Spanish PMI - Business Insider

UPDATE:

Spain's PMI has risen to 45.3 from 43.5 last month.
more to come in a moment.

This is still economic deterioration (as the number was sub-50) and New Orders was weak again, but basically the pace of decline has improved modestly.

The full report from Markit is here.

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EARLIER: The European wave of PMIs is about to begin.

At 3:15 AM ET we get Spanish PMI.

This is basically Europe's #1 worry spot these days, and it will be notable to see how much more pain it is experiencing.

Last month came in at 43.5

We'll have the number here, and we have our full PMI rundown here.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/spanish-pmi-2012-12

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Reporting, Pretty Immaterially, From South Dakota (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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NKorea says it will launch long-range rocket soon

FILE - In this April 8, 2012 file photo, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket stands at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. North Korea said Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 it will launch a long-range rocket between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22. The launch will heighten already strained tensions with South Korean ahead of its presidential election on Dec. 19. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - In this April 8, 2012 file photo, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket stands at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. North Korea said Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 it will launch a long-range rocket between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22. The launch will heighten already strained tensions with South Korean ahead of its presidential election on Dec. 19. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 8, 2012 file photo, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket, slated for liftoff between April 12-16, stands at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. North Korea said Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 it will launch a long-range rocket between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22. The launch will heighten already strained tensions with South Korean ahead of its presidential election on Dec. 19. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - This Monday Nov. 26, 2012 file satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe and annotated by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, shows the Sohae Satellite Launch Station in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. North Korea said Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 it will launch a long-range rocket between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22, a move likely to heighten already strained tensions with Washington and Seoul ahead of South Korean presidential elections Dec. 19. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe via 38 North, File)

FILE - In this April 8, 2012 file photo, a group of journalists walk down a road in front of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. April 8, 2012. North Korea said Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 it will launch a long-range rocket between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22. The launch will heighten already strained tensions with South Korean ahead of its presidential election on Dec. 19. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - In this April 8, 2012 file photo, a North Korean soldier stands in front of the country's Unha-3 rocket, slated for liftoff between April 12-16, at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. Rocket sections are apparently being trucked into North Korea's northwest launch site, but some analysts are asking whether it's just a calculated bluff meant to jangle the Obama administration and influence South Korean voters ahead of Dec. 19 presidential elections in three weeks. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea announced Saturday that it would attempt to launch a long-range rocket in mid-December, a defiant move just eight months after a failed April bid was widely condemned as a violation of a U.N. ban against developing its nuclear and missile programs.

The launch, set for Dec. 10 to 22, is likely to heighten already strained tensions with Washington and Seoul as the United States prepares for Barack Obama's second term as U.S. president and South Korea holds its own presidential election on Dec. 19.

This would be North Korea's second launch attempt under leader Kim Jong Un, who took power following his father Kim Jong Il's death nearly a year ago. The announcement by North Korea's space agency followed speculation overseas about stepped-up activity at North Korea's west coast launch pad captured in satellite imagery.

A spokesman for North Korea's Korean Committee for Space Technology said scientists have "analyzed the mistakes" made in the failed April launch and improved the precision of its Unha rocket and Kwangmyongsong satellite, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA said the launch was a request of late leader Kim Jong Il, whose Dec. 17, 2011, death North Koreans are expected to mark with some fanfare. The space agency said the rocket would be mounted with a polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite, and maintained its right to develop a peaceful space program.

Washington considers North Korea's rocket launches to be veiled covers for tests of technology for long-range missiles designed to strike the United States, and such tests are banned by the United Nations.

North Korea has capable short- and medium-range missiles, but long-range launches in 1998, 2006, 2009 and in April of this year ended in failure. North Korea is not known to have succeeded in mounting an atomic bomb on a missile but is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least half a dozen bombs, according to U.S. experts, and in 2010 revealed a uranium enrichment program that could provide a second source of material for nuclear weapons.

Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for aid fell apart in early 2009.

In Seoul, South Korean officials have accused North Korea of trying to influence its presidential election with what they consider provocations meant to put pressure on voters and on the United States as the North seeks concessions. Conservative Park Geun-hye, the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee, is facing liberal Moon Jae-in in the South Korean presidential vote. Polls show the candidates in a close race.

Some analysts, however, question whether North Korean scientists have corrected whatever caused the misfire of its last rocket.

"Preparing for a launch less than a year after a failure calls into question whether the North could have analyzed and fixed whatever went wrong," David Wright, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote on the organization's website this week.

The United States has criticized North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as a threat to Asian and world security. In 2009, North Korea conducted rocket and nuclear tests within months of Obama taking office.

North Korea under its young leader has pledged to bolster its nuclear arsenal unless Washington scraps what the North calls a "hostile" policy. North Korea maintains that it is building bombs to defend itself against what it sees as a U.S. nuclear threat in the region.

This year is the centennial of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong Un. According to North Korean propaganda, 2012 is meant to put the North on a path toward a "strong, prosperous and great nation."

"North Korea appears to be under pressure to redeem its April launch failure before the year of the 'strong, prosperous and great nation' ends," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.

He added that a successful rocket launch would raise North Korea's bargaining power with South Korea and the United States "because it means the country is closer to developing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads."

Before its last two rocket launches, North Korea notified the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization about its intentions to launch. IMO spokeswoman Natasha Brown said that as of Friday the organization had not been notified by North Korea.

The North's announcement comes two days after South Korea canceled what would have been the launch of its first satellite from its own territory. Scientists in Seoul cited technical difficulties. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the North's planned launch is "a grave provocation and a head-on challenge to the international community."

North Korea's missile and nuclear programs will be a challenge for Obama in his second term and for the incoming South Korean leader. Washington's most recent attempt to negotiate a freeze of the North's nuclear program and a test moratorium in exchange for food aid collapsed with the April launch.

The Korean Peninsula remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Washington stations nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea as a buttress against any North Korean aggression. Tens of thousands more are in nearby Japan.

___

Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee and Sam Kim contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-01-AS-NKorea-Rocket-Launch/id-af7808c5d9e94e1aacd4f1113ac9637f

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This Week On Twitter: Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet, Tweeting ...

Need a little weekend reading? We?ve compiled our top ten Twitter stories of the week, which includes an update to the ultimate social media sizing cheat sheet, why you should tweet smarter (and not harder), eight best practices for using Twitter for business, a look at the growing impact of social media and the latest mobile social consumer trends.

Here are our top 10 Twitter stories of the week.

1. The Ultimate Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet [INFOGRAPHIC]

Whether you?re new to the game or a socially savvy marketing veteran, setting up a new Twitter profile or Facebook Page can be a time-consuming process, especially when it comes to working out the sizes of all the images you need to make your channels ? or those of your clients ? stand out from the crowd. And what about the other social platforms, like Pinterest and Google+? Wouldn?t it be great if somebody could put all of this information on a single page?

2. Tweet Smarter, Not Harder [INFOGRAPHIC]

You?ve listened to the hype. You?ve read case study after case study. You?ve seen that little bird logo everywhere. And your brand could certainly use a little push. So, excitedly, you sign up for a Twitter profile for your business. And wait. And wait. And wait.?And nothing happens. Does this sound familiar?

3. 8 Best Practices For Using Twitter For Business [INFOGRAPHIC]

Twitter comes with a pretty steep learning curve, and brands looking to maximise their ROI (return on investment) on the micro-blogging social network need to ensure that they?re on the right path. But where to begin? Well, sharing photos and behind the scenes information about your business is a great start. Make sure you?re listening to your customers and all of the Twitter mentions about your company. Ask questions of your followers. And, perhaps most importantly, establish a clear and consistent brand voice ? how to you want YOUR business to appear on Twitter?

4. The Growing Impact Of Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

In just a few years social media has rapidly integrated itself into almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives, and this phenomenal growth has made a huge impact on what we used to do to pass the time. Email, face-to-face socialising and even taking care of household members have all suffered under the wake of platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Even television has seen a sizeable chunk of its audience move online, and many folks who still prefer to sit in front of the box now do so whilst engaging with like-minded viewers on their smartphone or tablets.

5. Mobile Social Consumer Trends 2012 [INFOGRAPHIC]

Society is more connected than ever before, and, subsequently (and certainly in the West), we have become increasingly reliant on immediacy, with smartphones and other mobile devices giving us 24/7, instant-access to the internet and social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Socially savvy businesses have been quick to catch on, particularly in the restaurant, food and hospitality space. But which brands are leading the way?

6. 45% Of People Have Used Twitter For Flirting (And It?s Almost Always By Direct Message) [STUDY]

A new survey has revealed that almost half (45 percent) of Twitter users have used the micro-blogging social network to date and flirt with other members, and one-in-three confessed to having sent ?sexy? tweets. Direct messages were cited as the most common way of flirting, with 83 percent of those who engaged in such behaviour on Twitter having done so via a suggestive private message.

7. A Short History Of The Hashtag

Hashtags are the quickest and easiest way to search for and find out what Twitter users are currently talking about. They?re also key to productive Twitter engagement ? hashtags put your tweets in front of the people who are interested in them. But how did it all start?

8. What Do CEOs Think Of Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Did you know that 16 percent of CEOs say that they use social media as the top way that they engage customers? But this is just the very tip of the iceberg ? CEOs expect their use of social media to more than triple in the next five years, rising to 57 percent of all chief execs.

9. View Top Tweets In Google Analytics With Campalyst Plugin

Want to know which tweets (and which Twitterers) generate the most traffic for your site? Now you can ? thanks to this handy Google Analytics tweet plugin from Campalyst.

10. The Top Internet Retailers On Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest And Google+ [INFOGRAPHIC]

Back in May we looked at a visual from Campalyst that presented a wealth of data on the top 250 internet retailers in social media ? Facebook and Twitter led the way as the social networks of choice. Fast-forward to the present, and Facebook and Twitter are still numero uno amongst internet retailers, commanding a 97 percent and 96 percent presence respectively. YouTube maintains its third place, being used by 90 percent of respondents, while still wet-behind-the-ears Pinterest has leap-frogged Google+.

Did you know we have a newsletter? Sign-up to receive a daily digest of all things Twitter, sent straight to your inbox. Click here to sign up for the AllTwitter Newsletter.

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/top-10-twitter-021212_b32039

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Samsung says to fix outsourcing issues, but keep most production inhouse

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co plans to keep the bulk of its manufacturing inhouse but reiterated a pledge to improve working conditions at its suppliers after admitting excessive overtime and fines for employees in China, a senior executive said on Friday.

New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW) said employees at one of Samsung's suppliers sometimes worked up to 16 hours a day, with only one day's rest a month.

That prompted an investigation in September by Samsung of its suppliers in China.

"There was common use of a system of penalties (at our suppliers in China) for being late or producing faulty products, which is improper practice under global standards but somewhat general practice under local regulations," said Mok Jangkyun, who led the team of over 100 auditors to inspect Samsung's 105 suppliers in China.

"We're working with them to change these practices and introduce a better work environment," Mok, vice president of human resources, told Reuters in an interview.

"There were indeed some cases of excessive overtime work. When workers have to work weekends, for example, due to a temporary spike in orders, overtime work reached 32 hours a week or 100 hours a month," he said.

"We've recommended they hire more workers, introduce automation and improve production processes to fix this. We are also working on guidelines to gradually reduce overtime work hours."

Samsung produces more than 40 percent of its goods in China including its popular Galaxy S smartphones, home appliances and chips. But most of that is in its own plants, with outsourcing accounting for less than 10 percent of total production.

A number of foreign companies have been accused in recent years of improper work practices in China, seen as a cheap source of labor.

Many multinational brands have contracts with firms using Chinese labor, including Apple Inc, Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com Inc, Google's Motorola Mobility, Nokia Oyj, and Sony Corp.

Samsung defended its in-house manufacturing strategy even though it tends to be more expensive than outsourcing, calling it a main strength of the company.

"Multinationals are increasingly opting for outsourcing for various reasons. But at Samsung, out of over 200,000 staff worldwide, more than half are manufacturing jobs, which indicates we are very much a manufacturing-driven company and it is where our core strength is," Mok said.

"Samsung manufactures more than 90 percent of our products internally and only relies on contractors for peripheral products such as components, feature phones and handset cases."

He said it allows the company to adapt quickly to changing market conditions.

As an example, Mok cited Samsung's smartphone plants in South Korea, China and Vietnam as giving it the flexibility to adjust output of its Galaxy S, depending on demand or production problems at one factory. By contrast, main rival Apple depends heavily on contractors.

Apple warned last month that its industry-leading margins would shrink this quarter as new products have become more expensive to build and as it is having trouble meeting robust demand for the iPhone 5.

Chairman Terry Gou of Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's main contract manufacturer, said earlier this month the company was falling short of meeting demand for the phone.

"Manufacturing is the backbone of Samsung's growth and we put very much emphasis on improving manufacturing competitiveness, as this is how we've become the leader in chips and displays," Mok said.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-says-fix-outsourcing-issues-keep-most-production-053436649--finance.html

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Can soda cause certain types of cancer? | WTVR.com ? Richmond ...

If you?re a man, the next time you go out to eat you may want to skip the soda.

Swedish scientists tracked more than 8,000 men over a 15 year period. Those who drank just one soft drink a day raised their risk of prostate cancer by 40 percent.

The study also found an increased risk for a milder form of prostate cancer in men who ate a large amount of sugary breakfast cereal, rice and pasta.

However, scientists say more research is needed to see how genes respond to different diets.

Source: http://wtvr.com/2012/12/01/can-soda-cause-certain-types-of-cancer/

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ANALYSIS: Mexico president seeks new start with US

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Mexico's President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto prior to their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012.

Maria Camila Bernal, Telemundo

News analysis

Mexico's new president Enrique Pe?a Nieto is surely hoping his inauguration on Saturday will help his country turn a new page in the relationship with its huge northern neighbor.

After all, Mexico is dogged by a six-year drug war that has claimed about 60,000 lives, pervasive corruption and an image problem around the world. So Pe?a Nieto will want to emphasize what the violence and the negative headlines obscure: Mexico's growing economy, swelling middle class and deepening economic and social ties with the U.S.

A recent editorial by Pe?a Nieto, who is returning to power the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional),?the authoritarian party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 years, shed light on the new president's pivot.

"It is a mistake to limit our bilateral relationship to drugs and security concerns,"?he wrote in The Washington Post ahead of Tuesday's meeting with President Barack Obama. "Our mutual interests are too vast and complex to be restricted in this short-sighted way."

Pe?a Nieto hopes to reframe US-Mexico relations in meeting with Obama

Indeed, the fact that Pe?a Nieto was the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Obama's reelection highlights the importance both countries place on their ties.

"This is a longstanding tradition where ? we meet early with the president-elect of Mexico because it symbolizes the extraordinary relationship between the two countries," Obama told reporters at a joint press conference.

De-emphasize drug war?
Pe?a Nieto's predecessor Felipe Calderon made the war on drugs his most important domestic issue, former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Casta?eda told NBC Latino.

"What I think Pe?a Nieto wants to do is emphasize reducing violence and violent crime in Mexico -- kidnapping, extortion, homicide, holdups -- and not so much the drug trade," he said.

Latin America expert: US-Mexico relations to focus on trade, not drug war

While Mexico's new president has promised to expand the federal police by at least 35,000 in order to deal with crime, Pe?a Nieto and the PRI will have a brief period to show the United States and the world that they are truly tackling lawlessness and corruption.

"The honeymoon will end when the United States realizes that he will continue to allow corruption," Mexican economist Rogelio Ramirez de la O, who advised left-wing challenger in the presidential race, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

But there is no denying that significant ties bind the two countries. Already, Mexico and the United States are part of NAFTA, the world's biggest trading bloc, with Canada.

Mexico's president wants to change country's name to the one 'we sing'

"Perhaps the most important issue is finding new ways to bolster our economic and trade relationship to attain common prosperity in our nations," Pe?a Nieto wrote in the Washington Post article.

Mexico markets itself as a manufacturing base for foreign companies, and already Coca-Cola, GM, DuPont and Nissan, among others, have operations in the country. Pe?a Nieto has also promised to open the country's?sizable?energy sector to private investment, although he has said that energy resources and the country's state-run oil company PEMEX will not be privatized.

The country's economy is also expected to continue growing faster than the United States. Mexico's GPD is projected to have grown by 3.9 percent in 2012, compared to 2.1 percent in the United States during the same period, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Mexico's drug war is also part of a drug culture with roots in music, movies and even religion.

Immigration reform
Both presidents acknowledged another major issue facing both countries during Tuesday's meeting: immigration.

Despite constant bloodshed, Mexico is ignored during White House race

"I know (Pe?a Nieto is) interested in what we do as well on issues like comprehensive immigration reform," Obama said.

At an estimated 12 million, Mexicans are by far the largest immigrant group in the United States. And around 7 million, or 59 percent of undocumented immigrants, are thought to have come from Mexico.

While Obama decreed earlier this year that hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who went to the United States illegally as young children would be entitled to remain, the promise he made in 2008 to reform immigration has not been fulfilled. On the flip side of the migration coin are the estimated 1 million Americans living in Mexico, and the estimated 10 million who visit every year.

Read more on NBCLatino.com

Barbara Franco, director of The American Benevolent Society, a 140-year-old aid organization for Americans living in Mexico, acknowledged the many issues facing the new president, and said solutions did not lie only with Pe?a Nieto or the PRI alone.

"There is an economic concern, the need of transparency and the overall legal system in the application of law starting form traffic violation to everything else," said Franco. "But the problems are so huge that it's not about political party or a specific person, it's about a general attitude in solving these problems."

More world stories from NBC News:

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/30/15564555-mexico-seeks-to-pivot-relationship-with-us-as-new-president-takes-office?lite

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