Rage Against the Machine Hits Occupy Wall Street

Having already performed at Occupy Los Angeles,Tom Morello, the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine, will stop by Zuccotti Park Thursday at noon both to scope out the scene and perform.

Morello is but the latest musician to come through. Kanye West accompanied Russell Simmons to the four-week old protest on Monday while rapper Talib Kweli performed an impromptu set Oct. 6.

Thursday could be an early test of the protesters’ mettle as scattered thunderstorms have been predicted. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who called for the protesters to leave briefly on Friday so the park could be cleaned, has indicated he expects the area to clear out once the real cold sets in.

The protesters have vowed to stay as long as is necessary, though they may still need a boost from the copycat protests located in fair weather cities.

Ladbrokes Boosted From Machine Winnings

Ladbrokes , Britain's second-biggest bookmaker, reported an increase in third-quarter underlying operating profit as a sharp rise in winnings from gambling machines offset a decline in bets placed over the counter at its shops.

The company, which on Monday pulled out of talks to buy online rival Sportingbet , made an operating profit of $78.4 million in the quarter to end September, up 8.5 percent after stripping out the boost from the soccer World Cup to last year's numbers.

Ladbrokes, which has nearly 2,100 betting shops in the UK, said on Thursday net revenue was up 2.5% in the period, including a 2% rise in UK retail revenue.

Gross win from gambling machines grew by more than 20 percent while over-the-counter net revenue was down 8.3%.

The company said it had benefited from offering new games on its machines and was confident of achieving further double-digit growth from machines in the remainder of the year.

The breakdown of discussions with Sportingbet followed Ladbrokes abandoning plans to buy 888 earlier in the year following months of protracted talks.

It had already committed to a 50 million pounds investment programme over two years and will launch a new online sports betting product in the first quarter of next year. Glynn said he expected the full benefit of that strategy to come through towards the end of 2012.

The company has already expanded its in-play betting offering, increasing the amount of football in-play events from 200 a week in August to 500 in October, it expects that to increase to 700 a week from November.

So many U.S. manufacturing jobs, so few skilled workers

Technology giant Siemens Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany's Siemens AG (SI.N), has over 3,000 jobs open all over the country. More than half require science, technology, engineering and math-related skills.

Other companies report job vacancies that range from six to 200, with some positions open for at least nine months.

Manufacturing is hurt by a dearth of skilled workers.

"What we have been saying for quite a while is that even though there is a high unemployment rate, it's very difficult to find skilled people," said Jeff Owens, president of ATS, a manufacturing consulting services company.

A survey by ManpowerGroup found that a record 52 percent of U.S. employers have difficulty filling critical positions within their organizations -- up from 14 percent in 2010.

Most of the jobs hard to fill are for skilled trades, Internet technology, engineers, sales representatives and machine operators.

Contour Precision, based in Clover, South Carolina, does contract work for the energy and aerospace industries. It is currently looking for six technicians. It has had positions open since last year.

Unemployment in manufacturing is at 8.4 percent, below the overall rate of 9.1 percent. According to the Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, there were 240,000 open jobs in manufacturing in August up 38.7 percent from a year ago.

The problem is sufficiently serious that businesses are pushing Congress to address the issue of visas and help them hire more high-skilled foreigners. <ID:N1E79B0J6>

These companies' inability to fill open jobs suggests that part of the unemployment problem confronting the nation could be more of a structural nature rather than a downturn in the business cycle.

Two years after the end of the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, about 14 million Americans are still unemployed.

In September, nearly 45 percent of them had been out of work for six months or more. The longer people are out of the workforce, the more dated their skills become, making it even harder to reintegrate them into the labor market machinery.

Japan corp mood dips as yen, global slowdown bite

Japanese manufacturing sentiment worsened in October for the first time since the aftermath of the March earthquake and faltering global growth combined with a strong yen is expected to dampen it further, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

The monthly poll, which is highly correlated with the Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly tankan corporate survey, added to growing evidence that the economy's quick rebound from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March is losing momentum.

The central bank has kept its policy unchanged since it boosted its asset buying scheme in August, but has been flagging heightened risks stemming from Europe's sovereign debt woes and global economic slowdown.

The Reuters Tankan showed the manufacturing sentiment index, derived by subtracting the percentage of pessimistic responses from optimistic ones, fell two points from September to plus 6, the first drop since it plunged by a record in April after the March 11 disaster.

The index is seen sliding further to plus 4 in January, dragged down by sectors such as electric machinery and transport equipment.

That sense of caution was also apparent in the Reuters Tankan, taken from Sept. 26 to Oct. 7. The poll covered 400 big companies, of which 250 responded.

In a sign that weak domestic demand is also weighing on the world's No.3 economy, service-sector firms' sentiment index fell for the second straight month to barely above zero, with their mood seen rising only slightly in the coming three months.

Florida funeral home offers eco-friendly cremations

ST. PETERSBURG, FlA Florida funeral home is offering a new alternative to traditional cremations and burials, selling what it bills as an environmentally friendly chemical process to dispose of dead bodies, machinery

The process involves pressurized water, potassium hydroxide and electric heat to generate an accelerated chemical reaction similar to what occurs to bodies when they are buried in the ground.

Under the new method, bodies are placed in a steel machine resembling an oversized washing machine called the Resomator. The bodies are then immersed in a chemical bath and the remains are broken down by a process known as alkaline hydrolysis using water at high temperatures.

The solution contains alkali, a substance found in cosmetics and liquid soaps. The whole process lasts about three to four hours, slightly longer than heat cremations.

But similar to traditional cremations, what is left are bones and ash, which are placed in an urn and given to family members. The used chemical solution is then poured down a drain.

Steve Schaal, the head of Matthews Cremation, the company distributing the Resomator machines in the United States, said market studies show a growing preference for cremations over burials, and the new process would likely appeal to the environmentally conscious.

Prices for the cremations run around $650 compared to traditional ones that cost some $500. Because the process is new. it is currently being offered at the lower price machine.

Crisis grips North Korean rice bowl

North Korea (AlertNet) - In a pediatric hospital in North Korea's most productive farming province, children lay two to a bed. All showed signs of severe malnutrition: skin infections, patchy hair, listless apathy.

It's also getting late for North Korea to get the massive amount of food aid it claims to need before the harsh winter sets in. The country's dysfunctional food-distribution system, rising global commodities prices and sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs had contributed to what appears to be a hunger crisis in the North, even before devastating summer floods and typhoons compounded the emergency.

The regime's appeals for massive food aid have gone mostly unanswered by a skeptical international community. Only 30 percent of a United Nations food aid target for North Korea has been met so far. The United States and South Korea, the two biggest donors before sanctions, have said they won't resume aid until they are satisfied the military-led communist regime won't divert the aid for its own uses and progress is made on disarmament talks.

The U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization, for instance, said last month after visiting the North that "the damage was not so significant." Another U.N. body, the World Food Programme, which has a regular presence in the North, warned in March of growing hunger. The sharp divergence of views is one reason why the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator will visit this month to assess the situation.

Humanitarian news service run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation which covers crises worldwide, saw evidence of alarming malnutrition and damaged crops, but also signs of some promise for the coming rice harvest machinery.

Although tightly controlled by government officials, an Alertnet reporter and Reuters photographers and video journalists were able to conduct a week-long trip into the South Hwanghae region. The visit included rare access to collective farms, orphanages, hospitals, rural clinics, schools and nurseries.

The regime's motive in granting the access appears to be to amplify its food-aid appeals. North Korean officials at first asked Alertnet to reach out to its subscriber base to mobilize help--and at one point asked the Thomson Reuters Foundation for a donation. Alertnet declined, saying all it could do is visit and report on the situation.

The picture the regime presented in South Hwanghae was largely one of chronic hunger, dire healthcare, limited access to clean water and a collapsing food-rationing system, all under a command economy that has been in crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago threw North Korea into isolation.

Measurements taken of each child's mid-upper arm with color-coded plastic bracelets -- a standard test for malnutrition -- showed 12 were in the orange or red danger zones, meaning some could die without proper treatment.

German fashion designer makes clothes from milk

BERLINA young fashion designer from the German city of Hanover is revolutionizing high fashion by designing clothes with a staple she can find in her fridge -- milk.

Anke Domaske, 28, has developed a fabric called QMilch made from high concentrations of the milk protein casein -- the first man-made fiber produced entirely without chemicals.

"It feels like silk and it doesn't smell -- you can wash it just like anything else," Domaske told Reuters.

Made from all natural materials, the QMilch fabric is ecological but also has many health benefits, said Domaske, who also said the amino acids in the protein are antibacterial, anti-aging and can help regulate both blood circulation and body temperature.

Domaske's fashion label Mademoiselle Chi Chi -- a favorite among the likes of Mischa Barton and Ashlee Simpson -- has now started weaving the milk fiber into its collection.

Currently the MCC clothes -- which feature flowing wrap dresses with edgy cuts and bright patterns -- are made from a combination of various fibers, including QMilch. But Domaske plans to design a collection made entirely from the milk fiber.

Milk fabric has been around since the 1930s but was always produced in unecological ways that used a lot of chemicals. Unlike earlier prototypes, QMilch is made almost entirely from casein.

"We have developed an all-natural fiber consisting of a very high concentration of casein, with a few other natural ingredients -- and in only two years," the former microbiology student Domaske said.

The casein is extracted from dried milk powder and then heated up in a type of meat-mincing machine with other natural ingredients. The fiber comes out in strands and is then spun into yarn on a spinningmachine.

Domaske said it would take about 6 liters of milk to produce an entire dress, which costs about $199 to 200 euros.

Luckily, for that kind of money, the clothes don't come with an expiry date -- during the heating process, the molecules bind in such a way that the protein won't decompose.

Due to its anti-bacterial qualities, the milk fiber can also be used in medicine and makeup. Even some auto companies have looked into using the fiber for car upholstery.

U.S. firms face mixed fate in Libya as workers strike

TRIWorkers protesting at the headquarters of Libya's National Oil Company on Sunday said they would strike until managers were replaced and possibly tried for fighting alongside Gaddafi.

Most of the crowd worked for Waha Oil, a joint venture with American firms ConocoPhillips, Marathon and Amerada Hess.

Documents proving managers had used the Waha Oil complex as a base for Gaddafi fighters had been presented to the NOC chairman that morning, protesters said.

The oil fields had been targeted by NATO because they were used to feed, shelter and equip loyalist fighters, according to the workers, who said it could take four to six months to restart flows.

In an interview last week, the NOC's chairman told Reuters that NATO airstrikes on Libyan oil fields had been executed with "surgical precision."

A source at NOC confirmed Nouri Berouin, the chairman, had met Waha Oil workers on Sunday, but added requests to remove directors had not been heeded.

Other North American firms in Libya are facing contrasting fortunes, with Occidental and Suncor both restarting production at fields in the eastern part of the Sirte basin this week.

European companies, including German, Italian and French oil firms, have also succeeded in pumping oil for the first time since war broke out, but they have met with mixed fates as well.

So far, oil has yet to flow from the West and parts of Libya's oil-rich basin remain too dangerous to inspect machinery.

Waha Oil pumped just under 400,000 barrels of oil per day before the war, but is now producing no crude and field workers say they will not return until managers were replaced.

Protesters said Libyans had been denied the opportunity to get a good job throughout Gaddafi's rule and wanted a better future.

Sunday's protest followed a similar demonstration last week at Waha Oil's headquarters. Engineers there reported damage was severe in parts of the complex, while some oil fields were still unsafe to visit.

Waha Oil workers were joined by employees at the Libyan Petroleum Institute, who also said their managers had actively supported Gaddafi's army.

Punishment was up to the Libyan court charged with processing Gaddafi loyalists, protesters said, but whatever the result, managers were unqualified for their jobs and should not be allowed to stay on.

German fashion designer makes clothes from milk

BEA young fashion designer from the German city of Hanover is revolutionizing high fashion by designing clothes with a staple she can find in her fridge -- milk.

Anke Domaske, 28, has developed a fabric called QMilch made from high concentrations of the milk protein casein -- the first man-made fiber produced entirely without chemicals.

Made from all natural materials, the QMilch fabric is ecological but also has many health benefits, said Domaske, who also said the amino acids in the protein are antibacterial, anti-aging and can help regulate both blood circulation and body temperature.

Domaske's fashion label Mademoiselle Chi Chi -- a favorite among the likes of Mischa Barton and Ashlee Simpson -- has now started weaving the milk fiber into its collection.

Currently the MCC clothes -- which feature flowing wrap dresses with edgy cuts and bright patterns -- are made from a combination of various fibers, including QMilch. But Domaske plans to design a collection made entirely from the milk fiber.

Milk fabric has been around since the 1930s but was always produced in unecological ways that used a lot of chemicals. Unlike earlier prototypes, QMilch is made almost entirely from casein.

The casein is extracted from dried milk powder and then heated up in a type of meat-mincing machine with other natural ingredients. The fiber comes out in strands and is then spun into yarn on a spinning machine.

Foreign firms quietly return to Libya's oil rich east

Foreign companies are quietly returning to Libya's oil fields east of Sirte, deploying skeleton teams to an area of the hydrocarbon-rich basin near the Jakhira oasis, where almost a quarter of a million barrels of crude per day was pumped into pipelines bound for the coast before the war.

Germany's Wintershall is the latest firm to have sent a small group of Libyan workers to a cluster of oil fields, where sites jointly operated by U.S. firm Occidental Petroleum Corp and Canada's Suncor Energy Inc are also in the process of restarting.

With Libya's prized crude pumping through the desert to the coastal terminal of Ras Lanuf, workers say the country's largest refinery could restart within days, with around 300,000 barrels of oil from already built up in tanks there.

Workers have been flown in on cargo flights but many pilots are nervous to cross Libya's skies that are still subject to a NATO-enforced no-fly zone.

But fears of an attack loom large and many Libyans are reluctant to leave the safety of their hometowns for remote sites southeast of Sirte, where fighting continues, and few foreign workers have returned.

Canada's Suncor said last week it was too early to comment on operations at its Amal field (jointly owned with Benghazi-based Agoco) while Occidental declined to comment on its 70,000 bpd Nafoora field also restarting in the area.

As fighters loyal to Libya's interim government continue to battle for control of central parts of the country, it could be months before oil workers lower their guard and the rest of the work force returns.

And while in other areas, off-shore fields operated by France's Total and fields further east operated by Italian oil and gas company Eni have also restarted, Libyan exports are still only trickling back into the world market machinery.

North Africa's fourth-largest producer exported 1.3 million bpd before the war, and since resuming production in September, has sold only a fraction of pre-war output.