US Black Friday sales disappoint

2 December 2013 Last updated at 16:57 ET

Sales on the year's biggest shopping weekend dipped for the first time in seven years, according to the National Retail Federation.

US consumers spent around $1.7bn less over the holiday weekend, with the average shopper spending $407.02 from Thursday to Sunday.

That's down from $423.55 in 2012.

Retailers blamed stagnant wages and economic uncertainty for keeping wallets shut, as they slashed prices to lure reluctant shoppers.

In total, the National Retail Federation estimates that US shoppers spent around $57.4bn this year, down 2.7% from $59.1bn last year.

Sales on Black Friday itself were down, as retailers opened stores on Thanksgiving Thursday and offered more details earlier in the week to entice shoppers.

According to ShopperTrack, a market research firm, Black Friday foot traffic was down 11% and sales slumped by 13%.

Cyber Monday solution?

Despite the gloomy start to holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said it still expected holiday sales to surpass last year's spending.

One beacon of hope for nervous retailers is that US consumers have spent more on online shopping than ever before.

"We expect Cyber Monday to be bigger than ever," said National Retail Federation's Matthew Shay in a statement.

The day, launched in 2005 by online retail association Shop.org, became the biggest US online shopping day in 2011, according to comScore.

But it's not just one day any more: in an effort to lure penny-pinched shoppers, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, declared this entire week "Cyber Week" and said it would offer sales every hour throughout the period.

However, Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy have all lowered their holiday shopping forecasts, pointing to declining consumer confidence, high unemployment, and increasing price competition as hurting their bottom lines.

Source: National Retail Federation
2005	$27.8
2006	$34.4
2007	$34.6
2008	$41.0
2009	$41.2
2010	$45.0
2011	$52.4
2012	$59.1
2013	$57.4

Global growth

But if US consumers are unwilling to part with their dollars, international brands may take comfort in the increasingly global nature of Black Friday.

According to Borderfree, a company that helps build global online shopping sites for companies like Macy's and J. Crew, US retailers saw online sales to international consumers rise 50% this Black Friday compared to last year.

Shoppers in Russia, South Korea, China, Germany and Sweden were the biggest spenders.

And Borderfree says retailers can expect a "second peak" on Cyber Monday.

By one estimate, shoppers on the UK are expected to shell out £450m, or 16% more this year

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Crashed NY train 'over speed limit'

2 December 2013 Last updated at 18:27 ET

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Investigators are examining whether mechanical fault or human error led to the excessive speed

A train that crashed on Sunday in New York City was going 82mph (132 km/h) in a 30mph zone when it ran off the rails, investigators have said.

Four people were killed and more than 60 injured in New York's Bronx borough.

The Metro-North train from Poughkeepsie to New York City crashed about 07:20 local time (12:20 GMT) on a curve.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating whether a mechanical failure or human error caused the train's high speed.

'So many questions'

The train appeared to have been travelling over the speed limit even before it thundered into the curve where it crashed - the speed limit on the track approaching the curve is 70mph, NTSB board member Earl Weener said on Monday.

New York Senator Charles Schumer called the locomotive's speed "frightening".

"The fact that it was going 82mph even before the curve raises so many questions, and it's scary," Mr Schumer said, adding that the rail line's tracks and signals appeared to have been in working order at the time of the accident.

Mr Weener said the train had made nine stops prior to the derailment, and officials had not yet uncovered any brake problems.

He said preliminary data from the train's event recorders indicated the train's brakes became fully engaged just five seconds before the locomotive came to a complete stop after the crash.

In addition, he said the locomotive's throttle went to idle six seconds before the train came to a stop.

Authorities continue to question the train's engineer and three other crew members, and planned to transport the locomotive to a secure facility for further examination.

Officials were examining the engineer's mobile phone - a standard procedure, Mr Weener said.

The engineer and assistant conductor were both injured in the crash.

Authorities also obtained surveillance video of the derailment from a nearby bridge, but the picture was of low quality, he added.

'Spinal injury'

Officials have identified the deceased as Donna Smith, 54, James Lovell, 58, James Ferrari, 59, and Ahn Kisook, 35. Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside.

Of the 150 or so who were on board, 11 remain critically injured.

One man suffered a spinal cord injury that could leave him paralysed from the neck down, a doctor told CNN.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said the accident had raised questions about the safety and reliability of the Metro-North commuter rail line.

"Riders are losing patience, and so are a lot of us as public officials," he said.

Some 26,000 weekday commuters on the route were warned to brace for crowded trains on the first morning after the derailment.

Train service south of Spuyten Duyvil, the Bronx neighbourhood where the crash occurred, remains suspended, Metro-North said on Monday morning. Buses were being provided to the New York subway system.

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Two eyewitnesses who live in the area describe the scene

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Doctor Howard Katz says some of the injured had wounds "full of dirt"

The accident was the second passenger train derailment this year for Metro-North, which, until Sunday, had never experienced a passenger death in an accident in its 31-year history.

On 17 May, an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was struck by a westbound train. The crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor.

Eleven days later, a track foreman was struck and killed by a train in West Haven, Connecticut.

A freight train derailed near the same location as Sunday's accident in July, damaging about 1,500ft (457m) of track. No-one was hurt.

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Mexican ex-governor charged in US

3 December 2013 Last updated at 04:44 ET

US prosecutors have accused the former governor of the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Tomas Yarrington, of links with drug cartels.

Mr Yarrington, who was governor of the border state from 1999 to 2004, has been charged with money laundering.

Prosecutors say he accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the Gulf Cartel in return for allowing it to smuggle large amounts of cocaine into the US.

Mr Yarrington, who is being sought by the US, has denied the charges.

His lawyer said the charges were politically motivated and denied his client was hiding from the authorities.

According to the prosecution, Mr Yarrington started receiving payments from the Gulf drugs cartel when he was running for governor of Tamaulipas, a north-eastern Mexican state bordering Texas criss-crossed by drug smuggling routes.

He allegedly continued accepting the bribes during his tenure, investing the money in properties across Texas, The indictment also accuses Mr Yarrington of accepting cocaine in exchange for facilitating access to Mexican ports.

Mr Yarrington was suspended from the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) last year after allegations of his ties with the Gulf cartel surfaced.

The Gulf cartel is one of Mexico's largest criminal organisations with extensive international connections.

It engages in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and murder from its power base in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

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China: Canada spy reports 'baseless'

2 December 2013 Last updated at 19:14 ET

Chinese officials have dismissed allegations an Ontario engineer passed China secrets about Canada's national shipbuilding strategy.

Qing Quentin Huang, 53, was arrested on Saturday and charged with attempting to provide secret information to a foreign entity, police in Canada said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did not say whether Mr Huang had been successful in the alleged spying.

He faces a life sentence, and is due in court on Wednesday.

"The relevant reports about a Chinese-Canadian man suspected of providing information to the Chinese government are completely baseless," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters on Monday.

In a statement, the RCMP said the information in question pertained to Canada's national shipbuilding strategy, which includes patrol ships, frigates, naval auxiliary vessels, scientific research vessels and ice breakers.

"In these types of cases, sharing of information may give a foreign entity a tactical, military or competitive advantage by knowing the specifications of vessels responsible for defending Canadian waters and Canadian sovereignty," RCMP Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan said.

Mr Huang, from Waterdown, Ontario, worked for Lloyd's Register Canada since 2006. He faces two charges of attempting to communicate with a foreign entity information that the government of Canada is taking measures to safeguard.

Lloyd's Register Canada told Canadian media Mr Huang had been tasked with approving marine designs. The firm had recently worked on a contract for several Arctic patrol ships for the Canadian navy.

The company said he had been suspended without pay until the investigation was completed and that he had not been authorised to access classified information.

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Shark kills kayaker off Hawaii

2 December 2013 Last updated at 21:37 ET

A fisherman in a kayak has died after being attacked by a shark off the Hawaiian coast, officials say.

Patrick Briney, 57, of Stevenson, Washington, was paddling between the islands of Maui and Molokini when he was bitten by an unknown type of shark.

The man was taken by a friend to a nearby tour boat but died before reaching the Maui mainland.

It is the second fatal shark attack in Hawaii this year. A German tourist died following a shark attack in August.

Beaches closed

The fisherman was said to have been using artificial lures to attract fish when his foot was bitten by a shark on Monday morning, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The man's friend, kayaking nearby, applied a tourniquet and flagged a nearby charter tour boat for assistance.

The man was later transported to a local hospital but died from his injuries.

Department of Land and Natural Resources officials closed several nearby beaches following the attack, and are expected to reopen them sometime on Tuesday.

It is the eighth reported shark attack near Maui this year.

But, prior to an attack in August that claimed the life of a 20-year-old German tourist, no-one had been reported killed by a shark in Hawaii since 2004.

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Biden: US 'concerned' by China zone

3 December 2013 Last updated at 07:23 ET

The US remains "deeply concerned" about China's new air defence identification zone (ADIZ), Vice-President Joe Biden has told Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.

Following their meeting in Tokyo, Mr Biden said the zone increased the risk of accidents and miscalculations.

He called on China and Japan to improve communications to reduce the risk of escalations.

Mr Biden met Mr Abe on the first day of a six-day tour of East Asia, also taking in Beijing and Seoul.

The air zone row is likely to dominate the week of talks.

US-Japan alliance

Both the US and Japan have voiced strong criticism of China's establishment of an ADIZ that includes islands claimed and controlled by Japan. It also includes a submerged rock claimed by South Korea.

China says aircraft operating within its ADIZ must follow certain rules such as filing flight plans, or face "defensive emergency measures".

"We, the United States are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea," Mr Biden told a joint news conference with Mr Abe on Tuesday.

"This action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation. We are closely consulting with our allies on this matter here in Japan and in Korea which I will soon visit, later this week."

Mr Abe repeated his criticism of the Chinese move, and said Japan and the US would co-ordinate their response.

"We should not tolerate the attempt by China to change the status quo unilaterally by force. We will continue to work closely in dealing with the situation based on a strong US-Japan alliance," he said.

Reduce tensions

Continue reading the main story

• Zones do not necessarily overlap with airspace, sovereign territory or territorial claims
• States define zones, and stipulate rules that aircraft must obey; legal basis is unclear
• During WW2, US established an air perimeter and now maintains four separate zones - Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and a contiguous mainland zone
• UK, Norway, Japan and Canada also maintain zones

Source: aviationdevelopment.org

Mr Biden's most important task this week will be persuading Beijing and Tokyo to stop baiting each other, and to start talking about how to avoid an unintended clash, reports the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.

In written responses to Japan's Asahi newspaper earlier, Mr Biden said China and Japan had to establish measures to reduce tensions.

US, Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have all defied China's new rules and Japanese commercial carriers have agreed to a government request not to comply.

On Friday, China scrambled fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese planes flying in the area.

Tokyo has told its national carriers JAL and ANA not to file flight plans with the Chinese side when transiting the zone, but on Friday the US said it expected its carriers to "operate consistent with Notams (Notices to Airmen) issued by foreign countries".

This did not indicate "US government acceptance of China's requirements for operating in the newly-declared ADIZ", the state department said.

"Our general position as a US government is that we don't accept China's requirements," US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated on Monday.

Tensions between Japan and China have been high for months because of a territorial row over islands in the East China Sea.

Japan controls the islands, which are called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. They are also claimed by Taiwan and lie in a strategically important area south of Japan and north of Taiwan.

The US has described China's move as destabilising.

After Tokyo, Mr Biden heads to Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping and then travels on to South Korea.

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Arizona couple 'held girls captive'

28 November 2013 Last updated at 00:31 ET

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"It was 24/7 loud music, or, if they showed appreciation or enjoyment of the music... loud static", said Roberto Villasenor, Tucson Police Department

Police in Arizona say three sisters were held captive in filthy conditions for up to two years by their mother and stepfather in the city of Tucson.

Investigators say two of the girls, aged 12 and 13, escaped and alerted a neighbour after their stepfather tried to attack them with a knife.

Officers then found a 17-year-old locked in her bedroom.

The girls were malnourished and dirty and told the police they had not taken a bath in up to six months.

"They were kept in filthy living conditions separately and told patrol officers that they had not seen each other in almost two years," Tucson police captain Mike Gilooly told reporters.

Loud music

Stepfather Fernando Richter, 34 , and mother Sophia Richter, 32, have been charged with emotional and physical abuse and three counts of kidnapping. The stepfather was also charged with sex abuse.

The girls were allegedly held under 24-hour surveillance, with an elaborate alarm system and soundproofing of rooms.

"Their movements were controlled - when, where and how they went to the bathroom, when they were fed," said Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor.

Loud music was continuously played in the girls' bedrooms and towels had been stuffed into ducts and under the doors in an apparent attempt to muffle sound, Police Chief Villasenor told a news conference.

The girls have been removed from the house and are under the care of child protection services.

The two younger girls escaped through a window on Tuesday after their stepfather tried to break down a door while brandishing a knife, police said.

Investigators are examining a diary kept by the older sister during her alleged captivity.

They are also trying to establish if and where the girls went to school.

During a brief court appearances on Wednesday, neither parent entered a plea.

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US agrees to pay $50m after 'piracy'

28 November 2013 Last updated at 07:34 ET

The US government has agreed to pay $50m (£31m) after it was said to have pirated "thousands" of copies of military software.

Apptricity, based in Texas, has provided logistics programs to the army since 2004.

The company said it had discovered last year the software had been installed on many more machines than had been licensed.

The Department of Justice has not commented on the settlement.

The Dallas Morning News reported a DoJ spokeswoman had confirmed the agreement, but would not give more details.

Apptricity's software allows the military to track the movements of soldiers as well as key supplies.

It has also been used during relief efforts, most notably in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

According to court documents filed in 2012, the deal with the military meant up to 500 named users could access the software.

Presentation revelation

Apptricity later estimated that 9,000 users were accessing the program, in addition to the 500 that had been paid for.

The unauthorised copying only came to light after a US Army official mentioned "thousands" of devices running the software during a presentation on technology.

Apptricity called for $224m (£137m) to be paid to cover costs.

The settlement of $50m falls some way short - but in a statement the company said Apptricity would spend the sum on expanding the company.

"Apptricity is now incredibly energised to use the settlement resolution as a catalyst for aggressive investment in our team, our solutions and our untapped market opportunities," said Randy Lieberman, Apptricity's chief financial officer.

In recent years, the US government has stepped up efforts to combat piracy, announcing a wide-ranging strategy for clamping down in 2010.

"Piracy is theft, clean and simple," remarked vice-president Joe Biden at the time.

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New delay for US health law website

27 November 2013 Last updated at 17:41 ET

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Obamacare explained in 75 seconds

The Obama administration has announced another delay to its healthcare law, this time to online medical insurance for small businesses.

The marketplace website allowing employers to buy health coverage for their workers will be put off by one year until November 2014.

Ongoing problems with Healthcare.gov, beset by glitches since its 1 October launch, were blamed for the delay.

It is the latest setback for the law commonly known as Obamacare.

Enrolment for small businesses was originally meant to start in October, until the administration delayed it by a month. On Wednesday it pushed that deadline back again, by a full year.

Administration officials told reporters in a conference call that employers who want to buy healthcare plans for their workers would need to go through an insurance company or agent, rather than through a government website.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We have a lot of work left to do in the next few days"

End Quote Julie Bataille Administration spokeswoman

Officials said this would allow employers to buy coverage while avoiding slowing down technical repairs on the federal website, which has been plagued by errors.

The White House has promised the website will be fixed by the end of November.

Government health spokeswoman Julie Bataille said on Wednesday the portal was now handling 25,000 users at the same time.

She said it was on track to meet its goal of handling double that number by Saturday.

Continue reading the main story

Obamacare setbacks

• Nov 27: Year's delay in online insurance enrolment for small businesses
• Nov 26: Spanish-language sign-up tool is postponed until December
• Nov 22: Enrolment deadline for individuals is pushed back a week in December
• Nov 14: Obama announces insurers can keep customers on existing plans for another year
• Oct 23: Deadline for individuals to avoid penalties is pushed back six weeks to March 2014
• July: Businesses with over 50 workers given until 2015 to provide insurance or pay a penalty

"We have a lot of work left to do in the next few days," she added.

But she cautioned that some malfunctions may persist on the website beyond the end of this week.

"There will be times after November 30th when Healthcare.gov does not function properly," said Ms Bataille.

Republicans, who have launched countless legal and political challenges to the law since its passage in 2010, seized on the latest postponement.

"With each passing day, it's clear how much worse ObamaCare is than a website full of glitches," Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus said in a statement.

The online portal was established under the health law to enable consumers who do not get medical cover through their employers or via government benefits to shop for coverage.

But technical problems - including slow page loads and outages - have resulted in much lower-than-anticipated initial enrolment rates.

Considered the largest overhaul of the US healthcare system since the 1960s, it aims to extend health insurance coverage to the estimated 15% of the US population who lack it.

Support for Obamacare, whose official name is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, has recently wobbled even within the president's own party.

Some congressional Democrats are said to be worried that the mounting negative headlines could hurt their 2014 re-election chances.

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Diplomat 'killer' captured in Mali

28 November 2013 Last updated at 12:40 ET

A Malian man who escaped from prison in Niger where he was serving a sentence for killing four Saudi tourists, and allegedly assassinated a US diplomat has been recaptured, officials say.

French soldiers arrested Alhassane Ould Mohamed, also known as "Cheibani", in northern Mali on Tuesday.

He was among 22 prisoners who escaped from jail in June during an attack by suspected Islamist militants.

Following the mass breakout, the US unsealed an indictment for his arrest.

It said he was wanted for the murder of US diplomat William Bultemeier who was shot in Niger's capital, Niamey, as he left a restaurant with colleagues in December 2000.

A reward of $20,000 (£12,235) was also announced in September for information leading to his capture.

He was serving a 20-year sentence in Niger for the murder of four Saudi citizens who were travelling with a Saudi prince on a hunting trip in 2009.

Mali's chief prosecutor Daniel Tessougue said that Cheibani, sometimes also called Cheibane Ould Hama, was arrested with three other people, the Associated Press news agency reports.

According to the Reuters news agency, Niger's Justice Minister Marou Mohamed said Cheibani was captured in a hideout between the towns of Gao and Kidal following a tip-off from Niger security officials.

French forces, along with troops from West Africa, helped oust al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militants and their allies from northern Mali earlier this year.

They had occupied the vast desert area in the wake of the chaos that followed a coup in March 2012.

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