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Job openings drop, raising concerns about labor market

Patrick Rizzo
Economy Watch MSNBC
Tue, 19 Jun 2012 10:30 UTC
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© Rick Bowmer/Associated PressPeople wait in a line at a job fair in Oregon. Government data showed that jobs openings dropped to a five-month low in April.
Job openings declined in April to a five-month low, according to government data released Tuesday, as employers wrestled with worries about the European financial crisis, government deadlock in Washington and other data showing the recovery stumbling.

The Labor Department reported that there were 3.4 million jobs openings on the last day of April, down from 3.7 million in March. The drop was across many industries and professions.

"Job openings decreased for total non-farm, total private, and government as well as in manufacturing, professional and business services, and state and local government," The Labor Department said in a statement.

Given that there were 12.5 million Americans unemployed in April, that would mean 3.7 job-seekers for each opening that month, versus 3.4 for each opening in March.
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Cult

Pope To Irish: Child Abuse By Clergy A 'Mystery' That Shook Faith

Frances D'eMilio
Huffington Post
Sun, 17 Jun 2012 05:47 UTC
Pope Benedict XVI Crux
© AP
Pope Benedict XVI told Irish Catholics on Sunday it is a mystery why priests and other church officials abused children entrusted in their care, undermining faith in the church "in an appalling way."

By describing the decades of child abuse in Catholic parishes, schools and church-run institutions and parishes in Ireland as a ''mystery," the pontiff could further anger rank-and-file faithful in Ireland.

Benedict commented on the scandals of sexual abuse and cover-ups by church hierarchy in a pre-recorded video message for an outdoor Mass attended by 75,000 Catholics, many from overseas, in Ireland's largest sports stadium. Ireland's prime minister and president attended the Mass, the final event of a Eucharistic Congress aimed at shoring up flagging faith.

The weeklong Eucharistic Congress, held by the Vatican every four years in a different part of the world, took place against a backdrop of deep anger over child abuse cover-ups and surveys showing declining weekly Mass attendance in Ireland, where church and state were once tightly entwined.
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Shoe

After Slavery Controversy, Adidas Pulls Shackles Shoe

Rene Lynch
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Matt Sayles / Associated Press Beverly Hills designer Jeremy Scott created the Adidas "shackle" shoe, which the company has announced it is pulling.
Barraged by expressions of outrage, Adidas announced Monday evening that it's pulling a shoe design that critics say evokes slavery.

The design, by eccentric Beverly Hills designer Jeremy Scott, features a plastic set of shackles. Initially it was met with disbelief, then fury, especially in online arenas. On Twitter, the shoes were labeled "Adidas slave shackle kicks." Talk of a boycott arose.

Early Monday, Adidas defended the shoes as the handiwork of a whimsical designer. By early evening, the shoe giant found itself in a public relations nightmare and announced that it had made a mistake.

The Adidas statement reads, in part: "The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott's outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery. Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, Adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace."

Efforts to reach Scott on Monday were unsuccessful. But on Twitter, he suggested that the inspiration for his shoe came from a 1990s cartoon and toy, My Pet Monster.
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Pistol

Afternoon Shooting in Toronto's Little Italy Leaves One Person Dead

Alexandra Posadzki
The Vancouver Sun
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Peter J. Thompson/National PostToronto police cover a body on the patio at the Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe at the corner of Montrose and College.
Canada, Toronto - Police are looking for a suspect after a fatal daylight shooting outside a gelato shop in Toronto's Little Italy neighbourhood, where dozens of soccer fans had gathered to watch a European Championship game.

Toronto EMS confirmed one person was pronounced dead at the scene and another was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Toronto police Const. Wendy Drummond said reports of gunshots came in at about 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe near College St. and Ossington Ave.

Police are looking for a suspect described as six feet tall with blond hair. He was wearing a white hard hat, a safety vest and a white filter mask and was seen running north from the scene.

The shots rang out as soccer fans had gathered to watch Italy play Ireland in a game that sent the Italian team into the Euro 2012 quarterfinals. Drummond urged the crowds of soccer fans spilling out of the area cafes following the game to respect the crime scene.
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Christmas Tree

Funding gap for retirement rises to $1.4 trillion

Allison Linn
Economy Watch MSNBC
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 23:17 UTC
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© Pew Center on the StatesA pension plan is considered healthy if it is 80 percent funded. A new Pew report finds many are not.
State governments face a gap of more than $1 trillion between what they say they will provide public workers in retirement benefits and what they actually have in their coffers, according to a study released Monday.

The report, from Pew Center on the States, finds that the gap has widened considerably in recent years, as states have been slammed by investment losses stemming from the 2008 financial crisis and budget crunches caused by the recession.

As of the 2010 fiscal year, the study found that states have about $757 billion less than they need for pension obligations. The states have about $2.31 trillion set aside, the report found, but their liability is about $3.07 trillion.

In addition, the report found that states have a health care liability of about $660 billion, but have set aside only $33.1 billion for those benefits. That leaves a $627 billion gap.
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Evil Rays

San Onofre Nuclear Plant Could Become California's Fukushima


RT.com
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:14 UTC
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© AFP Photo/Mark RalstonView of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in north San Diego County
A nuclear nightmare on par with the Fukushima disaster could have unfolded at a power plant outside of Los Angeles, California, federal regulators reveal to the Associated Press in a just-published report.

Following an incident at the San Onofre power plant this past January, federal regulators have investigated conditions at the facility around 70 miles south of Los Angeles. Now after months of meticulous investigating, regulators involved in the probe tell the AP that design flaws have caused the tubing that carries radioactive water throughout the plant to be worn down extensively.

A scare back in late January led to the temporary shut-down of the San Onofre power station. Nearly six months after the fact, however, the twin-reactor remains idle as investigators wrap up their thorough report. And much to the chagrin of management at the plant, it looks as if the leak suffered earlier this year wasn't just a fluke.
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Evil Rays

Japan to Start Two Reactors Despite Opposition by Majority of Public

Yomiuri Shimbun
Bloomberg
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© APProtest ... women rally against the reactors reopening.
The approval by the Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, for reactors to be restarted, ending Japan's month-long freeze on nuclear power, has met with a mixed response, signalling damage to his political support.

Two reactors at Kansai Electric Power's Ohi nuclear plant can be operated safely, Mr Noda said on Saturday after meeting three cabinet ministers who share approval authority.

The utility, which serves the $1 trillion economy of Japan's second-biggest urban region, said it would immediately begin work to start one reactor.
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Black Cat

Sarkozy Enters Post-Elysee Life Facing Possible Investigations

Heather Smith
Bloomberg Businessweek
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Michele Tantussi/BloombergFormer French President Nicolas Sarkozy has denied getting illegal campaign contributions, saying on April 3 on Canal Plus television channel that “there’s not a penny whose origin is unaccounted for.”
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who's going back to practicing law, may spend much of his time in the months ahead defending one person: himself.

Only the second French president to not win re-election, Sarkozy's immunity ends tonight, opening the door for his questioning as a witness or a target in allegations ranging from illegal campaign financing to two-decade-old kickbacks.

"Mr. Sarkozy has to be a little concerned once he loses his immunity of being hauled before the courts," William Keylor, a professor of modern French history at Boston University, said in a telephone interview.

With questions involving L'Oreal SA (OR) heiress Liliane Bettencourt, a French submarine sale to Pakistan and funds from late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, Sarkozy, 57, is likely to remain in the limelight he sought to avoid after being defeated in the May 6 election. Before the vote, he said he would quit politics if he lost. He has since found an office in the chic 8th arrondissement of Paris and begun hiring staff for a return to practicing law.
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Play

Students Suspended for Viewing Porn in Class

Rory Devine and Sarah Grieco
NBC San Diego
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:28 UTC
Students were suspended during the month of May, the district confirmed

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Nine male students were suspended from Bell Middle School for allegedly masturbating while looking at pornography on their cell phones during English class.

Students were suspended during the month of May, the district confirmed in an e-mail to NBC San Diego. But the email also states, the district is "prohibited from commenting on confidential student or personnel matters."

The teacher, Ed Johnson, is reportedly under fire because he did not respond to students who told him about the behavior while it was allegedly happening - only saying he would give students referrals if he caught them - then went on reading at his desk.

Following the incident, there are reports of controversy from the faculty over how the situation was handled by the teacher.
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Arrow Down

Bahrain Court Upholds Convictions of 9 Doctors

Kareem Fahim
The New York Times
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Hamad I Mohammed/ReutersFatima Haji, right, embraced Zahra al-Samar, the wife of Dr. Ghassan Dhaif, after hearing the verdicts announced by a Bahraini court in Manama on Thursday. Dr. Dhaif was sentenced to one year in prison on charges including taking hostages and participating in illegal gatherings.
Bahrain on Thursday upheld the convictions of nine doctors charged with crimes related to the popular uprising last year, in a case that drew international condemnation and was seen as a crucial test of the government's commitment to political reform. Related in Opinion Room for Debate Nudging Bahrain, Without Pushing It Away

As the United States struggles to handle escalating violence in countries like Syria and South Sudan, how can it also support peace in Bahrain?

The nine doctors, who did not appear in court when the verdicts were announced, were sentenced to between one month to five years in prison. Nine other doctors had their convictions overturned.

The doctors, all Shiites, were among thousands of people arrested during a government crackdown last year, after protesters demanding greater political freedoms occupied a central roundabout in the Bahraini capital of Manama.
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