Did You Hear About Occupy Salt Lake City? Well, It's Gone (Time.com)

The protesters had occupied Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City since Oct. 6, the local manifestation of the Occupy movement in capital of Utah. At the height of the agitation, there were approximately 150 individuals residing in the camp, which was equipped with a stocked kitchen, a free school, a community newsletter and a night watch committee. It hadn't been trouble free: there had been some minor confrontations early on between the homeless community that has frequented the park for over two decades and Occupy protestors; and police made 91 drug and alcohol related arrests. And, on Thursday, Nov. 10, four individuals were arrested following another fight that broke out in the park between Occupy protestors and the homeless population.

Neverthless, the confrontations between the protesters, on one side, and the police and the mayor's office, on the other, were nothing at all approaching what occurred in New York City or, certainly, Oakland, California. Then, a homeless man was found dead in his tent Friday morning shortly after 10 a.m. Although the official cause of death is still unknown, Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said it was likely a combination of drug overdose and carbon monoxide poisoning. Police officers had found a propane heater and drug paraphernalia in the tent. That seemed to have prompted the police to act. (See photos from the Occupy Wall Street protests.)

On Saturday evening Burbank kept two of his promises: Pioneer Park would be cleared and it would be done peacefully. Eighteen protesters were arrested and one was issued a citation through the course of the sweep ? but no violence erupted, despite protesters chanting "This is why we call you pigs!" and "This is what a police state looks like!" as officers disassembled the camp. Prior to police arriving, Occupy residents had coached each other on strategies of how to respond to the eviction with non-violent direct action. Meanwhile two stretch hummer limousines arrived at the scene to help transport the belongings of the protesters and allied homeless people into storage and take them to shelters or to join the Occupy Ogden movement 40 miles north.

The police chief tried to be as conciliatory as possible. "We will work with you to find avenues that you can express you're free speech ? it just can't be done by camping on our streets or in our park. The risk to even one individual is far too great, but the risk to many is significant," Burbank told a crowd of protesters on Friday afternoon. The organizers of the protest say they plan to continue occupying, despite camping being outlawed at the site. The day after being evicted protestors marched through the streets of downtown and say they have plans to meet with City Council members. On Saturday, Jesse Fruhwirth, one of the major organizers behind Occupy Salt Lake, stood in front of his tent holding a sign that read "Mayor [Ralph] Becker this is what tyranny looks like" as police officers began dissembling his tent. (See if the general strike will have legs.)

At least one local politician felt that clearing the camp was unnecessary. City Councilman Soren Simonsen said that it didn't seem to look like the death was directly linked to the Occupy movement, even though the encampment seemed to enable it. "I understand the concerns that the police department has. My personal opinion was that [the eviction] was a bit heavy handed and perhaps a bit rushed," Simonsen said. Occupy protester Tara Robbins said that she felt the city had used the death to scapegoat the movement. "We know from many sources that he was homeless and he was around the age range when many homeless people pass away on the streets. There were 54 deaths on the streets in 2010 and the year before there were 58," Robbins said. She also noted that the group had received conflicting information."

Fruhwirth was arrested along with activists Michael Wilson and Rachel Carter after the three began re-pitching a tent that police officers had broken down earlier in the evening. The dwindling crowd of protesters chanted "Thank you, Jesse! Thank you, Michael! Thank you, Rachel!" as the three were led to the waiting fleet of police vans that had filled the block of 400 South. All 18 protesters arrested during the sweep were released by 2 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Robbins agreed that the police did a good job making sure that protesters were dealt with in a non-violent manner and were asked if they wanted to be arrested, but called their presence overwhelming. "The way that the actual cleanup was done I think was beyond ridiculous. They had bulldozers and front loaders and we saw bicycles and tents falling from this big equipment. I think they wasted resources in doing that." Although the city has outlawed overnight camping in Pioneer Park, day-use tents will still be allowed and the group intends to maintain a daytime presence. Robbins said the group was still working on creating a plan for what to do next, but did mention that they will be meeting with City Council members next Tuesday. Although not everyone on City Council may support the group, it seems they have an ally in Sorensen. "I'm working with Becker and the administration to try and ensure that we can re-establish an around-the-clock-presence," City Councilmen Sorensen said. "For me this is a really important cause [that] I find an affinity with."

See a video from Occupy Oakland.

See a brief history of the general strike.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpwwwtimecomtimenationarticle08599209946300htmlxidrssnationyahoo/43605750/SIG=12lbs09g4/*http%3A//www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2099463,00.html?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

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Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 5:30PM

It's Monday, and almost as regular an occurrence as the day itself, we're here to help by letting you listen into the recording booth when the Engadget HD podcast goes to mp3 at 5:30PM. Please be a part of it by reviewing the list of topics after the break, then participating in the live chat as you listen in.

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US military: American service member dies in Iraq (AP)

BAGHDAD ? The U.S. military says an American service member has been killed while conducting military operations in central Iraq.

The military statement released Tuesday said the death occurred Monday. It gave no further details of the incident.

Violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq, but deadly bombings and shootings still happen nearly every day. Some officials have warned of an increase in attacks as the U.S. withdraws all of its troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

The statement said the incident is under investigation. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The death raises to at least 4,485 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_us_casualties

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Historic rivalry as Japan heads to NKorea (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? There are no hot dogs, peanuts or plastic cups of beer for sale when the North Korean soccer team takes the pitch. There are no noisemakers, and no one does the wave.

Yet fans here are passionate in their own way, packing the stadium to the rafters, stamping and booing every time the visiting team threatens to score. From schoolchildren in Adidas tracksuits to soldiers in uniform, they jostle for a good view of the team that has become a symbol of national pride.

That pride will be at stake Tuesday when the North Korean men face off against Japan at Kim Il Sung Stadium in a much-anticipated World Cup qualifier that promises to be about far more than just soccer.

Four of the North Korean players, including star striker Jong Tae Se, were born into ethnic Korean communities in Japan, and bitterness still runs deep over Japan's 35-year occupation of Korea, which ended in 1945.

More than six decades later, Tokyo and Pyongyang still do not have diplomatic ties. The last time the Japanese men played on North Korean soil was in 1989, when North Korea won, 2-0.

Since then, relations have deteriorated: Japan has pressed North Korea to address the past abductions of Japanese citizens, and after North Korea fired ballistic missiles capable of reaching Japan's shores and tested a nuclear device in 2006, Japan joined the United States and other nations in imposing economic sanctions on North Korea as punishment.

Those sanctions have cut off much-needed sources of aid at a time when 6 million North Koreans ? a quarter of the population ? are going hungry, according to the World Food Program. Japan is also party to the stalled talks that would bring food aid to Pyongyang in exchange for an agreement to discontinue its nuclear program. The North Koreans walked away from those discussions two years ago, but efforts are now under way to get them back on track.

More than 200 Japanese citizens, including 150 Blue Samurai fans and two dozen journalists, were expected to travel to Pyongyang for Tuesday's game ? the largest Japanese delegation in years. As a precaution, Tokyo has sent a team of Japanese diplomats to North Korea to watch over them.

The fans have been warned to behave: No sightseeing, no straying from the group. No drums, speakers, banners or Japanese flags, according to Nishitetsu Travel, which is organizing the three-day, $3,740 tour for the Japanese Football Association.

"In principle, (North Korea) is a country where we have travel restrictions, and we are only allowing this trip as an exception," Japan's Chief Cabinet Spokesman Osamu Fujimura said Friday in Tokyo. "Therefore, we would like the visitors to refrain from any activity other than watching the game while in (North Korea)."

The long gap between a North Korea-Japan faceoff on North Korean soil serves as a "painful reminder" of how bad relations are, said Peter Beck, a research fellow at the East-West Center who is a specialist on Japanese-North Korean issues.

In 2005, a match scheduled to be played in Pyongyang was instead moved to Thailand due to security worries.

However, there have been tentative moves toward improving ties. Last month, Japanese doctors traveled to North Korea to examine Korean victims of the World War II atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both the visit and the game represent a "very modest effort" to improve ties, Beck said.

As far as the soccer goes, it would appear to be an uneven match with little bearing on the World Cup: Japan is Asia's top-ranked team and No. 17 overall while North Korea is ranked 124th in the world, according to FIFA.

Japan has already secured its spot in the next round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil while North Korea is out, its hopes of consecutive appearances dashed by back-to-back losses to Uzbekistan.

North Korea boasts a strong defense, but scoring goals has never been a strength. At January's Asian Cup, the North Koreans failed to score against the UAE, Iran and Iraq. Japan, meanwhile, took the title.

However, games between Japan and North Korea are always closely fought. Their last three meetings ended with one win each and a tie; of the last 15 games, Japan has won six while North Korea has won five.

In Pyongyang, Dr. Ri Tong Gyu, a researcher at North Korea's Institute of Physical Culture under the Academy of Sports Sciences, told the state-run Korean Central News Agency he expected a "hot match" Tuesday.

"I am sure that the DPRK footballers will score good results in the upcoming matches if they fully display their mental and physical power with efficient teamwork," he told KCNA. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.

For Jong and three fellow Japanese-born teammates, the game will be an interesting test of their loyalty, pitting the country of their birth, Japan, against the nation they pledge allegiance to: North Korea. The Japanese side, meanwhile, includes Tadanari Lee, a fourth-generation South Korean born in Tokyo.

Japan is home to some 600,000 ethnic Koreans, many of them descendants of Koreans who moved, by force or for work, to Japan during the colonial occupation. Ethnic Koreans born in Japan are automatically assigned South Korean citizenship but have the option of changing their loyalty to North Korea, as many who grow up in pro-North Korean communities do.

When Jong, An Yong Hak, Ryang Yong Gi and Kim Song Gi take the pitch Tuesday for North Korea, scores of fans from their ethnic Korean community will be cheering in Japan.

In Pyongyang, tickets to the match at 50,000-seat Kim Il Sung Stadium ? a stone's throw from the spot where Kim, then an anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter, made his triumphant return from exile after Japan's defeat in World War II ? will no doubt be sold out.

In communist North Korea, tickets are allocated based on your work unit, but it's unclear how the lucky attendees are selected. It is believed that the government and military elite are frequently offered perks unavailable to ordinary citizens. Foreigners pay anywhere from $27 to $137 for seats.

In a sports-crazed country, soccer is clearly the most popular. And, despite economic hardships, people make time both to play and watch games.

"A soccer hurricane is sweeping the whole country," the Pyongyang Times declared.

In the alleyways and dirt fields off the main streets, boys kick soccer balls in the autumn sunshine. The most promising among them may be plucked from playgrounds for training at an early age. In this country, where only the elite can travel overseas, top players from both the men's and women's teams are treated like celebrities.

At last month's World Cup qualifier between North Korea and Uzbekistan, Pyongyang's Yanggakdo Stadium was packed. The only empty seats were in the section reserved for foreigners, a motley group of diplomats and tourists, some holding North Korean flags.

The fans were a mix of neatly dressed military officers and men in workaday suits smoking cigarettes. The women's soccer team also turned out in red tracksuits. A few rows behind them, a girl in a baseball cap turned backward sat at the edge of her seat, eyes fixed on the game.

"Strike! Strike" the crowed implored in Korean as the ball neared the Uzbekistan goal. One phrase, "Shoot! Shoot!" they cried in English.

A hush fell over the stadium when the game ended 1-0 for Uzbekistan, the crowd rising to its feet and jostling for the exits.

Though North Korea's World Cup aspirations may be over for 2014, a different form of retribution may come Tuesday, for there would be no sweeter revenge than a victory over Japan.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug and John Duerden in Seoul, South Korea, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. Follow Jean H. Lee on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean and photographer David Guttenfelder at twitter.com/dguttenfelder.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_japan_soccer_showdown

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Cain accuser's former boyfriend says they all met (AP)

SHREVEPORT, La. ? Sharon Bialek's former boyfriend said Monday the then-couple spent an evening with Herman Cain in the 1990s. That countered the GOP presidential candidate's earlier statements that he never met the woman who has accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior more than a decade ago.

"Sharon indeed did meet and spend time with Mr. Cain," Victor Jay Zuckerman said.

In turn, Cain repeated his assertion that he had never met his accuser.

"I'm standing by what I have said," Cain said in Green Bay, Wis.

Hours after Zuckerman stepped forward to give his account, Cain's wife ? Gloria ? was defending her husband in a television interview as turmoil over allegations of sexual impropriety while he led the National Restaurant Association stretched into a third week.

Cain, trying to get back to a business-as-usual campaign schedule, gave an interview to the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel but stumbled through a question on Libya. The video ricocheted around the Internet.

After saying he did not agree with President Barack Obama's handing of the revolt against longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Cain said he would have taken similar steps to Obama. But he hesitated before answering.

"I got to go back, see, got all this stuff twirling around in my head," Cain said, shifting in his chair and crossing his legs during a 10-second silence.

Asked later about the moment, Cain dismissed it and told reporters: "I paused so I could gather my thoughts."

It was another distraction for the candidate just as he was looking to get beyond questions about his behavior while he led the restaurant association more than a decade ago. The allegations have dogged his campaign for the GOP nomination and sent his poll numbers slipping seven weeks before the leadoff caucuses in Iowa.

Cain has denied wrongdoing and vowed to stay in the presidential race.

Even so, he has been unable to put the controversy behind him.

Zuckerman, a Louisiana pediatrician, corroborated some of Bialek's story ? with attorney Gloria Allred at his side ? just as the firestorm around Cain seemed to be subsiding since the first disclosures on Oct. 30 rocked Cain's campaign. There hadn't been any new information disclosed in the past week about Cain or the accusations, and plans for a joint news conference by his accusers seemed increasingly unlikely.

A week ago, Cain said he didn't remember Bialek and had never seen her until she went public with allegations that Cain groped her when she sought his help getting a job after the trade group he led had fired her.

"I saw Ms. Allred and her client yesterday in that news conference for the very first time," Cain said after that event. "As I sat in my hotel room with a couple of my staff members, as they got to the microphone, my first response in my mind and reaction was, I don't even know who this woman is. Secondly, I didn't recognize the name at all."

Later, Cain added: "I don't even know who this woman is. I tried to remember if I recognized her and I didn't."

But, on Monday, Zuckerman echoed Bialek's account of the two of them meeting Cain ? and spending the evening with him ? in Chicago in 1997 at the National Restaurant Association convention. He said that Cain then invited them to an after-dinner party in a hotel suite.

"At that party, Mr. Cain engaged both of us in conversation," Zuckerman said.

Later that year, Zuckerman said, Bialek told him that Cain inappropriately touched her when, at Zuckerman's suggestion, she met him in Washington to seek employment help.

"When she returned, she was upset," Zuckerman said. "She said that something had happened and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner. She said she handled it and didn't want to talk about it any further."

On Monday, Cain's team pointed to his earlier statement that he does not remember Bialek.

Cain attorney Lin Wood, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Cain met with a large number of people while leading the National Restaurant Association. And if someone remembers meeting Cain, Wood said, it is possible that Cain would not remember them.

"He doesn't recall Ms. Bialek," Wood said. "But what he does know is that he has never done such a thing as she alleges to any person."

At least three other women have claimed that Cain engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct toward them in the late 1990s when he ran the restaurant industry's Washington-based trade association.

Allred, who represents Bialek, called on Cain to acknowledge that he had met his accuser. She would not say whether other Cain accusers have contacted her, saying only that she represents only Bialek.

As Allred sought to poke holes in Cain's story, the candidate was campaigning in Wisconsin. He attended a private fundraising event and, later, was appearing for a tailgate party at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. He was heading to Iowa on Tuesday to campaign.

Meanwhile, his wife, Gloria Cain, who has been all but absent on the campaign trail this year, was appearing in a television interview set to air Monday night.

"I'm thinking he would have to have a split personality to do the things that were said," she said in excerpts of the Fox News Channel interview that were released Sunday.

She said she cannot believe the claims.

"To hear such graphic allegations and know that that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her as a woman and I know that's not the person he is," Gloria Cain said. "He totally respects women."

___

Associated Press writers Jack Gillum in Washington, Barbara Sambriski in New York, Ray Henry in Atlanta and Dinesh Ramde in Green Bay, Wis., contributed to this report. Elliott reported from Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain

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Gadgets Week in Review: Walkabout

1472Here are some of the past week’s stories on TechCrunch Gadgets: Asimo: Honda Upgrades Its Awesome Humanoid (Videos) Kickstarter: The Present Is Half Art Project, Half Meditation On Time Nokia?s Crazy Bendy Kinetic Concept Blew Your Mind? Watch This! Video: Super-Realistic HRP-4C Humanoid Walks Like Human Sharp Reaches Record Conversion Efficiency With New Solar Cell

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bruDSbj1RY8/

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How To Be An Optimist In A Pessimistic Time

Gapminder WorldIt's no secret to most readers at TechCrunch that technology is changing the world. Unfortunately, there are a surprising number of people who don't get it. Many of them, even more unfortunately, are important leaders in business, other powerful institutions, and?most?governments. To meet the challenges that face us?whether as leaders of organizations, as leaders of countries, or as the global community addressing our collective challenges?we will only be successful if we unreservedly embrace technology and innovation as essential tools. In effect, the fastest-growing resource in the world is computing power and storage. At a time when resource consumption is growing faster in general than resource production, it is incumbent upon all leaders to take advantage of the resource that technology presents us. It is in large part the fear that existing resources cannot match human needs that drives the thick cloud of pessimism that prevails today in the world.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-8e96Wuqj3Q/

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A Graying Population Reduces Global Warming (LiveScience.com)

You can help the environment by getting old. A demographer has profiled the relationship between age and a person's carbon dioxide emissions, showing that after retirement age, our individual contributions to global warming decline.

"We expect age structure in the longer term to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," said Emilio Zagheni, a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany, who conducted the study."This study is specifically for the United States, but the trend is expected to hold at the global level."

The importance of age

Population factors heavily into greenhouse gas-emission projections, however, the influence of the age composition of a population is not included in calculations, like those used by the U.N.'s International Panel for Climate Change. This was part of the motivation for the research, Zagheni said.

The age of the U.S. population is changing; the past four censuses have shown steadily increasing numbers of Americans heading into the 65-and-older category. This segment of the global population is also growing.?

Societies with growing elderly populations and consumption patterns similar to the U.S. may see their carbon dioxide emissions drop, Zagheni's research suggests.

But in the U.S., this reduction won't show up immediately. Zagheni estimates that until about 2050, the aging of the U.S. population will, on average, cause our carbon dioxide emissions to rise slightly.

The green elderly

Using data available for U.S. residents, Zagheni compiled how much Americans of different ages spend on nine energy-intensive products and services, including electricity, gasoline and air travel. He then assigned carbon dioxide emissions weights to these and combined them into a single carbon dioxide emissions profile.?

He found that as they age, Americans consume more and more of these things, producing more carbon dioxide as a result. This trend peaks around age 65, and then much of it reverses. Older people tend to spend more on their health, which generally produces lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This also reduces the money they have to spend on other, more energy-intensive things.

However, since they are spending more time at home, the use of electricity and natural gas continues to rise among people until they reach 80.

A delay

However, aging is expected to continue to increase emissions for at least several decades, perhaps until 2050, according to a model Zagheni created of an aging, but not growing, U.S. population.

This is because the last members of the post-World War II population bulge, the Baby Boomers, will hit retirement age around 2030. As they continue to age in the years afterward, they will contribute less and less to carbon dioxide emissions, and eventually that reduction will become noticeable. However, rising life expectancy will mean more older people, and so this is expected to contribute to short-term increases in carbon emissions, according to Zagheni. [7 Population Milestones]

He also investigated the effect of population growth in the U.S, and found it will more than counteract aging and will increase emissions overall.

"However, thanks to the changing age structure, in the long term emissions will not increase as much as we would expect based on population growth only," he wrote in an email to LiveScience.

Zagheni's research appears in the journal Demography.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry.?Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111112/sc_livescience/agrayingpopulationreducesglobalwarming

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Obama embarking on day of diplomacy in Hawaii

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama applaud after the national anthem before the Carrier Classic NCAA college basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Coronado, Calif.(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama applaud after the national anthem before the Carrier Classic NCAA college basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Coronado, Calif.(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

President Barack Obama talks with Magic Johnson before the start of the Carrier Classic NCAA college basketball game between North Carolina and Michigan State on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson in Coronado, Calif., Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama watch the Carrier Classic NCAA basketball game between North Carolina and Michigan State on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson in Coronado, Calif., Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama heads into a day of heavy diplomacy in his native Hawaii with some of the United States' most important and complicated allies, the start of a nine-day tour of the crucial and growing Asia-Pacific region.

Obama, who arrived late Friday after flying from San Diego, was to meet Saturday on the sidelines of a U.S.-hosted economic summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Trade was also at the top of the agenda as Obama was to meet with leaders from eight Asian nations that are the U.S. partners in an ambitious but not-yet-completed free trade deal the U.S. hopes will one day be the anchoring pact for the region.

That emerging pact and its potential payoff for U.S. jobs and business will allow Obama to cast his far-flung travels as crucial to U.S. voters with an election year approaching and concerns of domestic voters centered on the dragging economy. With Obama pledging to double U.S. exports, the White House hopes to show progress at the summit on the deal, the next trade focus for the administration following long-delayed approval of a free-trade agreement with South Korea.

Obama also was to meet with U.S. business leaders Saturday to highlight the importance for interests back home of the Asia-Pacific region. The 21 nations that make up the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum account for 44 percent of world trade, and American business leaders are working eagerly to boost ties with them.

"The trade that the U.S. does with the Asia Pacific supports millions of American jobs," Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, said ahead of Obama's trip, laying out a theme certain to be heard from Obama's advisers until the president returns to Washington Nov. 20. "The markets that are growing in the Asia Pacific are ones that we want to be competitive in going forward."

Japan has indicated interest in joining the other eight nations negotiating with the U.S. on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, though hurdles remain, and that is sure to be a topic when Obama has his first meeting with Noda, who took office in September.

In Hu and Medvedev, Obama encounters two leaders with whom he's sought close relations despite fraught histories between the U.S. and those countries, with disagreements on human rights, territorial disputes, economics and other issues. For the president, the challenge is to maintain those ties while also pushing U.S. priorities.

It's Obama's first meeting with those leaders since release of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency saying for the first time that Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose is the development of nuclear arms.

For the U.S., the report offered significant support for some long-held suspicions and lent international credence to claims that Tehran isn't solely interested in developing atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday in Honolulu that Iran must respond soon to the findings.

U.S. officials have said the IAEA report is unlikely to persuade reluctant powers such as China and Russia to support tougher sanctions on the Iranian government. But Obama's talks with Hu and Medvedev on that issue and others, including North Korea and China's currency, which the U.S. believes China manipulates to the detriment of U.S. interests, were sure to be closely watched.

Throughout, Obama will be aiming to keep the focus on U.S. jobs, the interest for American voters far and above anything else. And it's all happening on the president's turf, his hometown of Honolulu, which the White House says he chose for the APEC summit to underscore his commitment to the U.S. being a key player in the Asia-Pacific.

Obama will be in Honolulu through Tuesday, when he leaves for Australia before ending his trip in Indonesia, the country where he spent several years as a boy. He will attend a security summit of Asian nations.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-12-Obama/id-25bcd82325b040e4bcef35d5b7053e9f

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