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A handful of large websites will go dark on Wednesday to protest an anti-piracy bill that critics say will wreck the Internet as we know it.

Wikipedia, user-submitted news site Reddit, the blog Boing Boing and the Cheezburger network of comedy sites all plan to participate in the blackout. The protest is their response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill, a piece of proposed legislation that is working its way through Congress.

Introduced in the House of Representatives in late October, the bill aims to crack down on copyright infringement by restricting access to sites that fuel it. Its targets include "rogue" overseas sites like torrent hub The Pirate Bay, which essentially operates as a trading ground for illegal downloads of movies and other digital content.

A similar bill called the Protect IP Act was approved by a Senate committee in May and is now pending before the full Senate.

The controversial legislation has turned into an all-out war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Media companies have united in favor of it, while tech’s power players are throwing their might into opposing it.

If SOPA passes, copyright holders would be able to complain to law enforcement officials and get websites shut down. Search engines and other providers would have to block rogue sites when ordered to do so by a judge. Sites could be punished for hosting pirated content in the first place — and Internet companies are worried that they could be held liable for users’ actions.

As BoingBoing wrote: "Making one link would require checking millions (even tens of millions) of pages, just to be sure that we weren’t in some way impinging on the ability of five Hollywood studios, four multinational record labels, and six global publishers to maximize their profits."

White House jumps in: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was supposed to hold a hearing with industry experts on Wednesday, which is why sites targeted that day for a blackout.

But Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California who opposes SOPA, postponed the hearing on Friday after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the bill won’t move in its current form.

Cantor’s comments sparked some news reports claiming that SOPA is dead, but an aide in Issa’s office said "that’s probably a little premature."

Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian was slated to testify in Washington, but he said he will now instead attend a protest rally in New York City organized by the group NY Tech Meetup. They plan to assemble outside the offices of New York senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

The White House released its first statement about the bill on Saturday. The Obama administration wrote that it would not support legislation that mandates "tamper[ing] with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS) bad credit payday advance."

As originally written, SOPA would have required Internet access providers and other companies to block access to targeted sites in ways that were rife with potential unintended consequences. The White House said its analysis of the original legislation’s technical provisions "suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity."

The White House’s statement came shortly after one of SOPA’s lead sponsors, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, agreed to remove SOPA’s DNS blocking provisions.

Issa’s aide says that isn’t enough: "Merely taking out the DNS-blocking provisions doesn’t not rectify a bill that’s fundamentally flawed."

The controversial bill, once expected to sail quickly through committee approval in the House, is now being extensively reworked before it comes up for a commitee vote.

Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp. (), voiced his frustration with the White House’s stance in a series of tweets over the weekend.

"Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," Murdoch wrote on Twitter.

In addition to Murdoch, SOPA has drawn support from groups including the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, which say that online piracy leads to U.S. job losses by depriving content creators of income. Time Warner, the parent company of CNNMoney, is among the industry supporters of the legislation.

Proponents of the bill dismiss accusations of censorship, saying that the legislation is meant to revamp a broken system that doesn’t adequately prevent criminal behavior.

But SOPA’s critics say that say that the bill’s backers don’t understand the Internet, and therefore don’t appreciate the implications of the legislation they’re considering.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of House members has proposed an alternative bill, the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN).

This legislation would allow rights holders to ask the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to enforce current laws by targeting the actual content pirates. OPEN’s backers have posted the draft legislation online and invited the Web community to comment on and revise the proposal.

SOPA supporters counter that the ITC doesn’t have the resources for such enforcement, and that giving it those resources would be too expensive. 

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Asian stocks fell Wednesday after the Federal Reserve offered no new initiatives to help a slowly recovering U.S. economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to 8,498.63. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5 percent at 1,854 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.7 percent to 18,326.98. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 4,184.80. Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan fell while mainland China rose.

U.S. stocks gave up gains Tuesday after the Fed released a policy statement that made clear it was not offering any new steps to help the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6 percent to close at 11,954.94. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.9 percent to 1,225.73. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.3 percent to 2,579.27.

The Dow dropped more than 70 points in the last hour of trading and had risen as high as 126 points earlier Tuesday after two strong auctions of European debt. The Spanish government was able to sell short-term debt at much lower interest rates compared with a month ago, a signal that markets are becoming less fearful about the government’s ability to repay its debt.

And in its first sale of short-term bills, the European Financial Stability Fund raised 1.9 billion euros ($2.6 billion).

Still, investor sentiment remained fragile amid threats by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the credit ratings of 15 countries that use the euro because of the region’s debt crisis.

“We are likely to continue seeing some cautious trading as the threat of S&P coming out to issue some downgrades at some stage this week looms,” said Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne, Australia.

“Some would argue that this is already priced in, but it will still likely rock the boat should it happen.”

Benchmark oil for January delivery was down 28 cents to $99.86 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.37 to finish at $100.14 an ounce on the Nymex on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3031 from $1.3043 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar rose to 77.99 yen from 77.97 yen.

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Enthusiasm for riskier assets such as stocks faded Monday as skeptical investors assessed a new European fiscal pact aimed at fixing the continent’s debt crisis and preventing a breakup of the euro currency bloc.

Benchmark oil dropped below $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and the yen.

European stock markets skidded in the first day of trading after the European Union adopted a new fiscal pact meant to prevent the kind of financial fiasco that is now sweeping across countries that use the euro.

Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent to 5,500.94. Germany’s DAX dropped 0.8 percent to 5,940.05 and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.7 percent to 3,149. Wall Street also headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures dipping 0.4 percent to 12,090 and S&P 500 futures down 0.5 percent at 1,247.50.

Asian stocks registered approval of the deal earlier in the day: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.4 percent to close at 8,653.82. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.3 percent to 1,899.76 and benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and Indonesia also rose.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng swung from early gains to end trading in the red, albeit marginally, at 18,575.66. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1 percent to 2,291.54 as a three-day economic conference of Chinese leaders got under way.

No major shifts in policy for 2012 are expected during a conference of Chinese leaders that began Monday. China has made headway in slowing inflation _ raising some hopes for a looser monetary policy _ while weak demand for exports from the West has sparked concerns that the economy may slow too quickly.

Under the deal, all 17 countries that use the euro agreed to allow a central European authority to oversee their future budgets and impose tighter controls on spending. They also agreed to automatic penalties if countries spend too much.

Europe’s new “fiscal compact” also calls for the launch of a permanent bailout fund for euro nations in 2012 _ a year ahead of schedule _ and an additional 200 billion euros ($267 billion) to the International Monetary Fund for a separate emergency fund for countries in crisis.

But some analysts wondered where debt-stricken Europe, which many economists say is hurtling toward recession, will find the money to make good on the pledges.

“It’s so easy for ministers to say they will contribute to this, but we’ll find out in a week or 10 days time who is,” said Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong.

Another caveat is that the deal doesn’t help cut debt today, which in Italy, Greece and Spain has driven government borrowing costs close to levels considered unsustainable.

That loose end brought into focus the future monetary policy of the European Central Bank, and whether it would be willing to buy enough national bonds from troubled countries to keep interest rates down.

Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB said “the lack of ECB action in terms of stepping up to the plate as lender of the last resort” still weighed on investment sentiment.

There were also doubts about the willingness of each individual country to ratify the agreement.

In Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest car maker, fell 0.7 percent after sharply downgrading its earnings forecast for the fiscal year due to a strong yen and massive flooding in Thailand that disrupted production.

Camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corp. surged 7.8 percent amid renewed investor faith in the embattled company. Olympus recently admitted falsifying accounting records to cover up huge investment losses from the 1990s and has vowed to investigate about 70 people, including current board members, for their possible involvement.

In Australia, energy shares led the gains. Woodside Petroleum rose 1.5 percent and mining giant BHP Billiton rose 1.9 percent.

Australian miner Whitehaven Coal Ltd. fell 1.4 percent after it agreed to a 5.1 billion Australian dollar ($5.2 billion) business combination with Aston Resources Ltd. that will create one the country’s biggest coal producers. Aston rose 1.4 percent.

High-tech shares posted strong gains. Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory rose 4.5 percent. South Korea’s LG Electronics, which ranks No. 2 globally in flat screen televisions, also gained 4.5 percent.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was down 85 cents to $98.57 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.07 to finish at $99.41 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3300 from $1.3370 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 77.66 yen from 77.54 yen.

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Apple Inc. won a small victory on Friday in its global patent battle with rival Samsung, after Australia’s highest court temporarily extended a ban on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet computers in the country.

Samsung Electronics Co. is desperate to begin selling the Galaxy in Australia in time for Christmas sales, but the High Court’s decision means the device can’t go on the market until at least Dec. 9.

Apple took Samsung to court in Australia after accusing the Suwon, South Korea-based company of copying its iPad and iPhone. In October, a Federal Court judge ordered Samsung to halt sales of the device ahead of a trial. Samsung appealed, and on Wednesday, a full bench of the Federal Court threw out the earlier ruling and said Galaxy sales could resume on Friday.

But Apple immediately appealed that decision to the High Court, which on Friday said the temporary injunction against sales would be extended for another week while it considers Apple’s latest arguments.

“Samsung believes Apple has no basis for its application for leave to appeal and will vigorously oppose this to the High Court,” Samsung said in a statement.

The legal back-and-forth is all part of a larger, international battle over the technology giants’ competing tablets. Cupertino, California-based Apple struck first when it sued Samsung in the United States in April, alleging the product design, user interface and packaging of the Galaxy “slavishly copy” the iPhone and iPad. Samsung hit back with lawsuits accusing Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology.

The companies have now filed lawsuits in 10 countries. Courts in several nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, have issued rulings that favor Apple.

Apple spokeswoman Fiona Martin declined to comment on Friday’s ruling, instead issuing a general statement blasting Samsung.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” Apple said in the statement. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

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Many people think being a landlord and investing in real estate is a way to make easy money. It can be financially rewarding if you do your homework and reduce your risks. But easy, it isn

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff wasted little time firing her top aide in May when the country’s biggest newspaper reported that he had received $4 million in unexplained income.

Rousseff didn’t stop with her chief of staff. In quick succession, she let go of three other ministers publicly accused of everything from receiving kickbacks to charging the government for staying at a love motel. Meanwhile, public outrage had turned into regular street protests.

Those unprecedented actions in the halls of power match what Brazilians say is a new mood spreading across South America’s biggest country: People are making it clear in the streets and elsewhere that long-tolerated sins such as bribery, graft and other acts of corruption are no longer tolerable.

Brazilians have long accepted such malfeasance as the necessary cost of doing business, be it in commerce or public service. Every year, the country loses up to $47.4 billion to undeclared tax revenue, vanished public money and other casualties of widespread corruption, according to an August survey by the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo.

For most of Brazil’s history, people have felt powerless to change things. Two decades of military dictatorship starting in 1964 and years of hyperinflation left citizens feeling disconnected from their representatives and from the spending of their tax money.

Now a new middle class is rising on the strength of the country’s commodities-driven economy. They’re starting to pay taxes and want to know where that money’s going, said economist Marcos Fernandes, with the Brazilian think tank the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Many Brazilians also sense that their continent-sized country is ready to realize its potential as a world economic power, and that the old way of doing business, based on personal connections and under-the-table agreements, is holding the country back, Fernandes said. Brazil’s economy grew by 7.5 percent last year.

“This new lower-middle class, middle-middle class is going to step up pressure for better public services,” he said. “Internationally we’ve seen that the growth of these classes changes politics. They’re not moved by ideology so much. They want transportation, education. They want public services.”

Public anger has also been fueled by regular reports from the Federal Comptroller General, an accounting body that monitors the use of taxpayer money.

On top of that, Brazilian news media is intensely covering the issue, and people are accessing information like never before, Fernandes said.

That’s resulted in growing numbers of people taking to the streets to voice their new expectations. Half a dozen cities saw anti-corruption marches on a single September day, and marches hit 18 cities Wednesday.

“I’ve been indignant about corruption for a long time, but now it’s intolerable,” said environmental engineer Mateus Mendonca, 28, during a September protest in downtown Rio de Janeiro. “The lack of respect politicians have for the people is explicit.”

Such mass actions to demand government accountability have never happened on the current scale, said Gil Castello Branco, founder of the nonprofit watchdog group Contas Abertas, which advocates for transparency in government.

“We’re beginning to understand that we are the state, that elected officials are there to represent us,” Castello Branco said. “We are the bosses, and they are the ones who owe us explanations. Brazilians haven’t been aware of that until now.”

The problem has long run deep, touching ministers and small town mayors alike.

Ordinary Brazilians encounter it in the police officer who stops a driver for a ticket but agrees to let the offense go in exchange for beer money. In business, corruption appears in the owner of a private construction firm that pays off an official on the side to secure a lucrative job and evade the public bidding process.

Brazilians often circumvent rules and use bribes and connections to get by and run businesses within a hugely inefficient bureaucracy.

According to the World Bank, Brazil ranks 127th out of 183 economies in ease of doing business. Starting a business, for example, takes an average of 120 days and requires 15 different procedures.

The good government group Transparency International found that Brazil ranked 69th out of 178 countries last year in perceived corruption, putting it ahead of most of its Latin American peers but behind developed countries.

But the eschewing of rules for personal gain can have the most serious consequences.

A blast ripped through downtown Rio on Thursday, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen.

Investigators say the explosion was likely caused by a leak in a restaurant’s illegal gas hookup. The establishment didn’t have a fire department safety permit allowing it to use cooking gas, according to the city’s fire chief. And the gas company serving Rio hadn’t provided service to that address since 1961. Yet rescue workers extracted from the charred building six industrial-sized gas cylinders, each with a 99-pound (45-kilogram) capacity. Every government since the restoration of democracy in 1985 has been hit by corruption scandals, including one that prompted President Fernando Collor de Mello’s resignation in 1992.

Rousseff’s predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, rose to power from the factory floor and took office amid great hope that his tenure would break the cycle of sleaze. Yet in 2005, his government was rocked by one of the biggest corruption schemes the country had seen: a vast network of monthly payouts through which Silva’s Workers Party bought legislative support. He denied knowledge of wrongdoing, but his party was scarred.

This year, Rousseff, who had been Silva’s chief of staff, brought to the presidency other veterans of Silva’s administration, including his finance minister, Antonio Palocci.

Palocci had resigned in disgrace in 2006 after he was seen frequenting a house where politicians received bribes and held all-night sex parties. As president, Rousseff named him her chief of staff.

Despite that pick, Brazilians took note when Rousseff ousted Palocci and dozens of others accused of misconduct. Her approval rating soared to 71 percent in September, thanks largely to the perception that she was taking on entrenched corruption, according to the Ibope polling institute.

Rousseff’s approach prompted an erosion in legislative support among allied parties, but Castello Branco said the push for clean government was under way.

“She awakened a sense among Brazilians that maybe the cleaning could happen not just in one room, but in the whole house,” he said.

A wide range of groups joined in the movement, from the Federation of Industry of the State of Rio de Janeiro to the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops. A group of lawmakers dedicated to the cause in Congress dusted off 21 bills that target corruption, some having been stuck in the process for more than 15 years.

“It’s our job to take the ball from these popular movements and kick it into the goal,” said Rep. Francisco Praciano of Amazonas state, coordinator of the 50-member anti-corruption caucus. “For this to work, it needs to have several fronts.”

Castello Branco said such actions should only be a start in changing Brazil for good: Society must remain engaged for the anti-corruption movement to produce real results.

“There is no police, no federal accounting investigation, that will fight corruption with the intensity that it deserves if the public is not behind them,” he said. “We have to start thinking of the next steps. This can’t be just words.”

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Two historic yet empty jazz-age dance halls in Grand Center and Midtown Alley are getting attention, but just what will become of them remains uncertain.

One is the Castle Ballroom at 2839 Olive Street, and the other is the Palladium at 3618 Enright Avenue.

Castle Ballroom, at the edge of Midtown Alley within the Locust Business District, is for sale for $450,000. Despite some ground-floor fire damage, the building’s second-floor auditorium remains intact.

Jassen Johnson, a Midtown Alley developer, said the auditorium could be an ideal space for an advertising agency, a photography studio or other creative businesses. Preserving the building is key to continuing the area’s revitalization, he added.

“It’s in the best interest of everyone to see it developed in some way,” he said. “Potentially, it could be one of the coolest buildings in the neighborhood.”

Opened in 1908 as Cave Hall, the building became better known decades later as the Castle Ballroom, which drew most of its business from the nearby Mill Creek and Yeatman, two predominantly black neighborhoods. It has hosted few events since the early 1950s, when Mill Creek was razed for redevelopment.

Sculptor Ernest Trova, who died in 2009, said in an interview in 1988 that the Castle Ballroom helped him indulge his passion for music.

“I remember

An Egyptian court has convicted Hosni Mubarak’s powerful information minister on corruption charges and sentenced him to seven years in prison.

Anas al-Fiqqi’s conviction on Wednesday is the latest by an Egyptian court of former regime figures. Those already convicted and sentenced include the former interior and tourism ministers, as well as former ruling party stalwart and steel magnate Ahmed Ezz.

Former state television chief, Osama el-Sheikh, was sentenced to five years in the same case as al-Fiqqi’s.

Mubarak himself is on trial on charges that he ordered the use of deadly force against protesters in the 18-day uprising that toppled him in February. His two sons, businessman Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, are also on trial on corruption charges.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CAIRO (AP) _ Egypt’s first parliamentary elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak will begin on Nov. 28, the country’s military rulers said Tuesday in an announcement greeted with little fanfare by activists who have grown deeply suspicious of the generals’ commitment to change.

The military council, which took over from Mubarak as he stepped down in February, promised it would transfer power to civilian rule within six months, but no date was announced for presidential elections that would bring an end to military rule.

The concerns reflect the broader uncertainty over Egypt’s post-Mubarak course under a military council led by a man who served as Mubarak’s defense minister for many years. Egypt’s new revolutionary groups say the council has done little to dismantle Mubarak’s legacy and bring figures of the old regime to account for corruption, human rights abuses and other crimes.

“The new parliament won’t reflect the real spirit of the revolution and will provide justification for the military council to continue to be present in the background of the political scene,” said Mustafa Shawki, a youth group leader.

Even more troubling for the young activists who led the uprising against Mubarak’s rule, many believe the law governing the parliamentary election will enable remnants of the former regime to retain power in the post-uprising legislature.

The elections for parliament’s two chambers will be staggered over several months, with the vote for the legislative People’s Assembly starting Nov. 28 and the less powerful Shura Council, the chamber’s upper house, on Jan. 29. The first session for the People’s Assembly will be held on March 17. The Shura Council will convene on March 24.

Critics accuse the military of dragging out the process to prolong their time in power and sap the protest movement of its energy.

Youth groups are planning a protest this weekend to push for an amendment to the election law to have voters select party lists only, rather than a mix of party lists and individual candidates. Limiting the voting to party lists, they say, would make it harder for former members of Mubarak’s now-outlawed ruling party to run. They say the change would also help make Egypt’s politics less about personalities and more about policies.

Without those changes, some are contemplating a boycott.

There are also fears that the vote could widen the rift between Egypt’s well-organized Islamist parties and the new youth-driven secular groups, who fear the religious will dominate the parliament.

Islamic groups, kept on a tight leash under Mubarak, are also critical of the new election law. But they are eager to throw their weight around in the elections and are better prepared to win a big share of seats.

Essam el-Erian, the deputy head of the Freedom and Justice party, the newly launched political arm of the country’s strongest Islamist group, The Muslim Brotherhood, said the council disregarded discussions with the political groups over the shape of the new law.

But he said: “Egypt entered a new phase with this law. It is a de facto law that we have to deal with.”

For him, boycotting the elections is not an option. A boycott, he says, “is a dream and hope of many who want to maintain the current state of confusion.”

Without a broad consensus, a boycott of the elections appears highly unlikely.

The military rulers have accusations of their own against the protest movement. They claim some of the youth groups behind the Jan. 25-Feb. 11 uprising received training abroad and unauthorized foreign funding _ a claim that discredits the groups in the eyes of many Egyptians.

Adding to the tension was a late-night stroll Monday by the country’s military ruler, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, dressed in civilian garb in a downtown Cairo street near the epicenter of the protests that forced Mubarak out of office. Tantawi had never before appeared in public out of military uniform.

The surprise walkabout was interpreted by some as a sign that Tantawi may be entertaining ideas to shed his military uniform and present himself as a possible civilian president.

Calls to the military press office were not returned Tuesday.

“I just hope this was not the launch of a new election campaign for him,” said Shady el-Ghazali Harb, a protest leader and now a founder of a new party, called al-Waai or Awareness.

The last parliamentary election under Mubarak was held in November and December last year, when the ousted leader’s now-dissolved ruling party swept the vote, winning all but a handful of seats in the People’s Assembly.

The vote was widely condemned as the most fraudulent under Mubarak’s 29-year rule and considered one of the causes behind the 18-day popular uprising that forced him to step down on Feb. 11.

Egyptians went to the polls in March for a nationwide referendum on constitutional amendments. A decent turnout of more than 40 percent and the absence of any serious instances of fraud led many to declare it Egypt’s cleanest vote in living memory.

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Armed men from Liberia have killed at least 15 people in attacks on villages along the border over the last two days, Ivory Coast’s defense minister said Saturday.

The violence began Thursday night in the country’s southwest, a region that has seen fighting even after the resolution of Ivory Coast’s bloody political crisis earlier this year.

Also Saturday, an international watchdog said it had documented a similar attack that left at least eight people dead back in July.

Matt Wells of Human Rights Watch says the fighters loyal to ex-President Laurent Gbagbo crossed over the border at night and killed villagers, including women and children, and then disappeared back into the Liberia’s dense jungle just a couple of miles away.

“Some had their throats slit and others were shot. They shot a woman from behind at point blank range,” Wells says. “The latest attack looks to be of a very similar nature.”

Ivory Coast was plunged into months of violence after Gbagbo refused to cede power after losing the November presidential election. President Alassane Ouattara has pledged to investigate the killings of thousands of people during the conflict on both sides.

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TD Economics has downgraded its forecast for global growth in a new report, issued Wednesday. Its economists warned that Canada could slip into recession if the U.S. economy continues to weaken.

Consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in two years, a decline that could have serious implications for spending and retail sales.

The downbeat mood spread even to Ontario Truckers, an industry that typically feels the first twitches of a downturn in the economy.

The Toronto Stock Exchange squeaked into positive territory amid the gloom