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Egypt is facing daunting challenges, a leading candidate for president said Sunday, presenting his decades as a senior government official as a prime reason to vote for him and not an Islamist.

Amr Moussa said Egypt is going through an economic and social crisis that requires the talents of an experienced statesman, not a president who learns on the job.

Egyptians pick a new president to replace deposed Hosni Mubarak in a process that begins May 23-24. It is unclear how much power the new president will have, as the process for writing a new constitution is snagged over disagreements about makeup of the body that will write the new document.

Moussa served as Egypt’s foreign minister under Mubarak and in 2001 moved over to head the Arab League. He resigned that post last year to run for president.

At a news conference Sunday in Cairo, he disagreed with the goals of Islamist parties, which have won clear majorities in parliamentary elections running on a platform of Islamic principles.

“I believe that Egypt has been injured, Egypt has been mismanaged and that Egypt should not get into an experiment that has not been tried before,” he said when asked about his top Islamist opponent, a member of Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood.

Such an experiment, he said, could enter Egypt “into a period of confusion.”

Critics charge that Moussa’s record as a top official under Mubarak could mean his election would mark a return to the ways of the former regime, characterized by corruption, inefficiency and nepotism.

Egypt’s economy has been hard hit in the aftermath of the popular uprising. Tourism and investment rates have plummeted, foreign currency reserves have dipped dangerously and the national budget reels under the burden of heavy subsidies on fuel and basic food products.

Thirteen candidates are running to replace Mubarak. Since he resigned after a popular uprising, Egypt’s military has been running the country.

Facing Moussa are candidates from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist factions, as well as another Mubarak-era official, Ahmed Shafiq, his last prime minister instant personal loans guaranteed.

In a last minute decision, the Brotherhood decided to field a candidate in the race, after it had promised it would not. This led many to accuse the Brotherhood of being power hungry, aiming to lead Egypt toward into a religion-based system of government. The Brotherhood says it would have Islam as its reference for governing.

The group’s candidate, Mohamed Morsi, said Saturday if he wins, he will be president of all Egyptians, but it is now time to put into practice the group’s slogan, “Islam is the solution.”

The Brotherhood’s main candidate was among 10 disqualified this month by Egypt’s election commission, along with another leading Islamist and Mubarak’s former intelligence chief, boosting Moussa’s chances. Morsi replaced the group’s first choice.

Moussa pointed to his credentials as a longtime government official with deep knowledge of the system.

“I believe I can start from minute one as president with my knowledge of the government, the administration, the management and also the connection with the world and the Arab world and the African world, and Europe,” he said. “The country is in a major crisis. A major crisis doesn’t justify at all a president who will ask around, what should I do at this point or that point and gaining experience as he goes.”

The Brotherhood was outlawed for decades before Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011, so its leaders have never held high office.

Moussa, 76, is popular among Egyptians who see in him a seasoned and outspoken diplomat, particularly voicing criticism of Israeli policies.

On the other hand, he has been harshly criticized in recent protest rallies for his association with the Mubarak regime, and many protesters say that he, like other former regime officials, should not be allowed to run in the first post-Mubarak elections.

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France’s foreign minister says an array of international sanctions targeting Syria’s repressive regime have depleted its financial reserves by half _ and Damascus is actively trying to evade them.

Alain Juppe called Tuesday for a solid international response to such “maneuvers” as he opened a Paris meeting of 57 countries to tighten sanctions against President Bashar Assad.

The actual size of Syria’s financial reserves isn’t known, but it was believed to be around $17 billion at the start of the uprising in March 2011. Juppe didn’t specify how much of Syria’s finances were impacted by sanctions, but said “our information” is that they have been cut in half.

Diplomats and finance ministry officials from the Arab world, the West and elsewhere were meeting in Paris to coordinate sanction measures against Assad’s repressive regime.

The Arab League and the European Union are among more than 50 participants who want to keep up pressure on Assad.

Juppe was set to kick off Tuesday’s closed-door talks in Paris under the “Friends of Syria” banner. But two Arab League nations _ Syrian neighbors Iraq and Lebanon _ were not attending.

Diplomats say a string of EU, U.S. and other sanctions are affecting Assad by curbing Syria’s ability to export oil.

Speaking at a separate meeting in Moscow, Syrian opposition members say they have sensed a shift in Russia’s stance on the conflict in their homeland and voiced hope Tuesday that Moscow will crank up pressure on Assad’s regime.

On a visit to Moscow, Haytham Manna, spokesman for the Arab Commission for Human Rights, said Russia has voiced support for democratic changes in Syria and believes the Syrians themselves should determine the country’s future.

“The representatives of the Russian government aren’t inclined to support the idea of preservation of the dictatorial regime,” Manna told a news conference. “They are talking about the need for continuing democratic changes, and it’s very important for us.”

Abdul-Aziz al-Kheir, a spokesman for the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, said Russia’s position has been changing over the past two months and “particularly fast over the past two weeks payday loan.”

Members of the Syrian opposition said they hoped Russia will apply its power to persuade Assad to observe U.N. and Arab league envoy Kofi Annan’s cease-fire plan to end 13 months of violence in Syria.

“Russia has all the necessary levers to apply pressure on Assad’s government and help Annan’s mission,” Manna said.

Hassan Abdul-Azim, the head of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change who is leading the delegation, said Moscow’s support is essential for the success of Annan’s mission.

“That is the last chance to end the fratricidal massacre and create preconditions for the transfer to a democratic form of government,” he said.

Manna said that while the opposition was encouraged by the talks in Moscow, differences remain. Russia continues to be strongly critical of Assad opponents using force, Manna said, while the opposition views it as a legitimate response to the violence on the part of the regime.

He said that the opposition delegation also sought to assuage Russia’s concerns about the rise of Islamism in Syria and prospects of continuing violence in the country in case of regime change.

The opposition delegation is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later Tuesday.

Lavrov has recently criticized Assad for dragging his feet on reforms and using excessive force. He and other Russian officials have strongly urged their old ally to observe Annan’s plan.

Russia, along with China, has twice shielded Assad’s regime from U.N. sanctions over its deadly crackdown on a popular uprising. But Moscow has strongly supported Annan’s cease-fire plan to end 13 months of violence and begin talks on Syria’s political future.

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In a case that affects thousands of businesses and millions of workers, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers are under no obligation to ensure that workers take legally mandated lunch and rest breaks

The unanimous opinion came after workers’ attorneys argued that abuses are routine and widespread when companies aren’t required to issue direct orders to take the breaks. They claimed employers take advantage of workers who don’t want to leave colleagues during busy times.

The case was initially filed nine years ago against Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s and other eateries, by restaurant workers complaining of missed breaks in violation of California labor law.

But the high court sided with businesses when it ruled that requiring companies to order breaks is unmanageable and those decisions should be left to workers.

The opinion written by Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar explained that state law does not compel an employer to ensure employees cease all work during meal periods, instead saying the employee is at liberty to use the time as they choose.

“The employer is not obligated to police meal breaks and ensure no work thereafter is performed,” Werdegar wrote.

The court’s decision could greatly reduce the numerous class-action lawsuits surrounding the issue that cost companies millions of dollars in legal costs.

“The courts are making it clear that you have to create a system and a procedure that fully allows employees an opportunity to take breaks and meal periods, and if they do that they do not have to be Big Brother and individually monitor each employee to ensure that they’ve taken every bit of their breaks,” said Steve Hirschfeld, founder and CEO of the Employment Law Alliance, an employer-side legal trade group.

Attorneys for workers said low-wage workers such as those at Chili’s and other restaurants face unique issues that dissuade them from requesting meal and rest periods.

“The decision … should have required employers to take affirmative steps to provide meal periods, and not just adopt policies that allow them,” Fernando Flores of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center, said in a statement.

“The (court) previously held that employees who are denied their rest and meal periods face greater risk of work-related accidents _ especially low-wage workers who engage in manual labor,” Flores said.

The Brinker decision doesn’t account for the public health and general welfare argument and weakens these standards for millions of low-wage workers across California, he added.

State law has mandated meal and rest breaks for decades. But in 2001, California became one of only a few states that impose a monetary penalty for employers who violate these laws, requiring employers to pay one hour of wages for a missed half-hour meal break. There is no federal law requiring employers to provide such breaks.

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The U.S. economy is growing again but faces tough challenges that call for action to create jobs and foster expansion, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

Geithner, speaking to the Economic Club of New York, singled out rising oil prices as a stumbling block for the economy because they force consumers to pay more for gasoline at the pump.

He said the economy was now more productive than it was before the 2007-2009 financial crisis but cautioned that confidence remains fragile.

“That is why it is so important that policy makers continue to work to get the economy growing faster in the short term and not shift prematurely to fiscal restraint,” he said.

“We can’t cut our way to growth. Severe austerity now would be very damaging,” he added.

He cited a number of factors that together mean Americans are facing “a dangerous and uncertain world,” including escalating energy costs.

“There is no quick and easy fix to this problem, but it reinforces the need for more progress to develop additional sources of energy of all forms,” Geithner said.

Earlier on Thursday, Reuters reported that Britain was ready to cooperate with the United States on a release of strategic oil stocks, likely within months.

Geithner noted that at the end of 2012, the country faces a simultaneous expiry of tax cuts and big across-the-board spending cuts that together would amount to about five percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The prospect of such a blow to national output should be a strong incentive for lawmakers to reach some compromises on taxes and spending, he suggested.

Geithner said the Obama administration is aiming for a package of measures that includes some tax increases for wealthy Americans, though that is opposed by Republicans.

“If you do not raise revenues through tax reform, then you have to find another 1 percent of GDP or roughly 1.5 trillion dollars over 10 years in additional savings from defense, Social Security, Medicare, education or low income programs,” he said.

During a question period later, Geithner said the country now faces “stark choices” about the best course for boosting growth and getting deficits down.

He suggested there was “no alternative” to raising some taxes along with reducing spending and said reductions in some benefit programs were “manageable” if they were made over time.

People are going to be reluctant to see their benefits cut unless they think that those benefit cuts are not going to sustain tax rates we can’t afford,” he said.

“They go together. There’s no alternative. It’s going to have to happen and it’s better for us if it happened sooner and with design in it than happen too late without the opportunity for people to adjust,” Geithner added.

He noted that research shows that recoveries that follow financial crises tended to be “more tentative and uneven” and said it likely will take years to fully repair damage caused by the last one.

In response to questions, Geithner said that actions by the European Central Bank to keep markets liquid as well as actions by new governments in Italy and Spain had “substantially calmed the really acute financial tensions of the past 18 months” and reduced downside risks to the global economy.

“For that to be sustained, we’re going to need to keep a close eye on oil and Iran and gas prices plus we’ve got to make sure Europe keeps moving to sustain its progress,” he added.

If Europe builds a stronger financial firewall, Geithner said it would be appropriate for the International Monetary Fund to raise more resources and play a larger role in helping Europe. “If Europe moves on that front, I think you’ll see the IMF try to reinforce that,” he said.

Geithner said the United States must also prepare for a future in which emerging-market countries like Mexico, China and Brazil are getting better at competing and are putting pressure on American jobs.

One way to do that is by reforming a corporate tax system that Geithner described as “a complex and unfair mess of subsidies…with a very high statutory rate” of tax that varies across industries. It needs to be reformed to encourage U.S. businesses to keep production at home, he suggested.

Geithner has previously indicated that he is staying in the Obama administration through this year’s elections but, even if President Barack Obama is reelected, would not be back in a second term.

He said the country can’t let up on the effort to reduce deficits and said Americans should beware of promises that tax cuts can pay for themselves.

“No responsible politician can offer the nation fiscal sustainability through trillions in unpaid-for tax cuts,” Geithner added.

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Bank of America announced plans Thursday to freeze pension plans, effective in July, and increase its 401(k) contributions instead.

Eligible employees will keep the pension benefits that they’ve earned to date but will not receive additional benefits, Bank of America (, Fortune 500) spokesman Scott Silvestri said.

The company will instead begin making an additional 2-3% annual contribution to employees’ 401(k) accounts, on top of the existing program that matches employee contributions up to 5%.

"Making these changes simplifies our offerings, gives employees control in managing their retirement savings and ensures our retirement benefits remain competitive," Silvestri said in an email instant payday loan lenders.

U.S. companies are increasingly moving away from traditional pensions and toward 401(k) plans in an effort to save costs and minimize funding uncertainty. Last week, General Motors (, Fortune 500) announced that it had shifted its senior salaried workers away from a traditional pension plan to a 401(k) plan.

Bank of America had roughly 282,000 full-time employees as of December. In September, the bank announced plans to eliminate 30,000 positions over the next few years. 

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Iran is poised to greatly expand uranium enrichment at a fortified underground bunker to a point that would boost how quickly it could make nuclear warheads, diplomats tell The Associated Press.

They said Tehran has put finishing touches for the installation of thousands of new-generation centrifuges at the cavernous facility _ machines that can produce enriched uranium much more quickly and efficiently than its present machines.

While saying that the electrical circuitry, piping and supporting equipment for the new centrifuges was now in place, the diplomats emphasized that Tehran had not started installing the new machines at its Fordo facility and could not say whether it was planning to.

Still, the senior diplomats _ who asked for anonymity because their information was privileged _ suggested that Tehran would have little reason to prepare the ground for the better centrifuges unless it planned to operate them. They spoke in recent interviews _ the last one Saturday.

The reported work at Fordo appeared to reflect Iran’s determination to forge ahead with nuclear activity that could be used to make atomic arms despite rapidly escalating international sanctions and the latent threat of an Israeli military strike on its nuclear facilities.

Fordo could be used to make fissile warhead material even without such an upgrade, the diplomats said.

They said that although older than Iran’s new generation machines, the centrifuges now operating there can be reconfigured within days to make such material because they already are enriching to 20 percent _ a level that can be boosted quickly to weapons-grade quality.

Their comments appeared to represent the first time anyone had quantified the time it would take to reconfigure the Fordo centrifuges into machines making weapons-grade material.

In contrast, Iran’s older enrichment site at Natanz is producing uranium at 3.4 percent, a level normally used to power reactors. While that too could be turned into weapons-grade uranium, reassembling from low to weapons-grade production is complex, and retooling the thousands of centrifuges at Natanz would likely take weeks.

The diplomats’ recent comments came as International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday. Their trip _ the second this month _ is another attempt to break more than three years of Iranian stonewalling about allegations that Tehran has _ or is _ secretly working on nuclear weapons that would be armed with uranium enriched to 90 percent or more.

Diplomats accredited to the IAEA expect little from that visit. They told the AP that _ as before _ Iran was refusing to allow the agency experts to visit Parchin, the suspected site of explosives testing for a nuclear weapon and had turned down other key requests made by the experts.

Iranian officials deny nuclear weapons aspirations, saying the claims are based on bogus intelligence from the U.S. and Israel.

But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has said there are increasing indications of such activity. His concerns were outlined in 13-page summary late last year listing clandestine activities that either can be used in civilian or military nuclear programs, or “are specific to nuclear weapons.”

Among these were indications that Iran has conducted high explosives testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead. The report also cited preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test and development of a nuclear payload for Iran’s Shahab 3 intermediate range missile _ a weapon that could reach Israel.

Iran says it is enriching only to make nuclear fuel. But because enrichment can also create fissile warhead material, the U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Tehran in a failed attempt to force it to stop.

More recently, the U.S., the European Union and other Western allies have either tightened up their own sanctions or rapidly put new penalties in place striking at the heart of Iran’s oil exports lifeline and its financial system.

The most recent squeeze on Iran was announced Friday, when SWIFT, a financial clearinghouse used by virtually every country and major corporation in the world, agreed to shut out the Islamic Republic from its network.

Diplomats say the choke-holds are being applied in part to persuade Israel to hold off on potential military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities _ among them Fordo, a main Israeli concern because it is dug deep into a mountain and could be impervious to the most powerful bunker busting bombs.

Diplomats told the AP earlier this month that Iran had added two new series or cascades of old-generation IR-1 centrifuges to its Fordo operation, meaning 348 centrifuges were now operating in four cascades.

Olli Heinonen, who retired last year as the IAEA’s chief Iran inspector, recently estimated that these machines, and two other cascades at Natanz can produce around 15 kilograms (more than 30 pounds) of 20-percent enriched uranium a month, using Iran’s tons of low-enriched uranium as feedstock.

The low and higher enriched uranium now being produced “provides the basic material needed to produce four to five nuclear weapons,” Heinonen said.

But he suggested “an altogether different scenario” _ a much quicker pace of enrichment to levels easily turned into weapons-capable uranium if Iran starts using newer, more powerful centrifuges at Fordo. That, said the diplomats, is exactly what Iran appears to be on the verge of doing by finishing preparatory work recently for new centrifuge installations.

Fordo, which can house 3,000 centrifuges, was confidentially revealed to the IAEA by Iran in 2009, just days before the U.S. and Britain jointly announced its existence.

Iran announced last year that it would move its 20-percent uranium production to Fordo from Natanz and sharply boost capacity. It started making higher grade material two years ago saying it needed it to fuel a research reactor.

But the U.S. and others question the rationale, pointing out that Iran rejected offers of foreign fuel supplies for that reactor and is making more of the higher-enriched material than that small reactor needs.

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A storm of criticism in China over share listing plans by a company that sells tonics made with bear bile is highlighting the increasingly affluent country’s changing attitudes toward the environment and wildlife.

Reports Friday said dozens of well-known entertainers, writers and other celebrities signed a petition to the China Securities Regulatory Commission urging it to withhold approval for the initial public offering by Guizhentang, a Chinese medicines maker. The company is awaiting approval for a share listing in Shenzhen.

Hundreds of thousands of comments on “weibo,” the Chinese version of Twitter, blasted the company for extracting bile from bears.

Animal rights groups contend the practice of bear bile farming is cruel because the animals are confined to small cages and milked of bile through catheters inserted into fistulas, or permanent wounds, in their gall bladders.

They say that antibiotics used to counter chronic infections from the practice, and other contaminants in the bile, also pose a hazard to human health.

A photo on the front page of the state-run newspaper China Business News on Friday showed a satirical photo montage of a caged bear, its muzzle bloodied, with a picture of the head of the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicines, Fang Shuting, quoted as saying that bears are “very comfortable” while the bile is extracted.

News reports cited Fang as saying China has 68 licensed bear farms and more than 10,000 bears farmed for their bile, which can cost up to 4,000 yuan ($635) a kilogram.

A spokesman for Guizhentang, who gave his surname as “Xu,” refused comment.

“It is not the right time for an interview now. We will let you know when we want to do an interview,” Xu said.

Officials at the CSRC said they could not comment on an IPO plan under consideration.

Animal rights are gaining increasing attention in China, with public figures like basketball star Yao Ming and actor Jackie Chan speaking out against eating shark fins and other customs that many view as cruel or a threat to endangered species.

The change reflects both a growing awareness of the need to protect the environment and wildlife and also increasing affluence among many ordinary Chinese who now keep pets, travel overseas and have changing attitudes toward traditions they may not have questioned in the past.

In recent years, for example, animal protection groups have staged mass releases of cats and dogs caged for shipment to restaurants and markets, where they are slaughtered for dishes considered to be delicacies or especially nourishing.

The petition to the stock watchdog from more than 70 celebrities and environmental protection groups seeks to block the IPO and urges the use of synthetic substitutes for bear bile, which is a digestive substance made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder.

The main active ingredient in the bile is ursodeoxycholic acid, or UDCA, which is thought to act as an anti-inflammatory and is used to treat gall stones and liver ailments. It is mainly taken from the Asiatic Black Bear, a protected but not endangered species in China.

Chinese media reports cited Fang as defending Guizhentang’s bile collecting practices in a news conference in Beijing, after visiting its facilities in southeast China’s Fujian province.

“Collecting bile is like turning on a tap. It’s painless, natural and simple. I didn’t see bears suffering in the process,” Caijing magazine quoted Fang as saying.

“After the bile is extracted, bears can still drink milk and honey and have fun in the farm.”

Fang argued that bear farms helped to protect wild bears by discouraging poaching, and that China must preserve its unique, ancient medicinal practices. Animal rights groups contend that poaching continues because buyers view wild bear bile as more potent.

Farmed bears live about four or five years, while those in the wild live up to 30, according to the Animals Asia Foundation, which has been working to close down bear farms and rescue the animals.

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Greek political leaders announced agreement on austerity measures, clearing the way for a deal to cut the nation

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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