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Friday, May 6, 2011

US new home permits rise 11% in March

The US housing market regained some ground in March after the number of permits for new-build homes rose by 11.2% compared with the previous month.

However, the recovery was from a very low base. February saw the lowest number of permits issued since 1963.

Home construction also rose 7.2% between the months to a seasonally adjusted 549,000 units, according to the US Commerce Department.

But the market remains weak with plenty of unsold and repossessed homes.

Millions of foreclosures have forced home prices down, meaning in some cities, prices are half of what they were before the housing market collapsed in 2006 and 2007.

Other figures underlined the fragility of the market.

The number of new homes finished and ready to sell dropped in March to the lowest since records began in 1968.

Data out on Monday also showed that confidence among home builders remains depressed.

The National Association of Home Builders said its index of industry sentiment for April fell one notch, to 16.

Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the housing market's future, and the index has not been above that level since April 2006.

US warned on top credit rating by Standard & Poor's

The US has been warned that the credit rating on its government debt could be cut by Standard & Poor's.

S&P is concerned that Democrats and Republicans will not be able to agree a plan to reduce the growing US deficit.

It has downgraded its outlook from stable to negative, increasing the likelihood that the rating could be cut within the next two years.

The US Treasury responded that S&P had underestimated its ability to tackle the national debt.

"Because the US has, relative to its 'AAA' [top-rated] peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable," the agency said in a statement.

The surprise move sent US and European shares lower. The S&P 500 fell the most in a month, and the US dollar dropped against the euro and Swiss franc. Oil was also sharply lower.

In Europe, the main UK, German and French indexes all fell by at least 2%.

The US federal deficit currently stands at $1.4tn (£858bn) and is expected to reach $1.5tn in the current fiscal year.

Budget battle

President Barack Obama suggested that the world could plunge into a new recession if the ceiling on money the US can borrow is not raised in the next few weeks, before the current debt limit of $14.3tn is reached. [Read More]

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Mississippi River levee to be breached for third time

US government engineers will blow up a third section of a Mississippi River levee in Missouri to relieve a flood threat, as rising waters continue to threaten towns in several US states.

Officials hope the new blast on the Birds Point levee will divert water for 35 miles (56km) before returning it to the river in the town of New Madrid.

The levee was first breached on Monday in order to save a town in Illinois.

The detonation sacrificed 200 square miles of farmland in Missouri.

'Disaster areas'

The third blast was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed until 1300 local time (1800 GMT) on Thursday due to logistical difficulties, said the Army Corp of Engineers, which is responsible for the system of locks and dams along the Mississippi River.

On Thursday, Arkansas closed a large section of Interstate 40, one of the busiest roadways in the nation, due to increased water levels, the state's transportation department said.

President Barack Obama declared regions in the states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky disasters areas on Wednesday, making the states eligible for federal help with relief efforts.

Thousands of people from the states of Illinois to Louisiana have already been forced from their homes, as waters continue to rise.

Forecasters said the rising water levels could break some of the high-water records set during floods in 1927 and 1937.

By blowing a hole in the levee on Monday night, the Army Corps of Engineers hoped to reduce the river level in Cairo, lessen the pressure on the flood wall over the town, and relieve the flood risk further down the Mississippi River.

Water levels receded after the first blast and a second section of the levee was detonated on Tuesday to allow the water back into the river.

Royal newly-weds to visit US after Canada tour

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to pay an official visit to the US following their first overseas tour to Canada this summer.

Prince William and his new wife will extend the trip with a three-day visit to California from 8-10 July, said their spokesman.

Announcing the visit on its Twitter page, Clarence House said a full itinerary would be published later.

It will be the first official visit to the US for the duke.

While the prince has previously visited the States in a private capacity, this will be the duchess's first trip to the country.

The prince returned to his job as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot this week after marrying the duchess on Friday at Westminster Abbey.

The couple spent their first weekend as a married couple at a secret location in the UK, and opted to postpone their honeymoon until a later date.

They will begin their first joint official overseas trip by touring Canada from 30 June to 8 July, including visits to Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and the capital, Ottawa.

Speaking earlier this year Canadian PM Stephen Harper said it was a testament to Canada's "very close relationship with the Royal Family".

It is believed the couple will take part in Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa on 1 July.

William visited the Commonwealth country in 1998 aged 15, touring Vancouver with his father the Prince of Wales and brother Prince Harry.

The Queen visited Canada last July, and in 2009, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall spent 11 days there.

Osama Bin Laden: The power of shrines

Osama Bin Laden's body was buried at sea to deny his followers a shrine, it has been widely reported. But why do the graves of leaders matter so much?

For a man who had been the world's most wanted, it was a deeply undistinguished final resting place.

The remains of Osama Bin Laden met an inauspicious fate - his body dropped into the ocean from an American aircraft carrier.

US officials were at pains to insist that the process was conducted in "strict conformance with Islamic precepts and practices".

But the purpose of his burial at sea was clear - to ensure that there was no grave to become a shrine for supporters, and a recruiting tool for extremist Islamism. [Read More]

US tobacco firms win Missouri hospitals case

Six major US tobacco companies have defeated a lawsuit by hospitals seeking compensation for treating patients with smoking-related illnesses.

Thirty-seven hospitals in the state of Missouri had claimed cigarette companies delivered an "unreasonably dangerous" product.

They sought more than $455m (£272m) reimbursement for treating uninsured smokers who had not paid for care.

The hospitals treat many destitute, non-paying patients.

They said medical ethics required them to treat people in need, regardless of their ability to pay.

In the case, the hospitals claimed that tobacco companies manipulated the nicotine content in cigarettes and misrepresented the health effects of smoking.

But a jury in St Louis rejected their claim.

"The jury agreed with Philip Morris USA that ordinary cigarettes are not negligently designed or defective," said Murray Garnick of Philip Morris.

An official from Lorillard, another company in the case, said: "Compelling evidence was presented to the jury, including testimony from hospital witnesses, that confirmed the hospitals were not financially damaged as they asserted."

FluPhone app 'helps track spread of infectious diseases'

A mobile phone application could help monitor the way infectious diseases such as flu are spread.

The FluPhone app was developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.

Volunteers' phones fitted with the app "talk" to each other, recording how many people each "infected subject" meets during an imaginary epidemic.

The university is one of seven institutions working on the study to reduce the impact of epidemics.

The FluPhone app uses Bluetooth technology to anonymously record interaction between volunteers involved in the study.

When mobile phones come into close proximity, that fact is recorded and data is sent automatically to the research team.

'Valuable insight'

Professor Jon Crowcroft and Dr Eiko Yoneki, co-principal investigators of the study, said they believed the collected data could be used to simulate social interaction during a real epidemic or pandemic.

A three-month FluPhone pilot study, using a basic version of the app, was conducted in Cambridge in 2010.

Dr Yoneki said: "The data was a valuable insight into how human communities are formed, how much time people spend together, and how frequently they meet. [Read More]

Barack Obama to visit Ground Zero

US President Barack Obama is to visit Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York, later on Thursday, four days after US forces killed al-Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

Bin Laden was believed to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and many others.

Mr Obama will lay a wreath in memory of the victims and speak to relatives.

The visit comes a day after the US leader said graphic photographs of Bin Laden's body would not be made public.

The al-Qaeda leader was killed by US special forces in northern Pakistan on Monday. His body was then buried at sea from a US aircraft carrier.

The Pakistani military on Thursday admitted "shortcomings" for failing to locate Bin Laden and has said it will launch an investigation.

But it also warned it would review co-operation with the US if there were any more unilateral raids such as the one that killed Bin Laden.

Moment of reflection

In New York Mr Obama will meet the families of those who died when the World Trade Center collapsed and those who tried to save them. [Read More]

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

World 'failed to track' Bin Laden

Pakistan's prime minister says spy agencies worldwide share the blame for his country's failure to capture Osama Bin Laden, who was killed by US forces.

"We have intelligence failure of the rest of the world including the United States," PM Yousuf Raza Gilani said.

Pakistan has been criticised for not locating Bin Laden, who was living near the country's main military academy.

The CIA head has said the US did not tell Islamabad of the raid in advance, for fear it would be jeopardised.

Meanwhile the US has revised its account of how the operation took place.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday that Bin Laden was not armed when his compound was stormed by US special forces in the early hours of Monday. [Read More]

Monday, May 2, 2011

Al-Qaeda's remaining leaders

After 11 September 2001, the US issued a list of suspected al-Qaeda leaders. Many have now been captured or killed, including Osama Bin Laden, while some new names have emerged.

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri, an eye surgeon who helped found the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant group, is expected to replace Osama Bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaeda.

He was already the group's chief ideologue and was believed by some experts to have been the "operational brains" behind the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. [Read More]