TALLAHASSEE -- A monocularcontroversial change by Florida legislators ties teacher pay to student progress

TALLAHASSEE -- The outcome was clear going in, but lawmakers in the state House of Representatives still debated a controversial teacher pay bill until nearly 2:30 a.m. Friday.

After more than nine hours, they voted.

Ultimately, the vote was 64 for and 55 against the measure,binoculars shop which would overhaul the way teachers are evaluated, compensated and fired in Florida.

Eleven Republicans joined Democrats in voting no.

The bill's next stop: the desk of Gov. Charlie Crist. And what he does with it is anyone's guess.

``There are things about it that I like and things about it that give me some concern,'' the governor said Thursday. ``I just want to weigh it out and continue to listen.''

That's a long way from his initial strong support of the bill, leaving opponents of the proposed law optimistic.

``Gov. Crist holds the power to do what'sbinoculars sale right for students and teachers of Florida,'' said United Teachers of Dade President Karen Aronowitz. ``When he vetoes this bill, he stands up not only for the well being of teachers, but for the stability of local communities.''

The measure passed the Senate last month in a 21-17 vote. Republican leaders pushed the bill through the House with no amendments to send it straight to Crist. Although legislators seemed debated the pros and cons of the bill into the wee hours of Friday morning, the only question about the outcome was what time everyone would telescope storego home. Enough Republican votes were locked by the time discussion started at 5 p.m. to easily pass the bill.

Hailed as a way to reward the state's best teachers, the proposed law would base half a teacher's evaluation on students' test performance. Instead of the current system, which rewards teachers based on years of experience, advanced degrees and extra certification, proponents say newer teachers could make more money earlier in their careers if their students are successful.

``What is unacceptable is the status quo -- telling a beginning teacher that no matter what you do in the classroom, there's nothing you can do to increase your pay,'' said Rep. Anitere Flores,telescope a Miami Republican.

She voted in favor of the bill.

But opponents -- many teachers, unions, Democrats and some Republicans -- say the bill would abolish job security, discourage new teachers from working in Florida and prompt existing educators to leave.

Said Broward Teachers Union President Pat Santeramo: ``This is a very dark day for education and teachers in general.''

New teachers would be placed on annual contracts that would not be automatically renewed. Teachers who are already working would not be guaranteed extra pay for future advanced degrees; solar fountain salethe program that awards bonuses for National Board Certification would be eliminated for teachers who aren't certified by 2010.

``This bill is totally unnecessary,'' said state Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie. ``Also, this bill is just bad.''

He added: ``What good public policy mandates is that this terrible bill dies a very quick death.''

Thousands of educators, parents and students solar pump salearound the state have picketed, e-mailed, called and traveled to Tallahassee to vent their ire.

Thursday, as House members debated the bill, hundreds of Broward teachers marched in protest in Tamarac. At Coral Park High in West Miami-Dade, 1,000 students walked out in opposition to the bill

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SINGAPORE -- Asian stocks were mixed on Monday with stocks in Japan buoyed by the yen's weakness against the euro, while shares in Thailand fell to a four-week low after violence erupted in Bangkok over the weekend.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.1%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.7%, South Korea's Kospi Composite was down 0.9%, China's Shanghai Composite index was 0.6% lower, dc contactorHong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.2% and India's Sensex was 0.3% lower.

Thailand's SET benchmark index fell 3.5% to 762.41 but was off its early four-week low of 755.41.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 37 points higher in screen trade.

News the European Union had agreed Sunday to details of a rescue package if the Greek government needed one was helping risk appetite, and fueling gains in Tokyo.

"One factor (Greece) limiting gains in the Tokyo market is gone. Investors are chasing the market higher," said Masumi Yamamoto, market analyst at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets.

Japanese exporters were doing particularly well as the Greek news shredderlifted the euro against the yen. That could raise earnings for companies exporting to Europe. Canon was up 1.2%, Nikon gained 1.1% and Mazda added 1.5%.

Dentsu was up 3.8% after it raised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending March. It now expects net profit of 27.5 billion yen, compared with a 24.6 billion yen forecast earlier.

Thai stocks were sharply lower after violent clashes between the military and antigovernment protesters in Bangkok over the weekend left over 20 people dead and hundreds injured.

"Markets may have underestimated thebinding machine resolve and staying power of the "Red Shirt" opposition group," said Stuart Winchester, senior portfolio manager at RCM Asia Pacific. He noted that Thai equities have rallied more than 15% since the end of February and nearly 12% since the protests started in Bangkok on March 12.

"While the potential for a dissolution of the existing government looks increasingly more possible" investors should note that the recent stock market decline follows significant gains. "As such, while political risks may be higher, we do not view the current market decline, in itself, as a signal of impending political collapse," Mr. Winchester said.

In Australia,buy telescope BHP Billiton was up 1.1% and Rio Tinto was up 1.7%. MacArthur Coal surged 6.7%, even though it denied reports that it had received a takeover offer from Xstrata.

Declines in exporters and technology stocks were offsetting gains in banks and airline stocks in Korea, leading the market lower on concerns that the strong Korean won would hurt earnings.

But "the stock market will likely remain resilient this week, backed by expectations that major U.S. firms like Intel could release strong results and the DJIA could breach above 11,300, to pre-Lehman debacle levels," said Bae Sung-young at Hyundai Securities. He also noted that the Bank of Korea's upward revision of the country's 2010 GDP growth forecast to 5.2% from 4.6% had "a positive effect of easing worries over the potential of a double-dip in the global economy."

Korean Air was up 0.6%, Asiana Airlines surged 5.9% while Samsung Electronics slipped 2.9% and Hyundai Motor lost 5.1%.

Elsewhere, Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.2%, best binocularsSingapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.2%, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was 0.5% higher, Indonesia shares were 0.8% higher and Philippine shares rose 1.2%. New Zealand's NZX-50 was flat.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro was sharply higher against the U.S. dollar and the yen, after euro-zone finance ministers agreed Sunday that if heavily indebted Greece were to receive a bailout, it could get as much as 30 billion euros in loans this year at about 5% interest from fellow euro nations. The rate was well below the 7% on Greek sovereign debt last week.

The announcement raised hopes that the Greek government could avoid defaulting on its debt.spotting scope The euro was at $1.3659, compared with $1.3495 in late New York trade Thursday, and at 127.15 yen, compared with 125.64 yen. The U.S. dollar was at 93.07 yen from 93.20 yen.

Asian currencies were broadly up against the greenback: The U.S. dollar fell against the New Taiwan dollar and was last at NT$31.499 from NT$31.615 in late trade on Friday. The dollar fell to its lowest level for 2010 against the Korean won at 1,111.8 won and was last 1,114.00 won from 1,118.2China binoculars won late Friday in Seoul.

The dollar slid its lowest level in more than two years against the Indonesian rupiah and was last 8,993 rupiah from 9,030 rupiah late Friday.

Japanese government bonds were lower with stocks in Tokyo pushing higher. The key June JGB futures contract was down 0.19 at 138.21 points while the yield on the 10-year cash bond was up 1.5 basis point at 1.395%.

Spot gold was at $1,165.10 per troy ounce,compact binoculars up $3.70 from late New York trade Friday.

May Nymex crude oil futures were up 53 cents at $85.45 per barrel.

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By Shani Raja and Kana Nishizawa

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose after a rescue package for Greece eased concerns a default would slow the global economy, boosting commodity producers, industrial companies and banks.

Billabong International Ltd., which gets almost a quarter of its revenue in Europe, increased 2 percent in Sydney. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, rose 1 percent.binoculars manufacturer Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest commodities trader, climbed 2 percent in Tokyo. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, gained 1.6 percent. Nintendo Co., which receives about 34 percent of revenue from Europe, advanced 3.5 percent in Osaka as the euro strengthened against the yen.

An agreement by European governments telescope manufacturerto offer Greece a rescue package worth as much as 45 billion euros ($61 billion) helped reduce concern a public default would spur losses in credit markets and pose a threat to global growth. Gains in metals and energy markets and a report showing U.S. manufacturers are boosting production also helped Asian shares.

“The apparent resolution of uncertainties regarding Greece’s debt situation removes a large potential of negatives,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage about $1.1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd. cheap binocularsin Melbourne. “There’s greater certainty that economic recovery is in place, and that should buoy share prices and valuations.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.7 percent to 128.88 as of 12:12 p.m. in Tokyo, headed for its highest close since August 2008. More than two stocks gained for each one that fell. The gauge has gained 6.3 percent this year to April 9, compared with increases of 7.1 percent for the Standard & solar pumpPoor’s 500 Index and 6.2 percent for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

Nikkei, Hang Seng

Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 16.6 times estimated earnings, compared with 15.3 times for the S&P 500 and 13.3 times for the Stoxx 600.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.6 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.2 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi Index dropped 0.4 percent in Seoul,solar fountain led by automakers and electronics manufacturers. Samsung Electronics Co., which receives almost 85 percent of revenue overseas, declined 2.5 percent as the local currency continued to strengthen against the U.S. dollar.

U.S. Wholesalers

Futures on the S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent. The gauge increased 0.7 percent on April 9 to the highest close since September 2008. Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 0.6 percent in February, suggesting businesses are ramping up orders, a Commerce Department report showed. Economists had estimated a 0.4 percent increase.

Billabong, the world’s biggest publicly buy solar fountaintraded surfwear maker, advanced 2 percent to A$11.46 in Sydney. Esprit Holdings Ltd., which makes 85 percent of its sales in Europe, gained 0.8 percent to HK$62 in Hong Kong.

European governments offered debt-burdened Greece a rescue package at below-market interest rates in a bid to stem its fiscal crisis and restore confidence in the euro. Finance ministers said yesterday they would offer as much as 30 billion euros in three-year loans in 2010 at around 5 percent.

That’s less than the current three-year Greek bond yield of 6.98 percent. Another 15 billion euros would come from the International Monetary Fund.

“The Greece rescue agreement suggests the euro region will weather further turmoil,” said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Tokyo-based Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., which manages the equivalent of $300 billion. “Rising commodity prices point to strong demand worldwide.”

Metals, Oil Advance

BHP Billiton, Australia’s largest oil producer, rose 1 percent to $44.34 in Sydney. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- biggest mining company, gained 1.6 percent to A$80.73.

A measure of metals traded in London climbed 1 percent on April 9, while crude oil advanced for the first time in four days in New York today. In Tokyo, Mitsubishi Corp. rose 2 percent to 2,491 yen. Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-largest trading house, advanced 3 percent to 1,659 yen.

Toyota increased 1.2 percent to 3,750 yen as concern eased that a default by Greece may derail the global recovery. Rival Mazda Motor Corp. climbed 1.9 percent to 272 yen. Nintendo jumped 3.5 percent to 31,400 in Osaka.

Among stocks that fell today, Samsung declined 2.5 percent to 835,000 won in Seoul and Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, fell 4.7 percent to 120,500 won, buy solar pumpas the local currency continued to strengthen towards an 18-month high.

The won appreciated to as much as 1,111.38 today against the dollar, from 1,118.15 at the close of trading on April 9. Electronics and auto makers were the biggest drag on the Kospi index amid concern companies’ revenue from overseas sales would decline when converted into local currency.

--With assistance from Toshiro Hasegawa and Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo. copper fountainEditors: Nick Gentle, Nicolas Johnson.

To contact the reporters for this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net. Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net

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Vigilante groups organized by Kyrgyzstan's self-proclaimed government spent the night battling looters to return calm to the city after riots that forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee to his stronghold in the south of Kyrgyzstan.

Bakiyev has refused to step down, binocularsthough he has offered to talk to the opposition leaders who have claimed control of the former Soviet state of 5.3 million people that hosts both U.S. and Russian military bases.

"Bakiyev must be tried and executed for all these crimes," said Fatima Imanaliyeva, a former prosecutor in tears on the main square in Bishkek.

She said two of her friends were among those killed during Wednesday's demonstrations, when security forces opened fire on demonstrators with live ammunition.

"We will never forgive him. bird watching binocularsThis is our revolution."

The Kyrgyz uprising, which the new leadership says had Russian support, overshadowed an arms reduction pact signed in Prague by U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

While the presidents signed the pact on Thursday as part of an effort to "reset" strained relations, a senior official in Medvedev's delegation urged Kyrgyzstan to close the U.S. zoom binocularsManas airbase that backs U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The new Kyrgyz leadership, fronted by 59-year-old Roza Otunbayeva, said on Thursday that Russia had helped oust Bakiyev and that the U.S. lease on the Manas airbase would probably be shortened.

The new leadership sent a delegation to Moscow for talks on Friday,China telescope Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing an unnamed government source. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

Omurbek Tekebayev, a former opposition leader who took charge of constitutional matters in the new government, said on Thursday that "Russia played its role in ousting Bakiyev."

"You've seen the level of Russia's joy when they saw Bakiyev gone,"buy binoculars he told Reuters. "So now there is a high probability that the duration of the U.S. air base's presence in Kyrgyzstan will be shortened."

Washington, which has not yet stated clearly who it believes is in control of Kyrgyzstan, has played down the threat to the base. "We have an existing agreement with the government of Kyrgyzstan," travel binocularsState Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

James Nixey, analyst at London-based think tank Chatham House, said concern about the continuation of U.S. operations from the Manas airbase was probably unfounded.

"Any future Kyrgyz government will need the money and shoulder the political flak," he said. "But the situation is inherently worrying in a region that has taken on a new importance since 9/11 and the 'Global War on Terror'."

SPORADIC GUNFIRE

Sporadic gunfire was heard throughout the night in Bishkek.

"No one died overnight," said Interior Ministry spokesman Abdykalyk Ismailov. "There are still some groups of looters but the city is largely under control."

About 1,000 people gathered in and around the burned-out government building. Rows of men weating traditional white felt hats knelt to pray, while weeping relatives and friends laid flowers next to a list of those killed during the protests.

Funerals were taking place in the city ahead ofbinoculars store a mourning ceremony planned for Saturday.

The self-proclaimed government organized vigilante groups to guard Bishkek overnight and battle looters, who had stripped the main government building and set fire to cars and buildings. Groups of four or five men stood guard at street corners.

"I wasn't sure I was going to survive, but we must guard our own homes, wives and children," 38-year-old volunteer Arman Ospanov told Reuters.

Ismailov, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said groups of looters, some of them drunk, had driven through Bishkek at night shooting randomly from the windows of cars without registration plates. These reports could not be independently verified.

Anti-government protests in Kyrgyzstan, where the average rifle scopemonthly wage is $130 and a third of the population live below the property line, spread to the capital from provincial towns.

Much may now depend on Bakiyev's response. The ousted president spoke to Reuters on Thursday from an undisclosed location in the south of Kyrgyzstan, saying he had no plans to step down. The new government has demanded his resignation.

Otunbayeva, who served as acting foreign minister under Bakiyev after helping propel him to the presidency during the "Tulip Revolution" five years ago, said his overthrow was a response to the "repression and tyranny" of his regime

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The timing was fortuitous. White House officials believe the president is on a winning streak, and Mr. Obama would like to make some headway on what may become his biggest foreign-policy challenge, the war in Afghanistan. A poll released late last week by CNN found a rise in optimism on Afghanistan, with 44% of the public saying things are going well for the U.S., travel binocularsversus 43% who say things are going badly. That's a 23-percentage-point jump since last November.

The poll found that 48% support the war, versus 49% opposed—anemic, but the first time since May that opposition slipped below 50%.

"Here in Afghanistan you've gone on the offensive, and the American people back home are noticing," Mr. Obama told about 2,000 troops at Bagram Air Base on Sunday. "We have seen a huge increase in support."

Mr. Obama needed to show he was engaged with a war widely seen as his own after his West Point speech in which he said he would send an additional 30,000 troops to the theater, the second troop increase in his first year as president. He had been criticized for not visiting Afghanistan. The second foreign trip of his presidency included a surprise visit to Iraq in April last year, where he greeted troops he hopes to bring home.

Administration officials kept up their tough-love tone with Afghanistan. The trip put the U.S. president's personal credibility behind the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which Obama administration officials have called questionable. rifle scopeBut the first message sent by senior U.S. officials was a stern warning.

The president engaged Mr. Karzai "to make him understand that in his second term, there are certain things that have been not paid attention to, almost since Day One," National Security Adviser James Jones said, such as "battling corruption, taking the fight to the narco-traffickers," which he said have become the economic engine of the insurgency that Afghan and NATO troops are battling.

The two presidents also discussed continuing efforts to reconcile with elements of the Taliban-led insurgency and to reintegrate willing guerrillas back into Afghan society.

The president will now move to other foreign-policy initiatives: a signing ceremony in Prague April 8 for a strategic arms treaty that will reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear-weapons deployments by 30%, a nuclear-weapons control summit in Washington later in April and a United Nations review of the battered nuclear non-proliferation treaty in May. Mr. Obama hopes to use the gatherings to advance new Iran sanctions.

Domestically, the president would like to give congressional Democrats a boost by moving onto politically friendlier terrain.binoculars store On Thursday, the president will travel to Maine for his second trip in two weeks to sell his health-care plan. But on Friday, he will be talking about the economy in North Carolina. That day, the Labor Department will release job-creation figures for the month of March, and Wall Street economists widely expect the report to show at least 200,000 new jobs, the best performance in three years.

The Kabul visit could also overwhelm lingering controversy from his appointment Saturday of 15 senior officials who failed to win Senate confirmation, including union lawyer Craig Becker, who will serve on the National Labor Relations Board.

The trip was shrouded in secrecy for security reasons. The White House informed Mr. Karzai of the visit on Thursday. Mr. Obama ostensibly was spending the weekend with his family at the presidential retreat of Camp David, binoculars manufacturerin Maryland.

In fact, Air Force One took off from Andrews Air Force Base for Afghanistan on Saturday night, arriving just after nightfall local time Sunday at Bagram. He then helicoptered to the Presidential Palace in Kabul just after 8 p.m.

The trip's importance was underscored by the delegation. The president 's foreign-policy entourage included the top echelons of the National Security Council. He was greeted in Afghanistan by U.S. telescope manufacturerAmbassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commanding general of allied forces. He took White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior White Houseadviser David Axelrod.

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As they have for centuries, townspeople turned out in the hundreds this weekend for Palm Sunday Masses in the twin-spired cathedral that looks down on the city, where St. Patrick established his first church in Ireland more than 1,500 years ago.

But judging by the responses of those leaving the Masses, trust in church leaders has been profoundly battered by a succession of revelations that the church hierarchy often failed to take strong action against the abuse in its ranks, and sometimes sought to cover up the problem.

“It is sickening, quite sickening,” said Eamon Gorman, 62,binoculars who works for a pharmaceutical company here.

“We deserve better from the church hierarchy,” he added. “If they want to save the situation, they have to come out with the details, all the details, right now.”

The unsettling mix of frustration and dedication among worshipers was equally palpable in St. Peter’s Square as the pope opened Holy Week by celebrating Palm Sunday Mass.

The pope did not directly mention the scandal, or his own role in it, but he made apparent references to the attention the crisis has garnered, saying that Jesus bird watching binoculars“leads us toward the courage not to be intimidated by the gossip of dominant opinion.”

Benedict also prayed for “the young and those charged with protecting them,” a seeming reference to the crisis engulfing the church.

“How does the church excuse itself after all this?” Mariana Ribeiro, 26, a Brazilian who lives in California, said in St. Peter’s Square while clergy in white, red and pink vestments marched in solemn procession.

The sexual abuse scandal has been particularly unnerving to Catholics in Ireland, where Cardinal Sean Brady, the 70-year-old head of the church in Ireland and archbishop of Armagh, is facing widespread demands for his resignation. The calls stem from court documents showing that as a youthful priest 35 years ago, he had two boys sign papers promising not to tell anybody outside of a secret church inquiry — not the police, not their own families, not even by a silent wink, according to the covenant the boys were asked to sign — about their abuse allegations against an Irish priest.

The inquiry had the effect of shielding and prolonging the career of a priest who was exposed 15 years later as the most notorious child-abuser in the history of the Irish church.

In recent days, zoom binocularsit has become clear that top Vatican officials — including the pope himself, while he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — did not defrock a priest who molested scores of deaf boys in the United States, despite warnings by American bishops about the danger of failure to act, according to church files.

And while he was archbishop in Munich, the future pope was copied on a memo informing him that a German priest accused of pedophilia, whom he had approved sending to therapy, would be returned to pastoral work within days of starting psychiatric treatment. The priest was later convicted of molesting boys in another parish.

Such revelations have led to a strong retort by the pope’s defenders — Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York on Sunday called him “the leader in purification, reform and renewal that the church so needs” — but also rare criticism from followers.

Visiting St. Peter’s Square from Austria, where two dioceses suspended five priests this month pending investigations into abuse,China telescope Gertrude Boltz, 63, said the church was facing “very big problems.” But, she noted, she tried to separate them from her own personal faith.

“To think of Jesus Christ is one thing,” she said. “To think of the pope is another.”

While the controversy appeared at the forefront of many worshipers’ minds, turnout was often strong on Sunday, even in some of the cities directly affected by the crisis. At St. Ludwig Church in Berlin, the city where recent disclosure of molestation at an elite Jesuit high school in the 1970s and ’80s opened up the scandal in Germany, the noon Mass was filled to capacity.

With the pews packed, churchgoers stood in the rear. One woman spoke of the victims she knew personally but said the scandal had not led her, nor anyone else she knew, to consider leaving the church.

Others at the Mass cited exact wording from the eight-page pastoral letter the pope sent to Irish Catholics this month,cheap binoculars in which he expressed “shame and remorse” for “sinful and criminal” acts by members of the clergy but did not require that church leaders be disciplined for past mistakes.

“I hope that through this process, a new credibility will emerge,” said the Rev. Josef Schulte, who has worked in Berlin for decades. He called the current upheaval the worst in 100 years or more, saying the damage represented “cracks in the foundation” of the church.

“There has been a great deal of trepidation, disappointment and shock,” he said.

In Boston, the epicenter of the sexual abuse crisis that erupted in the United States in 2002, many churchgoers refused to discuss the topic. Others looked saddened, and almost fatigued, when asked about it.

“The church here is still reeling from it,” said Dan Cosacchi, 24, a theology student, who said the pope’s apologies to victims were a step in the right direction.

“I hope he didn’t have direct knowledge and turn a blind eye,” Mr. Cosacchi added.

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