Just Economic Info

A gunman opened fire early Friday at a movie theater in a Denver suburb, killing 12 people and leaving at least 50 others injured, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said.

The shooting occurred during a showing of the latest Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises," police said.

The violence erupted about 12:30 a.m. MDT as the gunman stood at the front of one of the Century 16 theaters at the Aurora Mall.

"Witnesses tell us he released some sort of canister. They heard a hissing sound and some gas emerged and the gunman opened fire," Oates said at a news conference.

One suspect is in custody and there's no evidence of any additional shooters, Oates said.

There was no immediate word of any motive.

Witness Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he was inside Theater 16 and heard several shots.

"Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming," he told the station.

Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw "people hunched over leaving theater."

Two people in critical condition were rushed to the nearby Swedish Medical Center, spokeswoman Nicole Williams said.

She said emergency crews told her staff to prepare for several more patients from the shooting scene.

"We're on standby to receive," she said.

Aurora is located on the southeast outskirts of Denver, about 10 miles from downtown.

The small, German town of Reutlingen boasts the narrowest street in the world, with a width of just 31 centimeters, and tourists come from far and wide to scrape through it. But the record is at risk because a side wall is bulging out into the passageway. Soon, it may cease to be a street. Locals are concerned.

New York has Broadway. Paris, the Champs- Elysées. And Reutlingen? The provincial town in south-western Germany has Spreuerhofstrasse. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the street as the narrowest in the world, with a width of just 31 centimeters (12.2 inches) -- or approximately the width of a standard PC monitor.

Reutlingen, in the heart of the region of Swabia, has held the record since 2007. "The Swabians are known for their modesty, so this is a typically Swabian record," said Tanja Ulmer, head of the city's tourism office. "It's is Reutlingen's smallest attraction, but a very important one."

There's not much to see in Spreuerhofstrasse. After all, the street is just 3.80 meters (12.5 feet) long. And it isn't particularly pretty. One has to squeeze past blank walls, and when it's raining, water drips from the gutter of an old half-timbered house on one side. But tourists from Asia and America flock to inspect the alley, adorned at each end with the sign "Narrowest street in the world" in German and English.

The city owes its record to a devastating fire and a city official who was either unfamiliar with his town or extremely slim. The blaze tore through the city in 1726, prompting the authorities to rule that buildings should have gaps between them to stop fires from spreading too quickly. Then, in 1820, a town hall administrator decided to elevate the status of this particular gap to that of a full-fledged public street.

Attraction at Risk

So far, so good. But Reutlingen now faces a dilemma that could cost it its global status. The wall of the near-derelict half-timbered house is starting to bulge outwards because water has seeped into the ancient beams.

Technically, that is making the street even narrower, so one might think that Reutlingen's world record is becoming even more secure. But if it goes on, the street will become so narrow that humans will no longer be able to use it.

"A street is no longer a street if no one can get through it. Then the fun would be over," said Ulmer. And Reutlingen would lose its record.

If the house is torn down, on the other hand, the street will become too wide. The answer is to shore up the building, but so far no one, including the owner, is ready to foot the bill. Building inspectors are to assess the cost of refurbishing the house.

Time is running out. "If nothing happens, the alley will have to be closed -- in 2013 at the latest because it won't stand more than one more winter," warns local tour guide Eugen Wendler, 73.

Everyone knows that something's got to happen. After all, what would the world think of a city that can't hold on to even such a small record?

A shooting at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., early today has left at least 12 people dead and at least 50 people injured, authorities confirmed.

Police now have now apprehended a 24-year-old male and recovered a gun after the shooting at approximately 12:30 a.m. at the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center in the Denver suburb.

Witnesses said that the man appeared at the front of the theater with a rifle, handgun and gas mask. The man then threw a canister that released some kind of gas, after which a hissing sound ensued, and he then opened fire on the crowd packed into the early-morning screening of the film, according to people in the theater at the time.

"They got up and they started to run through the emergency exit, she said that when she turned around, all she saw was the guy slowly making his way up the stairs and just firing at people, just picking random people," a man talked to a couple who was inside the theater told ABC News.

Of the six victims were taken to Children's Hospital in Aurora, the youngest was 6 years old.

"The gunshot continues to go on and on and then after we didn't hear anything we finally got up and there was people bleeding, there was people obviously may have been actually dead or anything, and we just ran up out of there, there was chaos everywhere," he said.

"We were maybe 20 or 30 minutes into the movie and all you hear, first you smell smoke, everybody thought it was fireworks or something like that, and then you just see people dropping and the gunshots are constant," witness Christ Jones told ABC News Denver affiliate KMGH. "I heard at least 20 to 30 rounds within that minute or two."

Patrons in the theater where the shooting took place, along with those in an adjacent theater also viewing the action-packed movie, were unsure of what was happening at the time. Jack, who was in the adjacent theater with his son, said that the commotion began as one of the action scenes was starting up.

"These guys came through, and they say someone's shooting," he said. "I thought, 'Oh, they must have heard the fireworks, you know ... I had no idea. And then the alarms started to go off in the theater.'"

An explosive device was also found inside the movie house. Police are not sure whether the device, which investigators are calling a bomb, was already in place or whether it was thrown into the crowd.

Ambulances rushed to the scene as audience members fled the theater. Aurora's police chief said that he could not elaborate on women or children injured or dead in the shooting.

Once apprehended the gunman told authorities that there were explosives in his North Aurora, Colo., residence. Investigators rushed to the apartment complex, which was quickly evacuated and is now under lockdown.

Investigators confirmed that explosives were found. It is unclear if they were scheduled to detonate or if it was part of a stockpile.

Though police have said that they believe the shooter was acting alone, they are now taking precautions and checking all cars in the parking lot and clearing near the theater.

A senior official who is monitoring the situation in Washington said that early guidance based on the early snapshot of this man's background indicated that this does not appear to be linked to radical terrorism or anything related to Islamic terrorism.

Investigators are now interviewing friends and associates of the suspect to get a sense of the man's background.

The U.N. agencies for labor and environment say nations can achieve a net gain of 15 million to 60 million jobs over the next two decades by taking better care of the planet.

A study released Thursday by the U.N.'s International Labor Organization and Environment Program says some jobs would inevitably be lost by switching to a "greener" economy, but net gains of 0.5 percent to 2 percent of total global employment are possible mainly through more renewable and efficient energy use, particularly in construction.

Most of the net employment gains are expected in agriculture, forestry, fishing, energy, manufacturing, recycling, building and transportation.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the study — meant to influence international policy-makers — shows "we don't have to choose between protecting the environment and creating jobs."

With a cheeky smile and playful nature, little Liang Xiaoxiao acts just like any other child.

As she plays with other toddlers and kicks around a football, she doesn't have a care in the world.

However, the three-year-old's size compared to the other children she plays with clearly shows that all is not well.

It is believed the youngster is the world's tiniest girl.

She was born with a weight of 1.05kg and a height of just 33cm. But three years on she is only 54 cm tall and weights just 2.5kg.


Doctors in Huaihua, China, believe that a genetic mutation has stopped the youngster from getting any bigger.

But as these pictures show, it clearly hasn't dented the love of her mother who proudly watches her child play at the Children's Hospital of Hunan Province in Changsha, China.

This week one of the world's smallest surviving babies was finally allowed home.

Born weighing just 9.5 ounces, smaller than a can of soda, Kenna Claire Moore is recorded as the fourth-smallest surviving baby in the world.

After spending the first six months of her life in intensive care, when she finally left Presbyterian Hemby Children's Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S, on Tuesday, it was no ordinary discharge.

Born at only 25 weeks - a typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks - doctors were not sure how long little Kenna would survive, but after 183 days of fighting for her life, parents Nicki and Sam Moore finally got to take her home in what they said was 'the happiest day of our life'.

Her teeth are falling out and she’s had collagen injections for her wrinkles – but Zara Hartshorn is no middle-aged woman trying to recapture her youth.

In fact, she’s only 15 with a rare and incurable disease that makes her look decades older than her school pals.

The genetic defect affects fewer than 30 people in Britain – but heartbreakingly her mum Tracey and sister Jolene, 23, have it too.

Yet despite getting plenty of support at home, Zara has faced years of bullies branding her “granny” and even beating her up.

She’s been humiliatingly turfed off a bus because she couldn’t prove she was eligible for a child’s ticket.

And when she started at one school she was mistaken for a teacher.

Now Zara has chosen to speak out in a bid to defy the bullies and raise ­awareness of her condition.

She said: “It makes me really angry sometimes – but I do everything normal 15-year-olds do and try not to let it get me down.”

Zara, Jolene and Tracey, 41, have lipodystrophy, which decays bones and destroys fatty tissue beneath the surface of the skin, causing premature ageing.

So while many girls use make-up to appear older to get into pubs or 18-rated films, Zara has the opposite problem.

She said: “It’s impossible to get a child’s ticket at the cinema and when I wear my school uniform people think I’m in fancy dress.

“Growing up with lipodystrophy has been really hard.

“Children started being cruel to me when I was at primary school, calling me ‘baggy face’ and ‘granny’.

“I’ve been physically assaulted at school because of how I look so Mum took me out of school for a term when I was 10 after the bullying got so bad.

“It wasn’t until secondary school I found a group of friends who accepted me for who I was, not how I looked.”

But outside school many people refuse to believe she’s so young.

Zara said: “I was once refused a child’s bus ticket in front of everyone. I went red, got off and walked home. In my first week at one school the teacher handed me a lesson plan. I said, ‘I’m not a teacher, I’m a pupil.’

“I’ve never felt so on the spot in my life – I just wanted to die.

“The same thing happened a year later when I changed teachers.”

Zara went on: “My teeth seem to be really weak and even though I brush regularly I’ve lost four already.

“Two are at the front, which makes me very self-conscious and I don’t like to smile with my mouth open.”

In 2010 Zara went to Japan to have collagen injections in her face from a world expert on lipodystrophy.

Initially the jabs smoothed wrinkles but the implant later broke down.

Zara said: “I was really excited about having collagen because I thought it might change my appearance, so I was gutted when it went wrong.

“In the future I’d like a facelift to see if I can get rid of the skin under my chin and wrinkles around my eyes.”

But despite the ravages of her condition, Zara dreams of being a beauty therapist when she leaves school.

And she already knows a thing or two about keeping skin clear.

She said: “One good thing about the condition is Jolene, Mum and me have never had a spot or skin blemish.

“I used to wear lots of make-up but now I’m more accepting of myself – some people are worse looking than me.” There are other upsides, too. Zara quipped: “I can get served cigarettes and alcohol – if I want.”

And she insists she has no trouble attracting boyfriends.




She said: “I’ve had a few and they all tell me they don’t care how I look, they like me for my personality.

“Mum raised her kids to speak their minds and be confident about who they are – what you see is what you get.”

She added: “Of course I still get upset sometimes.

“Recently someone told me I looked like I was 30 and I got really angry.

“Another time a guy asked if Jolene was my mum.

“I said, ‘She’s my sister, you idiot’ – but Jolene was really upset.”

Mum Tracey admitted she was racked with guilt after realising she had passed the condition on to her own children.

She said: “I worry what the future holds for my daughters.

“I’ve had abuse for the way I look my whole life. Other children didn’t want to play with me and later I became volatile and would lash out at people.

“The only men interested in me were a lot older.

“Then I started drinking to blot out the pain and had one abusive relationship after another because I couldn’t stick up for myself.”

She added: “Each day I look in the mirror and see the face of a woman twice my age.

“But I’m so proud of the way Jolene and Zara handle themselves.”

Tracey is also mum to Gareth 24, Michael, 21, Tommy, 19, Rosie, 20 and Chloe, 16, who don’t have the defect.

Her husband Lawrence, 62, is bedbound through a stroke and lung cancer and Tracey is now his full-time carer.

Meanwhile, experts insist there are ways to smooth out the “dented” skin even if they can’t cure the condition.

London-based dermatologist Stefanie Williams said: “A plastic surgeon might transfer fat from one area of the body to the dented area. Other treatments involve filling the dent with injectable fillers or implants.”

A total of 173 sheep were killed almost instantaneously on Tuesday when lightning struck a mountainous area in the Hoboksar Mongolian autonomous county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

An 18-year-old Mongolian herder recalled the incident as "a nightmare".

"It started raining heavily at midnight and it hailed at around 1 pm. I was very scared and had to hide in the yurt nearby. After the lightning split the sky, the sheep outside bleated and they all died," Alten Bagen said on Thursday.

The tightly packed sheep were sheltering from the rain under a pine tree, which acted as a conductor for the electricity.

In addition, 30 sheep were carried away by floods, Bagen said.

Bagen's father, an experienced herder, was away in the mountains looking after their horses when the accident happened.

"A smell of burned meat filled the air. If I had been here, it wouldn't have happened," the 42-year-old herder said. "The animals were the only source of income for our family of four."

Father and son collected the skins of the sheep, and buried the bodies.

"I'll sell the skins and will make some money. But we can't eat the meat because of our religious beliefs," the father said.

Jangeq Chafu, a local herding technician, said it's common for livestock to get killed by lightning in the summertime, but this was the first time that so many sheep were killed at once.

"The young man doesn't have enough experience. He doesn't know how to cope with thunderstorms in mountainous areas," said Chafu. "It's dangerous for sheep to shelter under trees."

However, Chafu also said that it is sometimes difficult to help livestock escape from lightning.

"The pastures here are in a mountainous area. Locals are used to herding sheep on the mountainside in the summer. They take their yurts and live with the herds. When lightning strikes, the herder can hide in his yurt, but the animals have no place to hide," said Chafu.

"The sheep's wool also generates lots of static electricity, which may make them more vulnerable to lightning," he added.

Chafu said that the government should install lightning rods on mountain peaks.

Fifty-three pigs were killed on July 5 when lightning hit the roof of a barn in a suburb of Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province.

The pig farmer, surnamed Chen, said the pigs were sleeping after their meals when lightning struck.

"After a streak of blue light flashed by, I heard the pigs scream. Then they were silent," she said.

The neighbors said that the ears, nostrils and mouths of most animals were bleeding, and that their bodies had traces of burns and a slight burned smell. The only pig alive had a broken rear leg and struggled to stand up, but couldn't.

"The simplest way to prevent lightning in high places is to install a lightning rod," said weatherman Yao Chuping, who has worked in the field for more than 20 years.

Heilongjiang residents said they saw an unidentified flying object on Friday, the second time in a week such observations have been reported in the northeastern province.

Zhang Wei and Dai Guobin, workers at a sand processing plant in Zhangjiadian village in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, said they witnessed a black flying object, the shape of an eagle and larger than an airplane, at noon on Friday.

The object hovered in the sky about 500 to 1,000 meters from the two workers for about a minute and then flew off, according to Zhang and Dai.

Zhang reported it to Chen Gongfu, 70, a retired professor from the school of astronautics at the Harbin Institute of Technology.

Zhang told China Daily that he was not sure if the object the two saw on Friday was the same one reported Sunday in the Phoenix Mountain National Forest Park, which is about 200 kilometers away from the sand factory.

Chen, who is studying the UFO reports in the forest park, said he has talked to at least four eyewitnesses who said they saw the same flying object at different times and locations.

Li Hui, a tourist, said she saw a luminous flying object hovering low in the sky at 3:42 pm on Sunday when a photographer was taking her picture at a viewing platform in the park.

Li was quoted by Harbin Daily as saying that she unconsciously looked back after taking a picture and saw a floating, shiny object.

But the flying object was taken in a picture by the photographer, Wu Chunyan, who also saw the UFO and quickly pressed the shutter.

The photo clearly shows a luminous object.

Chen, the retired astronautics professor, said the object looked a lot like a moth when he first saw the picture, but he ruled out the possibility as more eyewitnesses in different locations said they also saw the flying object.

Sun Yan, a worker in the park, who was about 10 meters beneath where Li Hui stood, and another worker who was at the gate of the park said they saw the UFO on Sunday. Sun Li, a forest worker, said she witnessed a bright object, as big as a washing basin with gaseous columns on both sides, at around 8 pm the same day, according to Harbin Daily.

Skeptical of the reports is Zhu Jin, curator of Beijing Planetarium, who has been studying UFO reports for years. He said he believes that the flying object was a winged insect.

"It's quite clear that it was an insect, and you can clearly see its wings. It's luminous because of the photoflash," he said. "There is no other possibility as far as my knowledge can tell."

Harbin Daily reported that the photographer used "forced flash" when taking the picture, meaning the camera's flash was used despite strong lighting in the background.

"Many people called us and asked if UFOs really visited the park," Kang Tai, a manager with the park, said on Friday.

Kang, who has worked in the park for more than four years, said that although he personally did not see a UFO, he received UFO pictures taken in the park by tourists several times, most recently in 2011.

In fact, 18 years ago, UFOs reportedly visited the park.

Meng Zhaoguo, a worker in the park, and two colleagues said they saw a strange unidentified object in June 1994.

"I saw the UFO as it just landed in the hillside," Meng recalled.

Curious, Meng asked a relative to go with him the next day to identify the object.

"I was suddenly pushed back (when I got close to the object) just as if I was receiving an electric shock because I had such an experience in the past," he was quoted as saying by Heilongjiang Television, "And the object was very noisy."

Meng said he saw a being from outer space at his home several days later.

As it got closer, Meng said, "my house became extraordinarily bright and I saw it standing in front of me. It was just like us human beings".

"It pushed me quickly and then ran out."

Is Jerry Sandusky a predatory pedophile or just an affectionate guy who needs to be the center of attention?

As his alleged victims take the stand to claim the former Penn State football coach sexually molested them, Sandusky's defense attorneys are asking the court to let them present evidence that he has histrionic personality disorder.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, people with the disorder suffer from poor self-esteem and resort to dramatics to gain approval.

"They have an overwhelming desire to be noticed, and often behave dramatically or inappropriately to get attention," according to the clinic's website.

One of the symptoms is to exhibit inappropriately seductive or flirtatious behavior—a fact that may help Sandusky's defense team explain love letters he reportedly sent some of his alleged victims.

"These disorders can indeed be real, and sometimes they can be pathological, but you have to look at the context from where they occur," Dr. Carol Bernstein, associate professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, told ABC News. "If someone exhibits sexually inappropriate behavior and that's all they have out of the several characteristics, that's not a personality disorder. Any sexual predator exhibits sexually inappropriate behavior."

It could be a difficult defense to prove, a law professor told ABC.

"Typically, for an insanity argument, a person must be out of touch with reality at the time of the crime," said Elyn Saks, associate dean and professor of law, psychology, and psychiatry and the behavioral sciences at University of Southern California Gould Law School. "It is very strict. While personality disorders can have transient psychotic symptoms, this would be a stretch as a viable argument."

The former coach faces 52 criminal counts related to the alleged assaults of 10 boys. Prosecutors claim the abuse took place at Penn State, his home and other places over a 15-year period. Sandusky, who retired as the Nittany Lions' defensive coordinator in 1999, has maintained he's innocent.

Ann Rutherford, the demure brunette actress who played the sweetheart in the long-running Andy Hardy series and Scarlett O'Hara's youngest sister in "Gone With the Wind," has died. She was 94.

A close friend, Anne Jeffreys, said she was at Rutherford's side when she died at about 5:30 p.m. Monday at Rutherford's Beverly Hills home. She died of heart problems and had been ill for several months, Jeffreys said.

Rutherford's death was first reported by the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/MEPubi ).

"She was a dear person, a very funny lady, wonderful heart, was always trying to do things for people," Jeffreys said.

Rutherford was a frequent guest at "Gone With the Wind" celebrations in Georgia and, as one of the few remaining actors from the movie, continued to attract fans from around the world, Jeffreys said.

"She loved it. It really stimulated the last years of her life, because she got thousands of emails from fans," Jeffreys said. "She was in great demand."

She was also known for the Andy Hardy series, a hugely popular string of comical, sentimental films, that starred Lewis Stone as a small-town judge and Mickey Rooney as his spirited teenage son.

Rutherford first appeared in the second film of the series, "You're Only Young Once," in 1938, and she went on 11 more. She played Polly Benedict, the ever-faithful girlfriend that Andy always returned to, no matter what other, more glamorous girl had temporarily caught his eye. (Among the other girls: Judy Garland and Lana Turner.)

It was said she won the part of Carreen — the youngest of the three O'Hara sisters in "Gone With the Wind" — because Judy Garland was filming "The Wizard of Oz."

Rutherford told the Times in 2010 that MGM head Louis B. Mayer was going to refuse her the role, calling it "a nothing part." But Rutherford, who was a fan of the novel, uncharacteristically burst into tears and he relented.

Rutherford plays the sister who, early in the film, begs to be allowed to go to the ball at Ashley Wilkes' plantation. "Oh, Mother, can't I stay up for the ball tomorrow? ... I'm 13 now," she says in a sweet voice.

In 1989, she was one of 10 surviving "GWTW" cast members who gathered in Atlanta for the celebration of the film's 50th anniversary.

"Anyone who had read the book sensed they were into something that would belong to the ages, and everyone was in a frenzy to read the book," she said.

"The specialness of this is with each generation of young people who are touched by 'Gone With the Wind,'" she said. "As long as there are little children, there will always be a Mickey Mouse. ... On an adult version, 'Gone With the Wind' does that."

Rutherford concurred with other cast members that no matter what else they had done, "Our obituary will say we were in 'Gone With the Wind' and we'll be proud of it."

In a 1969 Los Angeles Times interview, she lamented that the "permissive generation" of the 1960s wasn't getting the old-fashioned parenting that the fictional Andy Hardy got.

"Someday someone will have to sit down with today's youth and give them a man-to-man talk," she said.

She also joked that "my life has reached the point where I'm now 'camp.'"

Rutherford was born in 1917, according to the voter records reviewed by The Associated Press. Some sources give other dates. The daughter of an opera tenor and an actress, she began performing on the stage as a child.

She launched her movie career in Westerns while still in her teens, often appearing with singing cowboy hero Gene Autry and sometimes with John Wayne.

She joined MGM in 1937, playing a variety of roles for several years before leaving the studio to freelance.

Among her other films: "Whistling in the Dark," with Red Skelton, 1941, and its two sequels, "Whistling in Dixie" and "Whistling in Brooklyn"; "Orchestra Wives," with bandleader Glenn Miller, 1942; and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," with Danny Kaye, 1947.

She largely retired from the screen in 1950, but appeared in a couple of films in the 1970s, "They Only Kill Their Masters," 1972, and "Won Ton Ton — The Dog Who Saved Hollywood," 1976.

Her first marriage, to David May in 1942, ended in divorce; they had two children. In 1953, she married producer William Dozier, a union that lasted until his death in 1991. He was best known as the producer of the "Batman" TV series.

Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett O'Hara, died in 1967. Evelyn Keyes, who played the middle O'Hara sister, Suellen, died in July 2008.

Rutherford recalled that the night of the "Gone With the Wind" premiere in Atlanta, author Margaret Mitchell invited the cast, including Leigh and co-star Clark Gable, to her home for scrambled eggs. Gable and Mitchell disappeared.

"Clark Gable and Margaret were hiding in the bathroom, Clark on the edge of the tub and Margaret you know where, just talking," she chuckled. "They had to get away from the photographers."

A Japanese climber who was nearly killed by an avalanche in 2007 has become his country's first person to scale the world's 14 tallest mountains, completing his latest climb in Nepal, mountaineering officials said Monday.

The Nepal Mountaineering Association said Hirotaka Takeuchi scaled the 8,167-meter-high (26,788-foot-high) Mount Dhaulagiri on May 26 to finish his 17-year mission. He was nearly swept to his death five years ago on Mount Ghashabrum.

"I have always wanted to climb mountains as long as I remember," Takeuchi said in an interview in Katmandu. "It was always my childhood dream to scale high peaks."

All the top 14 peaks — including Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga — are located in the Himalayan or Karakoram ranges of Asia. Takeuchi became the 30th person to climb all of them, and the first climber from Japan, Nepal Mountaineering Association official Deebash Bikram Shah said.

Takeuchi said he plans to return to the Himalayas to climb another peak next year.

"I will continue to climb as long as my body will allow me," he said.

Takeuchi's mission almost ended in 2007 when an avalanche on Mount Gashabrum swept him some 300 meters (1,000 feet) and buried him completely in snow. Two German climbers were killed in the avalanche, and a third was injured badly. Takeuchi was dug out by other mountaineers and rescued by helicopter.

South Korea's economic growth slowed in the second quarter from three months earlier due to weaker exports and sluggish construction investment, the central bank said Wednesday.

Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter in April-June compared to a 1.3 percent expansion in January-March, according to an advance estimate from the Bank of Korea.

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 3.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, slowing down from a 4.2 percent increase in January-March.

"Private consumption steadily increased and facilities investment rose. But growth in exports slowed while construction investment remained sluggish," the central bank said in a statement.

The second-quarter performance was slightly below the central bank's initial estimate early this month and the market's expectations.

For the whole of this year, the bank expects the export-dominated economy to grow 4.3 percent, while the finance ministry's forecast is 4.5 percent. GDP grew 6.2 percent in 2010, the fastest rate for eight years.

Analysts said the economy would largely remain on a firm growth track for the rest of the year thanks to robust exports, rising local consumption and a recovering job market.

European Union leaders are poised to hold an emergency summit after finance ministers acknowledged for the first time that some form of Greek default may be needed to cut Athens' debts and to stop contagion spreading to Italy and Spain.

"There will be an extra summit this Friday," a senior euro zone diplomat told Reuters, suggesting policymakers have been seized with a new sense of urgency after markets started targeting Italian assets.

Worsening political tensions between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti have caused markets to focus on Italy's shaky banks and chances its budget deal could stumble, and to look afresh at Spain, the euro zone's fourth largest economy.

Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citi and a former UK central banker, said there now was a clear danger of the debt crisis spreading beyond Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the three nations bailed out so far.

"We're talking a game changer here, a systemic crisis," he said. "This is existential for the euro area and the EU."

Sucking Italy and Spain into the vortex would be hugely costly. He estimated that the European rescue fund would have to be expanded to a 2 trillion euro ($2.8 trillion) to help out struggling euro-zone countries if they are locked out of capital markets.

The International Monetary Fund called on Italy to take "decisive" steps to cut its fiscal deficit below 3 percent by 2012 and said its medium-term package is an "important step.

Underscoring the difficulty in bringing the crisis under control, Moody's Investors Service downgraded debt of Ireland to junk status on Tuesday, warning that nation may need a second bailout before it can sell bonds to investors.

The prospect that European policymakers will require the private sector to share the burden of any future bailouts, a bone of contention in EU leaders' talks, weighed on Moody's decision, since that would drive up borrowing costs, the agency said.

Increasingly, EU leaders are looking at how to restructure Greece's debt, but ratings agencies warn that the measures would amount to default. Investors fear that a Greek default would ripple through markets, pushing up sovereign debt yields and weakening Europe's banking system -- requiring more bank bailouts that would stretch public finances to breaking point.

A French government source said Paris was in favor of another summit, although the timing was not yet fixed, and in Spain, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said he had not ruled out a meeting.

Earlier, Germany's finance minister had said a second Greek rescue package could wait until September after euro zone finance ministers effectively accepted that private creditor involvement meant a selective debt default was likely, despite the European Central Bank's vehement opposition to such a move.

"We have managed to break the knot, a very difficult knot," Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager told reporters.

Asked about whether a selective default was now likely, he replied: "It is not excluded any more. Obviously, the European Central Bank has stated in the statement that it did stick to its position, but the 17 (euro zone) ministers did not exclude it any more so we have more options, a broader scope."

Participants said a buy-back of Greek debt on the secondary market and a German proposal for a bond swap for longer maturities were under consideration after a complex French plan to roll over bonds made no headway.

Both would likely be regarded by ratings agencies as a default, or at best a selective default, which, although it would not necessarily cover all Greek debt and could be lifted quickly, would have major repercussions for financial markets.

The Institute of International Finance, the lobby group representing private creditors, said the EU and IMF needed to deliver a plan for Greece, including a debt buyback, within days to avoid markets "spinning out of control.

The increased likelihood of some form of default, and a lukewarm response from the IMF, hit European bank stocks and debt markets and propelled the euro sharply lower against the dollar though markets later settled down.

Ten-year bond yields in Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, shot above six percent for the first time since 1997 but then subsided to around 5.7 percent, still at a level which bankers say will put heavy pressure on finances.

Borrowing costs at an Italian 12-month bill sale surged to their highest since the 2008 financial crisis, putting a Thursday bond auction firmly in focus.

In Rome, Berlusconi tried to calm fears Italy could be swept into full-scale crisis, pledging to accelerate debt-cutting measures and run a primary surplus this year.

The euro fell to a four-month low against the dollar before recovering, in part because IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the lender and its EU partners were not yet ready to discuss terms for a second Greek bailout.

"Nothing should be taken for granted," she told reporters in Washington.

Ratings agency Moody's has cut the Republic of Ireland's debt rating to junk status.

Moody's said its decision was based on the "growing possibility" that Ireland would need a second bail-out before it can return to capital markets.

The current European Union and International Monetary Fund support programme is due to end in late 2013.

It comes at a time when markets fear the debt crisis in the eurozone could spread to Italy and Spain.

Ireland, Greece and Portugal have all been downgraded by ratings agencies several times in recent months.

Last week, the European Commission raised the issue of the "appropriateness of behaviour" of agencies, and Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis said the agencies had exacerbated an already difficult situation.

In its latest downgrade, Moody's cut Ireland's ratings by one notch to Ba1 from Baa3.

And the agency warned that further downgrades were possible if the Irish government failed to meet its deficit reduction targets, or if Greece were to default, thereby causing further market disruption.

News Corp has announced plans to buy back $5bn (£3.2bn) of its shares as it attempts to contain the phone-hacking scandal that has sent its share price down in recent days.

News Corp shares have fallen 14% since 4 July after the scandal broke, wiping about $5bn off the company's value.

The group said in a statement that it would increase an existing buy-back programme of about $1.8bn to $5bn.

The move followed investor pressure to support the stock.

It came a day after News Corp's bid to take full control of British broadcaster BSkyB was referred to the Competition Commission in the UK.

The bid has faced growing opposition since it emerged that the News of the World, which was owned by News Corp, hacked the phones of murder victim Milly Dowler and relatives of dead soldiers.

The News of the World has since closed.

Shares in News Corp rose more than 2% when the buy-back was announced, but later fell back.

The US trade deficit widened to $50.2bn (£31.7bn) in May, the highest level for 31 months, as oil imports surged.

The trade gap rose from a downwardly revised $43.6bn in April, according to Commerce Department figures.

Oil prices helped push imports to the second highest level on record, while exports fell slightly from April's record high.

The unexpected 2.6% rise in imports to $225.1bn may prompt economists to revise US domestic growth figures.

The data shows that the trade gap with China jumped more than 15% to $25bn.

US companies imported $32.8bn of goods and services from China and exported $7.8bn to the country.

Billionaire US investor Warren Buffett has donated another $1.78bn (£1.1bn) to several charities, with most going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mr Buffett has given the charity run by the co-founder of Microsoft 23.31 million shares in his investment company Berkshire Hathaway.

The shares were passed to the foundation on Wednesday, when they closed trading at $76.52.

Mr Buffett, 80, plans to give away 99% of his wealth.

He first announced this in 2006, and this week's giant donation is his sixth since then.

Other shares transferred on Wednesday have gone to four charities run by his family.

These include the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation, which was named after Mr Buffett's late first wife, and charities run by their children, Howard, Peter and Susan.

Mr Buffet has now donated more than $11bn of shares in Berkshire Hathaway.

Described as the "Sage of Omaha" because of his investment acumen, Mr Buffet is the world's third-richest person, worth an estimated $50bn.

The pace of growth of imports to China slowed down in June as the government's efforts to rein in growth hit domestic demand.

Imports to China grew by 19.3% in June, compared with a year ago, a sharp decline from the 28.4% surge in May, latest government data showed.

Meanwhile exports rose by 17.9%, a slowdown compared to the 19.4% rise in the previous month.

China is the world's second largest economy and the biggest exporter.

The weaker-than-expected numbers resulted in a trade surplus of $22.3bn (£13.8bn) in June.

"Imports were below expectations," said David Cohen of Action Economics in Singapore.

"We are perhaps seeing some reflection of loss of momentum in China's growth," he added.

Mr Cohen said that the recent measures by China to tighten its monetary policy were starting to have an impact on the pace of growth in the country.

"The numbers are consistent with decelerating growth, with the soft landing that many people are looking for," he said.

Analysts are concerned that domestic demand is also being hit by rising consumer prices in the country.

Data out on Saturday showed that inflation in China hit its highest level in three years as prices rose by 6.4% in June, compared with a year ago.

The cost of borrowing for debt-laden Portugal, the Irish Republic and Italy hit new highs on Friday.

Greek debts also sold off, reversing a recent rally on hopes of a new rescue.

Financial markets were reacting to the European Central Bank's decision to raise interest rates, as well as political developments in Italy.

Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti, a key figure in shoring up the country's finances, has been drawn into a corruption scandal.

Corruption charges

There is growing speculation that the economy minister may have to step down after Neapolitan prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for his close associate, Marco Milanese, on corruption charges.

The minister - who is seen as a stalwart defender of budget discipline - is seen as increasingly isolated within the Italian government.

Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will amend Mr Tremonti's draft budget in parliament, criticising his own minister:

"He is worried about the markets, I understand him. But I always remind him that in politics the result is made up of consensus and votes. He isn't interested in consensus, but we are."

Italy has seen a sharp rise in its 10-year cost of borrowing over the last week, rising from 4.85% to 5.3% - suggesting markets now view the country as almost as risky as recession-hit Spain, which must pay 5.65%.

Short-lived respite

Meanwhile Greece, the Republic of Ireland and particularly Portugal have seen the value of their debts in financial markets plummet further.

Their implied costs of borrowing in markets for three years now stand at 28%, 16.3% and 18.6% respectively.

The latest sell-off comes as it became increasingly clear that the European Central Bank was more concerned with fighting inflation - which required an interest rate rise from 1.25% to 1.5% on Thursday - than in holding down borrowing costs for embattled governments.

It follows what had been a short-lived respite in the market. Borrowing costs had fallen briefly on expectations that the eurozone would arrange a second bail-out package for Greece after the parliament in Athens pushed through further painful austerity measures.

Inflation in China has risen to its highest level for three years, despite a series of interest rate rises and curbs on bank lending.

Prices in June rose 6.4% from a year earlier, well above the rate for May.

Analysts say Chinese authorities are concerned that the rising cost of basic foodstuffs could fuel social unrest.

The price of pork - a staple of the Chinese diet - has reached a new high, while crop-growing regions have been hit by severe flooding.

The Chinese government has made tackling inflation its top priority and interest rates have been raised three times this year.

Many economists expect China's inflation to cool in the second half of the year as world oil prices ease.

However, they are watching for evidence that higher costs are filtering into a broader swathe of the economy.

A report from China's CCBIS bank released earlier suggested that inflation would peak at 6.2% in June.

Earlier this month, Premier Wen Jiabao promised that pork prices would begin to fall in the coming months.

"With the implementation of government measures, price rises will be curbed effectively," he said during a visit to a market.