Mobiunity

Visclosky Will Be Able to Spend Campaign Money on Lawyers

Ethics Panel Begins Review of Lawmakers' Links to PMA Lobbying Firm

Watchdog Groups Call for PMA Probe

EDITOR'S NOTE: AP reporter Elliot Spagat follows Tijuana's new public safety chief, Julian Leyzaola, for eight months as he launches the city's most aggressive police reform to date, in the middle of a raging drug war.
___
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Behind every crime is a corrupt cop.
That's Public Safety Chief Julian Leyzaola's mantra as he storms Tijuana with its most aggressive police reform to date, a mix of counterterrorism and community policing. If it works, it could be a model for other hotspots and a huge breakthrough in a drug war in Mexico that has taken more than 14,000 lives in the last three years.
But the job is as monumental as turning around Al Capone's Chicago. Cops in this border city and many others nationwide now serve as the eyes and ears of drug lords. And those who fight the cartels often end up dead.
The Associated Press followed Leyzaola for eight months as he rallied troops, consoled officers' widows and appealed to jaded residents for support. The AP joined commanders and officers on patrol, at target practice and in training classes, tracking firsthand Leyzaola's intended reforms.
Leyzaola, 49, joined Tijuana police in 2007, after 25 years in the army and stints running Baja California's state prisons and police. A year ago, he became head of the largest police force in Baja, where 90 percent of officers surveyed last year failed federal security checks.
"Listen well," the retired military officer says with his trademark certitude. "No delinquent can survive without help from the authorities. If you do not clean up the police, you will never get rid of drug trafficking."
___
The march to recapture the city starts in early 2009 and expands to a new district every three months. The plan is to end in 2011 in the east, the city's most violent section, where Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental wages a vicious campaign to take over Tijuana's drug trade.
Leyzaola draws his strategy from many sources, including French counterterrorism operations in Algeria in the 1950s and Colombia's war against its cartels in the '90s. He has $7 million in federal funding this year.
The plan for each district: Make a slew of arrests. Then replace beat cops with officers who pass intensive background checks and put in former military officers as commanders. They patrol small areas in new pickup trucks and are responsible for whatever happens in their area.
First up is downtown Tijuana.
___
Felipe Gandara, 37, is one of 400 Tijuana officers who passed the new training and background checks for downtown. In March, he begins by introducing himself at every bank, foreign-exchange business and restaurant.
"It's important to lose your anonymity," Leyzaola says. "I believe police abused their positions because no one knew who they were."
Gandara likes Leyzaola's approach.
"It was a complete change, a lot more responsibility," Gandara says. "Every crime is your responsibility."

Victor de la Cruz, the former Air Force officer appointed to oversee the launch, estimates a 40 percent increase in people reporting crimes in little more than a month.

___

The same month, Leyzaola's bodyguard of 18 months, Ricardo Omar Medina, is among 130 officers caught in an anti-corruption spree.

Medina receives a call late one March night to report to Leyzaola at 8 a.m. for a new radio. When he arrives, his boss demands his vest, badge and other equipment.

"I've lost trust in you," Leyzaola tells him.

About 250 were fired or pressured to resign. When Leyzaola suspects cops are dirty, he puts them on patrol in the palm trees outside police headquarters — a job that humiliates most into quitting.

According to court documents, one of the officers arrested in March said he got $500 a month from El Teo's gang to keep streets clear of cops during murders and kidnappings. If he refused, his family would be killed. Another officer said he was paid $300 to $500 each time he released criminals at El Teo's command.

Leyzaola likes confronting them personally — in his office, at their stations, even on patrol. He sometimes drives them himself to the army barracks, where they are held.

Families of the officers come forward immediately with allegations of torture — electrocuted genitals, near-suffocation, severe beatings Leyzaola says he is not responsible for what happened to officers in army custody.

___

The threats start on April 24, broadcast over Tijuana's old police radios that drug traffickers routinely commandeer: If Leyzaola doesn't resign, cops will die.

Three days later, Officer Luis Izquierdo, Gandara's former partner and mentor, is on the night shift, patrolling the San Diego border with three other cops. He walks into a convenience store just as a caravan of black SUVs drives by. Men get out of the vehicles and pump Izquierdo and three others with more than 200 bullets.

The police scanners hum with a "narcocorrido," or a drug ballad. Three more officers go down in synchronized attacks across the city.

Gandara picks up the radio traffic and calls his wife.

"Luis is dead," he says.

She calls Izquierdo's wife to break the news: Seven officers killed in 45 minutes.

It is the department's deadliest day.

___

The next day, Leyzaola stops the community policing, less than two months into the program. His officers are too exposed. They turn to patrolling large areas in convoys of as many as six trucks.

The department's 2,000 officers get two-week courses on securing crime scenes, surveilling suspects and other basic policing techniques.

___

The tip comes in early June: Drug trafficker Filiberto Parra Ramos — wanted for killing two federal agents and for his role in one of Tijuana's deadliest shootouts — is spotted in Playas de Tijuana. The army already is out looking.

Leyzaola joins the massive search for him.

After a false alarm, Parra is cornered at a shopping center near the airport. Leyzaola personally makes the arrest — nabbing one of El Teo's top assassins without firing a single shot.

The hits ramp up in July.

The body of Officer Geronimo Calderon, pumped with bullets, is left with a note: "If you don't resign, Leisaola (sic), I'm going to kill 5 x week."

That night, a Tijuana cop survives an assassination attempt as he stands unarmed outside a grocery store. An officer dies in drive-by shooting the next day while guarding a Mexican Red Cross center, and a third is killed five days later in an ambush.

___

By September, funerals are part of Leyzaola's routine.

Leyzaola is also quietly campaigning to keep his job after his boss, Mayor Jorge Ramos, is forced out by term limits in December 2010.

"We're really only in our first year," he says. "In two years, Tijuana will see a real difference."

___

After the September killings, Leyzaola moves his campaign to Playas de Tijuana three months earlier than scheduled.

The district gets new radios and 58 new Ford F250s. They had 14 patrol vehicles before.

All over the city, cops are scared. They routinely patrol with their rifles drawn.

Officer Mario Pena, who worked the district where Izquierdo died, stops wearing his uniform to work and alternates his routes home. He quits meeting officers for coffee on the job, stops socializing with them on weekends for fear they will be recognized and gunned down.

But he says the killings are a sign that Leyzaola is succeeding.

"We are finishing off the mafia," he says.

El Teo has other plans.

___

By the end of September, the Mexican army gets another tip: U.S. authorities say a weapons purchase north of the border indicates a plot is afoot to kill Leyzaola.

The intelligence leads soldiers in October to a Tijuana shoe shop, where they arrest Edgar Zuniga, one of El Teo's men. Zuniga leads them to a ranch on the eastern outskirts, where the assassins' vehicles are being painted in camouflage to trick Leyzaola as they approach.

The plan calls for 12 men to approach Leyzaola in a fake military convoy as one takes him out with a .50-caliber rifle. The execution would be videotaped, set to a narcocorrido and posted on the Internet.

Soldiers surprise the planners Oct. 31 in a shootout at the ranch, arresting 13 suspects. They seize more than 3,400 bullets, plus the camouflaged vehicles.

The foiled hit had been personally ordered by El Teo for Nov. 1.

___

In Leyzaola's first year as public safety director, 32 officers died, more than in the previous five years total. Dozens went to jail and the department shrunk from about 2,200 to 2,000 — forcing him to extend patrol shifts from eight to 12 hours.

His community policing plan is still on hold.

But Leyzaola already is looking to next year, planning to hire 150 new officers, send 50 at a time to train with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and issue new bulletproof vests, each backed by a manufacturer's $50 million guarantee. He hopes to restart community policing early in 2010.

He avoids speculating on what would have happened if the plot had gone through. Leyzaola is a man who only moves forward.

"God protects me," he says.

Lighting is the deliberate application of light to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect. Lighting includes use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from daylight. Daylighting (through windows, skylights, etc.) is often used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings given its low cost. Artificial lighting represents a major component of energy consumption, accounting for a significant part of all energy consumed worldwide.

Artificial lighting is most commonly provided today by electric lights, but gas lighting, candles, or oil lamps were used in the past, and still are used in certain situations. Proper lighting can enhance task performance or aesthetics, while there can be energy wastage and adverse health effects of lighting. Indoor lighting is a form of fixture or furnishing, and a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be an intrinsic component of landscaping.

Flexible LED Strips

The world will hardly know if global warming is being curbed if the largest emitter of carbon – China – isn’t releasing accurate data about its pollution. 
That’s why it was correct for the United States to insist Thursday at the climate-change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, that Beijing must be transparent about any claims of success in reducing greenhouse gases.
Without outside verification of carbon cuts in big polluting nations such as China and India, the US Senate is unlikely to pass a tough bill that would force Americans to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. 
And any international pact that sets hard targets for emissions reduction will mean nothing if there are suspicions of cheating or if some countries don’t pull their own weight.
The problem in China is that the ruling Communist Party has a long history of issuing false or at least unreliable data about its economy – as do many one-party regimes driven by ideology and that are often rife with corruption. Lower-level officials often cook official reports – or “add water,” as the Chinese say – to meet quotas set by Beijing or to protect their turf.
Beijing claims it has a campaign against statistical “falsification and embellishment.” Indeed, gathering information in the world’s most populous nation, which also has the third-largest and fastest-growing economy, is not easy.
Still, official figures – such as energy use per economic output – are often revised several times after the first announcement. Foreign economists regularly find discrepancies in China’s data. “One may begin to wonder about the possibility and likelihood of professional statistical work in China,” writes Carsten Holz, an economist at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in a recent issue of the China Economic Quarterly.
Fiddling with figures is also widespread in China’s drive to increase renewable energy. Power companies, for instance, are required to produce 3 percent of electricity capacity – not actual electricity – from renewables. In many cases, the companies buy inexpensive wind turbines to meet that quota for capacity – but then the turbines break and are allowed to go idle. On the books, the companies have done their bit.
China has begun to cooperate with the International Energy Agency – a body of 28 oil-importing nations – to review its efforts on cleaner burning of coal. Such cooperation is essential in a country with the world’s third-largest reserves of coal and that still plans to rely for much of its energy on this dirty fuel.
But will it now agree to the US demand for a “pledge and review” process in a climate-change agreement?
At the Copenhagen talks, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said: “If there is not even a commitment [by China] to pursue transparency, that is a kind of deal breaker for us.” 
In response, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said his government is ready for “dialogue and cooperation that is not intrusive, that does not infringe on China’s sovereignty.”
It may be that a deal can be worked out. As an incentive, the US joined other developed nations in committing to spend $100 billion by 2020 in developing countries for climate-change projects, such as adapting to higher sea levels or to save forests. Such a huge amount will likely lure poorer nations in Africa and Asia away from joining China in resisting the US demand for transparency.
These talks offer a good opportunity for China to open its bureaucracy for international oversight if its attempts to build a green economy are to be credible.

LONDON (Reuters) –
An ad for a TV dating show has been banned for suggesting that redheads are unattractive, Britain's advertising watchdog said on Wednesday.

Virgin Media's newspaper advert for the program "Dating in the Dark" included the text: "How do you spot a ginger in the dark?"

Virgin said the premise of the show was to challenge people's perception of attractiveness and to encourage decisions based on personality as well as looks.

However the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed with three complainants that the ad was likely to cause serious offence and should not be used again.

"We considered the text was likely to be interpreted ... as a statement that reflected a choice between looks and personality ... being a suggestion that people with ginger hair were unattractive," the ASA said in a statement.

"We considered the ad was unlikely to be interpreted to be light-hearted in tone and was instead likely to be seen as prejudicial against people with ginger hair."

Other adverts in the series used to promote the show had included the tagline: "When the lights come on I just hope I haven't been kissing Shrek."

On Tuesday, Britain's biggest retailer Tesco apologized and said it had withdrawn a Christmas card which showed a child with red hair sitting on the lap of Santa Claus under the banner: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Snow skiing is a group of sports using skis as primary equipment. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding. Skiing can be grouped into two general categories. Nordic skiing is the oldest and includes sport that evolved from skiing as done in Scandinavia. Nordic style bindings attach at the toes of the skier's boots but not at the heels. Alpine skiing includes sports that evolved from skiing as done in the Alps.

Alpine bindings attach at both the toe and the heel of the skier's boots. As with many disciplines, such as Telemark skiing, there is some crossover. However, binding style and history tend to dictate whether a style is considered Nordic or Alpine. Therefore, in view of its lack of a locking heel, and its roots in Telemark, Norway, Telemark is generally considered a Nordic discipline. To use common known sports as examples, since examples make the concept, cross country skiing is Nordic whereas downhill skiing is Alpine.

Ski Racing

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama prepares to attend a world summit on climate change, a majority of Americans are willing to pay more for a solution only if it would create "green" jobs in the United States , according to a McClatchy-Ipsos poll released Wednesday.

Take away the benefit of new jobs, and the willingness to pay a little more on their monthly electric or other bills drops.

Just half the country is willing to pay higher prices to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases if it doesn't also create jobs, and that slender support turns into outright opposition if the price rises from $10 a month to $25 a month.

"A substantial majority believes that climate change is happening, that global temperatures are rising and that it's mostly because of human activity," said Michael Gross , the vice president of Ipsos Public Affairs, which conducted the poll.

A solid majority of Americans, 70 percent, thinks that global warming is real, though a sizable minority, 28 percent, says it isn't.

Similarly, 61 percent think that it's happening because of the burning of fossil fuels, while 34 percent say it's mostly a natural phenomenon.

Americans are closely divided on the proposed solution pending in Congress , a "cap and trade" system aimed at cutting U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases from smokestacks and tailpipes.

"There isn't any overwhelming support or opposition for cap and trade now," Gross said.

The poll found that 52 percent of Americans support the legislation, which has passed the House of Representatives but is stalled in the Senate . Forty-one percent oppose the measure.

A solid majority, 69 percent, said they'd support it even if it cost them $10 a month if it created a "significant" number of American jobs. Twenty-nine percent said they'd still oppose the legislation under those circumstances.

That majority support dropped to 60 percent if the costs rose to $25 a month, and opposition rose to 36 percent.

How much the legislation would cost is a subject of debate among partisans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it would cost the average U.S. household $90 a year in lost purchasing power in 2012, rising to $925 a year by 2050.

Whether it would create or kill jobs also is heavily debated. The CBO said it would "probably have only a small effect on total employment in the long run."

Public support for the cap and trade legislation drops if there's no promise of green jobs to offset the costs, the poll found.

Given the prospect of paying $10 a month more on their electric bills but with no mention of jobs, 50 percent said they'd support it and 48 percent said they'd oppose it.

Given legislation that would raise their bills by $25 a month, again with no mention of jobs, 55 percent opposed it, while 43 percent supported it.

METHODOLOGY:

These are some of the findings of a McClatchy-Ipsos poll conducted last Thursday through Sunday. For the survey, Ipsos interviewed a nationally representative, randomly selected sample of 1,120 people 18 and older across the United States . With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 2.93 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including coverage and measurement error. These data were weighted to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the U.S. population according to U.S. Census figures. Respondents had the option to be interviewed in English or Spanish.

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

McClatchy-Ipsos poll

Poll: Obama, Democrats end the year politically weaker

EPA finds greenhouse gases pose dangers, plans regulation

U.S. action on climate policy is key to international treaty

For more McClatchy politics coverage visit Planet Washington

BOSTON (Reuters) –
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Tuesday won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death Senator Edward Kennedy, who died in August of brain cancer.

The victory came at a critical time for President Barack Obama's Democratic Party, which is counting on maintaining its 60-seat majority in the 100-member Senate as the body wrestles with legislation for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

Coakley, 56, will face Republican state legislator Scott Brown in the January 19 election for the legendary Senate seat, which Edward Kennedy took over from his older brother, President John F. Kennedy.

Coakley is heavily favored to win and to serve the rest of Kennedy's term in the Senate, which will run through 2012.

The liberal New England state has not elected a Republican to the Senate in almost 40 years, though it has had a Republican governor for most of the past two decades.

"The election is over," said Jeffrey Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University. "We have to vote in January, but the outcome is preordained. Coakley will win."

In her acceptance speech, Coakley evoked the memory of Ted Kennedy and his two assassinated brothers, John and Robert.

"They helped to change the face of government and politics in Massachusetts and in the entire country," Coakley told supporters. "They showed us possibilities and then the realities that we never thought we could achieve and for that we are grateful."

The winner of the January contest will replace Paul Kirk, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and Kennedy friend whom Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appointed in September with the support of the Kennedy's widow and sons.

Kennedy's successor will have his seat but not the power the liberal icon accrued after almost 47 years in the Senate.

Voter turnout for the special election was low, with less than one in five registered voters casting ballots.

Coakley faced three challengers, including U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano.

During her tenure as the state's attorney general, Coakley has sued the U.S. government to seek federal marriage benefits for gay and lesbian couples.

She has also taken on companies such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and the Merrill Lynch unit of Bank of America Corp over business practices and wrung millions of dollars in settlements from construction companies involved in the construction of Boston's "Big Dig," where the 2006 collapse of a tunnel ceiling killed a motorist.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by Chris Wilson)

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress Wednesday that the administration will extend the government's financial bailout program until next fall, saying it's needed to protect against fresh economic shocks.
In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Geithner said the extension is "necessary to assist American families and stabilize financial markets."
Money from the $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout program has helped rescue big Wall Street firms, auto companies and others. That's angered many Americans, who feel the government hasn't provided them with relief from high unemployment and rising home foreclosures.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program that Congress passed during the height of the financial crisis in October 2008 was scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Geithner said it will be extended until Oct. 3, 2010. He has the authority to extend the TARP simply by notifying lawmakers.
"The recovery of our financial system remains incomplete," Geithner told lawmakers. "And, near-term shocks to that system could undermine the economic recovery we have seen to date."
Geithner said he doesn't expect to use more than $550 billion of the funds.
The Treasury secretary said new commitments bankrolled by the bailout fund will be limited to three areas next year.
One focus is stepping up efforts to curb record-high home foreclosures, a move necessary to stabilize the housing market and support a lasting economic recovery.
Another will be providing capital to small banks, which play a crucial role in providing credit to small businesses — normally a leading engine of job creation. Small banks have been weighed down by problem commercial real estate loans, which has made them reluctant to lend and hurt the ability of small businesses to expand and hire.
In a third area, Geithner said the government may boost its commitment to a program aimed at sparking lending to consumers and small businesses. Run by Treasury and the Federal Reserve, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility started in March.
Geithner said he didn't expect any new commitments to the TALF would result in additional costs to taxpayers.
In a report Wednesday, a TARP watchdog panel said the fund helped ease last fall's financial panic, but was less successful in meeting other goals Congress set — including reducing foreclosures and unfreezing credit for consumers and businesses.
"Congress set goals for the TARP that went well beyond short-term financial stability, and by that measure problems remain," said panel chair and Harvard Law school professor Elizabeth Warren.
The report found the program's effects have been uneven. A $75 billion initiative to stem the wave of foreclosures has "failed," and Treasury's actions had granted big banks an "implicit guarantee" that the government would bail them out, Warren said.
The government still is guaranteeing billions of dollars in bank assets, which along with debt guarantees from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., amount to ongoing subsidies that may mask the condition of the financial markets, the report said.
Treasury responded that the TARP has "by every measure ... succeeded in achieving its primary goal of economic stabilization." In a statement, department spokeswoman Meg Reilly credited the program with improving market confidence, access to credit and economic growth.
But the TARP panel, established by Congress to provide independent oversight, noted that bank failures continue and access to credit remains tight. It said the program's progress toward goals necessary for financial stability and economic growth "is less clear."
Republicans have criticized Treasury for using the TARP as a slush fund to support programs that Congress never intended — including bailouts of automakers and failing insurance giant American International Group Inc.

"American taxpayers have had enough of open-ended bailouts that have left them stuck with trillions of dollars in new debt," House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday. "TARP should be shut down by the end of the year. It's time to get the government out of the bailout business."

Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said ending the TARP and using the money for deficit reduction "would have been a strong signal that the administration does not plan to raise taxes or cause the debt to be monetized through inflation."

"What was supposed to be an emergency capital injection to thaw frozen credit markets has morphed into a revolving bailout fund to advance the Democrats' political, social and economic agenda," Hensarling said in a statement Tuesday.

Geithner contends that the bailout program helped avert a worse financial outcome. Financial conditions have improved, and the economy has finally pulled out of a deep tailspin and is starting to grow again.

"But significant challenges remain," Geithner said. "Too many American families, homeowners, and small businesses still face severe financial pressure. Although the economy is recovering, foreclosures are increasing and unemployment is unacceptably high."

With the unemployment rate at 10 percent, there's fear that consumers will stay cautious, hobbling the recovery.

Geithner said the government can't remove its supports too soon — a mistake countries have made in the past when dealing with similar economic and financial debacles.

"History suggests that exiting prematurely from policies designed to contain a financial crisis can significantly prolong an economic downturn," he said.

The government expects up to $175 billion in repayments from rescued companies by the end of next year, Geithner said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday moved to extend the government's $700 billion bailout fund into October 2010 and pledged to deploy no more than $550 billion of it.

Geithner, in letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the extension of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) until Oct 3, 2010, would allow the Obama administration to use bailout funds to fight home foreclosures and boost small business lending.

"This extension is necessary to assist American families and stabilize financial markets because it will, among other things, enable us to continue to implement programs that address housing markets and the needs of small businesses, and to maintain the capacity to respond to unforeseen threats," Geithner said in the letters.

Under the bailout statute that created TARP last year, Geithner had to decide by year end whether to extend the program or let it expire. Many Republicans in Congress have called for it to be terminated and unused funds used to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Geithner said the Treasury expects up to $175 billion in repayments from bailout recipients by the end of 2010 and "substantial additional repayments thereafter." These funds, along with the $150 billion in TARP resources that will not be deployed, "should allow us to commit significant resources to pay down the federal debt over time and slow its growth rate over time."

Geithner said he expects that the TARP will ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers at least $200 billion less than the $341 billion projected in August. This includes $25 billion of potential costs from new TARP commitments in 2010, the majority of which would come from "mitigating foreclosure for responsible American homeowners."

Geithner said the new TARP commitments would be limited in 2010 to the housing market, capital for small banks and other efforts to boost small business lending, and increased support for the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, which has been credited with reviving securitization of consumer, small business and commercial mortgage loans.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

LAS VEGAS – Wynn Las Vegas officials say they're in preliminary talks with Beyonce to bring the superstar singer back to the Las Vegas resort.
Wynn Resorts spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne says there's no deal yet, despite published rumors of a lucrative, long-term contract.
Beyonce (bee-AHN'-say) appeared at the resort from July 30 through Aug. 2 this year while filming a concert DVD. Her shows helped boost visitation to Wynn and its sister Encore Las Vegas resort during a typically slow tourist season in Las Vegas.
Beyonce sang in the Encore Theater, where country star Garth Brooks plans to play a series of solo acoustic shows starting on Friday. Brooks' deal puts him in Las Vegas 15 weeks a year for possibly the next five years.

GENEVA (AFP) –
World Trade Organization member states called on Tuesday for an early deal on freeing up trade on environmental goods and services, ahead of a major climate change summit in Copenhagen.

An early accord could also act as a much-needed stimulus for negotiations for a broader global trade pact, which are locked in an impasse, trade ministers gathered at a meeting of 153 WTO member states said.

"Some like-minded nations, including Japan, are considering conducting discussions with a view to achieving an early agreement to liberalise trade in environmental goods," Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki Naoshima told the meeting in Geneva.

"I hope that other interested members will join these discussions, and provide fresh impetus to the Round as a whole," he added.

Launched in 2001, the Doha Round of trade liberalisation negotiations have been in a deadlock amid disagreements between developed and developing nations over the level of cuts on farm subsidies and industrial product tariffs.

Liberalisation of environmental goods and services is part of Doha talks, and ministers pointed out that since climate change was high on the political agenda, it was an opportune moment to intensify negotiations on lowering tariffs on technologies that help in mitigating the effects of global warming.

"It's riding with the political wave... This is just elementary common sense," Tim Groser, New Zealand trade minister said during a forum on the sidelines of the WTO meeting.

World leaders are set to gather over December 7-18 in Copenhagen to draft a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

"With momentum building to advance climate change policies, we must show, through concrete actions, that trade is an important part of policies to combat climate change," Naoshima said.

Two major players, the United States and the European Union, also pledged support on environmental goods and services.

"We fully support fast-tracking action in the WTOs work on liberalizing trade in climate-friendly technologies," US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told a working session of the ministerial conference.

Meanwhile, outgoing European Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton also pledged the EU's engagement on the issue.

"Trade policy can make a significant contribution, through the liberalisation of trade in relevant environmental goods and services," she said on Monday.

"We in Europe invite all Members of the WTO to intensify work in this area," added Ashton, who took up her new post as EU Foreign Policy chief on Tuesday.

However, Indonesian trade minister Mari Pangestu stressed the importance of financing to developing countries preparing to deal with the effects of climate change.

"Lowering tariffs on clean technology is not going to be enough... to address the climate change objective," she said.

"From a developing country perspective, we also need to have financing and capacity building," she added.

India, China and other growing developing nations have been pressing for Western nations to offer technology and other support to help them reduce the intensity of emissions blamed for global warming.

ST. LOUIS – Catcher Jason LaRue has agreed to a $950,000, one-year contract to remain with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Yadier Molina's backup for two seasons, LaRue hit .240 with two homers and six RBIs in 104 at-bats last season. He started 26 games and appeared in 51 overall.
"Jason is a great fit for our ballclub in his current role," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Monday. "His veteran leadership both on and off the field is something we value highly."
LaRue's deal, the same as his 2009 contract, includes a $50,000 performance bonus if he has 60 starts.
St. Louis also agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Ruben Gotay, who hit .272 with 29 doubles, 11 homers and 57 RBIs last season for Reno, Arizona's Triple-A farm team.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Emmy award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer will make his Broadway musical debut in April playing the gay owner of a transvestite club in the revival of "La Cage aux Folles," publicists said on Monday.

Grammer, known best for playing Dr. Frasier Crane for some 20 years on the TV comedies "Cheers" and its spin-off, "Frasier", had recently starred in and produced the TV comedy "Hank", which was canceled earlier this month after less than one season.

"I had a wonderful experience playing Henry Higgins in the New York Philharmonic "My Fair Lady" in 2007, which made me long to perform in a musical on Broadway," Grammer said in a statement.

Grammer, 54, is set to play Georges, the emcee and owner of a St. Tropez nightclub that boasts drag queen headliner Zaza, George's flamboyant lover. Hijinks ensue when George's son introduces them to his fiance's conservative parents.

"La Cage aux Folles" is based on a 1973 French play. A 1983 Broadway musical comedy, based on a 1978 film adaptation, played for more than four years and won six Tony awards.

Grammer acted in Shakespeare plays in New York's Broadway theater district in the 1980s and in 2000, when he starred in "Macbeth". It closed early following lukewarm reviews.

His singing can be heard in some of his animated projects, such as "The Simpsons" and the 1997 film "Anastasia".

Grammer follows several celebrities who have contracted the Broadway bug. "James Bond" actor Daniel Craig and "X-Men"'s "Wolverine", Hugh Jackman, are starring in the play "A Steady Rain", and "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini headed the cast earlier this year of "God of Carnage."

(Reporting by Corinne Heller: Editing by Jill Serjeant)