TORONTO -- North American markets shook off disappointing U.S. employment figures and further weakness in the auto industry as traders scooped up low-priced stocks and pushed the market higher in afternoon trading.

BEIJING - As they prepare for China's biggest export fair this week, managers at Shunde Xiongfeng Electric Industrial Co. are anxious.

Sales of electric fans are down this year, and the financial crisis will likely further cut demand from overseas. The 5,000-employee company in the southern city of Shunde, near Hong Kong, sold six million electric fans abroad last year.

"We are worried that if our clients are short of capital, they might shut down," said Shunde's export manager, who would only give his surname, Zeng. "That's certainly bad for us."

China has been known as the world's factory for everything from toys to T-shirts, and exports have powered its growth in recent years. But exports are taking a hit from the global financial crisis because of lower demand from overseas and tightening credit from state-owned banks.

NEW YORK - New York toughened its steroids policy for racehorses Tuesday, following the lead of the two other states that hold Triple Crown races.

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board said the new rules take effect Jan. 1 at all thoroughbred and standardbred tracks in the state. That includes Belmont Park, home of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown. The new rules set limits for steroids that are permitted.

Prompted by the death of the filly Eight Belles after the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky and Maryland instituted steroid restrictions. Trainer Rick Dutrow acknowledged using an anabolic steroid on Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.

The issue of drugs in horse racing has come under increased scrutiny since the Triple Crown races ended, and several other racing organizations have responded by instituting new policies. Horses competing in the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Oct. 24-25 will be tested for drugs, including steroids.

PARIS - The French Anti-Doping agency has completed retesting samples for the blood-booster CERA at the Tour de France, and AFLD chief Pierre Bordry said his laboratory will keep all the samples until next year's race.

Bernhard Kohl of Austria became the fourth rider on Monday to test positive for CERA - an advanced form of EPO that increases a rider's stamina for a long endurance race - and the seventh positive test from the 2008 Tour overall.

"We are stopping the testing for EPO CERA. We consider it sufficient," Bordry said by telephone on Tuesday. "I will keep the samples until the next Tour de France in case there are new (testing) procedures that are put into place."

Bordry said 38 samples in total had been retested for CERA, concerning "about 30 riders" some of whom had "more than one sample" tested.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - For the first time, U.S. prosecutors handling a'75 slaying on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have directly accused one of the defendants of supplying the gun that killed Annie Mae Aquash (AH'-kwash).

Richard Marshall and John Graham have pleaded not guilty to committing or aiding and abetting the first-degree murder of the Canadian woman when all three were American Indian Movement activists.

Marshall was indicted in August, five years after Graham and another member of the activist group were first charged.

According to court documents seeking an alibi defence, prosecutors say Marshall was at home in Allen when he gave Graham and others the revolver and ammunition that Graham later used to kill Aquash.

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton has ruled out running for president in 2012.

And she's not seeking any high-level job in a Barack Obama presidency either, if the Democrat wins the U.S. election this fall.

Hillary fought and lost against Obama in the Democratic presidential nomination race earlier this year.

She says she has long gotten over any hard feelings and has not found it difficult to campaign now for Obama.

PUNE, India - Pole vaulter Ariane Beaumont-Courteau of Montreal captured a silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games on Tuesday.

The 2008 Canadian junior champion cleared 3.90 to metres finish second. Jade Ive of England recorded a jump of 4.05 metres to take the gold.

Abigail Haywood of England was third at 3.80 metres.

"I am very proud of my performance today and am pleased to have won the silver," said Beaumont-Courteau.

"No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-hour News Cycle"

By Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman (Continuum Books)

Critics who pan 24-hour news channels now have a pair of unlikely allies - two veteran journalists who agree that frantic deadlines and an endless hunger for content have left news shows bloated and often worthless.

In "No Time to Think," Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman argue that the need for speed results in news telecasts with more mistakes and less analysis. And with so much airtime to fill, second-rate content that shouldn't qualify as news comes to dominate the programming.

LOS ANGELES - Oliver Stone thinks George W. Bush was unqualified to be president. However, the filmmaker found him an irresistible figure for drama.

After months of speculation over whether Stone's film biography would be a hatchet job on Bush, "W." arrives as a surprisingly empathetic - though hardly sympathetic - portrait of the president.

Stone, the historical revisionist behind the presidential sagas "JFK" and "Nixon," this time plays the provocateur by not doing what's expected of him, namely, putting Bush on a pillory.

"W." does present Bush as a man unfit to lead. And while Stone cannot resist injecting that theme with moments of sharp satire, he generally casts the president as a deeply tragic figure in far over his head, whose personal demons hold consequences for everyone else on the planet.

NEW YORK - It's the question dominating the political scene: When will Tina Fey be back on "Saturday Night Live"?

"I don't know," Fey said.

Over coffee Tuesday during a rare morning off from her NBC sitcom, "30 Rock," Fey noted that "SNL" will be on live this Saturday, as well as airing a 9:30 p.m. EDT Thursday edition, but as to whether she will take part in either broadcast, "I haven't heard." (A spokesman for the NBC late-night comedy show echoed her comments.)

The former "SNL" cast member/head writer thus far has been drafted for three appearances as Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The sketches were a huge hit for the show and Fey alike.

YORK, England - A tall blond man sits on a bench by the River Ouse, which threads through this city in Northern England. Philip Winchester's good looks would turn heads under most circumstances, but his late-Jacobean style clothes draw additional attention - a full-sleeved white muslin shirt, blue jerkin, tan leather breeches and long boots.

Winchester is portraying Robinson Crusoe in NBC's "Crusoe," a new series inspired by the exploits of the castaway hero of Daniel Defoe's classic novel, premiering 8-10 p.m. EDT Friday. (Subsequent hourlong episodes will air 9 p.m. EDT Fridays.)

"Everyone has read the book and just every boy has gone, 'I want to be Robinson Crusoe!"' Winchester said, offering enthusiastic reasons for the "fun" of playing the role. "There's a lot of running through the jungle, jumping off waterfalls, sword fighting, shooting flintlock muskets ... basically, if you took anything a kid said he wanted to do ... that's in the script."

On this sunny day there's no jungle in sight, of course. Winchester was filming in York, famous for its Roman ruins, Gothic cathedral and medieval streets. The city was standing in for London circa 1700, Crusoe's pre-shipwreck home and the place he longs to return to reunite with his wife and children. (Anna Walton plays Crusoe's wife, Susannah, one of several characters not in the original novel. The cast also includes Sean Bean and Sam Neill.)

Planning on voting today?

Elections Canada says voters must prove their identity and address at the polling station.

To cast a ballot, you must do one of the following three things:

- Show original government-issued identification containing your photo, name and address. This would include a driver’s licence.

GENEVA - Bomb-bomb Iran?

Iran says no offence taken.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain altered the lyrics of the Beach Boys classic "Barbara Ann" last year to refer to an attack on Iran, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program.

McCain's remarks came when a member of a South Carolina audience railed against Iran during last year's primaries and asked when the United States would attack.

TORONTO — Canada’s government is unlikely to take the lead from U.S. officials and buy up shares in the country’s domestic banks because local financial institutions are in much better shape than their American competitors, suggest market observers.

National Bank analyst Robert Sedran says Canadian banks aren’t considered to be at a financial disadvantage like many of their international counterparts.

Instead, they’ve emerged relatively unscathed by the U.S. subprime problems because of more conservative lending practices.

However, he says there is a need to ensure that Canadian banks aren’t put at a disadvantage by other countries injecting capital into their local institutions.