Switch to Gmail's new look?

Google

New HD themes for the updated Gmail

By Athima Chansanchai

While Gmail's new design has been leaked for months through a video that wasn't supposed to debut before Nov. 1, it's now official, and you can switch to a new look if you want to take advantage of more streamlined conversations, HD themes and better navigation and search.

You can change it up by clicking on the "Switch to the new look" link you'll see?in the bottom-right corner of your Gmail homepage.

I switched this morning and already find it a little easier to handle, and better looking too. It floats messages on top of an "HD" theme, but in a manner that makes it possible to still see both email and image clearly. I chose one of the 10 new themes ("Beach," or you could choose "Turf," as seen above) and started playing around with the new design. Your existing themes will carry over, as well, but unlike HD themes, they generally don't have a continuous texture across the whole window.?You don't appear to be able to upload your own art ??at least not yet.

Google

Gmail's new streamlined conversations

Here are some other highlights:

Google

  • Streamlined conversations: ?Expanding conversations now gives you profile pics of contacts, so it's a little easier to keep track of who's saying what, and it's easier to view longer threads this way. (At least it seemed that way to me, after pulling up a conversation with 21 messages.)
  • "Elastic density": Now you can adjust the space between subject lines as they're displayed, from Compact to Cozy to Comfortable. For instance, I don't need double spacing between messages, so I changed mine to the middle setting, "Cozy." As?Jason Cornwell, User Experience Designer, explains on the Official Google Blog, "We know that you use Gmail from a variety of screen sizes and devices, so now the spacing between elements on the screen will automatically change based on the kind of display you?re using."
  • "Smarter" navigation: The navigation panel on the left now has more options for customization. "You can resize the labels and chat areas if you want to see more, or hide the chat area entirely via the chat icon in the lower left. You can also use the arrow keys to navigate around the interface." So if you use the labels more, expand that. Chat more, expand that. But apparently, even if you do nothing, Gmail will adapt to your patterns.
  • More search options: Now you can click on the drop down menu for search within Gmail and be more specific about what you're looking for, using email fields and filters.

Google

Search close-up for updated Gmail

You can read more about the upgrade here.

And while we showed the video when it was leaked, here it is again:

?

More stories:

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/02/8595934-switch-to-gmails-new-look

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UN: Water pollution, drought threaten world's poor (AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark ? Prosperous countries have not lived up to their promises to help the poor, the U.N. declared Wednesday, saying poor people often go hungry because of polluted water, drought and other environmental factors that are increasing poverty.

In its annual report on the quality of life worldwide, the United Nations Development Program said more should be done to address international environmental concerns and that sustainability must become a way of life as the world population grows above 7 billion.

"Sustainability is not exclusively or even primarily an environmental issue," UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said in the report's introduction. "It is fundamentally about how we choose to live our lives, with an awareness that everything we do has consequences for the seven billions of us here today, as well as for the billions more who will follow."

The report noted that although aid to poorer countries grew 23 percent from 2005 to 2009, it was not enough.

"Rich countries have consistently failed to meet their stated pledges," including promises made by the G-8, the European Union and the United Nations to give $100 billion a year by 2020 to fight the impact of climate change in developing countries.

"The pledges fall well short of estimated needs, and disbursements fall well short of pledges. Most of the 'new and additional' funds pledged at the 2009 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen have not been delivered, and less than 8 percent of pledges for climate change were disbursed in 2010," the report said.

Last month, the world population hit 7 billion. The U.N. estimates the world's population will reach 8 billion by 2025 and 10 billion by 2083.

The UNDP report, published annually since 1990, said high living standards don't need to be carbon-fueled and follow the examples of the richest countries, adding CO2 emissions have been closely linked with national income growth.

Among the 187 nations surveyed, Norway, Australia and the Netherlands topped the annual Human Development Index while Congo, Niger and Burundi were listed last.

The United States was fourth, ahead of New Zealand and Canada, but when the index is adjusted for internal inequalities in health, education and income, some of the wealthiest nations drop out of the UNDP's top 20, the report showed.

The U.S. falls to 23 on that list, South Korea drops from 15 to 32, and Israel ? at 17 ? falls to 25.

___

Online: http://hdr.undp.org/en/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111102/ap_on_re_eu/eu_un_world_development

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Stocks spike as Greek referendum is scrapped

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. Stocks rose sharply in early trading, a day after renewed worries over Europe's debt crisis roiled markets around the world. Strong corporate earnings and a better employment report helped turn markets around. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. Stocks rose sharply in early trading, a day after renewed worries over Europe's debt crisis roiled markets around the world. Strong corporate earnings and a better employment report helped turn markets around. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

MILAN (AP) ? Stocks rose sharply Thursday as the Greek prime minister bowed to massive political pressure to scrap a referendum on a European bailout plan. A surprise rate cut from the European Central Bank also helped boost sentiment following days of turmoil in financial markets.

However, the main focus centered on Athens where Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou faced intense pressure to resign and let a coalition government approve a European bailout plan instead of holding a risky referendum on it.

Papandreou has withstood the pressure to stand down and now says he is seeking emergency talks with the opposition, in the apparent hope of forging a national unity government. Papandreou made the comments in an emergency Cabinet meeting Thursday. His office released his speech to the ministers.

Papandreou's unexpected announcement Monday that he intended to put the hard-fought bailout package to a referendum horrified Greece's international partners and creditors, triggering turmoil in financial markets as investors fretted over the prospect of a disorderly default and the country's exit from the 17-nation eurozone.

"With a sharply diminished majority and defections from his party almost daily perhaps the Greek leader realized before anyone else that his way forward is blocked at every turn," said Andrew Wilkinson, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co.

"His only way to stop political bickering and back stabbing is to throw fuel on the fire, creating sufficient illumination for politicians and people to see clearly enough that there is only one path ahead," he added.

News that the vote has been scrapped helped ease those concerns.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 1.1 percent at 5,546. France's CAC-40 rose 3 percent 3,204 while Germany's DAX was also 3 percent higher at 6,144.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 percent, to 11,974 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 1 percent to 1,251.

Despite Thursday's recovery, markets remain jittery about how Europe will resolve its debt crisis, especially now that it's been openly admitted that a country can actually leave the euro.

This week's instability in Greece has sent immediate ripples throughout Europe. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government in Italy was teetering as well after it failed to come up with a credible plan to deal with its dangerously high debts, and Portugal demanded more flexible terms for its own bailout.

Markets were thrown into turmoil on Monday after Papandreou's referendum proposal. It horrified Greece's international partners and creditors, triggering market worries that Greece may default on its debts and exit the eurozone.

This week's turmoil was also a clear factor in the European Central Bank's surprise decision Thursday to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.25 percent. That helped shore up stock markets too.

The move, which comes earlier than expected by many economists, takes the bank's benchmark rate to 1.25 percent.

European growth is expected to slow to near or below zero in the last three months of the year.

Uncertainty from Europe's debt crisis is a factor. Business and consumers are reluctant to spend and investors because they fear more financial turmoil if Greece defaults on its debts.

The euro suffered a bout of selling after Draghi signaled that the ECB's bond purchases, which have been keeping down borrowing rates for financially weak countries like Italy, are temporary and limited.

However, the retreat was short-lived as investors breathed a sigh of relief over the apparent scrapping of the referendum pledge. The euro was up 0.6 percent at $1.3771.

Though Greece's political developments were the main point of interest in the markets, investors are keeping a close watch on the French resort of Cannes where the Group of 20 leaders from the industrial and developing world are meeting.

In Cannes, President Barack Obama pledged world leaders would flesh out details of a plan to resolve the European financial crisis.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 2.5 percent to close at 19,242.50. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.5 percent to 1,869.96 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 percent to 4,171.80.

Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday. Mainland Chinese shares rose, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.2 percent to 2,508.09.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up $1.16 at $92.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

___

Pam Sampson contributed from Bangkok.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-03-World-Markets/id-6352371f5aa547afb9d389d4f2580967

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Boeing leasing shuttle hangar to build new capsule

John Elbon, left, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, talks with Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll in front of the mock up of the CST-100 Crew Space Transportation vehicle Monday, Oct. 231, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center. Boeing is taking over one of NASA's old space shuttle hangars to build a new capsule that the company hopes will lift astronauts to orbit in four or five years. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shortt)

John Elbon, left, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, talks with Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll in front of the mock up of the CST-100 Crew Space Transportation vehicle Monday, Oct. 231, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center. Boeing is taking over one of NASA's old space shuttle hangars to build a new capsule that the company hopes will lift astronauts to orbit in four or five years. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shortt)

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, center background, announces the first-of-its-kind agreement allowing a private company to take over the government property, in an empty hanger at Kennedy Space Center Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Boeing is taking over one of NASA's old space shuttle hangars to build a new capsule that the company hopes will lift astronauts to orbit in four or five years. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shortt)

Part of a mock up of the CST-100 commercial crew capsule the Boeing Company announced that they will develop and manufacture is seen Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Boeing is taking over one of NASA's old space shuttle hangars to build a new capsule that the company hopes will lift astronauts to orbit in four or five years. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shortt)

(AP) ? Boeing is taking over one of NASA's old space shuttle hangars to build a new capsule that the company hopes will lift astronauts to orbit in four or five years.

More than 100 Boeing, NASA and state and federal officials gathered in the massive empty hangar ? Orbiting Processing Facility No. 3 ? for the announcement of the first-of-its-kind agreement allowing a private company to take over the government property.

The aerospace company expects to create 550 high-tech jobs at Kennedy Space Center over the next four years, 140 of them by the end of next year. That's less than 10 percent of the approximately 6,000 shuttle jobs lost in Florida over the past several years, but Gov. Rick Scott and other lawmakers at the ceremony said they expect additional hirings by the commercial space industry.

NASA is counting on companies like Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and others to ferry cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station in three to five years. Until then, the space agency will continue to shell out tens of millions of dollars per seat on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz is the only way to get astronauts to and from the space station, ever since Atlantis returned from the final shuttle flight in July. A Soyuz rocket failure in August highlighted the risk of relying on just one type of craft.

During Monday's hourlong ceremony, lawmakers said the commercial industry is America's last hope, anytime soon, for U.S. astronauts to fly on U.S. spaceships from U.S. soil.

The Obama administration requested $850 million in NASA's 2012 budget for the commercial space effort. The House slashed that to $312 million, but the Senate got it to $500 million, a reasonable figure given the nation's current economic situation, said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a one-time space shuttle flier.

Boeing expects to start removing shuttle platforms and modifying the hangar to suit its own purposes in the next few months.

John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of commercial programs for Boeing, said it will be sad to see all the shuttle equipment go.

"The shuttle's such an iconic vehicle. These marvelous buildings have a lot of memory," said Mulholland, a former shuttle manager. "But you've always got to be looking forward. So while the shuttle is remarkable, we're looking forward to the next phase of space exploration."

Boeing wants to ferry astronauts not only to the International Space Station, but to a commercial scientific outpost planned for orbit by Bigelow Aerospace. Each capsule will hold seven people. A test flight is planned by 2015.

The agreement calls for Boeing to use the hangar for 15 years, with an option to renew for another five. Then it will be up to Boeing to demolish the building, on NASA's get-rid-of list. Boeing is not paying NASA any rent, officials stressed, but rather will cover all operation costs and utilities.

The hangar is 197 feet long, 1,650 feet wide and 95 feet high. It was last used to ready the shuttle Discovery for its final launch earlier this year.

NASA wants to turn the space center ? long a government-only local ? into a multi-user spaceport. Other buildings are also up for grabs. Space Florida, a state agency, is working on more deals.

Tourists, meanwhile, are about to gain entree into areas that were once strictly off limits.

On Tuesday, the Vehicle Assembly Building ? where fuel tanks and booster rockets were attached to space shuttles ? will open its doors to public bus tours for the first time since 1978.

Throughout the ceremony, NASA officials and others stressed that Kennedy Space Center is not going out of business.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the dream is alive," Nelson told the crowd.

NASA relinquished its shuttle fleet to concentrate on new rockets and spacecraft that will be able to carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit. An asteroid is the first stop. Mars is the prize.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/

Boeing: www.boeing.com/advertising/space

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-10-31-US-Boeing-Space-Craft/id-5754e0e071ce49dcaa187c6c8e96096d

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New way to rate severity of colitis, a common cause of diarrhea

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2011) ? Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new way to assess a common cause of chronic diarrhea, microscopic colitis, using the Microscopic Colitis Disease Activity Index. A study describing the index was released October 31 during the American College of Gastroenterology 2011 Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course in Washington. The index provides a consistent way to assess the condition's severity.

"Until now, physicians have not had a way to objectively and consistently score the severity of a patient's disease beyond simply counting the number of bowel movements per day," says author Darrell Pardi, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist. The assessment also accounts for symptoms other than diarrhea, such as abdominal pain, urgency, and incontinence.

"This assessment is a significant step forward, as it correlates a patient's symptoms with the physicians' understanding of the severity of microscopic colitis," Dr. Pardi says. Using the assessment index in future studies, researchers will more easily compare treatments for this condition.

Microscopic colitis is recognized as a common cause of chronic diarrhea, causing perhaps 30 percent of all cases of the condition in older patients. Microscopic colitis is a chronic, inflammatory condition of the large intestine (colon) that causes watery diarrhea and, sometimes, abdominal pain. The disorder gets its name from the microscopic examination of tissue required to identify it.

Other study authors include: Rami F. Abboud, M.D.; Meredith McNally, M.D.; William J. Tremaine, M.D.; William J. Sandborn, M.D.; Patricia P. Kammer, M.D.; W. Scott Harmsen, M.D.; Alan R. Zinsmeister, M.D.; Edward V. Loftus, M.D.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/y3LRNjDb1Gc/111031132213.htm

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What the World Looked Like with 6 Billion People (ContributorNetwork)

The world population reached 7 billion people today. The United Nations states the world population grows by approximately 80 million people each year, after deaths are factored in. If this rate is consistent, we will reach 8 billion people in about 13 years. With this in mind, let us look at what the world looked like with 6 billion people, which was not too long ago.

* The day 6 billion people was thought to be reached was Oct. 12, 1999, but later estimates placed the date somewhere in July 1999.

* On Jan. 1, the Euro was introduced in 11 European countries.

* On Jan. 6, Dennis Hastert replaced Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House.

* On Jan. 7, the Senate opened the first day of the trial against Bill Clinton, former U.S. president, for obstruction of justice and perjury because of statements he made under oath in the case regarding Monica Lewinsky.

* The Senate acquits Bill Clinton of all charges related to the Monica Lewinsky case on Feb. 12.

* On April 20, the Columbine High School massacre happened. Two of the school's pupils killed 15 others.

* An F5 tornado slammed Oklahoma City on May 3. At the time, it was classified as the deadliest and costliest tornado to hit the area. It killed 36 and caused $1 billion in damages.

* On May 3, the Dow Jones Industrial closed above 11,000 for the first time. It reached 11,014.69 that day.

* In March, because of a stock purchase agreement, Ford acquires Volvo, a rival car manufacture.

* In March, NATO is joined by the U.S.. Together, they strike Yugoslavia with air attacks attempting to halt the nation's ethnic cleansing program.

* On March 9, Barbie celebrates her 40th birthday. At the time, Mattel was producing two Barbie dolls every second, selling 1 billion to 150 countries. She came in 45 nationalities.

* On Dec., 31, the U.S. ended an 85-year reign over the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone by returning control of it to the Panamanian government.

* Bluetooth was announced as a viable communications method and by December 1999, Agere Systems (Lucent), Motorola, Microsoft and 3Com joined SIG to offer the technology as Promoter Members.

* London's Millennium Dome opened on Dec. 31.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111031/us_ac/10335021_what_the_world_looked_like_with_6_billion_people

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Calif. sex offender parolees face Halloween curfew

About 2,000 paroled California sex offenders have no permanent home partly because of a state law that bans them from living near schools or parks. This Halloween, however, many will spend the night together under supervision from authorities who want to make sure they have no contact with children out trick-or-treating.

It's the first time the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is targeting offenders who live on the streets, under bridges or in nomadic campsites, though it has enforced a curfew on offenders who have permanent addresses for nearly 20 years under what it calls "Operation Boo." The new emphasis comes in response to the growing number of transient offenders, said department spokesman Luis Patino.

Their ranks have spiked in the five years since 70 percent of voters approved Jessica's Law.

The law bans offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. As one result, the number of homeless paroled sex offenders grew from 88 in August 2007, before the department began enforcing the law, to about 2,000 now that it has been fully implemented.

Three of the state's four parole regions are setting up the "transient sex-offender roundup centers," mostly at parole offices or community centers. They include the regions that cover Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and all of California's coastal counties.

Offenders have been ordered to report to parole centers from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, where they will be supervised to make sure they have no contact with children out trick-or-treating. The law also required the state to use electronic monitors to track all paroled sex offenders, so parole officers will know if offenders aren't in the curfew centers on Halloween.

California already orders sex offender parolees who have homes to stay inside and turn off their lights, and parolees are barred from putting up Halloween decorations or offering candy.

Patino said corrections officials need to take extra precautions on Halloween to make sure predators don't entice children into their homes. However, he said there has been no spike in child sexual abuse on Halloween since Operation Boo began nearly two decades ago, in part because molesters tend to shy away from the increased scrutiny.

State Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, who co-authored Jessica's Law, praised corrections officials for taking the extra steps to monitor offenders without permanent homes.

'Scary things'
Many other states have programs enforcing bans on sex offenders participating in Halloween activities. A southeast Alabama county is taking the extra step of rounding up its convicted sex offenders on Halloween night. The Russell County Sheriff's Department is requiring about 35 sex offenders who are on probation or parole to come to the county courthouse. It is asking the county's 115 other registered sex offenders to show up voluntarily to get an update on the latest registration requirements.

Missouri sex offenders face up to a year in jail if they violate a 2008 law barring them from going outside, turning on lights or offering candy Oct. 31.

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In California, some counties are going further than the state regulations require.

Riverside County this month approved an ordinance barring all registered sex offenders from decorating their homes, leaving on the lights, answering their doors or passing out candy on Halloween. Violations can bring a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail. Tulare County passed a similar ordinance last year. The ordinances go beyond the parole requirements by applying to all sex offenders, even if they are no longer on parole.

California officials said they are unaware of efforts to pass such a law statewide.

In many urban areas, there are few places that offenders can live and still comply with California's 5-year-old residency restriction law. Parolees who can't find legal housing can register as transient, meaning they must live day-to-day in cheap hotels, homeless shelters or on the street. They still are bound by the 2,000-foot rule, so they cannot legally stay under a bridge near where children gather, for instance.

However, the state Corrections Department is responsible for only about 11,000 of the more than 75,000 registered sex offenders who live in California communities. The rest are off parole and so aren't subject to the department's rules.

The region that covers the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada, including Sacramento, Fresno, Modesto and Redding, is not requiring offenders to come to parole centers because it covers such a sprawling, rural area. The region spans 33 of the state's 58 counties, from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. Parole agents will fan out Halloween night to locations where homeless sex offenders congregate to make sure they are having no contact with children.

The department's website, www.cdcr.ca.gov, is also offering a parents' guide and an oversize coloring book-style "Operation Boo Parent Patrol" badge. Parents can wear the badge "to send a message to predators that they're being watched," according to the department.

"Halloween gives us an opportunity to make people aware, because people are already discussing scary things," said Patino. "The point is it's not just on Halloween but all the time."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45082674/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Hybrid Air Vehicles Make Gains On Traditional Airplanes

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Hybrid Air Vehicles Make Gains On Traditional Airplanes
Seventy-four years after the zeppelin, another gas giant arises.Hybrid Air Vehicles' new aircraft is not technically a blimp. Nor is it a zeppelin, a craft that saw its end with the Hindenburg explosion in 1937 (and a rebirth, of sorts, in the proto-heavy-metal band's name).

Source: FastCompany
Posted on: Friday, Oct 28, 2011, 7:28am
Views: 28

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114738/Hybrid_Air_Vehicles_Make_Gains_On_Traditional_Airplanes

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Oakland protesters plan march, mayor apologizes (Reuters)

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) ? Calls for a general strike in Oakland by protesters against economic inequality gathered force on Friday as activists voted to march to the city's busy port next week to disrupt cargo traffic there.

The Oakland demonstrators allied with the so-called Occupy Wall Street movement decided on the port action during a "general assembly" meeting by hundreds of activists gathered at an outdoor plaza near City Hall.

The group already had called for a citywide strike to be held next Wednesday, urging workers and students to stay at home for the day, to protest what they have called "brutal and vicious" treatment of demonstrators by the police and city officials.

But marching to the Port of Oakland, the nation's fourth busiest container port by volume, raised the prospect of transforming what essentially has been a stationary protest confined to a city square into a large-scale disruption of commerce.

"At 5 p.m. (on Wednesday) the strikers are going to march from downtown Oakland to the Port of Oakland to shut it down," said Tim Simmons, an Occupy Oakland organizer, after the group voted by acclamation.

Plans for the port march emerged a day after Mayor Jean Quan, booed out of the square by protesters on Thursday night, apologized for a clash between police and protesters this week that badly injured an ex-Marine.

Quan, who has drawn criticism for her handling of tensions caused by the Occupy Oakland protesters, said in a written statement that she had met with ex-Marine Scott Olsen and his parents and was concerned about his recovery.

Olsen, 24, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired on Tuesday by police, protest organizers said. His injury has become a rallying cry for the Occupy protesters nationwide.

City officials have not said how they believe Olsen was hurt, but police opened an investigation into the incident.

A spokesman for Highland General Hospital in Oakland said Olsen remained in fair condition on Friday, upgraded from critical one day earlier, and was visiting with his parents.

"I am deeply saddened about the outcome on Tuesday," Quan said in the statement, which she also delivered from her office in a videotape posted online. Shouts of protesters rallying outside City Hall were heard in the background of the video.

"Ultimately, it was my responsibility, and I apologize for what happened," she said, concluding: "We can change America, but we must unite and not divide our city. I hope we can work together."

The disturbances in Oakland have made it one of the hubs of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which began in New York City last month to protest economic disparities, high unemployment and government bailouts of major banks.

Makeshift encampments sprouting up in cities across the country have forced local officials to walk a fine line between allowing peaceful assembly and addressing concerns about trespassing, noise, sanitation and safety.

CATCALLS AND BOOS

Quan had paid a visit late Thursday night to a rally and speakers' forum organized by protesters at Frank Ogawa Plaza, a public square adjacent to the mayor's office that has been the fulcrum of demonstrations.

She was greeted with a hail of angry boos and catcalls and hastily retreated with her staff back to City Hall, followed by protesters shouting, "Get out, go home!" and "Resign!"

In her videotaped statement, Quan said she was "asking" protesters to refrain from camping overnight in the plaza.

Police forcibly dismantled the encampment on Tuesday, and protesters were marching to retake it when Olsen was injured.

Protesters reclaimed the plaza on Wednesday night and police have kept their distance since then.

On Friday, hundreds of protesters returned again to the square for a rally attended by documentary filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore, who was loudly cheered as he addressed the crowd.

"We've seen the militarization of our local police departments because Congress has spent billions to buy them armaments ... even spying systems to prepare them for what they believe is the inevitable," Moore said. "Sooner or later the people aren't going to take it any more."

(Additional reporting by Emmett Berg; Writing by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Greg McCune and Peter Bohan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111029/us_nm/us_usa_wallstreet_protests_oakland

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