutes and 14 seconds set in Germany and were vying to become the last ones locking lips for a prize of about $3,250 cash and a diamond ring, organisers said.

“Watson,” a supercomputer named after the founder of the US technology giant Thomas Watson, and human contestant Brad Rutter each had $5,000 after the first day of the three-day match.

The other human player, Ken Jennings, was trailing the pair with $2,000.

Following weeks of scandal that have shaken his struggling center-right government, trial was set on Tuesday to start in a criminal court in Milan on April 6, according to a statement from the office of the city’s chief judge.

Berlusconi is not obliged to appear in person before the panel of three judges on that day, nor is there any legal obstacle to his continuing to hold office throughout any trial proceedings, which could take years before any conviction.

The veteran diplomat, international lawyer and Nobel Prize winner, has emerged as a high-profile opposition figure over the past few weeks and a possible candidate to replace fallen autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

But Washington and Tel Aviv are deeply suspicious of the 68-year-old. They along with other allies were frustrated by what they said were blatant attempts by ElBaradei — who ran the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 to 2009 — to undermine their efforts to ratchet up the pressure on Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion and later on Iran over its suspected nuclear arms program.

Hotel workers have refused to clean guests’ rooms until they get more pay, telecoms workers threatened to strike over a plan to privatize their company, and disgruntled airport workers have halted international flights.

School pupils protested against their teachers, and then the teachers rallied outside the education ministry to complain that the pupils were being allowed to run wild.

An opposition website said dozens were arrested while taking part in the banned protests, which amounted to a test of strength for the reformist opposition in the Islamic state.

By late evening, chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) echoed from Tehran rooftops in scenes reminiscent of 2009 protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Eight people were killed in those mass street demonstrations which lasted about a month and resulted in many arrests and several executions.

While shareholders of the German exchange will control 60 pct of the new company and 10 of 17 board seats, there are suspicions in Germany that NYSE management will be in the driver’s seat. There are also concerns in the United States that the New York Stock Exchange will lose influence and independence.

That tension could raise obstacles to regulatory approval of the deal, which values the two-century-old icon of American capitalism at about $39 a share.

The two have hammered out a broad framework for a merger deal that focuses on functions and personalities, with several executives chosen for key posts across Europe and the United States, three people familiar with the plan said.

Another source added that major issues like the exact exchange ratio and the premium to be paid to NYSE Euronext have been sorted out, and a definitive agreement is expected to be announced on Tuesday

Total retail sales rose 0.3 percent for a seventh straight month of advances, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday, but this was below the 0.5 percent increase posted in December.

Economists who had expected a 0.6 percent gain said sales were likely to bounce back quickly.

An expected pick-up in growth did not occur because businesses ran down stocks in France, snow and cold hit construction in Germany and the Greek economy shrank sharply.

But a separate survey suggested Germany at least should enjoy a more fruitful first quarter of 2011.

In a tentative sign that its actions so far, including higher interest rates and lending restrictions, have started to bite, money growth eased to its slowest pace in six months in January at 17.2 percent year on year.

“The money supply and lending data suggest that government efforts to clamp down on liquidity might be taking hold, though broad-based inflation provides no leeway for the central bank to relax its tightening stance,” said Connie Tse, economist at Forecast PTE in Singapore.

A rebound in exports and output, driven by robust demand in fast-growing Asia, has underscored the central bank’s view that the economy is heading toward a moderate recovery after a mild contraction in the final quarter of last year.

BOJ policymakers thus saw no imminent need to ease policy further and, as widely expected, kept interest rates on hold at a range of zero to 0.1 percent.

But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission countered that the executive, Fabrice Tourre, could not avail himself of a June ruling by the high court that limited lawsuits governing securities transactions outside the United States.

Last April, the SEC accused Goldman and Tourre of civil fraud for failing to tell investors that the Paulson & Co hedge fund helped choose and bet against securities underlying Abacus 2007-AC1, a financial product tied to subprime mortgages.

Apple’s service allows it to keep 30 percent of customer payments to any publisher with a presence in its App Store, including blue-chip brands such as The New York Times, Netflix Inc. or Rhapsody, the popular music service.

Publishers can set the price and length of a subscription. They can also offer subscriptions through their own existing websites, but would be required to offer those same terms to anyone signing up through Apple.

But since they took office last month, few have gone as far in advancing campaign promises for less government and lower taxes than Florida’s Tea Party-backed Governor Rick Scott.

A political newcomer, with a controversial past as chief executive of a healthcare corporation that paid a record $1.7 billion in fines for defrauding Medicare and other federal programs, Scott has taken to the job of running the fourth-largest U.S. state like a hostile takeover.

President Barack Obama, as part of his 2012 budget proposal, called for cutting the number of years drugmakers could exclusively market brand-name biologic drugs to 7 years from 12.

He also set his sights on ending controversial “pay-for-delay” deals that affect traditional, chemical drugs by giving the U.S. Federal Trade Commission power to block them. Under such pacts, brand-name and generic drugmakers settle patent challenges with payoffs that delay lower-cost rivals from reaching the market.

Clinton, making her second major address on Internet policy amid growing evidence of how communications technologies can transform politics around the globe, will underscore U.S. commitments to a free, open and secure Internet, the State Department said on Monday, releasing excerpts of her speech.

“There is a debate underway in some circles about whether the Internet is a force for liberation or repression. But as the events in Iran, Egypt and elsewhere have shown, that debate is largely beside the point,” one excerpt of Clinton’s speech says.

Berlusconi is going on trial April 6 in Milan on charges that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl and then tried to cover it up. Berlusconi has been in court for a number of business-related charges, but this is the first time the 74-year-old billionaire businessman is being tried for personal conduct.

The premier has called the accusations “groundless” and dismissed the case as a “farce,” accusing prosecutors of seeking to oust him from power.

The move by demonstrators capped two days of clashes across the tiny island kingdom that left at least two people dead, parliament in limbo by an opposition boycott and the king making a rare address on national television to offer condolences for the bloodshed.

Security forces – apparently under orders to hold back – watched from the sidelines as protesters chanted slogans mocking the nation’s ruling sheiks and called for sweeping political reforms and an end to monarchy’s grip on key decisions and government posts.

She pledged to expand the Obama administration’s efforts to foil Internet repression in autocratic states.

In an impassioned speech on Internet freedom, Clinton said the administration would spend $25 million this year on initiatives designed to protect bloggers and help them get around curbs like the Great Firewall of China, the gagging of social media sites in Iran, Cuba, Syria, Vietnam and Myanmar as well as Egypt’s recent unsuccessful attempt to thwart anti-government protests by simply pulling the plug on online communication.

Police tried to disperse the demonstrators using tear gas, batons and stun guns, but about 3,000 protesters defiantly continued their march from Sanaa University toward the city center, chanting slogans against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, including “Down with the president’s thugs!”

The procession gained momentum with hundreds of students and rights activists joining along the way.

The protests – all with critical interests for Washington – offer an important lesson about how groups across Middle East are absorbing the message from Cairo and tailoring it to their own aspirations.

The heady themes of democracy, justice and empowerment remain intact as the protest wave works it way through the Arab world and beyond. What changes, however, are the objectives. The Egypt effect, it seems, is elastic.

What lies inside is proof of mass killings in this once-tranquil country of 21 million, where the sitting president is refusing to give way to his successor. Nearly every day since Laurent Gbagbo was declared the loser of the Nov. 28 election, the bodies of people who voted for his opponent have been showing up on the sides of highways.

Their distraught families have gone from police station to police station looking for them, but the bodies are hidden in plain sight in morgues turned into mass graves. Records obtained by The Associated Press from four of the city’s nine morgues show that at least 113 bullet-ridden bodies have been brought in since the election. The number is likely much higher because the AP was refused access to the five other morgues, including one where the United Nations believes as many as 80 bodies were taken.

More than a dozen female and two male current or former service members say servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse and victims are too often ordered to continue to serve alongside those they say attacked them.

In a federal class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday that names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, they want an objective third party to handle such complaints because individual commanders have too much say in how allegations are handled.

“In our nation’s most pressing fiscal challenges, the president has abdicated his leadership role,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “When his own commission put forward a set of fundamental entitlement and tax reforms … he ignored them.”

Obama told a news conference that the budget he sent Congress will help meet his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term. He said he looked forward to negotiations with Republicans in coming months on how to fix Social Security and Medicare.

“This is not a matter of, ‘you go first, I go first,'” he said. “It’s a matter of everybody having a serious conversation about where we want to go and then ultimately getting in that boat at the same time so it doesn’t tip over.”

The president pitched his $3.73 trillion budget as a balance of spending on needed programs and significant reductions that would cut the deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years. The budget includes a mix of spending freezes on domestic programs, pay hike suspensions for federal civilian workers and new revenues from increased taxes on the wealthy and on oil and gas producers.

A German company will acquire the Big Board in a deal that creates the world’s largest exchange operator but does not stop the decades-long evolution of stock trading from shouting floor brokers to the cold, quiet hum of computers.

The deal announced Tuesday values the New York exchange’s old parent company, NYSE Euronext, at $10 billion. The NYSE and Euronext, which owns exchanges in several European capitals, merged in 2007.

Contador will keep his third Tour title and can ride in this year’s race, but the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Contador tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol during last year’s Tour.

With no clear favorite to win at America’s top dog show, Miss Jayne Hathaway seized her chance. She became the first of her breed to reach the final best-of-seven ring.

“I knew she was good enough, but I’m surprised,” co-owner Jeff Mauk said Monday night.

In the last few months, a handful of prospective candidates for the GOP nomination in 2012 have visited the state — including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. But the visits have been less frequent than in the past, and other traditional campaign-building efforts have lagged.

Notably absent has been former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has led the field of GOP prospects in early polling. Also unseen has been Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who hasn’t announced his intentions but who spoke last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

Attorneys for Luis Posada Carriles asked for a mistrial last week, their fifth such request since the case began Jan. 10. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone delayed the trial for four days while considering the request and then told jurors Tuesday that it would remain on-hold at least until Feb. 22.

“I want you to know, I don’t take these steps lightly,” Cardone said, “but often times there are complicated matters that require a lot of thought.”

“I wasn’t wired to play that game,” the former Alaska governor says in “Going Rogue,” the memoir whose title reflects her affinity for going her own way.

As she weighs whether to seek the presidency, it’s hard not to wonder: Do the old tenets of White House campaigns apply to someone who has broken virtually every rule in modern-day American politicking? Can she bypass conventional politics and succeed? Will she even try?

That’s the message from the largest study of its kind to find a link between high-fiber diets and lower risks of death not only from heart disease, but from infectious and respiratory illnesses as well.

The government study also ties fiber with a lower risk of cancer deaths in men, but not women, possibly because men are more likely to die from cancers related to diet, like cancers of the esophagus. And it finds the overall benefit to be strongest for diets high in fiber from grains.

The payments, disclosed Monday in company documents, are similar to bonuses announced last week for white-collar employees. The bonuses to 76,000 American workers will probably total more than $400 million – an amount that suggests executives have increasing confidence in the automaker’s comeback.

In the four years leading up to its 2009 bankruptcy, GM piled up more than $80 billion in losses and was burdened by enormous debt and costly labor contracts.

Eight months later, that’s not how things look to many people along the Gulf Coast.

Tens of thousands of fishermen, oyster shuckers, business owners, hotel operators and hairdressers still await payment. Many others whose claims have been turned down question the evenhandedness. And without the data to determine who is right, attorneys general and members of Congress question the openness.

The amount – $8.6 billion plus a legally mandated 10 percent reparations fee – was far below the $27.3 billion award recommended by a court-appointed expert but appeared to be the highest damage award ever issued in an environmental lawsuit.

But whether the plaintiffs – including indigenous groups who say their hunting and fishing grounds in Amazon River headwaters were decimated by toxic wastewater that also raised the cancer rate – can collect remains to be seen.

Wearing a mini-dress, Davis marched with her boyfriend, clad in black jeans, through a set of gold elevator doors and into a waiting room where they could buy garters, memory books and bride and groom baseball caps.

For her, Valentine’s Day 2011 was the perfect date.