Faye notes

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Anti-Wall St. protesters ready for clean-up standoff

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the private owner of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Office Properties, decided late on Thursday to delay the cleaning, which had been slated to begin at 7 a.m. (1100 GMT).Protesters, who have occupied the publically accessible park since mid-September, feared the cleaning would be an attempt to shut down the movement that has sparked solidarity protests in more than 1,400 cities and plans for global rallies on Saturday in 71 countries, according to Occupy Together and United for Global Change.Roughly 1,000 protesters were on hand early on Friday morning at the park, where many had been up all night busily cleaning it themselves."There's a lot of talk of them actually trying to kick us out and keep us out," said Bailey Bryant, 28, an employee at a Manhattan bank who visits the camp after work and on weekends."We clean up after ourselves. It's not like there's rats and roaches running around the park," he said.On Facebook, organizers said: "Be warned, this is a tactic that (New York City Mayor Michael) Bloomberg has used to shut down protests in the past, and a tactic used recently in similar protests throughout Europe."Brookfield has said conditions at the park were "unsanitary and unsafe," with no toilets and a shortage of garbage cans. Neighbors complain of lewdness, drug use, harassment and offensive odors from the protesters, Brookfield said.In announcing the postponement, the deputy mayor said in a statement that Brookfield was "postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation.""Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation," he said.Protesters are upset that the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans don't pay their fair share in taxes.Hundreds of people have been arrested at rallies in New York and police have used pepper spray. Dozens have also been arrested during the past couple of weeks from Boston and Washington, D.C. to Chicago, Austin and San Francisco.Solidarity rallies have also sprung up at more than 140 U.S. college campuses in 25 states, according to Occupy Colleges.

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Anti-Wall St. protesters ready for clean-up standoff

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the private owner of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Office Properties, decided late on Thursday to delay the cleaning, which had been slated to begin at 7 a.m. (1100 GMT).Protesters, who have occupied the publically accessible park since mid-September, feared the cleaning would be an attempt to shut down the movement that has sparked solidarity protests in more than 1,400 cities and plans for global rallies on Saturday in 71 countries, according to Occupy Together and United for Global Change.Roughly 1,000 protesters were on hand early on Friday morning at the park, where many had been up all night busily cleaning it themselves."There's a lot of talk of them actually trying to kick us out and keep us out," said Bailey Bryant, 28, an employee at a Manhattan bank who visits the camp after work and on weekends."We clean up after ourselves. It's not like there's rats and roaches running around the park," he said.On Facebook, organizers said: "Be warned, this is a tactic that (New York City Mayor Michael) Bloomberg has used to shut down protests in the past, and a tactic used recently in similar protests throughout Europe."Brookfield has said conditions at the park were "unsanitary and unsafe," with no toilets and a shortage of garbage cans. Neighbors complain of lewdness, drug use, harassment and offensive odors from the protesters, Brookfield said.In announcing the postponement, the deputy mayor said in a statement that Brookfield was "postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation.""Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation," he said.Protesters are upset that the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans don't pay their fair share in taxes.Hundreds of people have been arrested at rallies in New York and police have used pepper spray. Dozens have also been arrested during the past couple of weeks from Boston and Washington, D.C. to Chicago, Austin and San Francisco.Solidarity rallies have also sprung up at more than 140 U.S. college campuses in 25 states, according to Occupy Colleges.

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Indian shares hit resistance; metals fall

* Banks buck trend on govt support hopes (Updates to late morning)MUMBAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Indian shares were trading down on Thursday after an early rise met with resistance, a day after the main index had climbed to its highest close in more than three weeks.Analysts said technical factors halted the rise after a key index failed to break through a barrier and the put-call ratio discouraged building long positions.Financial stocks bucked the trend and rose on hopes the government will take measures to bolster economic growth and help banks tide over a cash crunch.The main 30-share BSE index was down 0.13 percent at 16,935.64 points by 11:46 a.m. (0616 GMT), a day after rallying 2.6 percent to its highest close in over three weeks. Twenty-two of its components fell.The 50-share NSE index shed 0.16 percent to 5,091.05 points.Kishor Ostwal, chairman and managing director at CNI Research, said after the broader index failed to get past resistance at 5,170 there was short selling.Other technical factors also weighed."If the put call ratio crosses 1.6, long positions are not advised. The ratio was hovering about 1.75 today, which in most of the times leads to profit booking and shares fall," an analyst said.In the broader market, there were 1.2 gainers for every loser on moderate volume of 273.6 million shares.Jindal Steel and Power and metals miner Hindalco led the losses , falling 2.9 and 2.2 percent respectively.Top engineering firm Larsen & Toubro shed 1.5 percent.Energy major Reliance Industries was down 0.1 percent, ahead of its quarter ly earnings on Saturday.Refining margins, a key indicator to the company's profitability, would be watched amid the strong global crude oil prices in July-September.State Bank of India , the country's largest lender, rallied more than 3 percent on talk the government would pump in cash to shore up the capital of the state-run bank. Rival ICICI Bank rose more than 2 percent."The government is serious about infusing money into the state-run banks, especially SBI. That has helped the rally to hold in the banking sector," K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management at Globe Capital said.Mital said there was also speculation the central bank would pause on its tightening cycle after a possible another rate increase.The Reserve Bank of India, which has raised rates a dozen times since mid-March 2010 to rein in stubbornly high inflation, is set to review policy on Oct. 25Export-driven software services bellwether Infosys added another 1 percent, a day after it had jumped 7 percent following a less-than-expected cut in full-year sales forecast and strong quarterly earnings.Bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services was up 0.8 percent, while No. 3 software firm Wipro roe 0.4 percent.Shares in truck and car maker Tata Motors , which owns the UK-based marquee brands Jaguar and Land Rover, fell 0.l6 percent after initially rising more than 3 percent.Asian shares rose on growing hopes that Europe was taking serious measures to curb the region's debt woes.The MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.14 percent while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.98 percent.STOCKS ON THE MOVE* Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering fell 2 percent after the company said tax authorities visited the offices of founder SKIL Group in New Delhi and Mumbai on Wednesday.* Development Credit Bank rose 9 percent after its September quarter net profit more than doubled.* Rice makers Kohinoor foods , KRBL and LT Foods rose 3 to 6.4 percent on hopes local prices could climb on the back of floods in Thailand and reports of world's second-largest exporter Vietnam's potential default on deliveries.TOP 3 BY VOLUME* Tata Motors on 9.01 million shares* Development Credit Bank on 9 million shares* Ashok Leyland 8.99 million sharesFACTORS TO WATCH * Indian rupee report INR/] * Indian bond report * Euro dips; Aussie climbs on jobs surprise * Brent falls to near $111 as China crude imports slow * Asia shares rise on progress in euro zone rescue * Wall St extends gains on euro-fund optimism * For closing rates of Indian ADRs

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UPDATE 1-Cempra Holdings files for IPO of up to $86 mln

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Cempra Holdings LLC filed with U.S. regulators on Wednesday to raise up to $86.25 million in an initial public offering of common stock.The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based holding company develops medicines for curing bacterial infections.Cempra expects to use proceeds from the offering to fund clinical trials and other research and development activities.The company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus that Stifel Nicolaus Weisel, Leerink Swann, Cowen & Co and Needham & Co were underwriting the IPO.The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price.Cempra intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "CEMP".The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

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UPDATE 1-Western oil groups eye Myanmar changes cautiously

* Schlumberger not predicting big jump in new ordersBy Tom BerginLONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - International energy groups are unlikely to rapidly expand their activities in autocratic Myanmar after recent signs of political change in the country, which holds valuable reserves of oil and gas.Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of France's Total SA , said his company, which has a project in the former British colony, would like to play a bigger role in the country, formerly known as Burma, but had to see concrete signs of increased democratisation before this was possible.Western trade sanctions have been in place since the military crushed a 1988 student uprising, isolating Myanmar's army dictatorships, but in March the army nominally handed over power to civilians after elections in November. The process was ridiculed at the time as a sham to cement authoritarian rule behind a democratic facade.It was followed by other overtures such as calls for peace with ethnic minority guerrilla groups, some tolerance of criticism and more communication with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released last year from 15 years of house arrest.On Tuesday, state television said 6,359 prisoners would be freed on Wednesday and political detainees are expected to be included."We decided that ... it was important to be in Myanmar but that we will not invest until things are getting better ... I do hope that will happen," Total's de Margerie told reporters on the sidelines of the Oil and Money conference in London.Total leads the $1 billion Yadana gas project in the Andaman Sea, and the CEO said he would like to back additional exploration and production investments.U.S. oil major Chevron is a partner in Yadana but Washington banned new investments in Myanmar by U.S. companies in 1997 and barred imports. Ali Moshiri, President, Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company declined to talk about possible new investments in Myanmar.Thierry Pilenko, chief executive officer of French oil services provider Technip SA , said he expected Western oil companies to respond to the changes by increasing investment, but cautiously."The evolution is probably in favour of bringing more companies in ... I don't think this is going to be a fast process," he said at the sidelines of the conference.New investments by Western oil companies could be a boon for companies like Technip, which build and supply their facilities.But Andrew Gould, chief executive of the world's largest oil services company, Schlumberger NV , said it was too soon to tell the implications from the recent political easing.Myanmar's crude oil reserves are estimated at 3.2 billion barrels, the energy ministry has said. This compares with China's proven oil reserves of 14.8 billion barrels, Malaysia's 5.8 billion, Vietnam's 4.4 billion and Indonesia's 4.2 billion barrels, at the end of 2010, according to the BP Statistical Review.The country's proven gas reserves tripled in the past decade to around 800 billion cubic metres, equivalent to more than a quarter of Australia's, BP Statistical Review figures show.

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WRAPUP 1-Libya forces say closing in on Gaddafi's son

* Pro-Gaddafi forces putting up fierce resistance* Battle for Sirte breeding resentment, suspicionBy Rania El Gamal and Tim GaynorSIRTE, Libya, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Libyan government forces said on Tuesday they believed they had one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons cornered in the centre of the deposed leader's home town, but determined resistance was keeping them at bay.After weeks of fighting, forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) have taken most of Sirte and driven Gaddafi loyalists into two neighbourhoods in the north of the city.Capturing the city, which Gaddafi had turned into a showcase second capital, will consolidate the NTC's control in Libya and allow it to focus on rebuilding the country, but international concern about civilians caught up in the fighting has mounted.One NTC commander said Gaddafi fighters were defending their last two districts in Sirte tenaciously because Mo'tassim Gaddafi, his father's national security adviser, was with them."There are a few (Gaddafi-held) pockets, mainly concentrated in the 'Dollar' neighbourhood," said Colonel Mohammed Ajhseer. "According to the information we have, this is where Mo'tassim is, with another group."As the fighting raged in the streets, terrified families were emerging from their houses and trying to leave.NTC fighters surrounded their vehicles and searched them for weapons -- a mark of the deep mistrust in Sirte, where many people belong to Gaddafi's tribe and opposed his overthrow."There are explosions all the time," said one woman, who was in a white van with seven children. "There is no water. There is nothing," she said, then started crying.One man said he and his family had tried to leave the city twice before but had to turn back because they had no fuel for their car and the fighting was too heavy."We didn't know how to sleep because of the explosions. We couldn't even leave the house. There is no food. We just had flour and salt and bread," he said, as his wife, who was weeping, sat in their vehicle with their three children.On the western outskirts of Sirte, a flat-bed truck drove out carrying about 30 people, including children clutching dolls and blankets. It was raining, and they were wet and shivering.They said they originally came from Morocco and Sudan, and had been trapped in Sirte because Gaddafi militias would not let them leave.One of them, Abdul Menem Ahmed, from Ondurman in Sudan, said he had been working as an accountant in Libya for 14 years."The Gaddafi militias say everything is fine, then about 10 minutes later the shelling starts. There is no food no water, no medicine," he said.SYMBOLISMMuammar Gaddafi himself is not in Sirte, according to NTC officials coordinating the hunt for him, but is instead believed to be far to the south in the Sahara desert.Sirte, once a fishing village, has symbolic significance because Gaddafi used it as a prop in the personality cult he built during his 42 year rule. He built opulent villas, hotels and conference halls there to host Arab and African leaders.With Libya's new rulers focused on the bruising battles for Sirte and Bani Walid, another pro-Gaddafi town, a political vacuum has emerged. There is no formal government and the process of holding elections is on hold.Armed anti-Gaddafi factions from different regions are vying for power, complicating the NTC's task of asserting national control in the oil-exporting nation of six million people.NTC forces have captured Sirte's most important landmarks, including the Ouagadougou conference hall, where Gaddafi once hosted lavish summit meetings, the hospital and the university.Local commanders say Gaddafi loyalists are holed up in a neighbourhood known as "Dollar" and another called al-Shabiya, their forces weakened after nearly two months under siege and near-constant bombardment by NATO-backed NTC forces."(I have seen) a lot of Gaddafi fighters dead and injured in the past few days," said Karim Hassan, a migrant worker from Morocco who fled the city on Tuesday.But the loyalists are defending their positions and even mounting counter-attacks. A Reuters reporter in the centre of Sirte said a pick-up truck that was behind NTC lines was burned out after it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).One NTC fighter, Ali al-Rujaiy, said the loyalists wait until their opponents are gathered in one place, then strike. "They hit us with RPGs and mortars. They ambush us," he said.On a hilltop further south, several hundred NTC fighters were massing for a fresh offensive on the pro-Gaddafi holdouts, battering them first with tank and artillery fire.Each artillery salvo set off the burglar alarms of cars parked nearby.

[hazelholamkin-blog]

WRAPUP 1-Libya forces say closing in on Gaddafi's son

* Pro-Gaddafi forces putting up fierce resistance* Battle for Sirte breeding resentment, suspicionBy Rania El Gamal and Tim GaynorSIRTE, Libya, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Libyan government forces said on Tuesday they believed they had one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons cornered in the centre of the deposed leader's home town, but determined resistance was keeping them at bay.After weeks of fighting, forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) have taken most of Sirte and driven Gaddafi loyalists into two neighbourhoods in the north of the city.Capturing the city, which Gaddafi had turned into a showcase second capital, will consolidate the NTC's control in Libya and allow it to focus on rebuilding the country, but international concern about civilians caught up in the fighting has mounted.One NTC commander said Gaddafi fighters were defending their last two districts in Sirte tenaciously because Mo'tassim Gaddafi, his father's national security adviser, was with them."There are a few (Gaddafi-held) pockets, mainly concentrated in the 'Dollar' neighbourhood," said Colonel Mohammed Ajhseer. "According to the information we have, this is where Mo'tassim is, with another group."As the fighting raged in the streets, terrified families were emerging from their houses and trying to leave.NTC fighters surrounded their vehicles and searched them for weapons -- a mark of the deep mistrust in Sirte, where many people belong to Gaddafi's tribe and opposed his overthrow."There are explosions all the time," said one woman, who was in a white van with seven children. "There is no water. There is nothing," she said, then started crying.One man said he and his family had tried to leave the city twice before but had to turn back because they had no fuel for their car and the fighting was too heavy."We didn't know how to sleep because of the explosions. We couldn't even leave the house. There is no food. We just had flour and salt and bread," he said, as his wife, who was weeping, sat in their vehicle with their three children.On the western outskirts of Sirte, a flat-bed truck drove out carrying about 30 people, including children clutching dolls and blankets. It was raining, and they were wet and shivering.They said they originally came from Morocco and Sudan, and had been trapped in Sirte because Gaddafi militias would not let them leave.One of them, Abdul Menem Ahmed, from Ondurman in Sudan, said he had been working as an accountant in Libya for 14 years."The Gaddafi militias say everything is fine, then about 10 minutes later the shelling starts. There is no food no water, no medicine," he said.SYMBOLISMMuammar Gaddafi himself is not in Sirte, according to NTC officials coordinating the hunt for him, but is instead believed to be far to the south in the Sahara desert.Sirte, once a fishing village, has symbolic significance because Gaddafi used it as a prop in the personality cult he built during his 42 year rule. He built opulent villas, hotels and conference halls there to host Arab and African leaders.With Libya's new rulers focused on the bruising battles for Sirte and Bani Walid, another pro-Gaddafi town, a political vacuum has emerged. There is no formal government and the process of holding elections is on hold.Armed anti-Gaddafi factions from different regions are vying for power, complicating the NTC's task of asserting national control in the oil-exporting nation of six million people.NTC forces have captured Sirte's most important landmarks, including the Ouagadougou conference hall, where Gaddafi once hosted lavish summit meetings, the hospital and the university.Local commanders say Gaddafi loyalists are holed up in a neighbourhood known as "Dollar" and another called al-Shabiya, their forces weakened after nearly two months under siege and near-constant bombardment by NATO-backed NTC forces."(I have seen) a lot of Gaddafi fighters dead and injured in the past few days," said Karim Hassan, a migrant worker from Morocco who fled the city on Tuesday.But the loyalists are defending their positions and even mounting counter-attacks. A Reuters reporter in the centre of Sirte said a pick-up truck that was behind NTC lines was burned out after it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).One NTC fighter, Ali al-Rujaiy, said the loyalists wait until their opponents are gathered in one place, then strike. "They hit us with RPGs and mortars. They ambush us," he said.On a hilltop further south, several hundred NTC fighters were massing for a fresh offensive on the pro-Gaddafi holdouts, battering them first with tank and artillery fire.Each artillery salvo set off the burglar alarms of cars parked nearby.