Sleeker, Faster, Glossier Apple updates its all-in-one desktop iMac computer range with a slimmer design, faster chips and glossy screens.... Read Full Article The Comfortable Chair To say this Lygon Street institution lives up to its name would be an understatement.... Read Full Article Federal Court Extends Oversight Of Microsoft Until January A federal court’s oversight of Microsoft has been extended through January to give a judge time to consider a motion to extend that oversight for another five years.... Read Full Article Why Orthodox Jews Need A Kosher Red Bull For a small can of mostly sugar and caffeine, there may be a lot riding on Exit. Marketed as the world’s first kosher energy drink for ultra-Orthodox Jews, its makers boast that it will he... Read Full Article A Hazy Future For A ?Jewel? Of Space Instruments With a quarter of its annual budget slashed, the Arecibo radio telescope will be listening to the universe less often in the coming years.... Read Full Article |
Test NewsRacetrack plan shatters quiet life in FranceBritish expatriates swapped their wine glasses for banners to join a protest against plans by a wealthy Oxford graduate to build a vintage car-racing circuit in the grounds of his mansion in the Dordogne.Read Full Article Amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius allowed to compete in BeijingHe had become a curiosity and was in danger of becoming a sporting sideshow, but Oscar Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated as a child, was finally cleared yesterday to compete at the Beijing Olympics against the fastest men in the world.Read Full Article Passing the acid testThe Alabama 3’s sound is an unlikely mix, writes Irvine Welsh.Read Full Article Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills: after all that, it’s finally overIn contrast to the media circus that surrounded previous hearings, the four-year divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills finally ended today with a quick, uncontested pronouncement by a High Court judge.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 External News for: testBecton Dickinson buys test maker HandyLab - The Associated PressBecton Dickinson buys test maker HandyLabThe Associated PressFRANKLIN LAKES, NJ — Becton Dickinson and Co. said Friday it bought molecular diagnostic test maker HandyLab Inc. for $275 million. ...BD completes acquisition of HandyLab in $275 million transactionBizjournals.comBD Completes Acquisition of handylab, Inc.PR Newswire (press release)BD Completes $275M Acquisition of HandyLabGenomeWeb Daily NewsTrading Markets (press release)all 81 news articles »Becton Dickinson buys test maker HandyLab - The Associated PressBecton Dickinson buys test maker HandyLabThe Associated PressFRANKLIN LAKES, NJ — Becton Dickinson and Co. said Friday it bought molecular diagnostic test maker HandyLab Inc. for $275 million. ...BD completes acquisition of HandyLab in $275 million transactionBizjournals.comBD Completes Acquisition of handylab, Inc.PR Newswire (press release)BD Completes $275M Acquisition of HandyLabGenomeWeb Daily NewsTrading Markets (press release)all 81 news articles »At $145 a Session, Tips for the Admissions Test ... to Kindergarten - New York TimesNew York TimesAt $145 a Session, Tips for the Admissions Test ... to KindergartenNew York TimesTest preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. ...and more »Becton Dickinson buys test maker HandyLab - The Associated PressBecton Dickinson buys test maker HandyLabThe Associated PressFRANKLIN LAKES, NJ — Becton Dickinson and Co. said Friday it bought molecular diagnostic test maker HandyLab Inc. for $275 million. ...BD completes acquisition of HandyLab in $275 million transactionBizjournals.comBD Completes Acquisition of handylab, Inc.PR Newswire (press release)BD Completes $275M Acquisition of HandyLabGenomeWeb Daily NewsTrading Markets (press release)all 81 news articles »At $145 a Session, Tips for the Admissions Test ... to Kindergarten - New York TimesNew York TimesAt $145 a Session, Tips for the Admissions Test ... to KindergartenNew York TimesTest preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. ...and more »Ahmedabad pitch was unfit for Test cricket - DreamcricketSydney Morning HeraldAhmedabad pitch was unfit for Test cricketDreamcricketby dreamcricket USA By Renin Wilben In the end, India managed to save the Ahmedabad Test pretty easily on the final day, thanks to solid efforts from Gautam ...Sri Lanka v India first test scoreboardESPNTendulkar record as India draw TestCNN InternationalSri Lanka rue missed opportunity for first Test victory in Indiaguardian.co.ukHindu -Daily News & Analysis -New York Timesall 810 news articles » |
i8news.com |
