Black Friday pepper spray suspect surrenders in LA

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A woman suspected of showering Black Friday shoppers with pepper spray surrendered to authorities but was released pending further investigation after she refused to discuss the incident, police said Saturday.

The woman, whose name was not released, is suspected of firing pepper spray into a crowd in order to clear a path to a crate of Xbox video game players that were being unwrapped late Thanksgiving night at a Walmart in the upscale Porter Ranch section of the San Fernando Valley.

The suspect got away in the confusion, and it was not known if she bought one of the Xboxes. Ten people suffered minor injuries from the spray and 10 others sustained cuts and bruises in the ensuing chaos.

"Last night at 8:30 the suspect involved in the pepper spray incident at the Porter Ranch Walmart turned herself in," police Sgt. Jose Valle said Saturday. She immediately invoked her right against self-incrimination, however, and refused to discuss the incident further.

Police released her pending further investigation.

Valle said investigators still have nearly a dozen witnesses to interview, including several spraying victims. He added it would likely be at least two days before an arrest in the case could be made.

If the woman who surrendered is indeed the person who sprayed the crowd she could face battery charges.

The attack took place about 10:30 p.m., shortly after the Walmart opened its doors for the traditional Black Friday sales that kick off the Christmas shopping season. A crowd of people had gathered to wait for store employees to unwrap the crate of discounted Xboxes.

The incident was one of several across the nation that marred this year's Black Friday.

In the most serious case, a robber shot a shopper who refused to give up his purchases outside a Walmart in the San Francisco suburb of San Leandro. The victim was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

San Leandro police said the victim and his family were walking to their car around 1:45 a.m. Friday when they were confronted by a group of men who demanded their shopping items. When the family refused, a fight broke out, and one of the robbers pulled a gun and shot the man, said Sgt. Mike Sobek.

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Associated Press Writer Terry Tang contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-26-Black%20Friday-Pepper%20Spray/id-582a322d5fa048c8acc93a5b7b471d41

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EU's Rehn: Italy moving in right direction (AP)

ROME ? Economic reforms being shepherded by Italy's new premier are "going in the right direction" but more action is needed, the EU's monetary chief said Friday, hours after Italy's borrowing rates skyrocketed during bond auctions.

Olli Rehn also told reporters after meeting Premier Mario Monti in Rome that Italy's economic fundamentals were "solid."

Many investors did not appear to agree with his sentiments, however, and Italy's soaring borrowing rates Friday temporarily battered stock markets in Europe. Investors worried whether Monti, an economist who came to power only a week ago, will succeed in bringing the eurozone's third-largest economy back from the brink of financial disaster.

Monti's medicine ? budget rigor and growth measures while fairly distributing the social pain ? are "the right ones," Rehn said. "I fully endorse them."

Economic reforms announced so far, including liberalizing professions and encouraging employers to hire and making it easier for them to transfer worker are "going in the right direction," the monetary affairs commissioner said, after a day of meetings that included talks with top economic and banking officials. "We expect that more will follow."

Specifically, Rehn said, "Italy needs a comprehensive and wide-ranging package of reforms to kick-start growth and offer young people not only more jobs but better jobs."

Against a backdrop of Europe's escalating debt crisis, Friday's dismal auction results were another sign that Monti's new technocratic government faces a battle to convince investors it has a strategy to cut down the country's euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) debt. They are also likely to fuel calls for the European Central Bank to use more firepower to cool down a rapidly escalating debt crisis.

Driving market fears is the knowledge that Italy is too big for Europe to bail out, like it has done with smaller nations Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Given the size of its debts ? Italy must refinance $300 billion next year alone ? the government has to continually tap investors for money. But when borrowing rates get too high, that can fuel a potentially devastating debt spiral which could bankrupt the country.

Friday's auctions showed that investors see Italian debt as increasingly risky. The country had to pay an average yield of 7.814 percent to raise euro2 billion ($2.7 billion) in two-year bills ? sharply higher than the 4.628 percent it paid in the previous auction in October. And even raising euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) for six months proved exorbitantly expensive, as the yield for that spiked to 6.504 percent, nearly double the 3.535 percent rate last month.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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