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ROME (Reuters) ? Former European Commissioner Mario Monti emerged on Thursday as favorite to replace Silvio Berlusconi and form a new government to stave off a run on Italian bonds that is endangering the entire euro zone.

Monti, a highly respected international figure, has been pushed by markets for weeks as the most suitable figure to lead a national unity government that will urgently push through painful austerity measures.

In a key development on Thursday, Berlusconi's ruling PDL party softened its insistence on early elections as the way out of a deep political crisis and said it was considering the option of a Monti-led government.

President Giorgio Napolitano appointed Monti a senator for life on Wednesday, in a move widely seen as a sign he would ask the academic to try to form a broad-based government as soon as Berlusconi goes within the next few days.

With Italy's borrowing costs now clearly deep in the danger zone, support for a national unity government appeared to be gaining support among members of the PDL with Foreign Minister Franco Frattini indicating cautious support.

"The PDL can't just follow the cry for elections from the hard core in support of going to the polls. There's a national interest, which comes before anything," he said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily.

The head of the PDL's parliamentary group, Fabrizio Cicchitto told Reuters the party was discussing the two options of pressing for elections or supporting a Monti-led government but had not yet reached a decision.

"There's a discussion going on. We have to decide whether to support elections or a Monti government," he told Reuters. "We haven't yet untied the knot."

The next test of market sentiment is due later on Thursday, when the Treasury is due to offer up to 5 billion euros of 12 month Treasury bills (BOTs). On Wednesday, yields on the 12 month BOTs were over a red line of 7 percent.

IMF head Christine Lagarde added her voice to calls for an end to the impasse, saying that lack of political clarity in Italy was fuelling uncertainty in the markets.

In a highly unusual step, the sober business daily Il Sole 24 Ore carried a huge banner headline reading: "Hurry Up," in a call to Italy's political class to forget their own interests and save the country.

Napolitano tried desperately to calm markets on Wednesday after Italy's borrowing costs reached levels that could close its access to market funding, a development which would threaten the future of the euro zone.

He gave assurances that Berlusconi would honor his pledge to step down after parliament approved reforms geared to placate markets. He would then waste no time in either appointing a new government or calling new elections, he said.

However market pressure on Italy continued with yields on its 10 year bonds at around 7.3 percent, around the levels seen when Ireland, Portugal and Greece were forced to seek a bailout.

TURNAROUND

Monti, 68, has long been cited as the most likely leader if an emergency executive can gain broad, cross-party support. Such governments have had success in previous crises.

The new administration would then aim to rush through market-friendly reforms, free of political crossfire, although commentators said Monti might still face difficulty getting support for unpopular measures.

Commentator Ferruccio de Bortoli described Napolitano's appointment of Monti to the Senate as a "sensational turnaround" that was indispensable after the dramatic market reaction on Wednesday.

"But the road from here is very much uphill. There are several unknowns, starting with the political forces that will have to support a possible technical government," de Bortoli wrote in the Corriere della Sera.

Berlusconi, who has said he sees new elections as the only realistic next step, countersigned Monti's appointment, which was made formally for his past services to the country, a statement from Napolitano's office said.

Media said Berlusconi may now be open to the idea of a Monti government -- something he previously strongly opposed.

Monti, a respected economist who is currently head of Milan's prestigious Bocconi university, is a tough negotiator with a record of taking on powerful corporate interests as European Competition Commissioner.

A Monti-led government is seen as the preferred option by investors, though it may be too late to turn markets around with the borrowing costs of the euro zone's third biggest economy already looking out of control.

With markets fixated on the political chaos in Italy, lawmakers are racing to pass the package of budget and reform measures that Berlusconi has pledged to see through parliament before he steps down.

Lower House Speaker Gianfranco Fini said that parliament would pass reforms by Sunday aimed at boosting growth and shoring up public finances in a so-called "maxi amendment" to the 2012 budget currently before parliament.

Those reforms, which Berlusconi promised to Italy's increasingly worried partners last month, will be the government's last piece of business before the prime minister tenders his resignation.

(Editing by James Mackenzie and Barry Moody)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111110/wl_nm/us_italy1

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Republican presidential candidates former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, left, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, businessman Herman Cain, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, pose before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates businessman Herman Cain and Texas Gov. Rick Perry talk before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laugh before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder speaks before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas are seen before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

ROCHESTER, Mich. (AP) ? United in agreement for once, Republican presidential rivals warned forcefully Wednesday night the United States could be doomed to the same sort of financial crisis that is afflicting Europe unless federal deficits are drastically cut and the economy somehow revived.

Though sexual harassment allegations facing Herman Cain have dominated the GOP campaign for more than a week, the debate in economically ailing Michigan focused almost entirely on financial worries and proposed solutions in the U.S.

The candidates generally stuck to practiced speech lines ? with a late exception. In the middle of one answer, Texas Gov. Rick Perry found himself unable to recall the names of all three of the Cabinet-level agencies he wants to eliminate, even leaning over to Rep. Ron Paul for help at one point.

"The third agency of government I would do away with ? the Education, the Commerce. And let's see. I can't. The third one I can't. Oops," he said, forgetting for a moment that he wants to abolish the Department of Energy.

On one specific issue that Congress must address soon, the candidates generally backed an extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut scheduled to expire at the end of the year. That was a rare moment of accord with President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats, who have been warning that consumers could be hurt if the reduction is not renewed.

"I'm not prepared to raise taxes on working Americans in the middle of a recession that's this bad," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a sentiment quickly seconded by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Perry disagreed, and Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota said she opposed the one-year reduction when it was approved late last year. She said it had so far "blown a hole of $100 billion in the Social Security trust fund."

Asked about Europe's financial troubles, the candidates seemed to speak with one voice in saying Italy and other European countries should rise or fall on their own without any American bailout. And several of the White House hopefuls warned that unless U.S. deficits are cut and the economy invigorated, America is headed for the same type of downward spiral.

"Europe is able to take care of their own problems. We don't want to step in and bail out their banks and their economies," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said as he and GOP rivals met for the first time in three weeks in campaign debate.

Even so, he said the United States should continue contributing to organizations like the International Monetary Fund that are working to prevent a meltdown in troubled economies overseas.,

Paul was more emphatic about the debt. "You have to let it liquidate. We took 40 years to build up this worldwide debt," he added.

Cain said there wasn't much the United States could do to directly to help Italy at present because the economy there is in such difficult shape. "We need to focus on the economy or we will fail," he said, referring to the U.S. and calling for spending cuts, a strong dollar and measures to stimulate growth.

The Cain accusations did come up, though briefly.

"The American people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion due to unfounded accusations," he said when the question came up early in the debate. "I value my character and my integrity more than anything else. And for every one person that comes forward with an unfair accusation there are probably, there are thousands who come forward and say none of that ever happened with Herman Cain."

Romney, a former venture capitalist, was asked if he would keep Cain on the job as a CEO given the accusations. He responded, "Herman Cain is the person to respond to these questions. He just did."

On another point, Cain felt it necessary to make a post-debate apology to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, whom he had called "Princess Nancy" for sidetracking Republican legislation when she was speaker.

The announced topic for the evening was the economy, a subject that produced few if any early sparks among rivals who often spar energetically.

Perry, Gingrich, Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum joined Romney, Cain, Paul and Huntsman on stage at Oakland University in Michigan, a state where unemployment is 11.1 percent and well above the national 9 percent jobless rate.

The debate took place less than two months before Iowa's kickoff caucuses, as the pace of campaign activity accelerates and public opinion polls suggest the race remains quite fluid. Romney and Cain currently share co-front-runner status in most surveys, with Perry and Gingrich roughly tied for third, within striking distance.

Not surprisingly, none of the contenders found much to like in Obama's economic stewardship.

Perry said the next president should systematically judge all of the government regulations enacted since Obama took office on a standard of whether they created jobs. Any that failed should be repealed, he said.

Bachmann sharply criticized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She said the latter had recently given multimillion-dollar bonuses to executives even though it was seeking a new federal bailout.

Gingrich, who last held public office more than a decade ago, bristled when asked what advice his company had given Freddie Mac for a $300,000 fee. "Advice on precisely what they didn't do," he shot back ? stop backing mortgages to applicants who aren't credit-worthy.

The government rescued mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008 to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. Since then, a federal regulator has controlled their financial decisions.

The cost to taxpayers so far has been about $169 billion, the most expensive bailout of the financial crisis.

There was only scant mention of the Michigan auto industry, which benefited in 2008 and 2009 from a federal bailout that both President George W. Bush and Obama backed.

All eight Republicans on the debate stage say they wouldn't have offered government assistance.

Not so Obama, who stood outside a factory not far from the debate site recently and said government bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler were a success that saved thousands of American jobs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-09-Republicans-Debate/id-1a20a9b6bce5467394cee643a6e1edc2

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For all the frustration surrounding the economy, voters refused to throw incumbent parties out of governors' and most big-city mayors' offices, and they turned back an Ohio law that aimed to ease grinding budget problems by restricting the union rights of public employees.

In the heart of the Bible Belt, a Mississippi initiative that would have defined life as beginning at fertilization also went down to defeat, ending a plan to use it to challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established the right to abortion.

Across the nation, voters' last major judgments of 2011 were sure to be closely analyzed for any clues about the public's political mood just two months ahead of the first presidential primary and nearly four years into the worst economic slowdown since the Depression.

Kentucky's Democratic governor easily won another term, and Mississippi voters kept their governor's office in GOP hands ? decisions that suggested many Americans were not ready to abandon the parties in power.

In Ohio, a hotly debated new law that severely limited the bargaining rights of more than 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees was repealed with more than 60 percent of the vote. The defeat was a stinging blow to Gov. John Kasich and cast doubt on other Republican governors who have sought union-limiting measures as a means to curb spending.

"Ohio sent a message to every politician out there: Go in and make war on your employees rather than make jobs with your employees, and you do so at your own peril," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.

Kasich congratulated his opponents and pledged to consider his next steps carefully.

"I've heard their voices. I understand their decision, and frankly, I respect what people have to say in an effort like this," he said, adding that the vote requires him "to take a deep breath" and "spend some time reflecting on what happened here."

The disputed law permitted workers to negotiate wages but not pensions or health care benefits, and it banned public-worker strikes, scrapped binding arbitration and eliminated annual raises for teachers.

The outcome will no doubt be studied by presidential candidates as a gauge of the Ohio electorate, which is seen as a bellwether. No Republican has won the White House without Ohio, and only two Democrats have done so in more than a century.

Elsewhere on the ballot, Ohio voters approved a proposal to prohibit people from being required to buy health insurance as part of the national health care overhaul. The vote was mostly symbolic, but Republicans hoped to use it in a legal challenge.

The governors' races were of keen interest to both parties. Ten states will elect governors next year, and governors can marshal get-out-the-vote efforts crucial to any White House candidate. The first presidential primary is Jan. 10 in New Hampshire.

In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear was easily re-elected despite high unemployment, budget shortfalls and an onslaught of third-party attack ads. He became the second Democrat to win a governor's race this year, after West Virginia's Earl Ray Tomblin.

In Mississippi, voters picked Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant to succeed Haley Barbour, who could not run again because of term limits. Bryant beat Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree, the first black major-party nominee for governor in Mississippi.

The Mississippi measure to define life as beginning at fertilization would have been the first victory in the country for the so-called personhood movement, which aims to make abortion all but illegal. Similar attempts have failed in Colorado and are under way elsewhere.

The proposal divided the medical and religious communities and caused some of the most ardent abortion opponents, including Barbour, to waver in their support.

Opponents said the measure would have made some forms of birth control, such as the morning-after pill or the intrauterine device, illegal. And they worried that it could have deterred physicians from performing in vitro fertilization for fear of criminal charges if an embryo did not survive.

In Arizona, state Sen. Russell Pearce, architect of the tough immigration law that put the state at the forefront of the national debate, was ousted after a recall attempt led by a fellow Republican.

Other votes of note:

? Hundreds of cities held mayoral races, including some of the nation's largest. In San Francisco, interim Mayor Ed Lee had a strong lead in early returns and would become the city's first elected Asian-American mayor if he wins. But it could be days before final results are known because of a complicated system in which voters rank their top three candidates.

In Philadelphia, Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter trounced a little-known Republican challenger.

Phoenix elected Democrat Greg Stanton, a former city council member, as its new mayor after a campaign focused on pulling the nation's sixth-largest city out its economic and foreclosure slump.

Incumbent mayors also prevailed in Baltimore and Indianapolis.

? Comic-turned-politician Robert Farmer lost his bid to become Kentucky's agriculture commissioner. Farmer told hillbilly jokes that upset some people, and he had no farming experience. In Ohio, another comedian, Drew Hastings, a fixture on "Comedy Central," became mayor of tiny Hillsboro.

? In Maine, voters repealed a new state law that required voters to register at least two days before an election. The decision restored Election Day voter registration, which had been available for nearly four decades. A proposal to allow casinos in certain communities was rejected.

? Washington state voters approved a plan to end the state-run liquor system and allow large stores to sell alcohol. The proposal was bankrolled by giant retailer Costco, which spent more than $22 million, making it the costliest initiative in Washington history.

? Atlanta overwhelmingly approved Sunday alcohol sales, clearing the way for shoppers to buy liquor in stores as soon as New Year's Day.

? Oregon held a special primary to replace Democratic Rep. David Wu, who resigned in August after being accused of an unwanted sexual encounter with an 18-year-old woman. Wu was the fourth member of Congress to quit this year in a sex scandal.

___

Associated Press Writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111109/ap_on_el_ge/us_election_rdp

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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Rufus Sewell and director Alex Proyas are reteaming for Legendary Pictures' "Paradise Lost," Legendary announced on Monday.

Bradley Cooper and Benjamin Walker star in the movie, an adaptation of John Milton's 17th-century poem.

The movie is about a war in heaven, setting archangel Michael (Walker) against Lucifer (Cooper). Sewell will play the archangel Sammael.

Legendary says the movie will be "deconstructed as a broadly relatable epic action (film) that will include aerial warfare, possibly shot in 3D."

Sewell worked with Proyas on "Dark City." He recently appeared in "The Tourist," "The Holiday" and "The Illusionist."

Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi originally wrote the screenplay. Stuart Hazeldine developed the primary draft, which was polished by Lawrence Kasdan and, most recently, by Ryan Condal.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111107/film_nm/us_sewell

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When the Empire State Building was constructed in 1931, it stood 1,250 feet tall. The famous skyscraper was the world's tallest building ? and held that title for more than 40 years.

Today the world's tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It stretches more than 1,000 feet above the Empire State Building ? 2,717 feet into the air. The Burj Khalifa smashed the record held by Taiwan's Taipei 101, a landmark skyscraper with 101 floors. And at 1,666-feet, Taipei 101 tops the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 183 feet.

Designing these massive skyscrapers is a huge challenge for structural engineers. Builders must account for potential natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes. They also must take everyday weather occurrences into consideration. Even on a normal day, wind forces can reach more than 100 mph at the very top of very tall buildings.

"There are wind currents that when we're down below [on the ground] we don't even notice," says Kate Ascher. "That building, as it rises, interrupts those flows. The larger the building, the greater the wind flows."

Ascher, the former executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corp., explores the inner workings of skyscrapers in her new book, The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper. She tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that engineers purposefully design buildings to sway back and forth in order to alleviate the pressure caused by these high wind flows.

"If a building weren't able to move at the top, then various structural elements might be damaged because of the wind pressure," she says. "And some, in earthquake zones, will be designed to move a little bit on their foundations as well ? so they don't take as much pressure as they would if they were absolutely static."

Ascher explains that the same principle that allows a building to get taller also accounts for its ability to sway. Joints at the corner of steel beams can expand and contract because of changes in the weather or wind, which allows for slight movements at the very top of buildings.

"There's not a precise formula for how much sway a building has, but there is a maximum [amount], which is 1/500 of the building's height," she says. "The minute you get more than that, it's not like the building's going to sway or fall over, but people who are in the buildings themselves will start feeling a little bit queasy."

Some buildings, like the Comcast Center in Philadelphia, are equipped with liquid-filled dampers, which help counteract the sway. The 300,000 gallons of liquid act as a counterweight. China's Shanghai World Financial Center, meanwhile, was built with a hole at the very top of its structure. The aperture is designed to reduce wind pressure by allowing wind to flow freely through it.

Enlarge Vornado Realty Trust/Courtesy of the author

Kate Ascher is the former executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corp.

Vornado Realty Trust/Courtesy of the author

Kate Ascher is the former executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corp.

In addition to structural concerns, engineers have to worry about the inside of skyscrapers. In a 100-plus story building, circulating clean air and water is not an easy task ? particularly when windows don't open. Mechanical areas exist solely to swap inside air with circulating air outside, says Ascher, so you don't have to worry that you're breathing stale air.

"It's a constant process," she says, "and it happens around the clock."

And don't worry about flushing a toilet on the 100th floor, either. Engineers have accounted for that, too, she says.

"There are very sophisticated bends in the pipes to slow the water as it's moving through," she says. "You don't want to hear it as it's moving through the building, so you need to make sure its sound-proofed as well."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/07/141858484/how-the-worlds-tallest-skyscrapers-work?ft=1&f=1007

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