A Pan-American Welcome To Warm The Corazón One of Spain’s biggest pop stars, Alejandro Sanz is a first-rate balladeer who has gradually expanded his reach, experimenting with the rich rhythms that have long underpinned even his gentlest love s... Read Full Article In Battle Of Consoles, Nintendo Gains Allies Momentum is building for the Wii from Nintendo among its crucial allies: game developers and publishers.... Read Full Article Under Pressure From Moscow, Shell Offers To Sell Stake In Big Oil And Gas Project Shell made the offer after months of pressure by Russia’s environmental regulators, who threatened to freeze work on the project by revoking critical operating permits.... Read Full Article World Briefing | Europe: Europeans Endorse Stricter Gun Control The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed a set of stricter gun-control rules that would limit gun ownership across the 27-member European Union.... Read Full Article Suicide Bombing Strikes High Court In Pakistan A suicide bomber exploded among police guarding a court, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens more.... Read Full Article |
Barre NewsOil hits new $127 high as Bush courts Saudis$Oil rose hit a new record today, reaching above $127 a barrel, after Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, raised its forecast on speculation that crisis-hit China$’s demand for diesel will strain supplies.Read Full Article Mervyn King to grimace and bear bad newsWhen the Bank of England’s Governor unveils its latest prognosis for the economy this week, he is likely to adopt his sternest demeanour. The message from Mervyn King may not be quite as bleak as Churchill’s famous admonition that he had “nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”, but it may not be far off. The Bank’s hardline decision last week to keep interest rates on hold despite the latest spate of dreadful news over worsening economic conditions gave a foretaste of the granite-hard façade that it is set to present to the country in its latest quarterly Inflation Report on Wednesday. The “no change” verdict on interest rates from Threadneedle Street can only have appeared to much of the country at large like an exercise in monetary sado-masochism. Yet the harsh reality that confronts the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is that it remains trapped between an economic rock and a hard place. Far from easing as the economic outlook has grown darker, the conflicting pressures confronting the MPC – from faltering growth and activity on the one hand and simmering inflationary pressures on the other – have intensified. The deluge of ever more dismal economic indicators now leaves little doubt that the economy is facing its most testing two-year stretch since the early Nineties. Yet as the going gets much tougher, the persistence of the inflation threat condemns the Bank to talk, and act, tough, too. The MPC’s mission to ensure that inflation hits its 2 per cent target over the medium term leaves it scant room for manoeuvre. It is forced to act only cautiously, even as the demands for more aggressive and urgent action escalate. The Bank’s dilemma seems set only to be become more acute through the summer, as the Inflation Report is likely to spell out. If anything, the MPC’s latest assessment is likely to understate the full scale of dangers to growth prospects that have emerged. At the heart of the heightened risks is the increasingly dire straits of the housing market, which appears to be locked into a vicious downward spiral triggered by the mortgage lending drought. The severe squeeze on the availability of home loans is combining with falling house prices to cause demand in the property market to dry up, with cautious buyers holding out for the much lower prices they expect in future. As demand and market activity drop, and the supply of unsold houses grows, prices fall farther and faster. In turn, that farther deters would-be buyers and makes lenders become even more cautious, fuelling an ever steeper downward slide. The scale of these trends is underlined by the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ data, highlighted by Michael Saunders, of Citigroup, which shows the drastic tightening of lending conditions since the start of the year. The number of new home loans agreed plunged by more than 30 per cent in the first quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier. In March, approvals of new mortgages fell to the lowest since 1992. Although the Bank of England’s £50 billion lifeline, designed to ease the funding pressures on lenders, may limit the squeeze, Mr King has been bluntly candid that it is far from intended as a cureall for the mortgage market. The clear peril for the economy is that the toll on sentiment and household wealth from an increasingly severe housing correction now sees the credit crunch mutate into a brutal consumer crunch as households pull back their spending. The Bank tends to play down the repercussions of falling house prices for consumer demand. Yet signs are already accumulating that the consumer may embark on a full-scale retreat from the high street. Consumer confidence has slumped to 15-year lows, while polls show that concern over the state of the economy is at its highest levels since 1993. As other signs of economic weakness pile up, it is becoming painfully clear that Britain, far from being better placed than its rivals to weather global economic squalls, as the Chancellor and Prime Minister claim, is markedly worse off. As Mr Saunders argues, the UK is left badly exposed by the highest household debt burden in the Group of Seven leading industrial economies, alongside severely inflated house prices and low household savings. The price of a protracted period of living beyond our means may now have to be paid. Long years of high spending, as well as heavy borrowing excess. are making the fallout from the credit crunch more painful and the boost from the Bank’s limited easing of interest rates less potent. Yet, worse still, the same past excesses, in the form of a swollen current account deficit, are adding to the acute pressure on a sharply weakening pound, already hit by Britain’s worsening growth outlook. Sterling’s steep slide – by about 12 per cent in the past year - is aggravating the Bank’s inflation headache by raising the nation’s import bills and further curbing its scope to cut base rates to underpin faltering growth. With the pound set to tumble still farther, oil prices having surged to record levels of above $120 a barrel and the cost of food in global markets soaring, the City expects that the Bank will raise its forecasts for inflation this week. It is likely to give warning that headline consumer price inflation will rise above 3 per cent over the summer, forcing Mr King to pen what will be only his second explanatory letter to the Chancellor. Against this background, the Governor can be expected to make it brutally plain on Wednesday that further easing of interest rates will be only limited and gradual. Ultimately, the extent of the slowdown now taking hold in the economy will quell the inflationary threat that the Bank is, for now, compelled to prioritise over risks the growth.$Read Full Article Why high oil prices are not squeezing us moreIT is hard to keep up with the price of oil. No sooner have we got used to $100 a barrel than it is in the $120s. Will the price rise to $150, $200 or even $300 a barrel? How far can it rise without doing severe damage to the world economy?$Read Full Article Brazil Opec plan lifts oil to $126 per barrel$Oil prices soared to highs above $126 yesterday as the President of Brazil said that the South American country was considering joining Opec.$Read Full Article Guantanamo adviser barredThe Pentagon’s top legal adviser in the Office of Military Commissions is disqualified from participating in the prosecution of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Read Full Article External News for: barreWilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens Dream Of Playing In NHL - KDKAECHL.comWilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens Dream Of Playing In NHLKDKABut there are 25 young players in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton who hope one day to skate alongside the likes of Pens' superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. ...Penguins send Guenin back to Wilkes-BarrePittsburgh Post GazetteWilkes-Barre/ScrantonECHL.comSlow start dooms PenguinsCitizens VoiceOurSports Central (press release) -Wilkes Barre Times-Leader -NHL.comall 23 news articles »Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens Dream Of Playing In NHL - KDKAECHL.comWilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens Dream Of Playing In NHLKDKABut there are 25 young players in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton who hope one day to skate alongside the likes of Pens' superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. ...Penguins send Guenin back to Wilkes-BarrePittsburgh Post GazetteWilkes-Barre/ScrantonECHL.comSlow start dooms PenguinsCitizens VoiceOurSports Central (press release) -Wilkes Barre Times-Leader -NHL.comall 23 news articles »GBS a Side Effect of H1N1 Vaccine? - CBS NewsCBS NewsGBS a Side Effect of H1N1 Vaccine?CBS NewsTeen was diagnosed with a rare disease, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, shortly after receiving the H1N1 vaccine. Dr. Jennifer Ashton reports. ...Boy develops Guillain-Barre syndrome after receiving H1N1 swine flu vaccineExaminer.comWHO Estimates 65 Million Have Received H1N1 ShotsOccupational Health SafetyTeen Became Sick With Guillian-Barre Syndrome After Receiving H1N1 ShotInjuryBoard.com (blog)NewsWithViews.com -The Gazette (Montreal) -eNews Park Forestall 21 news articles »Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens Dream Of Playing In NHL - KDKAECHL.comWilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens Dream Of Playing In NHLKDKABut there are 25 young players in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton who hope one day to skate alongside the likes of Pens' superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. ...Penguins send Guenin back to Wilkes-BarrePittsburgh Post GazetteWilkes-Barre/ScrantonECHL.comSlow start dooms PenguinsCitizens VoiceOurSports Central (press release) -Wilkes Barre Times-Leader -NHL.comall 23 news articles »GBS a Side Effect of H1N1 Vaccine? - CBS NewsCBS NewsGBS a Side Effect of H1N1 Vaccine?CBS NewsTeen was diagnosed with a rare disease, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, shortly after receiving the H1N1 vaccine. Dr. Jennifer Ashton reports. ...Boy develops Guillain-Barre syndrome after receiving H1N1 swine flu vaccineExaminer.comWHO Estimates 65 Million Have Received H1N1 ShotsOccupational Health SafetyTeen Became Sick With Guillian-Barre Syndrome After Receiving H1N1 ShotInjuryBoard.com (blog)NewsWithViews.com -The Gazette (Montreal) -eNews Park Forestall 21 news articles »Thousands wait for H1N1 vaccine at WB clinic - Citizens VoiceABC NewsThousands wait for H1N1 vaccine at WB clinicCitizens VoiceWILKES-BARRE - Mike Hrinko got behind hundreds of people who lined up Friday at the 109th Field Artillery Armory for free H1N1 flu shots. ...2009 H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine side effects and safety update by WHOExaminer.comDeaths Not Linked to H1N1 Vaccine: WHOABC NewsH1N1 Vaccine as Safe as Seasonal Vaccine, WHO SaysMedscapeDigitalJournal.com -National Post -Wilkes Barre Times-Leaderall 3,833 news articles » |
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