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A U.S. trade envoy has accused China’s government of increasing its role in the economy in violation of its free-trade pledges and he appealed to Beijing to reconsider its embrace of “state capitalism.”

The comments reflect a harder U.S. tone toward Beijing amid disputes over market access for banking and other services and complaints China is supporting its producers of solar power and other technology despite promising to allow free competition.

In a speech this week, the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization cited a “troubling trend” of increased Chinese government intervention in the economy over the past five years despite its WTO commitments to open its markets.

The ambassador, Michael Punke, made the comments Wednesday in Geneva, according to a transcript on the website of the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. He was speaking at a WTO meeting for the tenth and final annual review of China’s compliance with its WTO obligations since it joined the body in 2001.

“China seems to be embracing state capitalism more strongly each year, rather than continuing to move toward the economic reform goals that originally drove its pursuit of WTO membership,” he said. “This is a troubling development, and the United States urges the Chinese government to reconsider the path it is on.”

During a trip through Asia last month, President Barack Obama called on Beijing to show more maturity in its economic relations with other nations.

“Increasingly, trade frictions with China can be traced to China’s pursuit of industrial policies that rely on trade-distorting government actions to promote or protect China’s state-owned enterprises and domestic industries,” Punke said.

China’s trade and economy have grown rapidly since 2001, propelling it past Japan as the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States and financing a military buildup that has alarmed its neighbors.

On Wednesday, China’s Defense Ministry criticized Washington’s strengthened military pact with Australia as a throwback to “Cold War thinking.”

Beijing has alarmed foreign companies by unveiling initiatives to build up state-owned corporate champions in an array of fields from telecommunications to wind energy.

Business groups complain Beijing appears to be trying to squeeze foreign companies out of its clean energy and other promising industries. They have questioned whether the communist government wants to live up to pledges to allow foreign companies to compete on an equal footing with Chinese rivals.

Punke said that in its first five years of WTO membership, Beijing took “impressive steps” to reduce tariffs, eliminate trade barriers and improve protection for intellectual property rights.

But he noted complaints that Beijing tries to intimidate foreign companies, threatening to retaliate if they speak up about problematic policies or cooperate with their governments in challenging them.

Punke complained that Beijing appears to resort to trade actions in response to legitimate steps by the United States and other trading partners under their trade laws.

Last month, China launched a probe of U.S. government support for its solar, wind and other renewable energy industries after American authorities agreed to investigate a complaint by a group of companies that Beijing improperly subsidizes exports of solar panels and hurts foreign competitors.

“This type of conduct is at odds with fundamental principles of the WTO’s rules-based system,” Punke said.

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Ryerson University plans to make a major announcement Tuesday about its fundraising efforts for the Maple Leaf Gardens, leading to speculation the school may be about to reveal the title sponsor for the venue.

The school, which is a part-owner of the iconic structure, set a goal of raising $60 million to install badly needed student athletic facilities in part of the former hockey arena.

The $60 million is to be raised in equal portions by a federal government infrastructure grant, a special levy on Ryerson students, and corporate donations from such firm as Gardens

Pope Benedict XVI has had his first meeting with Italy’s new leader on the tarmac of Rome’s airport just before taking off for a trip to Africa.

Premier Mario Monti greeted the pope Friday morning as Benedict descended from the helicopter that brought him from the Vatican to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport. They chatted as they walked slowly across the tarmac to the pope’s waiting plane.

Monti later Friday faces the second of two confidence votes for his government in parliament cash advance flexible payments. The Senate on Thursday easily approved his government, formed of bankers, professors and CEOS aimed at saving Italy from its debt crisis.

Benedict then took off for the west African nation of Benin for a three-day visit where he will speak of the role of the church in Africa.

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Carol Behr thinks she knows why many students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are buying their books online, and it’s not just the convenience.

It’s the sales tax savings, says Behr, a vice president of Kennedy Book Store, which owns Southern Illinois Book & Supply in Carbondale. The company also has a store in Lexington, Ky., and of the two, she says the Carbondale store has lost more business to competitors such as Amazon.com.

The difference? Kentucky doesn’t charge sales tax on textbooks, but Illinois does.

To Behr, the slipping Illinois sales figures highlight an unfair competitive situation. “A business is a business,” she says. “Why do I have to charge sales tax and they don’t, if we’re in the same business?”

Ten senators, including Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin and Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, introduced a bill Wednesday that would remove Amazon’s competitive advantage over bookstores such as the one in Carbondale. And, surprisingly, Amazon has endorsed the bill.

The proposed Marketplace Fairness Act would require retailers to collect taxes on remote sales, including those made online or through mail order. It would apply only to businesses with at least $500,000 of remote sales, and only in states that adopt a simplified sales tax structure.

Large sums of money are at stake. William Fox, a professor of economics at the University of Tennessee, estimates that state and local governments lose $11.4 billion a year in revenue from online retail sales, and a total of $23.6 billion from untaxed online, catalog and business-to-business sales.

In the past, Amazon has fought hard to avoid collecting its share of that money. In Illinois, North Carolina and Rhode Island, it canceled relationships with local affiliates to get around so-called “Amazon tax” laws. In Texas, it threatened to close a warehouse rather than pay $269 million in sales taxes.

Now, though, Amazon says it ’strongly supports enactment” of the Marketplace Fairness Act. Not all companies agree: eBay, for example, says the bill “fails to protect small business retailers using the Internet.”

Past congressional efforts to address the sales tax issue

ROME—His legacy tarnished and his hopes of clinging to power dashed, Silvio Berlusconi faces daunting legal and financial challenges once he vacates the premier’s office and faces the prospect of life outside the international spotlight.

He has vowed he won’t run again for office, though few expect he’ll abandon Italian politics for good. Berlusconi himself has already said he might help out a campaign here or there because, well, “they’ve always turned out well for me.”

But with Berlusconi’s resignation as premier Saturday following months of market turmoil, a political era in Italy closes and the 75-year-old Berlusconi is just a billionaire businessman once again.

“What we are viewing now is not the end of a government, but the end of a system, of a political system,” said Massimo Franco, a political analyst for leading daily Corriere Della Sera.

Indeed, Berlusconi dominated Italian politics for the last 17 years, a polarizing figure who served three terms as premier. He held off political opponents and jousted with magistrates pursuing him on corruption and sexual misconduct charges, but was felled by massive international and market pressure.

The media mogul had thrived rubbing shoulders with the powerful, whether vacationing with Russia’s Vladimir Putin or getting a taste of Texas ranch life when hosted by then President George W. Bush in a meeting of Iraq war allies.

But seen as an impediment to economic reform, his exit came quickly as Italy was swept up by Europe’s debt crisis.

Whether he goes back to running his media empire or even returning to the vacant post as president of his beloved AC Milan soccer team, he faces an unpleasant agenda. Judging from how his media voices are reacting, it won’t be a completely quiet exit.

“Stop a Europe of technocrats,” clamoured a headline in the family newspaper Il Giornale of Italy’s presumed new government headed by economist Mario Monti. “This government is a coup.”

Berlusconi’s resignation will mean he can no longer claim official government business as a reason for missing hearings in his three trials, a tactic that has been used to delay proceedings. His attempt at fashioning a law that would have given him immunity was overturned by the constitutional Court.

But charges in two Milan trials related to his business dealings will run out due to the statute of limitations early next year — leaving little peril that the billionaire would face any penalty even if courts can reach a conviction in the first trial. The Italian system allows for two levels of appeal.

Berlusconi is expected to testify before Christmas in his trial on charges of paying British lawyer David Mills to lie for him on the stand in another case. A verdict is expected in late January, but with the statute of limitations set to expire in March, it is impossible that two levels of appeal could be completed to make any verdict final bad credit payday advance.

Berlusconi has denied the charge, and Mills saw his conviction overturned on appeal.

In the other trial concerning his Mediaset media empire, Berlusconi is charged with tax fraud in the purchase of TV rights. Berlusconi denies the charges, which also expire in the spring.

In Berlusconi’s most sensational trial, the 75-year-old is accused of paying for sex with a Moroccan teen — known by her nickname Ruby Rubacuore, “Ruby the Heartstealer” — and using his influence to cover it up. No fewer than 22 court dates have been scheduled through May.

A conviction would mean Berlusconi would be permanently barred from public office — but he has already pledged not to run again and his hopes of one day becoming Italian president were dashed by the sex scandal.

That leaves the billionaire back where he started: running his considerable empire. The economic crisis has made that more challenging.

Shares in Mediaset have lost half of their value since May, as the debt crisis lapped ever more perilously at Italian businesses, and dropped by as much as 10 per cent in trading sessions this week as Berlusconi’s political future was decided by the markets.

Mediaset — which is controlled by the family holding company Fininvest and includes private TV stations as well as newspapers and other publications — dropped from €4.242 a share in May to €2.142 on Friday.

“It could be that Berlusconi is very scared by the financial crisis. If you think that Fininvest is 95 per cent invested in Italy,” said Carlo Guarnieri, a political scientist as the University of Bologna.

Even more dangerous was his loss of a civil suit to rival media group over corruption in the acquisition of the Mondadori publishing empire. A court has ordered him to €560 million ($800 million) for corrupting a judge.

Alarmed by the amount, Berlusconi went as far as quietly introducing a measure into Italy’s austerity budget this summer that would have allowed the company to delay payment until the final appeal, but withdrew it after political opponents raised an outcry.

He can still count on friends in high places to look after his interests: his 41-year-old political heir, Angelo Alfano, now heads his People of Liberties party and he remains its founder.

But Franco, the Corriere della Sera analyst, said Berlusconi’s future in the near-term is probably not on Italy’s centre political stage.

“I think Berlusconi can just survive, maybe with a personal party, but I don’t think he is due to rule and lead Italy in the foreseeable future any more,” he said.

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Greece’s embattled prime minister and main opposition leader agreed Sunday to form an interim government to ensure the country’s new European debt deal and oversee early elections, capping a week of political turmoil that saw Greece facing a catastrophic default and threatening its euro membership.

Greek leaders had been anxious to end a severe political crisis with some positive result before Monday, when the country heads to a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels. The initial agreement, which will see Prime Minister George Papandreou step down, came after a week of drama sparked by his announcement he was taking the debt deal to a referendum. He withdrew that plan Thursday after intense opposition from European leaders and his own Socialist lawmakers, many of whom called for him to resign.

Papandreou “has already stated he will not lead the new government,” the statement from the president’s office said.

He is to meet again Monday with opposition leader Antonis Samaras to seek agreement on who will head the new government and who will be included in its Cabinet, the president’s office said.

A planned meeting with the leaders of all political parties represented in parliament, which was to take place Monday evening, was canceled after parliament’s two leftist parties refused to attend, the office said.

The statement came after a late-night meeting between Papandreou and Samaras called by President Karolos Papoulias to end a two-day deadlock. Direct talks had failed to get off the ground as Papandreou had agreed to step aside but only after power-sharing talks settled on a new government makeup, and Samaras insisted he wanted snap elections and would not start negotiations unless Papandreou resigned first.

An opposition conservative party official said Samaras’ party is “absolutely satisfied” with the outcome of the talks and that party officials were to hold meetings late Sunday night with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his advisers to discuss how long it would take to finalize the new debt deal and when elections could be held.

“Our two targets, for Mr. Papandreou to resign and for elections to be held, have been met,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the process.

The crisis was sparked after Papandreou’s shock announcement on Oct. 31 that he wanted to put a new European debt deal aimed at rescuing his country’s economy to a referendum. That plan caused an uproar in Europe, with the leaders of France and Germany saying any popular vote in Greece would decide whether the country would remain in the euro direct payday lenders. European officials also said the country would not receive the vital euro8 billion euro installment of its existing euro110 billion bailout until the uncertainty in Athens was over.

Papandreou’s announcement also spooked international markets, leading stock markets to tumble and led to calls in Greece for Papandreou’s resignation _ even from among his own Socialist lawmakers and ministers _ with many saying he had endangered Greece’s bailout.

The prime minister withdrew the referendum plan on Thursday, after Samaras indicated his party would back the new debt deal, which was agreed upon after marathon negotiations in Europe on Oct. 27.

Greece has been surviving since May 2010 on its initial bailout. But its financial crisis was so severe that a second rescue was needed as the country remained locked out of international bond markets by sky-high interest rates and facing an unsustainable national debt increase.

The new European deal, agreed on by the 27-nation bloc on Oct. 27 after marathon negotiations, would give Greece an additional euro130 billion ($179 billion) in rescue loans and bank support. It would also see banks write off 50 percent of Greek debt, worth some euro100 billion ($138 billion). The goal is to reduce Greece’s debts to the point where the country is able to handle its finances without relying on constant bailouts.

Greece’s lawmakers must now approve the new rescue deal, putting intense pressure on the country’s leaders to swiftly end the political crisis so parliament can convene and put the debt agreement to a vote.

“We know that there can be no elections now,” Papandreou had said during an earlier emergency Cabinet meeting, noting that snap polls would delay the approval of the new debt deal. “This cooperation, however, is necessary and will be beneficial for the climate in our country and internationally.”

In return for bailout money, Greece was forced to embark on a punishing program of tax increases and cuts in pensions and salaries that sent Papandreou’s popularity plummeting and his majority in parliament whittled down from a comfortable 10 seats to just three.

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Associated Press writer Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.

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How should people prepare their houses for sale during the winter?

A bit of simple maintenance now will go a long way to keep a house in good shape for prospective buyers this winter.

Start by clearing leaves from gutters and patios. Keep walking areas swept and collect lawn debris regularly. Remember to check working fireplaces for loose mortar and debris. Get heating systems inspected. Stock up on filters for timely changes throughout the winter. Replacing window screens with storm windows will cut heating costs and extend the life of the screen material.

Don’t overlook the driveway. Snow, ice and salt that come with the winter season can wreak havoc on driveways and blacktop surfaces. Protect them by filling cracks and holes before the freeze sets in. Snow can alter the overall look of the property. Shovel and de-ice paths and doorways. The driveway and sidewalks should be plowed. Make sure that outside lights and doorbells work. Consider installing more lights to highlight effectively the best areas of the house.

Focusing on the interior is also important for selling in the winter. Furnished homes and those that are well organized have more appeal. Make sure beds are made, furniture is well placed and that countertops and closets are clutter-free. Bear in mind that not all home shoppers celebrate the same holidays. Keep holiday decorations as a seasonal accent so buyers see the home, not just the adornments.

Selling a home in the winter has its perks. Chances are, buyers looking for a home during the winter holidays are serious about buying and not simply shopping around. At that time of year, there are fewer homes on the market, reducing the competition.

Visa Inc. says its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 14 percent as cardholders used their credit and debit cards more often both in the U.S. and abroad.

The San Francisco-based payments processing network says it earned $880 million, or $1.27 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. Revenue rose 13 percent to $2.38 billion.

Wall Street was expecting profit of $1.25 per share, on revenue of $2.4 billion fast payday loan no faxing.

Visa says it processed 13 billion transactions during the quarter, up 9 percent from last year.

Worldwide, Visa card holders spent $1.55 trillion on their cards, with debit outpacing credit. That’s up 17 percent from last year’s quarter.

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Thailand’s prime minister says the country’s catastrophic floods may take up to six weeks to recede.

Yingluck Shinawatra also said in a weekly address to the nation Saturday that the crisis had displaced more than 110,000 people from their homes.

The government said the death toll had risen to 356.

Excessive monsoon rains have drowned a third of the Southeast Asian nation since late July, and over the last two weeks the government has struggled to prevent the inundation from pouring through Bangkok.

Districts just outside the capital’s northern boundaries have been submerged for days. Since Friday, rising waters have caused minor flooding in Bangkok’s outskirts.

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Investors remain anxious to find safety even as the stock market moves back toward positive territory for the year.

They’re on pace to yank more than $20 billion out of stock funds this month, the fourth time in the last five months, scarred by the volatility over everything from the sluggish economy to Europe’s debt crisis to the threat of another global recession.

Despite the recent market uptick, there’s still plenty to worry about.

Fears remain that the Greek government may fail to pay its massive debts, which would wreak widespread financial havoc. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hasn’t backed off from his statement early this month that the economic recovery “is close to faltering.” And investors aren’t fully convinced that the selloff that pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index down 14 percent in the third quarter has run its course.

All the added uncertainty fuels any temptation to abandon stocks, as many already have done.

But “playing it safe” comes at a cost. Over the long run, fleeing to cash or buying Treasurys may be even more dangerous in this era of low interest rates as well as low returns. It can do permanent damage to your money’s buying power and your retirement prospects.

That’s the message financial advisers have been hammering home to clients who want to abandon the stock market, fearing a repeat of the 2008 meltdown or who are simply fed up with all the plunges.

Disillusioned investors, too, risk chasing an illusion of safety. So-called safe havens aren’t all that safe anymore.

“This is what I say to clients: `There is no safety’,” says Femi Shote, an investment adviser with Asset Harvest Group in McLean, Va. “What I preach is resilience, not safety.”

Hints of improvement in the latest corporate results hold out hope for investors, while highlighting the risk of being on the sidelines. Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, says the stock market is “pretty cheap” after all the selling and could come back quickly.

“All this volatility doesn’t engender a lot of confidence,” LaVorgna says. “But some good news can quickly restore it. If it looks like the economy is still growing and there’s some resolution in Europe, we could have the tonic for a powerful rally.”

Whether that occurs soon or not, here’s a look at the numbers confirms the meager payoffs of playing it safe.

_ Cash: Although it can provide a sense of security, cash doesn’t hold its value well over time. The average yield on a money-market account is just 0.54 percent, according to Bankrate.com. Even the best-paying online savings accounts pay 1 percent or less. As recently as the summer of 2008, just before the financial crisis hit full-force, you could earn 5 percent on such accounts.

Certificates of deposit also pay poorly. The highest rates available are 1.15 percent on a one-year CD and 2.2 percent on a five-year CD.

_ U.S. Treasury notes: The safety of bonds is less rewarding than it used to be. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to a record-low 1.71 percent last month and remains near 2 percent.

_ Gold: It is far too speculative to be used wisely as protection against a falling stock market. But gold has been embraced by investors worried about rising U.S. debt, the possibility of inflation and a spreading European debt crisis. More and more piled in as the price nearly tripled in four years, reaching a record $1,891.90 on Aug. 22.

Since then, it has tumbled all the way back near $1,600.

Aside from gold’s recent slide, a market-weary investor might reason that at least cash and other options offer less downside risk than stocks and the most protection for their accounts.

Investment experts, however, consider that thinking short-sighted quick cash. If you’re too conservative, they note, you can outlive your money.

Inflation historically averages about 3 percent, so putting money aside that earns less than 1 percent means its value is eroding over time. Keeping money in the stock market is the likeliest way to stay ahead of inflation, or at least keep pace.

Even in a period that included two sharp declines in the market, the S&P 500 index had an average annual return of 7 percent for the 15 years from mid-1996 through June 30. That’s hard to match elsewhere.

Investors who ditch stocks are removing future growth from their portfolios and need to compensate elsewhere.

“When you sell, you need to simultaneously increase the amount you’re contributing to that account,” says Stuart Ritter, a certified financial planner for T. Rowe Price in Baltimore. “Or if you’re in retirement, you need to withdraw less. Otherwise you have no chance to keep up with inflation.”

Then there’s what economists call the opportunity cost — what you miss out in the long haul by leaving.

Over the longer term, the case for staying in stocks is even more compelling. History says the market is highly unlikely to decline over any 10-year period, recent times notwithstanding. On a rolling basis, the S&P 500 has produced losses in only four out of 76 different 10-year periods since 1926, according to a T. Rowe Price analysis.

Those who want to keep their cash on the sidelines until the market calms down, even for a few days, do so at risk of missing a comeback. An investment that excluded the best 10 days of the S&P 500 in the past decade would have posted an annual loss of 1.5 percent rather than a gain of 5.3 percent.

Investors who sat out even part of the 2009-11 bull market learned the hard way.

When panicked clients call Joe Adkins of Financial Advisors International with a request to sell after seeing the Dow drop hundreds of points, the Orlando, Fla., money manager offers a ready reminder. Had they sold stocks in March 2009 when the market bottomed and bought back in in December 2009, he tells them, they would have missed a 4,000-point gain in the Dow — nearly two-thirds of the two-year bull-market rally.

“You shouldn’t manage your money based on the headlines,” his advice goes. “Just weather the storm, because if you go to cash you risk running out of money.”

Besides telling clients to stick with the market, many advisers are steering them toward large, stable, blue chip stocks with a history of paying annual dividends of 3 percent or more.

Others recommend sinking a small percentage of holdings into alternative investments _ a catch-all term for such instruments as hedge funds and commodities. Alternative investments can be used as a tool to reduce overall risk through diversification. But the complexity, cost and lack of liquidity typically don’t make those the safest of investments, either.

Ultimately, those who can’t tolerate short-term risk for the likelihood of long-term gains may find a comfort level with simply a smaller percentage of their money in stocks.

They just have to realize that caution will probably cost them in the end, according to Pat Dorsey, director of research and strategy for the Sanibel Captiva Trust Co. in Chicago.

“Certainly if you are just a very nervous person, prone to getting out of the market every time the Dow drops 2 or 3 percent, having higher cash or bond allocation may make sense,” Dorsey says. “But you’ve got to dial down your (lifestyle) expectations for the future if you do that.”

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