'Breaking Dawn' rises to $283.5M worldwide debut

In this image released by Summit Entertainment, Kristen Stewart, foreground, and Robert Pattinson are shown in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1." (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Andrew Cooper)

In this image released by Summit Entertainment, Kristen Stewart, foreground, and Robert Pattinson are shown in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1." (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Andrew Cooper)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "The Twilight Saga" has staked out another huge opening with a $139.5 million first weekend domestically and a worldwide launch of $283.5 million.

The domestic total gives "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" the second-best debut weekend for the franchise, after the $142.8 million launch for 2009's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." ''Breaking Dawn" did more than half of its business, $72 million, on opening day Friday, while the movie's debut weekend was the fifth-best on record.

Opening in 54 overseas markets, "Breaking Dawn" pulled in $144 million internationally, according to studio estimates Sunday.

But the Warner Bros. dancing penguin sequel "Happy Feet 2" stumbled in its debut, pulling in just $22 million over opening weekend. That's barely half what the first film in the animated franchise earned in its 2006 opening.

The comparison is even worse considering the original did not have the sequel's price advantage for 3-D screenings, which cost a few dollars more than 2-D shows.

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Relativity Media's action tale "Immortals," fell to third-place with $12.3 million, raising its domestic haul to $53 million.

George Clooney had a great start with Fox Searchlight's comic drama "The Descendants," which broke into the top-10 despite playing in just a handful of theaters.

"The Descendants" finished at No. 10 with $1.2 million in 29 theaters, averaging a whopping $42,150 a cinema. That compares to an average of $34,351 in 4,061 theaters for "Breaking Dawn."

Directed by Alexander Payne ("Sideways"), the film stars Clooney as a distressed dad tending to his daughters after his wife falls into a coma from a head injury. The film expands to about 400 theaters Wednesday.

In an industry whose main audience is young males, "Twilight" is a rare blockbuster franchise driven by female viewers. Distributor Summit Entertainment reported that women and girls made up 80 percent of the audience for "Breaking Dawn."

The popularity of "Twilight" has left many men scratching their heads, even those involved in releasing the movies.

"I'm 53 years old, and I haven't figured it out yet," said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit. "It relates really to young girls and things that are important to them, their romantic ideas of love and relationships, without getting so physical, at least on screen, that it becomes a worry for their parents."

"Breaking Dawn" has brooding teen Bella (Kristen Stewart) marrying vampire lover Edward (Robert Pattinson), whose family strikes an uneasy alliance with jealous werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) to protect the bride and the baby she's carrying.

The movie's big start points to even better business for next year's "Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," the finale in the five-film series based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novels.

"Breaking Dawn" was a windfall for Hollywood in general, whose domestic revenues continue to trail 2010's despite rosy projections last spring of a record box-office year.

Domestic business totaled $222 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" led with $125 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The penguins of "Happy Feet 2" were left in the cold compared with the big debut for the first film, a critical favorite that won the Academy Award for feature animation.

The sequel, featuring returning voice stars Elijah Wood and Robin Williams, received mixed to bad reviews. Still, Warner Bros. reported it earned high marks from audiences, which could keep it afloat in the coming weeks.

"We honestly feel we'll pick up some steam and play some catch-up as we get into the holidays," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner.

But the competition for family audiences turns intense in the next few days with Martin Scorsese's youthful adventure "Hugo," the musical comedy "The Muppets" and the animated holiday tale "Arthur Christmas" all opening Wednesday for the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The newcomers, combined with "Breaking Dawn," could lift Hollywood above the Thanksgiving record set in 2009, when "New Moon" paced the industry to a $273 million domestic haul from Wednesday to Sunday.

"This could be one of the greatest movie-going weekends ever in the midst of a year that has really had its ups and downs at the box office," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $139.5 million ($144 million international)

2. "Happy Feet 2," $22 million.

3. "Immortals," $12.3 million ($11.9 million international).

4. "Jack and Jill," $12 million.

5. "Puss in Boots," $10.7 million ($2.4 million international).

6. "Tower Heist," $7 million ($4.5 million international).

7. "J. Edgar," $5.9 million.

8. "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," $2.9 million.

9. "In Time," $1.7 million.

10. "The Descendants," $1.2 million.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $144 million.

2. "The Adventures of Tintin," $21.7 million.

3. "Immortals," $11.9 million.

4. "Real Steel," $6.9 million.

5. "Moneyball," $5.4 million.

6. "Arthur Christmas," $5 million.

7. "Tower Heist," $4.5 million.

8. "In Time," $4.2 million.

9. "The Lion King," $3.6 million.

10. "Paranormal Activity 3," $3.4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-11-20-Box%20Office/id-1681acf6b50c4507b9e6446be7815d0f

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Court asks 2 lawyers to argue in health care case

(AP) ? The Supreme Court has brought in two more lawyers to argue in front of them next year as justices decide the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The court on Friday asked veteran lawyers H. Bartow Farr III and Robert A. Long to be part of next March's arguments.

The justices will decide whether the government has the power to force people to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty in 2015.

Farr will argue the position that even if the government cannot force people to buy health insurance, the rest of the massive overhaul law can go into effect. Long will argue that the court's review of the health care law is premature.

That's the outcome reached by the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-18-Supreme%20Court-Health%20Care/id-d201060811d84ab98792c733a5adcc15

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Cain receives Secret Service protection (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Herman Cain on Thursday became the first Republican presidential candidate to receive Secret Service protection.

Cain asked for the security and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and congressional leaders approved his request Thursday, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirmed.

There have been threats against Cain, who had been experiencing a bounce in the polls, according to an official with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the situation. The nature of the threats was unclear.

Donovan would not say whether there had been any threats or discuss why protection was being provided.

The campaign confirmed in an email early Friday that Cain was receiving federal protection.

"Due to the recent surge in the polls and the large crowds of enthusiastic supporters at recent campaign events, we are appreciative of the extra level of protection provided by these elite professionals," the Cain campaign said in a statement.

While it's unknown whether a specific incident triggered the request, police reports show that Cain's campaign has been the target of a threatening phone call on at least one occasion.

On June 1, Cain's campaign office in Stockbridge, Ga., reported receiving a call from someone who did not identify himself but who claimed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The man said that Cain, who is black, should not run for the White House.

"Tell him not to run" and "there's no such thing as a black Republican," the man said, according to a written statement Cain's administrative assistant, Lisa Reichert, gave to the police. The caller did not explicitly threaten violence.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the police reports using Georgia's open records law.

Local police alerted the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service to the incident.

Secret Service protection is given to each major party's presidential nominee but can be provided earlier if the Homeland Security Department approves a campaign's request.

When then-Sen. Barack Obama was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, it was the earliest ever for a presidential candidate. One of his rivals, Hillary Rodham Clinton, already had a protective detail because she was a former first lady.

In the 2004 campaign, Democratic candidates John Kerry and John Edwards received their protection in February of that year as they competed for the party's nomination.

Federal law allows candidates to seek protection if they meet a series of standards, including public prominence as measured by polls and fundraising.

Napolitano consulted Thursday with a congressional advisory committee made up of the House speaker, the House and Senate majority and minority leaders and the House sergeant-at-arms, the chief law enforcement officer in the House.

____

Associated Press writer Ray Henry in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain_secret_service

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[OOC] Central Academy: A new year

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Pakistan bans 'monkey crotch', 'Jesus Christ'

Pakistan's telecommunications agency has issued a list of words that it considers obscene or offensive, telling mobile phone companies to block text messages that contain them.

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The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) deemed 586 Urdu words and 1,109 English words offensive or pornographic, according to reports in local media.

Some are expletives or sexual words while others are medical terms, but some entries have left many scratching their heads.

Pakistan's list of banned words met with ridicule

Included in the list are words such as "intercourse," "condom" and "breast," as well as seemingly ordinary words like "period," "hostage" and "flatulence."

Among the more bizarre are "monkey crotch," "wuutang" and "Jesus Christ."

Pakistan's Express Tribune published more of the words on its website.

Meant to control spam
The letter, dated Nov. 14, was leaked to Pakistani media and an unverified copy has been published on scribd.com.

The PTA instructed mobile phone companies to begin screening text messages by Nov. 21.

According to the letter, the PTA says blocking the texts is meant to control spamming, which it defines as "the transmission of harmful, fraudulent, misleading, illegal or unsolicited messages in bulk to any person without express permission of the recipient."

Mobile phone companies Telenor Pakistan and Ufone confirmed to BBC News that they had received the memo and the "dictionary."

A spokesman for the PTA, meanwhile, told The Guardian newspaper that the move was in response to complaints from customers who said they were receiving offensive text messages.

"Nobody would like this happening to their young boy or girl," Mohammad Younis said.

Pakistanis have been reacting to the news on Twitter, sometimes wondering what the words and expressions mean.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45352418/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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A Bullet Hit the White House [Crime]

The Secret Service just said that bullets hit the White House. One of the bullets smashed a window but was stopped by ballistic glass on the interior and another was found on the White House's exterior. Everybody seems to be safe. More »


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Democrats, Republicans far apart on deficit deal

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate GOP whip, heads through the Capitol to a closed-door meeting with other Republican members of the Supercommittee, in Washington, Tuesday morning, Nov. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate GOP whip, heads through the Capitol to a closed-door meeting with other Republican members of the Supercommittee, in Washington, Tuesday morning, Nov. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, walks through the Capitol after a closed-door meeting with Democratic members of the Supercommittee, in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, is seen following a Republican strategy session at the Capitol, Tuesday morning in Washington, Nov. 15, 2011. With the Supercommittee at an impasse and only eight days until the Nov. 23 deadline, Boehner met behind closed doors with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(AP) ? A Democrat on a special deficit-cutting "supercommittee" Wednesday questioned whether Republicans are still interested in negotiating after the panel's top GOP member said Republicans have "gone as far as we feel we can go" on tax hikes.

A sense of deep pessimism has gripped the supercommittee, and judging from the limited public statement by panel members, a debt bargain could be out of reach.

"We need to find out whether our Republican colleagues want to continue to negotiate or whether they've drawn a hard line in the sand," said supercommittee Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. "The question is whether they've kind of said 'take it or leave it.' "

Van Hollen made his comments after co-chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, told CNBC Tuesday evening that the bipartisan debt supercommittee is "somewhat stymied for the moment" because panel Democrats are insisting on tax increases of up to $1 trillion in exchange for cost curbs on rapidly spiraling benefit programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

The top Democrat on the deficit supercommittee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said Wednesday morning that it's a "critical day" for the panel but that Democrats "are not going to accept a plan that gives a tax break to the wealthiest and balance all of this incredible (deficit) challenge on the backs of middle class families.

While the supercommittee struggles, a bipartisan gaggle of lawmakers urged the panel to "go big" and far exceed the minimum $1.2 trillion deficit target set for the panel this summer when it was established by a hard-fought budget and debt limit pact between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Failure would trigger across-the-board spending cuts that especially alarm defense hawks.

"This group can do it. And they need to know, if they are bold, if they are brave, if they go big, we will stand with them, and the American people will stand with them," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

The deficit for the just-completed budget year was $1.3 trillion, requiring the government to borrow 36 cents for every dollar it spends.

Under current policies, the government could run deficits near the $1 trillion range through the end of the decade. Even a successful negotiation that produces $1.2 trillion in cuts will still leave a deficit crisis that requires painful choices by policymakers on taxes and benefits programs, budget experts agree.

Backbiting has intensified since an exchange of offers. The Democrats' most recent plan called for $2.3 trillion in deficit cuts, including a $1 trillion tax increase over the coming decade. Republicans countered with almost $300 billion in new tax revenues as part of a $1.5 trillion debt plan, an offer that even a top Democrat, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, called a breakthrough.

"The Democrats won't put a plan on the table to solve the problem, and anything they do that even remotely addresses health care, even superficially, they're insisting on" a $1 trillion tax increase, Hensarling said. "It's not going to happen."

Democrats have signaled privately that they're willing to lower their demands on tax increases somewhat ? perhaps to $800 billion over a decade ? but there's no sign that Republicans could accept that bargain.

Boehner publicly blessed the GOP offer on taxes Tuesday, bucking opposition by some GOP presidential hopefuls and colleagues wary of violating a longstanding point of party orthodoxy. But there's restiveness on his conservative flank

The supercommittee has until a week from Wednesday to vote on any compromise, but several officials said that in reality, perhaps as little as 48 or 72 hours are available to the six Republicans and six Democrats.

While Boehner's voice is important, his endorsement does not mean all Republicans will follow him or that a deal is in sight. Republicans have been unified for two decades in opposition to higher taxes, while Democrats on the supercommittee insist on additional revenue before they will agree to cuts in benefit programs as part of a compromise.

Boehner said the plan, outlined a week ago to Democrats on the committee, was "a fair offer." Adding an overhaul of the federal tax code would generate economic growth, he said.

But Boehner's chief lieutenant, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. ? who pulled out of talks led by Vice President Joe Biden this summer over Democrats' tax demands ? has declined to endorse the GOP's $300 billion offer on taxes, even though it's been endorsed by conservative stalwarts like Hensarling and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

The full committee hasn't met in several days, but various subgroups have been in near constant contact.

More than deficit reduction is at stake, one year into an era of divided government.

Democrats are hoping to add elements of President Barack Obama's jobs legislation to any deficit-cutting deal, including extensions of a Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits that are due to expire at the end of the year. But their proposal to use savings from shrinking war spending is opposed by some Republicans.

A comprehensive rewrite of farm programs may hang in the balance, too, and lawmakers also must pass legislation to ensure sufficient funds to reimburse doctors who treat Medicare patients.

The twin issues of taxes and benefit programs have long been stumbling blocks in budget negotiations.

In negotiations last summer, according to numerous officials, Obama and Boehner were considering sizable cuts to benefit programs as well as tax reform that would have raised as much as $800 billion in additional revenue. The talks ultimately failed.

Republican leaders still support the concept of swapping modest tax increases for a tax overhaul. And they say that's a good deal, especially since the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of next year.

"It's important for us to, in my opinion, reform the tax code," Boehner said. "And we've got the highest business tax rate in the world. We've got a personal tax system that's so complicated it costs Americans about $500 billion a year to comply with the current tax code," he said.

Republican officials say the GOP offer envisions an overhaul that would drop the top tax rate on personal income to 28 percent from the current 35 percent and shave or eliminate some itemized deductions that are commonly used. The top corporate rate would fall also.

Despite Boehner's comments, GOP presidential contenders Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry said they were prepared to oppose a plan along the lines of the one under consideration. Another candidate, Mitt Romney, brushed aside a question on the subject.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-16-Debt%20Supercommittee/id-c18c749b8874420c97cc78bfe07c6a29

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Vaccines group plans to buy cervical cancer shots (AP)

LONDON ? A global vaccines group says it is working to buy shots to protect up to 2 million women and young girls in poor countries from cervical cancer.

After a meeting in Bangladesh this week, the GAVI alliance said women and young girls in nine developing countries might be immunized against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer, by 2015.

But the group says buying the vaccines depends on whether it can negotiate a reasonable price from manufacturers and whether countries can prove they can actually deliver the shots.

The GAVI alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the vaccine industry and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. HPV causes about 275,000 cervical cancer deaths every year, of which 88 percent occur in poor countries.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_buying_vaccines

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Angry over spying, Muslims say: 'Don't call NYPD' (AP)

NEW YORK ? Fed up with a decade of the police spying on the innocuous details of the daily lives of Muslims, activists in New York are discouraging people from going directly to the police with their concerns about terrorism, a campaign that is certain to further strain relations between the two groups.

Muslim community leaders are openly teaching people how to identify police informants, encouraging them to always talk to a lawyer before speaking with the authorities and reminding people already working with law enforcement that they have the right to change their minds. Some members of the community have planned a demonstration for next week.

Some government officials point to this type of outreach as proof that Muslims aren't cooperating in the fight against terrorism, justifying the aggressive spy tactics, while many in the Muslim community view it as a way to protect themselves from getting snared in a secret police effort to catch terrorists.

As a result, one of America's largest Muslim communities ? in a city that's been attacked twice and targeted more than a dozen times ? is caught in a downward spiral of distrust with the nation's largest police department: The New York City Police Department spies on Muslims, which makes them less likely to trust police. That reinforces the belief that the community is secretive and insular, a belief that current and former NYPD officials have said was one of the key reasons for spying in the first place.

The outreach campaign follows an Associated Press investigation that revealed the NYPD had dispatched plainclothes officers to eavesdrop in Muslim communities, often without any evidence of wrongdoing. Restaurants serving Muslims were identified and photographed. Hundreds of mosques were investigated, and dozens were infiltrated. Police used the information to build ethnic databases on daily life inside Muslim neighborhoods.

Many of these programs were developed with the help of the CIA.

At a recent "Know Your Rights" session for Brooklyn College students, someone asked why Muslims who don't have anything to hide should avoid talking to police.

"Most of the time it's a fishing expedition," answered Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York. "So the safest thing you can do for yourself, your family and for your community, is not to answer."

New York Republican Rep. Peter King said this kind of reaction from the Muslim community is "disgraceful."

Muslim groups have previously organized educational programs around the country describing a person's legal rights, such as when they must present identification to a police officer and when they can refuse to answer police questions. A California chapter of a national Muslim organization produced a poster that warned Muslims not to talk to the FBI. The national organization ultimately asked the California branch to take down the poster.

In New York, the AP stories about the NYPD and internal police documents have outraged some Muslims and provided evidence of tactics that they suspected were being used to watch them all along. These disclosures have intensified the outreach campaigns in New York.

A recently distributed brochure from the City University of New York Law School warns people to be wary when confronted by someone who advocates violence against the U.S., discusses terror organizations, is overly generous or is aggressive in their interactions. The brochure said that person could be a police informant.

"Be very careful about involving the police," the brochure said. "If the individual is an informant, the police may not do anything ... If the individual is not an informant and you report them, the unintended consequences could be devastating."

Sweeping skepticism of police affects community relations with all levels of law enforcement on a wide range of issues, not just the NYPD's counterterrorism programs. Interactions with a real terror operative could go unreported to law enforcement out of an assumption that the operative is actually working for the NYPD. A victim of domestic abuse or street violence may not trust the police enough to call for help.

Retired New York FBI agent Don Borelli said intelligence gathering is key to police work, not just in terrorism cases. But he said it can backfire when people feel their rights are being violated.

"When they do, these kinds of programs are actually counterproductive, because they undermine trust and drive a wedge between the community and police," said Borelli, now a security consultant with the Soufan Group.

Since the 2001 terror attacks, the NYPD, city government officials and federal law enforcement have spent years building relationships with the New York Muslim community, assuring many Muslims that they are considered partners in the city's fight against terrorism. But in some cases, community members who have been hailed as partners and even dined with Mayor Michael Bloomberg were secretly followed by the NYPD or worked in mosques that the department had infiltrated, according to secret NYPD documents obtained by the AP.

"There's not a reference here to the fact that New York is the No. 1 target of Islamic terrorists, that the NYPD and the FBI have protected New York," King said, referring to one of the recent brochures about detecting police informants.

King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has held a series of hearings about the threat of radicalization within American Muslim communities and the level of cooperation members of the community provide to law enforcement. Muslim and civil rights advocacy groups have decried the hearings and pointed to terror cases around the country in which members of the Muslim community helped law enforcement foil plots.

New York Muslim community groups say they've held dozens of meetings for people who are worried about police surveillance and the NYPD's counterterrorism programs. In one instance, an audience of college students watched as a law student played out the role of a police informant and another played the role of the person the informant was targeting. The goal was to teach people to spot informants.

"Stay away from these people. That's one of the most powerful things you can do," said Robin Gordon-Leavitt, a member of an advocacy organization Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility.

At another meeting, organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, students watched a film of two actors portraying FBI agents talking their way into a young Muslim's home and interrogating him. At the meeting, students were warned not to speak with police even if their parents, imams or Muslim clerics urge them to cooperate.

"You'll even hear imams saying, `As long as I obey the law, I have nothing to worry about.' But that's not how it plays out on the ground," said Cyrus McGoldrick, CAIR New York's civil rights manager.

CAIR has had a strained relationship with law enforcement and was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorist financing case.

The Muslim community wants an independent commission to investigate all NYPD and CIA operations in the Muslim community.

___

Sullivan reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman contributed to this report from Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/terrorism/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_re_us/us_nypd_intelligence

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Police move in on Portland park, protesters remain (AP)

PORTLAND, Ore. ? Several hundred protesters, some wearing goggles and gas masks, marched past authorities in a downtown street Sunday, hours after riot police forced Occupy Portland demonstrators out of a pair of weeks-old encampments in nearby parks.

Police moved in shortly before noon and drove protesters into the street after dozens remained in the camp in defiance city officials. Mayor Sam Adams had ordered that the camp shut down Saturday at midnight, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment's attraction of drug users and thieves.

More than 50 protesters were arrested in the police action, but officers did not use tear gas, rubber bullets or other so-called non-lethal weapons, police said.

After the police raid, the number of demonstrators swelled throughout the afternoon. By early evening, dozens of officers brandishing nightsticks stood shoulder-to-shoulder to hold the protesters back. Authorities retreated and protesters broke the standoff by marching through the streets.

Demonstrators regrouped several blocks away, where they broke into small groups to discuss their future. Some advocated occupying foreclosed homes, others wanted to move onto the Portland State University campus or to the shores of the Willamette River.

The Oregonian reported that many spent hours trying to figure out where protesters without homes could stay. The gathering began to thin out around 8 p.m. KATU said that shortly before 10 p.m., about two dozen demonstrators marched back to area of the encampment, but there was no word of any police resistance.

In the hours after the midnight eviction deadline, the anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters had flooded the park area even as authorities in other cities across the nation stepped up pressure against demonstrators, arresting dozens of people.

At one point overnight, the Portland crowd swelled to thousands. As dawn arrived, riot police had retreated and most of the crowds had gone home, but protesters who have been at the two parks since Oct. 6 were still there, prompting one organizer to declare the night a victory for the movement.

"We stood up to state power," Jim Oliver told The Associated Press.

It didn't last. Police moved in later as demonstrators held a midday "general assembly" meeting to discuss their next moves. An officer on a loudspeaker warned that anyone who resisted risked arrest and "may also be subject to chemical agents and impact weapons." Demonstrators chanted "we are a peaceful protest."

"We were talking about what we were going to do and then they just started hitting people. Seems like a waste of resources to me," protester Mike Swain, 27, told the AP.

One man was taken away on a stretcher; he was alert and talking to paramedics, and raised a peace sign to fellow protesters, who responded with cheers.

Choya Adkison, 30, said police moved in after giving demonstrators a false sense of calm. They thought they had time to rest, relax and regroup, she said

"Camp was completely vulnerable, completely defenseless" when police moved in, she said. "I'm disappointed that they created a sense of trust by walking away and then completely trampled it."

City officials erected temporary chain-link fences with barbed wire at the top around three adjacent downtown parks, choking off access for demonstrators as parks officials cleaned up.

Police Chief Mike Reese told KGW-TV it was his plan to take the parks in a peaceful manner and that's what happened.

"Our officers have performed exceptionally well," he said.

Even ahead of the police raid, the camp was a shadow of what it had been before Saturday. A large segment of campers were homeless people drawn to the free food and shelter offered by Occupy Portland. They are gone, after outreach workers went through the camp to help them find shelter elsewhere.

And as the Saturday midnight eviction deadline neared, protesters themselves began dismantling tents.

Around 4 a.m., dozens of police formed a line across from demonstrators who had poured into the street. Protesters facing them appeared to be in festive spirits with some banging on drums and plastic pails, another clanging a cowbell while others danced in the streets as a man juggled nearby.

On Sunday at an impromptu news conference, the mayor defended his order to clear the park, saying it is his job to enforce the law and keep the peace. "This is not a game," Adams said.

Officials said that one officer suffered minor injuries when he was hit by some kind of projectile in the leg. Police had prepared for a possible clash, warning that dozens of anarchists may be planning a confrontation with authorities. Officers seized pieces of cement blocks Friday, saying they were told some demonstrators had plans to use them as weapons against police. They said they believe some demonstrators were building shields and trying to collect gas masks.

And police seized incendiary devices, gas masks and marijuana on Sunday after stopping three men for speeding on Interstate 5 south of Portland. The men told police they had left Occupy Portland an hour earlier and were carrying the equipment in anticipation of a confrontation with authorities, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

Meanwhile in Oakland, Calif., friends confirmed Sunday that Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran who suffered a serious head injury during a police raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment, has been released from the hospital. Olsen suffered a skull fracture during tear-gas filled clashes between police and demonstrators on Oct. 25.

Dottie Guy of Iraq Veterans Against the War said Sunday Olsen was released last week. He can now read and write, but still has trouble talking, she added.

"Considering what happened to him he's doing well," Guy said. "He does have a brain injury so there will be some kind of rehab and physical therapy needed."

Occupy Wall Street supporters nationwide have rallied around Olsen's plight.

Also Sunday, for the third time in three days, Oakland city officials warned protesters that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest. Police did not respond to requests for comment on whether officers were preparing to forcibly clear the camp.

The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire. Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.

Police Sunday night identified the slain man as 25-year-old Kayode Ola Foster of Oakland, saying his family confirmed he had been staying at the plaza.

Police officer Johnna Watson said witnesses have told police that one of two suspects in the shooting had also been a frequent resident at the plaza. The suspects are being sought and their names haven't been released.

Investigators suspect that the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men.

Protesters had said earlier that there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.

The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vt., Occupy encampment. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head. They said the death raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.

In other cities over the weekend:

? In Salt Lake City, police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man as found dead inside his tent at the encampment. The arrests came after police moved into the park early in the evening where protesters had been ordered to leave by the end of the day. About 150 people had been living in the camp there for weeks.

? In Albany, N.Y., police arrested 24 Occupy Albany protesters after they defied an 11 p.m. curfew in a state-owned park. State police officials hauled away the protesters after warning them with megaphones that they were breaking the law in Lafayette Park. They were charged with trespassing.

? In Denver, authorities forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four people for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

? In San Francisco, violence marked the protest Saturday where police said two demonstrators attacked two police officers in separate incidents during a march. Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi said a protester slashed an officer's hand with a pen knife while another protester shoved an officer, causing facial cuts. He said neither officer was seriously hurt, and the assailants couldn't be located.

___

Associated Press writers Terry Collins in Oakland, Josh Loftin in Salt Lake City, Jim Anderson in Denver and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_re_us/us_occupy_protests

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