Paramore's latest video exposes past conflict

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Just when you thought rock outfit Paramore couldn't release yet another single off last fall's "Brand New Eyes," the band does just that -- and makes a telling music video to match.

"Brand New Eyes," the band's third studio release, thematically exposed a heated conflict that developed between band members Josh Farro, Zac Farro, Taylor York, Jeremy Davis and front woman Hayley Williams.

It was a brawl that centered on growing up and growing apart -- and threatened to destroy the band for good.

"Playing God" plays off the same momentum that the video for "Ignorance" did, as Williams is seen poisoning, detaining and interrogating her male bandmates with a magnifying glass in a dark basement (one that bears striking similarity to Williams' actual home, as seen in an episode of MTV's "Cribs").

The video goes as far to tug at the band's subdued Christian roots, with screen shots of a cross that hangs from Williams' retro car.

"It has to be so lonely / To be the only one that's holy," Williams sings. Ouch.

While the video is an accurate representation of the ill-harbored feelings that the band once shared, there is no doubt that Paramore has since recovered.

By the end of the video, Williams has untied the guys just enough so they can still rock out together, suggesting that while she may not be forgetting the past, she's definitely forgiving.

Shell Q3 jumps on higher oil prices

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc beat all analyst forecasts by reporting an 18 percent jump in third-quarter profits thanks to higher oil and gas prices, setting a trend for the sector.

Europe's largest oil company by market value said current cost of supply (CCS) net income was $3.52 billion in the period.

Stripping out non-cash charges and one-off items, the result soared 88 percent to $4.93 billion, well ahead of an average forecast of $4.29 billion from a Reuters poll of nine analysts.

ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, said on Wednesday that its quarterly profit more than doubled.

Both companies were helped by a 12 percent rise in crude prices compared to the third quarter of 2009, while U.S. natural gas prices were 29 percent higher and British gas prices doubled. Average global refining margins also rose.

Industry leader Exxon Mobil is due to report its third-quarter results later on Thursday and analysts have forecast a 53 percent rise in net income to $7.26 billion.

Shell also contributed to its rebound, with a 5 percent rise in oil and gas production in the quarter compared to the same period of 2009, to 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), just ahead of forecasts.

However, the main outperformance versus expectations was in Shell's refining unit, where underlying profits were around 50 percent higher than analysts predicted.

Chief Executive Peter Voser said Shell would continue to sell non-core assets, especially in retail and refining, and promised a "rationalization" of the Anglo-Dutch company's U.S. tight gas assets in North America.

Search for mining execs' plane missing over Africa

YAOUNDE — Rescuers hunting for a plane carrying 11 foreigners including mining executives that went missing between Cameroon and Congo called off the search for the night Sunday, officials said.

The chartered aircraft was carrying six Australians, two French, an American and two Britons, most of whom were from Austrlian iron ore miner Sundance Resources, when it disappeared over dense jungle on Saturday.

"The search has been stopped for the night," Cameroon's Communications Minister Issa Thiroma Bakary told AFP late Sunday. "The search is very difficult, it is taking place in a dense forest."

Colonel Pomphile Akoli-Awaya of Brazzaville's Maya-Maya airport told AFP the search had been called off for the night on the Congolese side and would resume Monday morning.

The CASA C-212 twin turboprop vanished during a flight from the Congolese capital Yaounde to Yangadou in northwest Congo-Brazzaville, Bakary said.

"It left Yaounde international airport on Saturday June 19 at 9:13 am with an estimated arrival time of 10:20 am (0920 GMT)... The last contact took place at 9:51 am," he said.

"The aircraft had on board 11 people, including nine passengers and two crew members, comprising six Australians, two French, an American and two Britons."

Bakary said the aircraft was operated by a Congo-Brazzaville company, Aero-Service, and chartered by Cam Iron, the Cameroon subsidiary of Sundance Resources.

"The journey came after the holding of an ordinary session of the board of directors of Cam Iron which took place in Yaounde on June 17," he added.

Cameroonian President Paul Biya has set up a crisis panel that is to coordinate the search.

Cameroon has assigned a C-130 Hercules and smaller Piper and Dornier aircraft to search for the plane, and asked local officials, communities and logging firms along its flight path for any clues that might help, he said.

A plane took off for Yangadou from Brazzaville and a helicopter from Libreville, Gabon also joined the search.

An airport official in Yaounde said that nothing unusual had been reported during the missing plane's take-off.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith earlier said the government was "seriously concerned" for those on the flight, confirming that six Australians were among them.

Sundance Resources said in a statement that most of those on board the flight were from the firm and "were visiting the company's iron ore project in Cameroon and Congo."

Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted Sundance naming those on board as chairman Geoff Wedlock, managing director and chief executive officer Don Lewis, company secretary John Carr-Gregg, and non-executive directors Ken Talbot, John Jones and Craig Oliver.

Queensland mining magnate Talbot founded Macarthur Coal before stepping aside after being accused of making corrupt payments to a then state minister.

AAP reported that Talbot's investment company later on Sunday named a seventh person known to have been on board as Talbot Group executive Natasha Flason Brian, who is from France but lives in Australia.

Russia faces cosmonaut shortage: official

MOSCOW — Russia faces a shortage of candidates to be cosmonauts as fewer Russians than before are showing an interest in going to space, the head of its space training centre said on Wednesday.

Following icons like Yuri Gagarin into space has been a traditional dream of young Russians but now interest is falling, said Sergei Krikalyev, the head of the training centre, based in Star City outside Moscow.

"Now there are around 40 cosmonauts in the Russian ranks. New recruitment is planned but there are fewer people interested than we would like," he said according to the Interfax news agency.

Krikalyev lamented that interest had fallen in the two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union and also expressed concern that among all of Russia's cosmonauts there was currently only one woman.

This contrasted with the numbers of women working as astronauts for US space agency NASA, he said, noting that there were far more women working in the US air force than in Russia.

Krikalyev also complained that the funding for the training centre -- a legendary facility dating back to the early space age -- needed to be "doubled to keep it functioning properly."

"For the centre to develop, it needs to be increased several times more," he added, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.

He said financing was needed for repairs at the centre, parts of which "have not been refurbished for 20 years which look like they have been shelled."

Young people were also shunning the prospect of working at the centre, a place where "many work more for the idea than for money," he added.

Russia's space programme has faced dwindling funding after the fall of the Soviet Union, which put the first satellite into orbit and the first man into space.

To make ends meet, it has even shipped highly-paying space tourists for brief trips to the International Space Station (ISS).

But with the shuttle due to be taken out of service, NASA will for the next years be reliant on Russia's Soyuz launches for its own manned space programme.

Krikalyev is himself a cosmonaut legend: a veteran of six space flights he was famously in space in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, returning to earth the next year as a citizen of a new Russia after a marathon mission.Click Here!

Hamas urges Egypt to stop building Gaza wall

BEIRUT — Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal urged Egypt on Friday to stop building an underground wall along its border with Gaza, which the Islamist group has said would further choke the impoverished enclave.

"We call on the Egyptian leadership to stop building the iron wall... as walls are erected between enemies, not brothers," the exiled Palestinian Islamist leader said at a conference in Beirut in support of resistance groups.

"How can the 'national security' of any state be used as an excuse to build a wall between Arab brothers?" he asked.

Since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007 it has relied on smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt to defy the Israeli blockade and its leaders have used trips to Cairo to escape international isolation.

But after years of largely ignoring tunnel smuggling -- which primarily brings in much-needed household goods but is also used by Hamas to import weapons and cash -- Egypt has begun building a massive underground wall.

The United States and Israel have voiced support for the wall, arguing that it will stop weapons smuggling.

Cairo -- which states support for Palestinians and has long mediated between both Israel and Hamas and among Palestinian factions -- has only implicitly admitted constructing the iron barrier and has provided no details on its size.

Hunters kill 20 wolves in first Swedish hunt in 45 years

STOCKHOLM — Hunters shot dead 20 wolves in Sweden on Saturday on the first day of the country's first authorised wolf hunt in 45 years, according to a toll issued by Swiss media.

The Swedish environment authority had issued permits for 27 of the animals to be killed between January 2 and February 15 in five central and southwestern regions: 10 percent of the Sweden's entire wolf population.

Parliament decided in October to limit the wolf population to a maximum of 210 and 20 packs for the next five years.

The wolf population has grown steadily from near zero in the 1970s and poses a problem for farmers, who lose livestock in attacks. They are also increasingly seen in urban areas including suburbs of Stockholm.

Sheep farmer Kenneth Holmstrom told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that he had lost 32 sheep in 2005 in just two wolf attacks.

"The wolf has the right to exist in the forests and in the fields but it must be better controlled," he said.

"It does not have a natural enemy and it multiplies quickly."

Swedish conservation groups have objected the hunt violates European Union legislation on species and habitats.

There were about 150 wolves in Sweden in 2005. The number rose to between 182 and 217 last winter and more cubs produced since then, according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

UN: Ugandan rebel attacks may have been war crimes

GENEVA — The U.N. on Monday accused the Ugandan-based Lord's Resistance Army of killing, mutilating and raping villagers in Sudan and Congo in what may have been crimes against humanity.

The rebels killed at least 1,200 people and abducted 1,400, including children and women, in northeastern Congo from September 2008 to June 2009, said a report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

A separate report by the U.N.'s rights office said that, in at least 27 attacks on villages in southern Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army killed more than 80 civilians and kidnapped many others to use as child soldiers, sex slaves and spies.

The report called the attacks in Sudan, which it said took place between December 2008 and March 2009, deliberate and brutal.

Both reports were based on hundreds of interviews with survivors and several field trips to the remote areas by U.N. employees, said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the high commissioner.

One survivor in Sudan told U.N. employees that he found the mutilated body of a fellow villager.

"The villager's leg had been chopped off, his jaws had been dislocated and his teeth had been pulled out," the report said.

The rebels frequently cross into Congo and Sudan and are notorious for mutilating and murdering civilians and kidnapping children to use as fighters.

Survivors in Sudan told U.N. investigators that armed Lord's Resistance Army rebels arrived in groups of between five and 20, and attacked people with axes, bayonets, hoes, knives and machetes. They reserved the use of firearms for those who tried to flee, the report said.

The LRA attacks in Sudan may amount to crimes against humanity, while the widespread abuses in Congo may have been war crimes as well, it said.

A spokesman for the rebel group, David Matsanga, denied the allegations in the U.N. reports and called it false and malicious. He said that most of the civilian deaths were caused by the Uganda People's Defense Force, of UPDF, the government's army.

"On many occasions the UPDF and troops from southern Sudan and Congo killed civilians thinking that they were the LRA rebels they were hunting for," he told The Associated Press. "We should not be held responsible for killings made by UPDF and other forces."

Matsanga said the group is tired of fighting and looking for lasting peace.

But, a Sudanese woman who escaped after being abducted by LRA rebels said female captives were regularly mistreated and raped.

"At night the fighters used to tie the abducted men one to another, make them lie on the ground and cover them with a plastic sheet," she was quoted as saying in the report. "They would then take all the women to the bush and rape us. They barely gave us any food and would beat us on a regular basis with sticks, the butts of the guns and their fists."

The report on Congo said thousands of homes, dozens of shops, hospitals, churches and at least 30 schools were looted and set on fire in various parts of Orientale Province. Villagers were mutilated, tortured and raped, the report said.

The LRA has been fighting the Ugandan government for over 20 years, accusing it of discriminating against the country's northern tribes.

The Ugandan military, along with forces from Congo and southern Sudan, launched a joint operation against LRA rebels in Congo from December 2008 to March 2009. The offensive came after rebel leader Joseph Kony failed to turn up last year to sign a peace agreement.

Kony and other top LRA members are accused by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kony is still at large, as are many of his commanders, although the rebels have splintered into several smaller groups.

The U.N. urged the Congolese government and the international community to step up efforts to arrest Kony and other rebel leaders. Kony is believed to be hiding in Garamba Park — a vast area in northeastern Congo near the Sudanese border that is covered with thick forest and difficult to access, said Elisabeth Da Costa, an expert on Congo with the U.N. rights office.

In some attacks, the Congolese army helped the LRA, the report said, adding that the country's security forces terrorized some of those who fled.

People faced "harassment, extortion, rape and summary executions committed by the Congolese security forces," the report said.

Associated Press reporter Godfrey Olukya in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.

Israel responsible for delay in freeing Shalit: Hamas chief

TEHRAN — Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for the delay in releasing an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip for more than three years.

Meshaal also insisted that Sergeant Gilad Shalit will only be freed when Israel agrees to conditions by the Islamist Palestinian movement, which is demanding that he be swapped for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

"Shalit will only be exchanged when the Israelis have accepted Hamas's demands," the visiting Meshaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, told a televised news conference in Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli leaders "will never again see Shalit" if Hamas's demands are not met, Meshaal said, echoing a warning issued by Hamas in Gaza on Monday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres said differences between the Hamas leadership in Gaza and leaders based outside the enclave was behind the delay in Shalit's release.

"If it was up to us, Gilad Shalit would already be free. But it does not always depend on us," Peres told Israeli public radio.

"There are difference between the Hamas based abroad, which has political goals, and the Hamas inside (in Gaza) which faces pressure from the families of the (Palestinian) prisoners," Peres said.

Meshaal dismissed the remarks and said Hamas was not divided. "Shimon Peres knows very well that it is the Israeli side who is creating the problems."

In recent weeks Israel and Hamas have appeared to be edging closer to an agreement to free the 23-year-old soldier in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

But despite the involvement of a German mediator since earlier this year the two sides have yet to reach a deal, with both imposing strict internal censorship on any discussion of the negotiations.

Hamas and two smaller Palestinian militant groups captured Shalit in June 2006 when they tunnelled into Israel and attacked an army post, killing two soldiers.

Meshaal, who has been visiting Iran since Sunday, also accused Israel of posing a "danger for all the countries in the region," including Hamas allies Iran and Syria.

"If Israel attacks one country, we will all be in the same battle," he said in reference to a possible Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites.

For his part, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated Tehran's support for the Palestinians.

Iran "considers it a duty to support the Palestinian cause. One of the main reasons for the hostility of world oppression (the West) toward Iran is over the Palestinian question," he said on the state television website.

And he added that "if the Zionist regime (Israel) starts a new war against the people of Gaza, it will receive an even harder slap."

He was referring to the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip over the new year in which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed.

5 top publishers plan rival to Kindle format

LOS ANGELES — Five of the nation's largest publishers of newspapers and magazines are teaming up to challenge Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle electronic-book reader with their own technology that would display in color and work on a variety of devices.

Time Inc., News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp., whose magazines include Time, Cosmopolitan and Better Homes and Gardens, announced a joint venture on Tuesday to develop new ways of presenting publications digitally to rival Kindle's gray "electronic ink" technique.

The publishers' answer to the text-oriented Kindle promises to emphasize visuals, retaining the distinctive look of each publication. It also aims to incorporate videos, games and social networking along with a classic magazine layout that can be flipped through with the touch of a finger.

The new standards the publishers are jointly developing would let consumers read the digital publications on some tablet computers, portable electronic readers and smart phones that render color images.

"The genesis of this idea is to build a fully featured kind of immersive e-reading application that can render our content beautifully on those devices that come to market," said John Squires, the venture's interim managing director.

The Kindle has been available since 2007. Electronic books, newspapers and other publications that Amazon sells for the Kindle will only work with that device.

Companies in the joint venture are hoping to break that lock and sell content starting in 2010 using the new standards. Publishers outside the joint venture would be able to adopt them, too.

News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the Kindle.

News Corp. receives a little more than a third of the $14.99 monthly subscription fee Amazon.com charges for The Wall Street Journal, but it has limited access to subscriber data, Murdoch said last month, describing why the relationship was "not a great deal."

"Kindle is a fantastic invention for reading books. It is not much of an experience for newspapers," he said.

Analysts said the publishers' joint venture to develop their own e-reader technology was a bold attempt to reassert control over their content before becoming prey to terms dictated by Amazon.com, Sony Corp. or Barnes & Noble Inc. on their electronic readers.

But Forrester Research media and technology analyst James McQuivey questioned whether the cost of making rich, interactive features would be worth the revenue it might bring in.

"It takes more time to make that kind of content in an environment where people are paying less," McQuivey said.

Content producers will also struggle to get people to pay for magazines and newspapers because many also offer free versions online. Such publications are unlike books, where the options are limited to digital downloads or paper copies from physical bookstores.

"`Will they pull content offline?' is a big question," said Outsell Inc. analyst Ned May. "It's a prisoner's dilemma. It takes just one person not to, to garner all the traffic and destroy the effort."

Representatives from Amazon.com, Sony and Barnes & Noble did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The new joint venture would allow partners to set prices for their content. It also has plans to develop new advertising formats that are interactive and target an audience that is more engaged than in print.

The media companies are all equal partners in the venture. The companies said their publications reach 144.6 million people altogether.

Other online stores for digital copies of magazines have emerged, such as Zinio.com, or Time Inc.'s own Maghound.com.

But Squires, an executive vice president at Time Warner Inc.'s magazine unit, said the joint venture seeks to improve upon that experience.

Ousted Honduran leader is trapped with few options

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Where does Manuel Zelaya go now?

Congress slammed the door on restoring the ousted Honduran leader to power, ignoring intense international pressure to reverse Central America's first coup in 20 years.

He faces arrest if he leaves the Brazilian Embassy, where he stays up into the night talking on the phone, sleeps until noon and fires off letters to world leaders, urging them not to forget him. Seeking asylum would return him to the exile he faced when soldiers ejected him from the country in his pajamas.

He vows not to do that — for now.

His other option is trying to negotiate a deal with President-elect Porfirio Lobo, who won Sunday's elections. Lobo appears to be in no hurry to deal with the sticky question of Zelaya's future.

"He doesn't want to start something that isn't a product of a national consensus, to avoid provoking further polarization," Vice President-elect Maria Antonieta de Bogran told The Associated Press. She said Lobo had not spoken to Zelaya since Sunday's election.

President Barack Obama's administration said Thursday there was no choice but to accept the congressional decision. Lawmakers had the last word under a U.S.-brokered accord to end the five-month crisis over the June 28 coup. The pact called for the creation of unity government until Zelaya's term ends Jan. 27, but left the decision of reinstating him up to Congress.

"We're disappointed by this decision since the United States had hoped that Congress would have approved his return," said Arturo Valenzuela, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

However, he said lawmakers voted Wednesday "in an open and transparent manner in accordance" with the agreement, which both Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti signed in October.

So for now, Zelaya is trapped in the embassy, where he and his wife sleep on inflatable mattresses and are increasingly alone. Hundreds of supporters followed him inside when he sneaked back into the country Sept. 21, vowing to stay with their leader until the Micheletti government fell. Slowly, most have left, including his son and a top adviser who finally went home this week.

Hundreds of soldiers and police still surround the embassy, waiting to arrest Zelaya if he steps foot outside and making threatening gestures when his supporters look out the window.

Zelaya faces abuse of power charges stemming from his defiance of a Supreme Court order to cancel a referendum on changing the constitution. Opponents claim Zelaya was trying to hang onto power by lifting a ban on presidential re-election, as his leftist ally Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela. Zelaya denies this, say he wanted to shake up a political system dominated by a few wealthy families that hold sway over political parties, the courts and the media.

The dispute prompted his June 28 ouster.

Aides say Zelaya will not leave the country, at least until his term runs out.

"His plan is to stay there, in the embassy. On Jan. 27, well, it's his personal decision," said Carlos Reina, the adviser who left the embassy this week.

That opens the door for negotiations with Lobo, the wealthy rancher who has inherited the pressure of resolving the crisis.

Washington has recognized his victory but stopped short of restoring development aid and anti-narcotics cooperation, insisting some sort of unity government must still be installed for the remainder of Zelaya's term. Most Latin American countries refused to recognize Lobo's incoming government because the elections took place with Zelaya out of power.

Lobo is unlikely to win back their support if Zelaya is thrown in jail.

The president-elect has given few clues about his intentions, promising only that he will start a national reconciliation process as president. His options may be limited. He cannot grant Zelaya amnesty from prosecution. That power belongs to the same Congress that voted 111-14 to keep Zelaya out of power, with many lawmakers loudly demanding the deposed leader be tried.

Still, some Honduran politicians say an informal deal allowing Zelaya to leave the embassy without fear of arrest is possible.

"While Zelaya is in the country there is always a possibility of some agreement that can allow him to stay," said Edmundo Orellano, who resigned as Zelaya's defense minister in the dispute over the constitution but also opposed his overthrow. "Nothing in politics is written in stone."

Associated Press Writer Juan Carlos Llorca contributed to this report.

Filipino who lost wife in massacre files candidacy

AMPATUAN, Philippines — A politician whose wife and relatives were among 57 people massacred in the southern Philippines in an apparent bid to stop him from running for governor filed his candidacy Friday for the election.

"Only death can stop me from running," said Ismael Mangudadatu, escorted by soldiers, a police commander and a senior army general. He submitted his documents to the Elections Commission in the Maguindanao provincial capital of Sharrif Aguak.

His caravan of more than 50 vehicles took the same road where his wife, two sisters, supporters and journalists were stopped and killed Monday and their bodies dumped in mass graves.

Along a highway, groups of people waved at the cars and raised their thumbs and clenched their fists in approval. But inside Shariff Aguak, the stronghold of the rival Ampatuan clan, the mood was different. There were no enthusiastic crowds with only a few pedestrians.

The main suspect in the slayings, Andal Ampatuan Jr., a scion of the clan that has ruled Maguindanao unopposed for years, turned himself in Thursday under threat of military attack against his family's compound. He is expected to be charged in the slayings later Friday. He maintained his innocent.

"This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation," said Mangudadatu, wearing a red striped T-shirt and denim jeans. He proudly held up his certificate of candidacy in front of reporters and followers.

About 100 supporters applauded and cheered him outside the elections office, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" or God is great.

Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan township, did the unthinkable when he decided to run in May 2010 elections. Having received death threats, he sent his wife, sisters and other female relatives Monday to submit his papers, hoping that women would be spared the kind of violence that regularly reigns in the region.

Asked by reporters if he was involved in the killings, Ampatuan said, "There is no truth to that. The reason I came out is to prove that I am not hiding and that I am not guilty."

Later, after he was brought to Manila, he said a commander of a large Muslim separatist group was behind the massacre. Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is engaged in peace talks with the government, said the guerrillas had nothing to do with the killings.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera also said there is no evidence of rebel involvement.

Ampatuan gave himself up to presidential adviser Jesus Dureza in Shariff Aguak, following days of negotiations and hours after troops and police sent in tanks, trucks and armored carriers around administrative buildings. Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno had threatened to attack the family compound unless they turned over Ampatuan by midday Thursday.

At an airport building where he was initially questioned, Ampatuan was confronted by an enraged Mangudadatu. Relatives and officials had to step in to restrain them.

"When I saw him, I wanted to chew him up, spit him out and stomp on him," Mangudadatu told reporters later.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno said he expects Ampatuan, who was brought to Manila, to be charged with multiple counts of murder later Friday in southern Cotabato city, which is closest to the massacre site. The trial will take place in Manila for security reasons.

The Ampatuan clan helped President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections by delivering crucial votes.

After the massacre, Arroyo's ruling party expelled Ampatuan, his father and a brother.

Apart from Ampatuan, national police director Jesus Verzosa said six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township's police station and nearly 400 militiamen were in custody, but not all were considered suspects.

The area around the provincial capital was tense and a highway dotted with military checkpoints was deserted after troops disarmed nearly 400 pro-government militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans. Such militias are meant to act as an auxiliary force to the military and police in fighting rebels and criminals but often serve as politicians' private armies.

Those police officers "forgot that they should defend the Republic of the Philippines, not their Godfather," Puno said.

Puno said there were witnesses to the massacre but refused to provide details. Mangudadatu said earlier four witnesses under his protection told him they saw Ampatuan flagging down the caravan. The four were able to turn back unnoticed, Mangudadatu told The Associated Press.

Mangudadatu said one witness "saw the gunmen stop the convoy and saw Andal Ampatuan slap my wife."

Not all the 57 victims were part of the convoy. Police officer Felicisimo Khu, who was supervising the retrieval of bodies on a grassy hilltop in Ampatuan township, said the gunmen intercepted two other vehicles with six people who happened to be traveling at the same time — and killed and buried them too.

Arroyo vowed justice for the victims.

But with only seven months left in office before she steps down after nine years, few think she will be able to restore the rule of law in the chronically restive region that has been outside the central government's reach for generations. Maguindanao's acting governor is Sajid Ampatuan, another son of former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan's patriarch.

At least 22 journalists working for newspapers and TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao Island region were among the dead — the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.

The most senior reporter in the group was Alejandro "Bong" Reblando, 53, a former Associated Press stringer.

Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.

UN climate chief holds out hope for global pact

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. climate chief has a message for naysayers about the Copenhagen climate conference next month: It will succeed.

Yvo De Boer, the U.N. official who is shepherding the talks, sought to assure reporters Thursday that the long-anticipated United Nations-led meeting Dec. 7-19 isn't a failure even before it's started. In large part, he said he was responding to news coverage that increasingly emphasized the long-shot odds for a deal, particularly given the lack of U.S. commitment to any specific targets.

He vowed Copenhagen "will be the turning point" when words turn to action globally to begin reducing carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases — and a fuller treaty can be worked out by six months after the meeting.

"There is no doubt in my mind that it will yield a success," de Boer said. "Almost every day now we see new commitments and pledges from both industrialized and developing countries."

But he acknowledged that prospects for a binding global climate pact among 192 nations remain elusive just 17 days before the start of the climate talks.

An authoritative U.N. panel of climate experts says developed countries must cut greenhouse gas emissions between 25 percent and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid a catastrophic rise in sea levels, harsher storms and droughts and climate disruptions.

In the U.S. Congress is considering measures that would cut emissions either 17 percent or 20 percent from 2005 levels, the equivalent of at least 3.5 percent from 1990.

The U.S. and China account for about two-fifths of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Union has said it will cut emissions 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 — and would increase that to 30 percent if other regions also agree to major reductions. Russia and Japan are promising a 25 percent cut below 1990 levels over the same period.

Also Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for all countries to fix binding climate change targets next year. In a joint press conference at an EU leaders' summit in Brussels with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel said the two leaders worried that ambitions for countries to agree on cuts to greenhouse gas emissions at Copenhagen "seem to have shrunk."

De Boer called for a similar U.S. commitment to specific targets and, citing widespread mistrust in the developing world of global financial structures, outlined three main goals for the global conference.

First, industrialized nations "must record in black and white" their individual targets to reduce emissions, "and that list of targets must of course include the United States," de Boer said. Second, the Copenhagen deal must clarify "the scope and extent of developing country engagement," he said.

Third, he said, it also must provide specifics on how rich nations will provide financial support on a short- and long-term basis for poorer countries to prepare for and adapt to climate change.

"To my mind, rich countries must put at least $10 billion on the table in Copenhagen to kick-start immediate action," de Boer said. "And they must list what each individual country will provide and how funds will be raised to deliver very large, stable and predictable finance into the future, without having to constantly re-negotiate the commitments every few years."

International climate negotiators have said they are now striving for a political agreement instead of a new treaty to allow the U.S. and other rich nations to make commitments that are not legally binding.

De Boer said he hoped it would take no longer than a half-year to fill in the details.

"Remember this a process which is about fundamentally changing the direction of global economic growth, and I think that world leaders would like to do that at a speed that they feel comfortable with," he said.

Shoppers and retailers prepare for a tough holiday shopping season

TORONTO — Shopping malls across the country are decked with sales as the holiday season gets underway, but even with plenty of fanfare, both retailers and shoppers seem to be reining in their expectations.

The days of the holiday spending spree are a thing of the past, it seems, and more people are tightening their gift-giving budgets as they search for as many deals as possible.

"There's actually not a lot of shopping activity, period," said Susan Ditchburn co-owner of clothing stores Noise and Decibel in downtown Toronto.

"We are getting people who are buying gift certificates just so they can come on Boxing Week and buy things on sale."

Blame it on the economy, which tore through the holiday season last year and hasn't let up much since. Statistics Canada reported that August retail sales rose 0.8 per cent to $34.5 billion, offsetting July's decline. However, they were also 3.7 per cent lower than the same time a year earlier.

Canadians are also worried about their jobs, after the country lost 71,000 jobs last month.

For bargain hunters waiting until the last minute, or even Boxing Day, this could be a year of disappointment. Retailers are expecting the holiday boom to be more of a fizzle and have planned accordingly.

Across North America, the inventories at many stores have been slashed compared with last year, meaning that popular items will be especially hard to find. Stores have also ramped up their sales early to capture as many shoppers as they can.

Toronto-area resident Sylvia Hricsovszky took those signs to heart when she started her Christmas shopping in September.

"In the past, sometimes I would leave things to the last minute," she said.

"This year I'm worried that stores aren't going to have a wide variety of items, and they may not be stocked as fully as they have in previous years. So I want to get it done as soon as I can."

"When you shop early you can comparison shop" for the best price, she added.

Others like Christine Armstrong, a Toronto resident, haven't started shopping, but they're already planning to buy less than in previous years.

"My family has decided to do Secret Santa, so I only really have to (shop for) one person," she said.

"I'm waiting until December because Christmas shopping means snow, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for sales."

Retail watchers have witnessed similar sentiments across the country.

A study from Deloitte suggests that 44 per cent of Canadians plan to spend less this year during the holiday than they did over the past two years.

"Based on this year's results, retailers should brace for a wave of shoppers later in December, as Canadians will delay purchases until there are substantial markdowns," said Deloitte analyst Brent Houlden.

Consumers have become increasingly conscious of how deep retailers are willing to discount their products and that has put the pressure on store owners to start cutting early.

Smaller retailers like Noise and Decibel are feeling the pain as consumers often expect them to cut their prices as deeply as the big chain stores.

"I have never gone on sale before Boxing Day. I have stood my ground because I do have the luxury of having things other people don't have," said Ditchburn, whose stores sell high-end clothing targeted at teenagers and young adults.

However, this year she's feeling the pinch to make some changes.

"When people don't have enough money, and they get the same look from a place like H&M, they're going there - even though they don't care that it's not going to last and not going to be a quality product."

Ditchburn said this year she has seriously considered lowering prices earlier on some items to drive sales.

While retailers search for ways to motivate the consumer, a study from Ernst & Young suggests that holiday sales will be in line with the dismal results of last year.

"A flat prediction is not a healthy one for retailers," said Ernst & Young retail analyst Daniel Baer.

"The consumer is looking for a lot of practicality - gifts that are useful."

Shoppers don't have to look any further than children's toys to see further proof this is a tight year as some of the hottest-selling toys are also the cheapest.

Topping must-have lists this year is the Zhu Zhu Pets hamster, which sells for under $20, and is already out of stock at many stores. Toy analysts compare its sales to the interactive Furby, a decade ago.

Then there's the more expensive Mindflex from Mattel, which uses brainwaves to move a ball through various obstacles. It sells for around $100, but is also a cheaper alternative to a video game system.

Canadian wireless carriers will also be ramping up campaigns for the iPhone, which is now available at all three major carriers after an exclusivity agreement ended with Rogers.

Retailers looking for hints on how to snag consumers might want to take some advice from Leslie Tavel, who was shopping at the Eaton Centre in Toronto.

"I was just at the Gap and had a (coupon) for 30 per cent off, and that certainly incented me to purchase," she said.

"They also gave me another certificate for 40 per cent off, which is fantastic.

"I'm definitely going to go back," she added.

Obama urges all nations to fight climate change

TOKYO — President Barack Obama is calling on all nations to accept responsibility for fighting climate change.

But he says he's not expecting that it will be easy to reach an agreement at a climate change summit next month in Copenhagen.

Speaking in Tokyo, Obama said nations that are the biggest emitters must set clear targets for reducing those emissions. And he said developing countries will need to take substantial actions of their own.

Obama said that since he took office, the United States has done more than it had before to fight climate change, by investing in new energy, raising efficiency standards and taking advantage of the latest scientific advances.

But he says America knows there's more work to do.

Massive Brazil blackout triggers crime alert

SAO PAULO — A massive blackout across the southern half of Brazil has plunged tens of millions of people into darkness and prompted a major police mobilization amid fears of an opportunistic crime wave.

The country's largest cities, including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro among others, were left with no illumination or traffic lights due to the outage late Tuesday, which the energy ministry said was caused by an undetermined problem at the country's biggest hydroelectric plant, Itaipu, on the border with Paraguay.

One radio station, Bandnews, said an estimated 50 million people -- one quarter of Brazil's population -- were affected.

The blackout hit at 10:15 pm (0015 GMT Wednesday).

The southern states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul and parts of the central state of Goias and the federal district of Brasilia were plunged into night.

Police in Sao Paulo and Rio called on the cities' residents to not go out into the darkened streets to avoid the risk of accidents and an upsurge in already prolific street crime.

Off-duty and vacationing officers were told to report to their posts.

In Sao Paulo and its suburbs, an agglomeration of 20 million inhabitants, streets were illuminated only by the lights of cars and from a few buildings -- including hospitals -- that had their own generators.

Traffic lights were extinguished, causing most motorists to nose carefully through intersections.

Taxis, normally numerous, were hard to flag down by stranded residents walking the suddenly darkened streets. Some of the drivers said they were wary of armed robbers taking advantage of the emergency.

Along Sao Paulo's main Avenue Paulista police and traffic wardens were deployed to ensure security and manage cars.

The Brazilian news website Abril said the new blackout occurred because 17,000 megawatts -- the amount required to power the city of Sao Paulo -- suddenly dropped out of the national electricity grid, according to the National Electric System Operator.

Energy Minister Edson Lobo confirmed that the problem originated with the Itaipu plant, whose output is shared with Paraguay.

There was a "complete paralysis" of that facility, the exact cause of which was still unknown.

Lobo said "atmospheric problems" could be to blame, perhaps a high-altitude storm with lightning that hit one of the plant's five high-tension lines.

The hydroelectric plant had been restarted, the minister said.

The head of Itaipu, Jorge Sanek, told Globo news that there was "no generation problem, the problem was with the transmission" of electricity.

The blackout occurred two days after US network CBS aired a report claiming massive power outages in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 were caused by cyber hackers attacking control systems.

Although Brazilian media were skeptical of that assessment, the US channel said those incidents should serve as a wake-up call to the United States, which a former Chief of US National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, warned could be about to take place.