NEWS

L'AQUILA, Italy – The death toll in Italy's quake has risen to 250, officials said Wednesday, as strong aftershocks cause further fear among residents sheltered in tent camps.

As rescue teams continued searching through the debris for survivors, the homeless emerged from their tents after spending a second night in chilly mountain temperatures.

"I slept so badly because I kept feeling the aftershocks," said Daniela Nunut, speaking at one of the tent camps set up across L'Aquila. The 46-year Romanian-born woman said she and her companion plan to stay in the tent for now. "What can you do? You can't go into the building."

The magnitude-6.3 quake hit L'Aquila and several towns in central Italy early Monday, leveling buildings and reducing entire blocks to a pile of rubble and dust.

The Civil Protection said that 250 people have died, including 11 who remained to be identified.

Fifteen people remain missing, Civil Protection officials said.

The dead included four students trapped in the rubble of a dormitory of the University of L'Aquila, the ANSA news agency reported.

By Tuesday evening, rescue crews gave up gingerly removing debris by hand and brought in huge pincers that pulled off parts of the dorm roof, balconies and walls, showering debris down.

"Unless there is a miracle, I've been told (by rescuers) that they probably are dead," university rector Ferdinando Di Orio said.

Since the quake Monday, there have been some 430 aftershocks, including some strong ones, said Marco Olivieri of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Rome.

A strong aftershock at 7:47 p.m. Tuesday rained debris on screaming residents and rescue crews, who ran from the site.

Many survivors at the camp said they had been cold during the night as heaters in some of the tents were not working. Some read a newspaper as they lined up for hot coffee or tea and a croissant.

To shelter the homeless against the chilly nights in the mountains, some 20 tent cities have sprouted in open spaces around L'Aquila and surrounding towns. Field kitchens, medical supplies and clowns with bubbles — to entertain traumatized children — were brought in.

NEW YORK – A solution to the world's urban transportation problems could lie in two wheels not four, according to executives for General Motors Corp. and Segway Inc.

The companies announced Tuesday that they are working together to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle designed to be a fast, safe, inexpensive and clean alternative to traditional cars and trucks for cities across the world.

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

"We're excited about doing more with less," said Jim Norrod, chief executive of Segway, the Bedford, N.H.-based maker of electric scooters. "Less emissions, less dependability on foreign oil and less space."

The 300-pound prototype runs on a lithium-ion battery and uses Segway's characteristic two-wheel balancing technology, along with dual electric motors. It's designed to reach speeds of up to 35 miles-per-hour and can run 35 miles on a single charge.

The companies did not release a projected cost for the vehicle, but said ideally its total operating cost — including purchase price, insurance, maintenance and fuel — would total between one-fourth and one-third of that of the average traditional vehicle.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research and development, and strategic planning, said the project is part of Detroit-based GM's effort to remake itself as a purveyor of fuel-efficient vehicles. If Hummer took GM to the large-vehicle extreme, Burns said, the PUMA takes GM to the other.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators will consider about 4 proposals to restrict short selling, a type of investing blamed for accelerating the severe downturn in financial services stocks.

Proposals the SEC will consider at its Wednesday meeting include the restoration of the "uptick rule," which allowed short sales -- a bet that a stock's price will fall -- only when the last sale price was higher than the previous price, the chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.

"We are going to put forward about four different proposals, and one of them does include the original (uptick rule)," SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro told reporters on the sidelines of the Council of Institutional Investors conference. "There are different modified versions because the markets have changed a lot, even since 2007."

Schapiro said other proposals on the table include a so-called "bid test" and a "circuit breaker."

Schapiro did not provide details on how the bid test or circuit breaker could work and did not elaborate on the fourth proposal.

One source familiar with the matter said the SEC bid test proposal would only allow shorting at a price above the highest available bid. The source wished to remain anonymous because the proposals are still being drafted.

WASHINGTON – Revenue may be down and the pressure to slash costs intense, but some companies say job cuts are not an option.

Companies that have avoided layoffs amid this recession are the exception, not the rule. Employers have cut 5.1 million jobs since the recession began, including 663,000 last month alone. But some are looking to shave costs while keeping their work forces intact, so that when the economy does turn around, they'll be ready to ratchet up production again.

Economists say that's a wise move.

"If you overshoot on the downside and lay off workers, it puts the company at a disadvantage when the economy comes back to life," said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida.

Costco Wholesale Corp.'s profit is down 27 percent year-over-year, but the discount store has not laid anyone off, choosing instead to freeze hiring at its corporate offices. The only workers let go have been holiday seasonal hires.

The company says it recognizes that labor remains its most valuable — if costliest — resource.

"We're certainly sharpening our pencil everywhere we can," said Bob Nelson, Costco's vice president of financial planning and investor relations. Nelson couldn't recall any layoffs at Costco since the closing of some stores in the 1980s.

Other steps companies are taking to cut costs are not exactly harmless to workers. Chief among them: capping the number of hours employees can work, cutting or freezing pay and suspending matching payments to 401(k) plans.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts is trimming pay and cutting back on retirement fund matches. Credit agency Equifax Inc. froze pay for all U.S. employees for 2009 and at some of its foreign offices as well.

A survey by job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas this year found 71 percent of companies polled had laid off some workers. More than a quarter had implemented pay freezes or cuts.

Despite the alarming job losses nationwide, John Challenger, the firm's CEO, said it's more common now than in past recessions for companies to find other paths to savings than laying people off.

That's because many companies have concluded that layoffs could be costlier down the road. Employers who have laid people off have to find, hire and train new ones when the economy recovers. Workers with specialized skills or strong customer contacts aren't easily replaced.

Marvin Windows and Doors, a Minnesota company, hasn't laid off any of its 5,300 workers — despite the collapse of the housing market. Its sales were flat in 2008 and have fallen this year.