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Candidates focus on economy before new votes

FLORENCE, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee touted their economic credentials in South Carolina on Friday on the eve of the South's first vote for U.S. presidential nominees, while rival Mitt Romney pressed his advantage out West in Nevada.

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Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also campaigned in Nevada before its caucuses on Saturday, criticizing the plan President George W. Bush unveiled on Friday to help keep the economy out of recession as too little, too late.

McCain, an Arizona senator, sounded inclined to go along with an economic stimulus plan but railed against government spending at campaign stops in Myrtle Beach and Florence, South Carolina, as he sought to build on his lead in the state over Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.

McCain criticized Bush for signing a recent spending bill that he said contained 9,200 "pork barrel" projects, or those pushed by special interests, worth $17 billion, saying such bills should be vetoed.

"As a Republican, I stand before you embarrassed, embarrassed, that we let that spending get out of control," McCain said, adding he was not surprised the economy was stumbling.

Huckabee said Bush, who will leave office in January 2009 after November's presidential and congressional elections, was on the right track with his push for about $145 billion in temporary tax breaks and other steps to stimulate the economy.

Huckabee used the downturn to take a swipe at McCain.

"People know that Washington insiders are probably not the right people to put in charge of an economy," he told Fox News during a break between campaign events in South Carolina.

"Governors who have dealt with these issues of joblessness and the challenge of economic downturns, that's who we need right now."

With economists talking of a possible recession in the United States before the November 4 election, financial markets have been reeling from bleak reports of falling retail sales and rising unemployment on top of soaring oil prices and a credit crunch brought on by a crisis in subprime mortgages.

The South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday is the first of the state-by-state nominating contests to choose presidential candidates to take place in the southern United States. It will serve as a test of the candidates' appeal among socially conservative Christian voters.

McCain held a 7-point lead in South Carolina over Huckabee, 29 percent to 22 percent, in a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Friday. But Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher, was hoping his Southern roots and religious leanings would boost his appeal among the state's social conservatives.

ROMNEY TO NEVADA

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor running a distant third in South Carolina, traveled west to Nevada, where a poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal showed him with a 15-point lead over McCain in the state's Republican nominating contest. Nearly 7 percent of Nevadans share Romney's Mormon faith.

"I would like to win in South Carolina but I know Senator McCain has a strong lead. But I think we may well surprise folks by how well we do there," Romney said.

He said Bush's economic plan was an important step and called for tax cuts on businesses and individuals, adding it must be "passed very, very quickly."

Democratic presidential candidates campaigning in Nevada also focused on economic issues but criticized Bush's plan.

"I don't think it does enough," Clinton, a New York senator, told workers at a small printing business in Las Vegas. "It leaves out 50 million working Americans, people who are on fixed incomes, who are seniors."

Obama, an Illinois senator, said Bush had waited too late but also criticized Clinton, accusing her of changing her own stimulus proposals in recent days.

"This is a larger point," he told a big crowd in Reno. "The American people don't want a president whose policies change with the moment."

The Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Friday showed Clinton with a 5-point lead over Obama in Nevada's Democratic race, 42 percent to 37 percent, with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards a distant third with 12 percent.

(Additional reporting by Jason Szep, Jeff Mason, Adam Tanner in Nevada; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

古紙偽装、大手４社で続々 「環境優等生」の呼称自体を偽装

製紙業界による再生紙への古紙配合比率偽装問題で、王子、大王、三菱、北越の製紙大手４社は１８日、相次いで社内調査結果を発表した。年賀はがき以外でも、慢性的な偽装が業界にはびこっていた実態が明らかになった。古紙回収率７割、同利用率６割と、世界でもトップクラスのリサイクル率を誇ってきた製紙業界だが、「環境優等生」の呼称自体を偽装したとの批判も免れない。
　最大手の王子製紙は、昨年１０〜１２月生産の再生紙で、配合率５０％とした印刷用紙の実態が５％など計６件、月産１３３０トン分の偽装を公表した。コピー用紙でも配合率７０％商品が実態はゼロなどと、昨年９月まで不正があった。古紙４０％であるべき平成２０年用インクジェット年賀はがきでも、配合率はゼロだった。
　王子の篠田和久社長は「古紙入荷量が十分でないときに配合率が低下し、そのまま惰性で繰り返していた」と説明。さらに、少なくとも１０年以上前から偽装が繰り返されていたとの認識を示した。しかし、不正を自身が把握していなかったとして、「わたくし中心の指導体制でがんばりたい」と、引責辞任の考えは否定した。
　大王製紙は、国などに環境配慮製品の調達を促すグリーン購入法対象品でも偽装の事実を公表。古紙配合率４１％を１００％と偽装していたコピー用紙を中心に、全体の６８％にあたる月産５３３１トンで偽装があった。
　三菱製紙や北越製紙でも、グリーン購入法対象品を含む再生紙などで同様に偽装があったとの社内調査結果を公表した。
　各社は異口同音に「古紙品質が低下し、現在の技術レベルでは要求された品質維持が困難」と弁解した。コピーやプリンターの普及で、白さや薄さ、強度が求められる印刷用紙の品質要求が厳しくなったのは事実だが、「法令順守の努力が足りなかった」との次元を超えた消費者軽視の業界体質が露呈した形だ。

America's Most Wired Cities

What's America's most wired city? You might guess someplace in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles or San Diego. East Coast fans might bet on New York or even Chicago. But you've got to head south. For the second year in a row, Atlanta tops Forbes.com's survey of America's most wired cities in the U.S.
A variety of factors boost the Big Peach's techno quotient. As the communications hub for the Southeast, Atlanta boasts regional headquarters for AT&T and Verizon and a bustling community of Internet-related start-ups. It's also home to BellSouth and EarthLink --a major promoter of citywide wireless networks until recent months--as well as cable giant Cox Communications. And it got an early jump on cutting-edge technology after spending millions to wire its downtown area for the 1996 Olympics.

Still, its leading status mystifies some. "It's a dynamic area with a lot of young people, but exactly why it's No. 1 is a mystery to me," notes telecom analyst Jeff Kagan, who coincidentally is a long-time resident of Atlanta.

Here are some clues. To calculate our list, we looked at the percentage of Internet users with high-speed access, the range of service providers within a city and the availability of public wireless hot spots. Atlanta ranks highest in broadband adoption, access options and fourth in wi-fi availability. According to Nielsen Online, 97.2% of the city's home Internet users accessed the Web via a high-speed connection in November.

Some obvious choices finished high on the list. Techie Seattle, home to Microsoft came in second, one notch above last year. San Francisco, the closest major city to Silicon Valley, was fourth for the second time. Though rich in hot spots, both lagged behind other cities in broadband adoption. (It works the other way, as well: Boston ranks second in broadband but poorer showings in the other categories dragged it down to 13th overall.) Two other major metropolises, Chicago and New York, improved their standings from 17th to 8th and 12th to 9th, respectively, to make the top 10, driven by more widespread adoption of high-speed Internet.

Other top-10 finishers were more surprising, such as third-place Raleigh, N.C. Raleigh Chief Information Officer Gail M. Roper attributes the city's strong showing to its thriving entrepreneurial culture, technology initiatives, major universities and fast-growing, highly-educated population. As CIO of Kansas City, Mo., (No. 22) from 1996 to 2006, Roper focused on digital-divide issues, working to improve youth and student access to the Internet. In Raleigh, she is considering building a citywide wi-fi network to expedite public services, cut telecom costs and deliver tourism information.

Fifth-place Orlando, Fla., and Baltimore also aren't top-of-mind when it comes to Internet initiatives. But Orlando, home to tourist-magnet Disney World, has "people coming in from all over--it has to be wired," explains Kagan. Baltimore vaulted to a 16th-place finish as the number of broadband providers and the adoption of those services rose dramatically last year.

Los Angeles wasn't as lucky. The entertainment capital suffered the biggest drop, plummeting from No. 11 to No. 27, based on lackluster results in all three categories, particularly in the number of broadband access providers. Close competition makes the tumble look worse than it is. First-place Atlanta is home to 17 broadband providers, while Los Angeles, with only 11, now ranks 25th in access options this year. Houston, Cleveland and Detroit dropped off the list completely, allowing newcomers Denver (No. 17), Indianapolis (No. 24) and Milwaukee (No. 28) to make their debut.

Measuring a city's "wired-ness" is an imperfect science. New York's less-wired outer boroughs weigh down its overall ranking. Some new initiatives aren't yet reflected in the data we used. Several lower-ranked cities, like Philadelphia (No. 26), are building wireless networks that provide wi-fi to downtown areas. In New York, CBS is constructing hot spots in midtown Manhattan.

Start-up Meraki recently announced it would offer free high-speed wireless Internet throughout San Francisco by the end of 2008. Top-ranked Atlanta, meanwhile, has seen plans for such a system fizzle in recent months. The ubiquity of such wi-fi networks is difficult to quantify and not measured in our wireless hot spot data.

Longer term, the outcome of the Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction, which is pitting traditional telecom companies against newcomers, including Internet titan Google, will also have a major impact on the availability of wireless service throughout the U.S.

US video game sales soar to record 17.9 billion dollars

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US video game industry sales rocketed to a record high 17.9 billion dollars in 2007, with Nintendo reigning as champion of the console battle with Microsoft and Sony, according to research group NPD.

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US sales of video game consoles, software and accessories rose "an astounding" 43 percent, with each category reaching a new "personal best," NPD reported.

Nintendo DS handheld game devices and Wii consoles were the top hardware sellers, ranking first and second respectively. The Japanese company's gadgets accounted for 52 percent of the video game devices sold in the United States.

"Nintendo has certainly been the belle of the hardware ball," NPD analyst Anita Frazier told AFP on Friday.

"The DS has driven portable gaming to a new level, and for the second year in a row, the DS has been the top-selling hardware platform."

Nearly 8.5 million Nintendo DS devices were sold in the United States last year, while buyers snatched up approximately 6.3 million Wii game consoles.

"By the end of 2007 we were sold out of virtually all hardware, and much of our stock of software and accessories was sold out as well," said Cammie Dunaway, the executive vice president of marketing at Nintendo of America.

"And that momentum continues here in the early weeks of 2008."

Sony sold 3.97 million PS2 consoles and 2.56 million of its newer PS3 consoles in the United States in 2007, NPD reported.

Microsoft last year sold 4.62 million Xbox 360 consoles, which debuted in the market in November of 2005, a year before Wii and PS3 were released.

Video game hardware sales were boosted by the fact that it was the first full year that the Wii and PS3 consoles were on the market.

Daunting prices on PS3 consoles and the speed with which Wii models vanished from store shelves made Sony's previous-generation PlayStation 2 a "fall-back" for buyers, according to NPD.

Sony trimmed PS3 prices last year in the face of floundering sales blamed on its high cost and a dearth of coveted games for the consoles.

"Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 realized strong month-over-month hardware sales increases," Frazier said.

Frazier predicts that the video game industry will continue to flourish in the United States this year, but not at the stellar rate of growth seen in 2007.

"I expect to see 2008 increase over 2007, with more growth, proportionately, coming from software sales," Frazier said.

"While we will continue to see strong hardware sales, particularly if prices come down again, the spotlight now turns from hardware to software."

Xbox 360 sales surged with help from the releases of highly-coveted games such as "Halo 3," which is tailored exclusively for Microsoft's consoles.

Analysts maintain that the availability of fun, well-crafted gaming software is a key factor influencing console purchases.

"The 360 in particular seems to have benefited from a killer slate of hardware-acquisition-driving content including Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed and Halo 3," Frazier.

Approximately 8.64 billion dollars was spent in the United States on game software for consoles and portable devices, according to NPD.

"Halo 3" was the top video game title, with 4.8 million copies sold.

But Nintendo's "Mario Brothers" holds the throne as top-selling franchise of all time.

"Mario was the second-best selling video games property for the year and remains the historically best-selling property in the video games industry," Frazier said.

Violence spikes in Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico - Rosalba Padilla thought the first shots were nothing but construction in her quiet, upper-class Tijuana neighborhood. It wasn't until she looked out her window and saw a sea of police that she realized the noise was gunfire.

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Down the street, at the Preschool of Happiness, director Gloria Rico activated the school's alarm, prompting police to rush into the building, their guns drawn. Rico said the children were terrified by the chaos.

"Some were crying, one vomited and another wet his pants," she said Friday, adding that the police quickly put away their weapons and started evacuating the children.

The fighting erupted as federal agents raided a house near the U.S. border Thursday that authorities say sheltered gunmen linked to drug traffickers. Soldiers and police joined skirmishing that became a chaotic three-hour battle. A federal agent and a gunman died and four officers were wounded in the latest outbreak of violence across the border from San Diego. Inside the house, authorities later found six slain kidnap victims.

The gunbattle and killings shocked even crime-weary Mexico. Many argued President Felipe Calderon should step up a yearlong crackdown on drug traffickers and other organized criminals that has sent soldiers into cities across the nation.

"What they need here is a heavy hand," Padilla said Friday while surveying blood-soaked streets and a bullet-ridden police truck. "The authorities need to be strong, very tough."

Padilla spent the shootout hiding in the closet with her 19-year-old daughter. As they crouched in the dark, they started to think they wouldn't escape alive. Gunmen across the street shouted that they would drop bombs unless police backed off.

"The gunfire was terrible," she said. "It made the walls shake. I really didn't think we were going to get out."

A day earlier less than two block down the street, police rushed children from a school vulnerable to gunfire from men holed up on the roof and top floors of the besieged safehouse.

Some of the children were carried by officers who crouched and pressed themselves up against the building to avoid the bullets. Other children ran out onto the sidewalk in groups under armed guard, their eyes wide with terror.

"I could hear the hail of gunfire, and it was really strong," Rico said. "I didn't feel fear until we had evacuated all 65 kids that were under my care, and then my legs started to shake."

Residents said soldiers, sent in to help overwhelmed police, swarmed rooftops. The gunmen refused to back down, shouting obscenities at the police and taunting them.

Four men were eventually arrested, including a state police investigator and another Tijuana police officer. They were taken to Mexico City, where they were being questioned by federal prosecutors. Another gunman was killed.

Once authorities entered the home, they found the bodies of the six men who were being held hostage. All had been shot in the head, although it was unclear if they were killed before or during the clash. Police were trying to determine if the victims were being held for ransom or were rival gang members.

Federal prosecutors said the gunmen belonged to Tijuana's Arellano-Felix drug cartel, a gang that has been weakened in recent years by the loss of leaders who have been arrested or killed.

Thursday's violence was only the latest in a rash of recent killings.

On Jan. 10, gunmen shot and killed two federal agents and a civilian in the central state of Michoacan.

Two days earlier, two other federal agents were killed and three were injured during a shootout in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.

A day before the Reynosa shootout, three suspected criminals were killed and 10 federal agents and soldiers wounded in a shootout in the town of Rio Bravo, across the border from Donna, Texas. Ten people, including three U.S. residents, suspected of having ties to the powerful Gulf cartel were arrested the next day.