Reds deny Cardinals 3-1, keep magic number at 1

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Cincinnati Reds' Scott Rolen, right, is congratulated by third base coach Mark Berry while rounding the bases after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, top, tries to avoid the slide of St. Louis Cardinals' Jon Jay after tagging Jay out at third during the third inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

St. Louis Cardinals' Jon Jay, left, scores on a sacrifice fly by Matt Holliday as Cincinnati Reds catcher Dioner Navarro reaches for the throw during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

(AP) ? Once again, the St. Louis Cardinals gazed at the big-screen TVs, hoping for a little help. Unlike the previous night, there weren't any plans for a late-night victory party.

"I'm sending them home," manager Mike Matheny said after a 3-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday kept St. Louis' postseason plans on hold. "They need to get some rest.

"We've got a game to win tomorrow and we have a trip to make one way or another, so we're sending them out."

Cardinals players stayed in the clubhouse after beating the Reds on Monday night to watch the Dodgers edge the Giants, trudging home after midnight when Los Angeles snapped a ninth-inning tie to win.

St. Louis' magic number remained at one with a game to go, and the Reds were doing their best to keep the Cardinals down.

"All they need is a chance," said Jay Bruce, who had an RBI single in the sixth. "We saw that last year. They got in and they made the best out of it, literally made the best out of it. They won the World Series.

"We're just going to keep playing good baseball and prepare ourselves for the playoffs. If that means they don't make the playoffs, so be it."

Mat Latos won his fourth straight decision to finish the regular season and Scott Rolen homered off Chris Carpenter.

Cincinnati, the NL Central champion, remained tied with Washington for the league's best record. The Reds need a win Wednesday and a Nationals loss to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

"We don't know if it's going to be advantageous to get first, second or third, or the wild card," manager Dusty Baker said. "Right now, this is all new.

"All of us, same in the American League as in our league, we all have to start on the road."

The 37-year-old Carpenter (0-2) has a wealth of big-game experience and went 4-0 in the postseason last fall for the World Series champions, memorably outdueling Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay in Game 5 of the NL division series.

Injured most of this season, Carpenter made just his third start of the year gave up a pair of runs in the sixth to snap a 1-all tie. Bruce and Dioner Navarro had RBIs.

"I've said all along this is like my third spring training start in a key situation," Carpenter said. "I'm concerned about the stuff and the sharpness and tonight it was better than the last time.

"So, hopefully I get another shot."

Despite the loss, the Cardinals are 11-4 in their last 15 games. They'll draw Homer Bailey (13-10, 3.75 ERA), coming off a no-hitter at Pittsburgh, in the regular-season finale, with Adam Wainwright (14-13, 3.94) pitching for St. Louis.

"It's every pitcher's dream to pitch in the big moment," Wainwright said. "Hopefully the Dodgers will lose and we'll be able to go on our merry way. If not, I'm looking forward to the challenge."

If the Cardinals and Dodgers end up tied, a one-game playoff would be Thursday in Los Angeles, with the winner advancing to the wild-card game Friday in Atlanta.

Latos (14-4) had an abbreviated appearance while freshening up for the postseason and, like teammate Bronson Arroyo a day earlier, worked five innings and threw fewer than 75 pitches. Latos allowed a run on four hits with four strikeouts, all in a span of four at-bats against the bottom of the St. Louis lineup.

The 24-year-old Latos was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA over his last seven starts and set career highs in starts (34) and innings (209 1-3).

"Pitching against a team like them, they're aggressive, they know what they're doing," Latos said. "A great hitting ballclub. To give up one run in five innings is doing pretty well."

With what was left of an announced crowd of 39,644 standing and hooting, Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 38th save in 43 chances. He has allowed just one hit in four scoreless appearances covering four innings since returning from a nine-game absence due to shoulder fatigue on Sept. 21.

Carpenter gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings while losing for the fifth time in 19 career decisions against Cincinnati. He had seven strikeouts, two more than his total for the first two starts over 11 innings.

The Cardinals stranded two runners in the second and third against Latos and had two on with one out in the seventh before Sean Marshall got pinch-hitter Shane Robinson to fly out and Jon Jay on a broken-bat groundout.

Rolen, batting .247 but hitting at a .301 clip since the All-Star break, tied it in the fourth when he jumped on a first-pitch hanging breaking ball for his eighth homer.

Baker played for keeps in the early going. He brought the infield in with a runner on third and one out in the first for Matt Holliday, who hit a sacrifice fly, then intentionally walked eighth-place hitter Pete Kozma with two outs and a man on third in the second inning to get to Carpenter, who grounded out sharply to third.

NOTES: Carpenter has 1,085 strikeouts with St. Louis, six more than Bob Forsch for third on the franchise list. Next is Dizzy Dean at 1,095. ... Reds pinch-hitter Todd Frazier grounded out sharply with two on to end the sixth, dropping him to 6 for 12 with three RBIs in that role. ... Joey Votto doubled and walked twice and has a major league-leading .515 on-base percentage with 27 walks since returning to the lineup Sept. 5. ... Jay had two hits and has 37 multihit games on the year, 21 of them since Aug. 6. .. Holliday has consecutive multihit games, giving him 55 on the year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-03-Reds-Cardinals/id-5b7395eff29749b0b64ff5520e8400c9

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Survey of Polls: Presidential Race in Battlegrounds by Demographics

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/survey-polls-presidential-race-battlegrounds-demographics-100149480--politics.html

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Fast, but not magical sales for Rowling book

British writer J.K. Rowling poses for the photographers with her new book, entitled: 'The Casual Vacancy', at the Southbank Centre in London, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. The book, published by Little, Brown Book Group, is Rowling's first novel for adults after writing the Harry Potter series. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

British writer J.K. Rowling poses for the photographers with her new book, entitled: 'The Casual Vacancy', at the Southbank Centre in London, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. The book, published by Little, Brown Book Group, is Rowling's first novel for adults after writing the Harry Potter series. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Sales for J.K. Rowling's first adult novel were hardly magical during its first six days. But the publisher isn't complaining.

Little, Brown and Company announced Wednesday that "The Casual Vacancy" has sold 375,000 copies so far, a figure which includes hardcovers, e-books and audio books. That makes Rowling's novel among the fastest selling new releases of the year, although not in the same league as her Potter books. The last Potter, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," came out in 2007 and sold more than 8 million copies in the U.S. alone in its first 24 hours.

"The Casual Vacancy" was published Sept. 27 to high anticipation. Reviews have been mixed, but the book has been at or near the top of Amazon.com since coming out.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-10-03-Books-Rowling-Sales/id-02d64b045bb84f5abd2401cff37c3726

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ArQule stock plunges as lung cancer study shelved

NEW YORK (AP) ? ArQule Inc. stock lost more than half its value in Tuesday trading after the company said it stopped a clinical trial of its cancer drug tivantinib because the therapy was not improving survival in lung cancer patients.

ArQule and its partner Daiichi Sankyo of Japan said they stopped a late-stage study of tivantinib as a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. The companies said patients who were being treated with tivantinib and Tarceva, another cancer drug, were not living longer than patients treated with Tarceva and a placebo. The trial was designed to compare how long patients lived after treatment with the two drug regimens.

The trial was stopped after a review by a committee of independent monitors. The committee said the study would not show that tivantinib patients were living longer.

Shares of ArQule lost $2.73, or 54.7 percent, to $2.26 in late morning trading. Earlier the stock dropped to $1.98, its lowest price in nearly four years.

Tivantinib is ArQule's most advanced drug, and Tuesday's failure was its second recent setback. In late August, the company's Japanese partner Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. temporarily suspended enrollment of patients in a separate trial of tivantinib because some patients are believed to have contracted interstitial lung disease, a condition that causes scarring of the lung tissue and impair a patient's ability to breathe.

ArQule stock traded as high as $6.80 in mid-August, before that news.

The Woburn, Mass., company said Tuesday that tivantinib and Tarceva were more effective at stopping the progression of lung cancer than Tarceva alone: patients treated with the two-drug regimen had longer progression-free survival, which means they lived longer before death or the resumption of disease progression, whichever came first. The companies enrolled about 1,000 patients in the trial.

Daiichi Sankyo and ArQule are working together to develop tivantinib in the U.S., Europe, and other regions. Kyowa Hakko Kirin has the right to develop and market the drug in Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Tarceva is a pill marketed by Roche of Switzerland. It is approved as a maintenance treatment for non-small cell lung cancer and a secondary treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arqule-stock-plunges-lung-cancer-study-shelved-144231165--finance.html

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Baby bust continues: U.S. births down for 4th year

NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. births fell for the fourth year in a row, the government reported Wednesday, with experts calling it more proof that the weak economy has continued to dampen enthusiasm for having children.

But there may be a silver lining: The decline in 2011 was just 1 percent ? not as sharp a fall-off as the 2 to 3 percent drop seen in other recent years.

"It may be that the effect of the recession is slowly coming to an end," said Carl Haub, a senior demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.

Most striking in the new report were steep declines in Hispanic birth rates and a new low in teen births. Hispanics have been disproportionately affected by the flagging economy, experts say, and teen birth rates have been falling for 20 years.

Falling births is a relatively new phenomenon in this country. Births had been on the rise since the late 1990s and hit an all-time high of more than 4.3 million in 2007.

But fewer than 4 million births were counted last year ? the lowest number since 1998.

Among the people who study this sort of thing, the flagging economy has been seen as the primary explanation. The theory is that many women or couples who are out of work, underemployed or have other money problems feel they can't afford to start a family or add to it.

The economy officially was in a recession from December 2007 until June 2009. But well into 2011, polls show most Americans remained gloomy, citing anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other factors.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a first glimpse at 2011 birth certificate data from state health departments. More analysis comes later but officials don't expect the numbers to change much.

Early data for 2012 is not yet available, and it's too soon to guess whether the birth decline will change, said the CDC's Stephanie Ventura, one of the study's authors.

Highlights of the report include:

?The birth rate for single women fell for the third straight year, dropping by 3 percent from 2010 to 2011. The birth rate for married women, however, rose 1 percent. In most cases, married women are older and more financially secure.

?The birth rate for Hispanic women dropped a whopping 6 percent. But it declined only 2 percent for black women, stayed the same for whites and actually rose a bit for Asian-American and Pacific Islanders.

?Birth rates fell again for women in their early 20s, down 5 percent from 2010 ? the lowest mark for women in that age group since 1940, when comprehensive national birth records were first compiled. For women in their late 20s, birth rates fell 1 percent.

?But birth rates held steady for women in their early 30s, and rose for moms ages 35 and older. Experts say that's not surprising: Older women generally have better jobs or financial security, and are more sensitive to the ticking away of their biological clocks.

?Birth rates for teen moms have been falling since 1991 and hit another historic low. The number of teen births last year ? about 330,000 ? was the fewest in one year since 1946. The teen birth rate fell 8 percent, and at 31 per 1,000 girls ages 15 through 19 was the lowest recorded in more than seven decades.

"The continued decline in the teen birth rates is astounding," said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health.

Did the economy have anything to do with a drop in teen births?

Yes, indirectly, Santelli said. Teenagers watch the struggles and decisions that older sisters and older girlfriends are making, and what they see influences their thinking about sex and birth control, he said.

"Teens tend to emulate young adults," Santelli said. "They are less influenced directly by the economy than by people."

Studies show that since 2007, larger percentages of sexually active teenage girls are using the pill and other effective birth control. Studies also show a small decline in the proportion of girls ages 15 through 17 who say they've had sex, Santelli noted.

The new birth report also noted a fourth straight decline in a calculation of how many children women have over their lifetimes, based on the birth rates of a given year.

A rate of a little more than 2 children per woman means each couple is helping keep the population stable. The U.S. rate last year was slightly below 1.9.

Countries with rates close to 1 ? such as Japan and Italy ? face future labor shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.

Officials here aren't as worried.

The U.S. replacement rate is still close to 2. And it has dropped in the past and then bounced back up again, said Ventura, an official at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

"And we haven't seen any studies that show couples want to have fewer children or no children," she added.

One more report highlight: The U.S. C-section rate may have finally peaked at just under 33 percent, the same level as last year.

Cesarean deliveries are sometimes medically necessary. But health officials have worried that many C-sections are done out of convenience or unwarranted caution, and in the 1980s set a goal of keeping the national rate at 15 percent.

The C-section rate had been rising steadily since 1996, until it dropped slightly in 2010.

"It does suggest the upward trend may be halted," said Joyce Martin, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the new report. But CDC officials want a few more years of data before declaring victory, she added.

___

Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baby-bust-continues-us-births-down-4th-041403038.html

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US auto sales stay strong in September - seattlepi.com

DETROIT (AP) ? Americans found plenty of reasons to buy new cars in September, making auto sales a bright spot in the economy for yet another month.

Total U.S. sales rose 13 percent from a year earlier to nearly 1.2 million. Analysts think sales could hit 14.3 million this year, up from 12.8 million last year.

Low interest rates, aging vehicles that need replacement and appealing new models are fueling this year's consistently strong sales, says Jessica Caldwell, an analyst for the Edmunds.com automotive website.

"That's a good combination to get people shopping again," Caldwell says. "That's really what sells cars."

Here's why auto sales were strong in September:

? FINANCING. Low-interest loans are easy to get again, now that banks have loosened lending. New car loans carried an average interest rate of 4.05 percent in September, the second-lowest rate after December 2011, according to Edmunds.com, which started collecting data in 2002. People with good credit can get a 2-percent rate from a bank or credit union.

The cost of some models could fall further if automakers try to undercut each other in the small and midsize car markets, says Tom Libby, lead North American forecasting analyst for the Polk research firm.

"You have these couple of segments where there's brutal competition," Libby says.

? NEW MODELS. New vehicles always pique buyers' interest, and there are a lot of them hitting the market now, including redesigned versions of big sellers like the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Ford Escape. Sales this year have also gotten a boost as Toyota and Honda reentered the market after the Japanese earthquake in March 2011.

Michael Silver, 67, was driving by a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Delray Beach, Fla., last month when he saw the newly redesigned 2013 E350. The retired principal fell in love with the styling and bought one on the spot after getting a good trade-in price for his Lexus.

"September is usually the worst time to buy a car, because the new models are out and the deals aren't good," Silver says. "But I just fell in love with it."

? CONSUMER CONFIDENCE. Consumer confidence, one of the biggest factors influencing car-buying, jumped in September to the highest level since February. It was bolstered by a brighter outlook for overall business conditions and hiring.

When people are more confident about the economy, they're usually more willing to buy big-ticket items like cars.

?AGING VEHICLES. Many Americans have to buy a new car because their old one is on its last legs. The average age of a car or truck on U.S. roads is approaching a record 11 years. Even people who buy new cars are keeping them for almost six years before getting rid of them, the longest time ever, Polk says.

"They're sick of looking at them," says Jack Nerad, editorial director of Kelley Blue Book. "A lot of them just become undriveable."

Uncertainty about the economy is keeping sales from rising even faster. Some Americans are holding back on major purchases until they see how the budget battle shakes out in Washington, whether Europe can fix its economy and who wins the U.S. presidential election, says Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, an industry consulting firm.

But car companies remain optimistic about the rest of this year and the first part of next year.

"The positives outweigh the negatives," says Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales for GM. "We see continued slow, gradual growth for the entire industry and for us."

Auto sales peaked at 17 million in 2005 before hitting a 30-year low of 10.4 million during the recession in 2009

This year's strong sales could become a talking point in the presidential election. President Barack Obama often boasts on the campaign trail that the bailout of GM and Chrysler in 2009 helped save about 1 million jobs in the industry. Republican Mitt Romney has countered that the companies should have gone through bankruptcy with private funding and been allowed to recover with government-backed private loans.

Detroit's car companies have most of their factories in the Midwest, including Ohio, a key swing state.

Record-high gas prices played a role in sales last month, shifting buyers from trucks to smaller cars. Sales rose 40 percent or more for the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla and other compacts. Gas prices have jumped 14 percent since July 1, and hit $3.79 per gallon at the end of September, a record for that time of year. Small cars now make up 23 percent up new-car sales, up from 21 percent in July, according to Ford's top U.S. sales analyst Erich Merkle.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales rose 41.5 percent and Honda Motor Co.'s were up 31 percent in September compared with a year earlier, when their inventories were hurt by the earthquake. Honda sales of the Civic and Accord sedans rose 57 percent. Nissan Motor Co., which recovered more quickly from the earthquake, says sales fell 1 percent last month, partly because the company has just begun shipping its new Altima sedan to dealers.

Detroit didn't fare as well. Chrysler Group reported a 12 percent increase, thanks to strong sales of the Dodge Avenger and the new Dodge Dart small car. But General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. sales were either up slightly or flat.

Ford saw a slowdown in sales of the Fusion sedan as it began shipping a new model to dealerships. The Fusion normally makes up 12 percent of the company's monthly sales. Ford is also losing some customers who used to buy Ranger small pickups. Ford stopped selling the vehicle at the end of last year. Only about half of Ranger buyers are replacing their trucks with Ford products, Merkle says.

At GM, car sales increased 29 percent, led by the Chevy Cruze compact. Sales of the Sonic subcompact were five times higher than last year. But sales of the Chevy Silverado pickup, GM's top-selling vehicle, fell almost 17 percent. GM blamed a 55-percent decrease in sales to rental companies as the company shifts between 2012 and 2013 models.

Volkswagen AG sales rose 34 percent, as sales of the Passat sedan nearly tripled over last year. Discounts helped. Auto buying site TrueCar.com says Volkswagen had the biggest increase in incentive spending of any automaker, up 29 percent to an average of $2,462. Volkswagen is offering zero-percent interest deals on the Passat through October.

Hyundai Motor Co.'s sales climbed 15 percent on strong demand for the Elantra small car, which was up 27 percent.

Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/US-auto-sales-stay-strong-in-September-3911897.php

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Stocks rise following expansion in manufacturing

U.S. stocks mostly rose on Monday as growth in manufacturing provided more evidence that the economy may be picking up, or at least not getting any worse.

The gains came after news that U.S. manufacturing grew in September for the first time in four months. Stocks had already been up in morning trading, but the gains accelerated after the report was released by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers.

A gauge of manufacturing employment rose following a decline in August. That's a hopeful sign that the government may report employment gains when it releases its monthly survey of the job market in Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 68 points to 13,505 in afternoon trading, after rising as much as 161 earlier in the day on the manufacturing news.

Stocks gave up some of their gains after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed needs to keep interest rates low because the economy isn't growing fast enough to reduce high unemployment.

Investors are looking for signs that workers will have more money to spend, said Jerry Webman, chief economist for OppenheilmerFunds Inc. That's a "virtuous cycle" that can generate some of its own fuel for a recovery.

"If you're going to manufacture more you're going to employ more people, and if you employ more people you're going to pay them money, and they're going to buy some stuff," helping the economy, Webman said.

Also Monday, the government said U.S. builders spent more on home construction in August, the latest positive sign for the housing market.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up three points at 1,443. The Nasdaq composite fell 11 points to 3,106.

Utility stocks fell slightly, but the other nine industry groups in the S&P 500 rose.

Goldman Sachs jumped $3, or 2.6 percent, to $116.68 after Barron's wrote that investors are too pessimistic on the investment bank's prospects.

Other financial stocks rose, too. Of the 30 stocks in the Dow, the top two gainers were Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. BofA was up 19 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $9.02. JPMorgan rose 76 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $41.24.

Monday was the first day of trading of the fourth quarter, and the early gains were a welcome change of pace from the way the last quarter ended. U.S. indices fell on Friday for the fifth day out of the previous six. Monday was only the third day since Sept. 17 that the S&P 500 has risen.

Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, said investors believe that the news about the economy has stopped getting worse. Besides the U.S. manufacturing news on Monday, she noted that recent data from China suggests that manufacturing has improved there as well.

"The numbers were still weak, but they were not as bad as before," Krosby said. "So that was a positive backdrop for the market."

Wendy's Co. fell 24 cents, or 5.2 percent, to $4.29 after a Janney Capital Markets analyst lowered his rating on the stock, saying there are seeing signs that the hamburger chain's revenue won't be as strong as expected.

Sprint Nextel Corp. fell 26 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $5.25 after Raymond James downgraded the shares because of the stock's recent rise.

Markets around Europe rose. An audit of 14 Spanish banks showed the lenders need an extra $77.6 billion in capital. That's roughly what was expected, and well within the amount Madrid can get from fellow European countries.

A slight improvement in a survey of the euro zone's manufacturing sector also helped.

However, credit rating agency Moody's might downgrade Spain's debt to junk status this week. That's likely to limit enthusiasm in Europe until the Moody's decision is known.

Germany's DAX stock index rose 1.5 percent, France's CAC-40 was up 2.4 percent, and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.4 percent. Spain's Ibex was up 1 percent.

The euro rose to $1.288.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell slightly to 1.62 percent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-rise-following-expansion-manufacturing-193737202--finance.html

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Rare labor petition in Iran shows economic alarm

In this Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 photo, a group of Iranian workers protest in front the Industrial Ministry building in Tehran, Iran, demanding their delayed salaries. For weeks, a manifesto complaining about Iran's sinking economy circulated in secret among factories and workshops. In the end, some 10,000 signatures were on a petition addressed to Iran's labor minister calling attention to the street-level fallout from Western sanctions: rising prices, fewer jobs. (AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 photo, a group of Iranian workers protest in front the Industrial Ministry building in Tehran, Iran, demanding their delayed salaries. For weeks, a manifesto complaining about Iran's sinking economy circulated in secret among factories and workshops. In the end, some 10,000 signatures were on a petition addressed to Iran's labor minister calling attention to the street-level fallout from Western sanctions: rising prices, fewer jobs. (AP Photo)

In this Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 photo, a police colonel, center, talks with a group of Iranian workers during their protest in front of the Industrial Ministry building in Tehran, Iran, demanding their delayed salaries. For weeks, a manifesto complaining about Iran's sinking economy circulated in secret among factories and workshops. In the end, some 10,000 signatures were on a petition addressed to Iran's labor minister calling attention to the street-level fallout from Western sanctions: rising prices, fewer jobs. (AP Photo)

(AP) ? For weeks, a manifesto complaining about Iran's stumbling economy circulated in secret among factories and workshops. Organizers asked for signatures and the pages began to fill up.

In the end, some 10,000 names were attached to the petition addressed to Iran's labor minister in one of the most wide-reaching public outcries over the state of the country's economy, which has received a double pounding from tightening Western sanctions and alleged mismanagement by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

The rare protest document ? described to The Associated Press this week by labor activists and others ? suggests growing anxiety among Iran's vast and potentially powerful working class as the ruling system struggles with the latest sanctions, which have targeted critical oil exports and blackballed Iran from international banking networks.

It also appears to reinforce the U.S. and European assertions that the economic squeeze is bringing increasing pressures on Iranian authorities. President Barack Obama and others argue that sanctions and diplomacy are the best way to wring concessions over Iran's nuclear program even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes for a "red line" declaration that could trigger military action.

While Iran's leadership still has broad-based public support in the nuclear standoff with the West, the petition and sporadic street demonstrations over the slumping economy suggest a growing distinction between the national pride of nuclear technology and the economic hardships from Tehran's defiance. The Iranian currency, the rial, hit another all-time low against the dollar Monday, which is certain to further drive up prices of imported goods.

Jafar Azimzadeh, a labor rights activist and gas-pipe fitter, warned of stronger fallout if the government does not find ways to prop up salaries and rein in prices. "Workers would not stay at the level of writing petitions," he said. "They would go toward street gatherings and other actions."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the drop in the value of the rial "speaks to the unrelenting and increasingly successful international pressure that we are all bringing to bear on the Iranian economy. It's under incredible strain."

Iranian officials have repeatedly said Iran can ride out the sanctions through measures such as keeping oil flowing to Asian markets that include China and India. But Ahmadinejad last month acknowledged that Iran faces "barriers" to sell oil and make international banking transfers critical to keep commerce flowing.

In May, Ahmadinejad was cheered in the northeastern city of Mashhad as he promised to create 2.5 million new jobs and boost worker benefits. It was a welcome reception after facing mounting criticism for policies that include scattershot privatizations and allowing inflation to surge.

But the petition sent to his labor minister, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, offered a far more bleak assessment of a country burdened by rising prices and increasing economic isolation.

"A staggering increase in prices has been biting over the past year as wages of workers have only increased 13 percent this year," said the petition, whose full text was not made available to the AP, although selected parts were viewed. It added: "Millions of workers cannot afford their monthly housing costs."

Unskilled factory workers in Iran make an average monthly wage of 3 million to 7 million rials, or about $95 to $220 at Monday's exchange rate. The official poverty line is about 10 million rials, or about $315, a month.

Meanwhile, prices keep rising ? partly due to sanctions ? and the rial keeps falling. A 1.5-kilogram (52-ounce) container of yoghurt has doubled to about 24,000 rials (75 cents) since early September. Various meats and rice, both staples of Iranian kitchens, have risen 48 percent and 34 percent, respectively, since last year.

Official reports put Iran's inflation rate at 23 percent, but Iran's parliament speaker last week estimated it was close to 29 percent. The unemployment rate is officially 12 percent, but some economists place it nearly three times higher.

"It's not ideology that is the weakest link for Iran's ruling system," said Sami al-Faraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "It's the economy. This, of course, was an important element of the Arab Spring, and that fact is definitely not lost on Iran."

Iran's factory workers and laborers have provided the tipping points at pivotal moments. They gave vital populist backing to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and generally sided with the ruling clerics when they were under threat by riots after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.

The petition contains no warnings or ultimatums against the Islamic system, or references to the nuclear program, activists say. But the scope of the signatures ? representing several Iranian cities ? is an unusual show of grassroots unity without umbrella organizations such as unions.

"When we do not have rights for major protest rallies and strikes, petition is the only way," said Parvin Mohammadi, a retired metal industry worker and one of the organizers. She said the workers wrote a protest petition about irregular pay of their wages earlier in June.

Another labor activist said signatures were gathered clandestinely at factories and work sites. "Sometime we collected signatures through the mail," said the activist, who would only give his first name of Sadegh because of fear of reprisals from authorities.

The signatures included mine workers in the mineral-rich center and west, food and textile producers in Tehran and central Iran, and bus drivers in Tabriz, in northeastern Iran. Conspicuously absent, activist said, were workers in the oil industry, which provides up to 80 percent of Iran's foreign revenue. Iranian oil workers usually receive better wages than others.

Labor groups also object to changes in Iran's labor law, which give employers a freer hand in firing workers and would cut annual leave to 20 days from 30 days. Ali Reza Mahjoub, a representative of workers in the parliament, said he would lead fights against the changes with possibly more street protests.

"This is an exercise for unity of workers," said Hamid Reza Shokouhi, editor of independent Mardomsalari daily. He said the petition demands are not directly political but carry a whiff of dissent since "activities of workers were blocked because they were interpreted in the past as opposition to the ruling establishment."

Iranian officials have made no comment on the petition, which was only reported by the semiofficial ILNA news agency and pro-reform Shargh daily. But some lawmakers have thrown the petition their support. Abbas Ali Mansouri, a parliament member, said higher wages are needed "while workers are falling under the poverty line."

At a square in downtown Tehran, laborers gather to be picked for day jobs at construction sites, making about 300,000 rials ($9.50) a day.

"I wish I was among signatories. I was not aware of it prior to reports," said Abbas Hodavand, an unemployed construction worker. "Every day, in heat and cold, we wait to be picked up by a possible employer. This is not a life."

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-01-Iran-Worker%20Petition/id-bfe5456de0e4451db5bd6b4102b42593

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