Mortgage rates lower to 4.44 percent as economy sours

Mortgage rates (AP) 

WASHINGTON - Growing pessimism over the weak economic recovery pushed mortgage rates to the lowest level in decades for the seventh time in eight weeks.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.44 percent this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. And some brokers say homeowners looking to refinance have even managed to do so for as low as 4 percent.
Still, cheap rates have done little to boost the struggling housing market. Instead, they are highlighting investors' fears that the rebound is stalling and the country could be slipping back into a recession.
Investors are shifting their money away from stocks and into safer Treasury bonds. That is sending Treasury yields lower. Mortgage rates track those yields.
And the Federal Reserve is pushing those yields down even further. The central bank said Tuesday it would buy Treasurys to help aid the recovery, using the proceeds from debt and mortgage-backed securities it bought from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
That move alone is unlikely to push average rates down to 4 percent, said Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans. But average rates that low are still a possibility if the economic outlook worsens even further.
"The silver lining to a bad economy is that interest rates fall," Walters said. "If you can lower your debt burden by refinancing, that's great."
Up to now, low rates have failed to spark a struggling housing market. Slow job growth, a 9.5 percent unemployment rate and tight credit standards have kept people from buying homes. Applications to refinance have grown but remain well short of a massive boom.
Overall home loan applications rose only 0.6 percent last week from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
For those homeowners with solid finances, the opportunity to refinance below 4 percent is persuading some to consider 15-year fixed loans. Those average rates dropped to 3.92 percent, down from 3.95 percent last week and the lowest in decades.
More homeowners are choosing that option because it allows them to save money in the long run, though it costs more in monthly payments. Freddie Mac says nearly a third of borrowers refinancing 30-year loans in the April-to-June picked loans with 15-year or 20-year terms.
Still, savvy consumers can already find 30-year fixed rates at or near 4 percent if they are willing to pay a little more upfront.
Chik Quintans, assistant sales manager with Atlas Mortgage in Seattle, said he was able to get two clients into mortgages with a 4 percent interest rate and a fee of 1 percent of the total mortgage amount on Wednesday. But rates have inched up since then.
"Every day's different," Quintans said. "Sometimes people have to ruminate, and then the opportunity's gone."
Refinancing could pick up significantly if rates fall further. An average rate below 4.375 percent could be enough of a drop so that many people who refinanced last year could shave a half of a percentage point of their mortgage rates, said Scott Buchta, chief mortgage strategist with Braver Stern Securities.
Lenders could find themselves in a bind if traffic picks up, Buchta said. Many have laid off thousands of workers over the past three years and don't have enough staff to handle a crush of new applications.
Mortgage rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day. To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from about 125 banks, thrifts and credit unions around the country in a voluntary survey.
Rate quotes from parts of the country with more lending activity - such as the West and Northeast - are given more weight in creating the average.
Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.56 percent, down from 3.63 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an average of 3.53 percent from 3.55 percent.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 a point for all loans except for 15-year mortgages, which averaged 0.6 of a point.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger: 'I did the wrong thing'

Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger speaks June 4, 2001 during the 2001 Conservative Leadership Seminar at the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Copyright (c) 2009 HGTV and Scripps Howard News Service

LOS ANGELES - Radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has issued an apology for saying the n-word several times this week on-air during a conversation with a caller. Dr. Laura says, "I did the wrong thing."
Dr. Laura explained she was trying to "make a philosophical point" during a heated discussion with an African-American caller who wanted advice on how to deal with her white husband. The caller said her husband allows his family and friends to say things she considers racist.
On her show Wednesday, Dr. Laura said, "I talk every day about doing the right thing. And yesterday, I did the wrong thing."
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton gave his take on the incident during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
Sharpton said, "Not only the caller was right that she said the word over and over and in a very animated way, I might add, but that she actually, if you listen carefully to the logic of what she was saying was saying that the n-word was not offensive."
In his reaction specific to Dr. Laura, Sharpton said, "Well, her first reaction was that people use the n-word all along and you are being too sensitive or something to that effect, and at no point until after the outrage that followed did she come back today and say it was wrong."

Motorola Droid 2 teardown

The guys at iFixit have done it again, this time tearing down a Motorola Droid 2 handset.

I think one of the most interesting points made by the guys at iFixit about the Droid 2 is how similar it is to the original Droid.
“Motorola made significant evolutionary changes to the Droid 2’s internals (1 GHz processor, 802.11n, etc.) that provide an overall speedier experience for the user,” said Kyle Wein, CEO of iFixit. “Yet, the phone’s internal layout is so similar to the original Droid that it is difficult to discern which is which once they’re apart. Motorola certainly took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it route” by keeping everything people didn’t complain about exactly the same, and upgrading the bits that mattered. Who wouldn’t like smoother games and faster browsing?”
Some teardown highlights:

• The Droid 2 has a 3.7V, 1390 mAh Li-Ion Polymer battery, identical to the one found in the Droid. But Motorola is advertising a 575 minute usage time for the Droid 2, compared to a 385 minute usage time for the Droid. That’s a claimed 49% improvement while still using the same battery.
• Unlike the iPhone 4 battery’s “Authorized Service Provider Only” pull tab, the Droid 2 has a helpful note stating “Battery Removal Here.”
• The Droid 2’s 5 MP rear-facing camera with dual-LED flash supports DVD-quality video recording at 6 more FPS than the original Droid - 30 FPS vs. 24 FPS.

• The Droid 2 uses the same 3.7 inch, Full WVGA, 854×480 TFT LCD as the original Droid.

• The Droid 2 has a SanDisk SDIN4C2 8 GB NAND flash package soldered to the main board. This part wasn’t included in the original Droid. The Droid 2 only comes with a 8 GB micro SD card, so its storage capacity out the box is the same as the original. We didn’t investigate how Android handles the filesystem being split across two physical devices.
• The TI WL1271B WLAN Bluetooth/FM chip gives the Droid 2 802.11n capability, a substantial upgrade over the Droid’s 802.11g.

Another great teardown guys!

Wife ot MBTA chief leads Fenway lawsuit against agency

 

 

FAMILY AFFAIR: MBTA General Manager Richard Davey is married to Attorney Jane Willis, as seen on the Ropes & Gray Web site, who represents a property owner suing the T over the Fenway station. 

 

 

 

 

 

The wife of the MBTA’s general manager is the lead attorney in a lawsuit that centers on the construction of a new Yawkey Commuter Rail Station, the Herald has learned.
Jane Willis, a partner at Ropes & Gray, is married to MBTA general manager Richard Davey. In March 2009, Willis filed a lawsuit on behalf of HRPT Medical Buildings Realty, a neighbor of the Yawkey station - which is set to be renovated and connected to Fenway Center, a proposed $500 million residential and retail development that would straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike.
HRPT is suing the city of Boston zoning board over its approval of the Fenway Center project, and to keep the development moving forward, the board must win the suit. But Fenway Center developer John Rosenthal said he believes the lawsuit is aimed at trying to land a financial windfall from the MBTA, which wants to upgrade Yawkey station, by forcing it into an eminent domain taking.

 

“It’s outrageous,” said Rosenthal, when asked about the revelation that Davey is married to HRPT’s attorney.

Davey, who is also transit administrator of Massachusetts Department of Transportation, disclosed his wife’s involvement in the suit in a July 29 letter to state transportation secretary Jeffrey B. Mullan, four months after he was appointed and after the MBTA was subpoenaed in the suit.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said Davey recused himself when Rosenthal joined the lawsuit to aid the city. Pesaturo said there was no potential conflict prior to the developer’s involvement in the suit.
Pesaturo released a statement saying Davey has acted with “an abundance of caution” and “will remove himself from any and all real estate and construction matters pertaining to the Fenway Center development.”
State officials said yesterday that Davey disclosed his potential conflict to his “appointing authority,” as required by law.
A math whiz, Willis was portrayed by Kate Bosworth in the film “21,” which depicted a group of brainiacs from MIT and Harvard who made a fortune counting cards in Las Vegas blackjack games.
She did not return a call, but Ropes & Gray released a statement saying HRPT has been a client “for many years,” and noting that Davey was appointed a year after the suit was filed.
The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk County land court on March 27, 2009, contends a property easement required by the Fenway Center project would hinder the loading operations at HRPT’s building, located at 109 Brookline Ave.
But the renovation of Yawkey station, which is critical for the MBTA, requires access to the HRPT property.
“The project is intended as a transit-oriented development, the benefits of which relate to the construction of the New Yawkey Station,” HRPT’s complaint, signed by Willis, reads.

 

Aid group: Fighters not thieves killed 10 workers

 

 

 

Photo by AP

In this combination of photos from various family and organizational sources, the ten civilian volunteers who were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday, Aug, 5, 2010, are shown. 

 

 

 

KABUL, Afghanistan — A Christian charity group said Thursday that it believes militants, not robbers, killed 10 members of its medical team last week in a remote area of northern Afghanistan.
In the first days after the attack, the group’s leaders had said they suspected the team was set upon by robbers, despite a Taliban claim of responsibility. Local police had also said they suspected a criminal motive behind the killing of six Americans, two Afghans, a German and a Briton in the northern province of Badakhshan.
"Our own research suggests that the murders were not a robbery," Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said in a statement. "We are now working on the assumption that the attack was an opportunistic ambush by a group of non-local fighters."

 

Frans said the team was attacked as they made their return trip toward Kabul from their mission to dispense medical care to villagers in remote Nuristan province. They were set upon by gunmen as they got out of their vehicles to take a rest after crossing a swollen river just across the boundary in Badakhshan.

The account squares with that given by the lone survivor — the team’s Afghan driver Safiullah — whom Frans said has been released by Afghan authorities after questioning. An official who who was familiar with Safiullah’s testimony recounted it to The Associated Press. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of an ongoing investigation.
According to Safiullah — who goes by one name — an Afghan man in the area offered to help the team as it was trying to cross the river. Two members of the team — including leader Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York, who had worked in Afghanistan since the late 1970s — rolled up their pants legs and waded in to find a spot shallow enough for the vehicles to ford the river.
After successfully crossing, the team stopped to take a break in a forested area at the side of the road, which ran through a narrow valley. They wanted to get ready for their long journey back though Badakhshan province and on to Kabul.
The Afghan man who had offered to help the group left. Then came the attack. The gunmen rushed in, firing bullets over the medical team members’ heads. Moments later 10 of the team were dead.
It appears from accounts of survivors that the gunmen came from the Barg-e-Matal district of Nuristan which is closer to the Pakistani border. Insurgent infiltration has increased in that area since the U.S. abandoned small combat outposts that proved too difficult to defend and resupply.
Safiullah told investigators he believes the lead gunman was Pakistani because he yelled "Jadee! Jadee!" — a word used in several regional languages that means "hurry up." It is more commonly used in Pakistan and India than Afghanistan. He said all the attackers understood Dari and Pashto, the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan, but conversed in Pashaye, a local dialect used only in parts of the northeast corner of Afghanistan.
Safiullah was taken hostage by the attackers and said they walked toward a flashing light that Safiullah said was meant to guide them to a village near Barg-e-Matal, scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks between government forces and militants who crossed over from Pakistan.
The attackers later let Safiullah go and he fled on foot, eventually finding his way back to the town in Nuristan where the group had left their three four-wheel-drive vehicles and rented eight horses at the beginning of the trip.
Frans said that since the killings, International Assistance Mission has received hundreds of e-mails, phone calls and letters. "All but a few have paid tribute to the team members who were killed, to their selfless service and to IAM’s commitment to continue working alongside the Afghan people," he said.
In a statement issued Thursday from its headquarters near Geneva, the World Medical Association condemned the attack as a violation of international law.
"It is a tragedy that these doctors were killed while trying to provide medical care to desperate people in need of help. Physicians must always be given free access to patients, to medical facilities and equipment as well as the protection needed to carry out their professional activities," the association said.

 

 

 

 

Wikileaks boss scoffs at appeal to halt disclosures

Photo by AP

Founder and editor of the WikiLeaks website, Julian Assange 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LONDON - WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said yesterday he is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents his group has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be even more damaging than the initial release of some 76,000 war files.
That initial disclosure of classified military documents on Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010 angered U.S. officials and was welcomed by the Taliban.
The U.S. military has accused WikiLeaks of endangering the lives of soldiers and Afghan informants and demanded that the group refrain from publishing any more secret data. Speaking via videolink to London’s Frontline Club, Assange said he had no intention of complying. He gave no timeframe for their release but he said that his organization was about halfway through about 15,000 remaining files.

 

“We’re about 7,000 reports in,” he said, claiming a “very expensive and very painstaking” process is under way to ensure no Afghans will be harmed.

U.S. authorities, who have thrown the resources of the military and the FBI into investigating the source of his scoop, focusing on Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst accused of leaking a classified helicopter gunship video to Wikileaks. The Pentagon has a task force of about 100 people reading the leaked documents to assess the damage and alert Afghans who might be in danger.
Taliban spokesmen have said they would use the material to try to hunt down informants.
Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders accused Wikileaks of recklessness, showing “incredible irresponsibility.”
“WikiLeaks has in the past played a useful role by making information available . . . that exposed serious violations of human rights and civil liberties which the Bush administration committed in the name of its war against terror,” RWB secretary-general Jean-Francois Julliard said in an open letter. “But revealing the identity of hundreds of people who collaborated with the coalition in Afghanistan is highly dangerous.”
Human rights groups have also criticized the disclosure. Meanwhile, the United States has also reportedly urged its allies to look into Assange and his network of activists.

 

 

New Amazon monkey species discovered in Colombia

Photo by AP

A new species of titi monkey, Callicebus caquetensis, was found in the Colombian Amazon region. The monkey is the size of a cat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOGOTA, Colombia — A new Amazon monkey species has been discovered in Colombia, and researchers said Thursday they believe the small, isolated population is at risk due to the cutting of forests that are its home.
The find was announced by Conservation International, a group that helped finance the research in remote rain forests that until recently were considered too dangerous for scientific work due to the presence of leftist rebels.
A team of researchers from the National University of Colombia observed 13 groups of the new species — dubbed the Caqueta titi monkey because it was found in the southern state of Caqueta, near Peru.

 

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Primate Conservation, believe the species may be critically endangered. They estimate less than 250 of the monkeys exist and say the felling of forest for agriculture threatens their habitat.

The new variety of titi monkey, which has the scientific name Callicebus caquetensis, is the size of a cat and has grayish-brown hair. What sets it apart from other types of titi monkey species is its lack of a white bar on the forehead.
"It’s a spectacular finding," said Jeffrey French, a biology and psychology professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who works with primates in the Amazon in Brazil.
Some formerly rebel-held regions of Colombia have become safer in recent years due to the government’s gains against guerrilla bands, facilitating efforts to search for oil and precious metals as well as flora and fauna.
The research team, including professors Thomas Defler and Marta Bueno and student Javier Garcia, visited Caqueta in 2008 — three decades after Martin Moynihan, an animal behavior expert, first caught sight of the species in the area. Insecurity in the area prevented research to confirm his sighting until the team arrived.
The researchers say the monkeys are monogamous — unlike most primates but common among titi monkeys — and often have one baby a year. They have complex calls and were spotted often moving around in groups of four.
Juan Mayer, a former Colombian environment minister, said that due to deforestation, "huge efforts will have to be made to protect the creature’s habitat."
Paul Garber, a primate researcher and anthropology professor at the University of Illinois, said titi monkeys play important roles in the forest, dispersing seeds, pollinating plants and helping the forest regenerate.
He said the new variety of monkey is important because it shows there are probably other undiscovered primate species in the world’s tropical forests.
"We need to provide resources to aid scientists so that these species can be identified, studied and protected," Garber said.

 

 

 

 

 

Why flight attendants want to pull the chute

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Elliot Hester says he gets why Slater blew up, made dangerous emergency chute exit
• He says he's faced similar situations with passengers who think rules don't apply to them
• But airline rules are uneven, he says, and attendants have no power to enforce them
• Hester: Airlines should have uniform code that begins at check-in, ends at baggage claim

Editor's note: Elliott Hester is a travel writer, former syndicated columnist and author of "Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet." He works as a flight attendant.

Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN) -- In a few short days, JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater has achieved folk-hero status.
He's the man who allegedly cursed out a disruptive passenger over the on-board public address system, then opened an aircraft door, inflating the emergency chute in the process. He grabbed a beer from a service cart and slid down, effectively saying "Ba-bye" to his 20-year flying career.
Slater's exit created a danger to ramp workers and could earn him a prison stay. Nevertheless, his actions call attention to escalating tensions between flight attendants and the passengers they serve. They also highlight a little known issue that's a big problem for flight attendants.
For the last 25 years, I've worked as a flight attendant for a large U.S. carrier. Many times I've been in Slater's position: A passenger opens the overhead bin to retrieve a carry-on bag before the captain says the plane has safely reached the gate. (For safety reasons, attendants are trained to make sure passengers stay in their seats, overhead bins remain closed and carry-on bags are properly stowed "until the aircraft reaches the gate and the captain turns off the fasten seat belt sign.")

Video: Flight attendant tirade 'refreshing'?

Video: Mom: 'I would've snapped too'

Video: Flight attendant rage resonates

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RELATED TOPICS

• Steven Slater
• Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
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Most offenders are simply eager to get off a cramped airplane and willingly sit down when asked. But occasionally -- as was possibly the case with the passenger Slater responded to -- some passengers think the rules don't apply to them. I've been glared at, verbally abused, threatened with lawsuits and recriminations from God simply because I asked a passenger to comply with the rules.
Herein lies the problem. What exactly are the rules? Why do they seem different from one flight to the next? And what authority do flight attendants have when it comes to enforcing them?
The answer to that last and most compelling question is "zero." Contrary to what you may think, flight attendants have absolutely no authority aboard an aircraft. We are not police officers or security personnel. We are not empowered by law to enforce airline policy, FAA regulation or criminal mischief.
We can't force noncompliant passengers to buckle their seat belts, stow their tray tables, turn off cell phones, put away pornographic magazines (yes, it happens) or stay in their seats until the plane docks. All we can do is approach the passenger, explain "the rules" and hope they comply. Failing that, the only recourse is to call the captain, who, depending on his or her disposition, may not address the problem adequately.
Consequently, flight attendants often find themselves between a rock and a hard place. It's frustrating when your employer demands that you impose policy without giving you the means to do so. Perhaps this is why Slater snapped. While I disagree with the manner in which he vented, like Chris Rock says, "I understand."
As far as carry-on bags are concerned, the rules, which are seemingly clear but not uniformly enforced, are a major point of contention between passengers and crew. Most carriers limit each passenger to one carry-on bag and one personal item (i.e. laptop bag, small backpack, etc.).
But does a woman's large purse qualify as personal item? Is she therefore allowed three items when a man is only allowed two? Are passengers allowed more carry-ons on half-empty flights? This seems reasonable, given the abundance of space in which to stow bags, which is why some attendants and gate agents turn a blind eye to a passenger with too many bags on an empty flight.
But when that same passenger tries to board a full connecting flight with four bags and is forced to check two in the cargo hold, he may protest vehemently. "Hey, they let me bring these on my last flight, why won't you? I'm never flying this #&*@!$* airline again!" I've heard this so often and so loudly I've become numb to the allegation.
The only way to mitigate passenger-employee conflict and ensure smooth flying is to impose a uniform airline code that begins at the check-in desk and ends at the luggage carousel.
Passengers should be allowed no more than two carry-on bags on every flight; ticket agents should check ALL other bags. If your tweezers are allowed through security at O'Hare, those same tweezers should be allowed through security on your way home from JFK.

Disruptive passengers should be blacklisted and banned from future flying. And any flight attendant who takes it upon himself to open an emergency exit and slide down the chute because a foul-mouthed passenger won't follow the rules, well ... he might find that behavior is not much better in a prison cell.

Comrade Crow's 12% pay increase: As millions suffer wage freezes, RMT's militant leader pockets £10,000

Militant union baron Bob Crow has brushed aside calls for wage restraint – and quietly pocketed an astonishing 12 per cent pay rise.
The hardline general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union has taken the £10,000 salary increase, despite the painful pay freeze affecting millions of workers in both the public and private sectors.
His basic pay rose from £84,923 in 2008 to £94,747 at the end of last year, according to figures published by the RMT.

Fighting talk: Bob Crow, who is calling for sustained general strikes, has pocketed a 12 per cent pay rise

And his overall pay package rose from £122,167 to £133,183 last year.
On top of this he claimed £9,989 in expenses and £2,376 in travel costs, taking his total income to £145,548.
The figures will anger millions of commuters and public transport users who have suffered massive disruption from a series of strikes called by Mr Crow.
Yesterday the RMT called yet another strike on the London Underground, which is expected to cause chaos for travellers over the bank holiday later this month.
Transport Minister Norman Baker said: ‘Bob Crow talks about fairness but this self-styled man of the people should be judged by his actions.
‘Crow seems more interested in feathering his own nest than working with Government to create an efficient cost effective rail service.’
A spokesman for London’s Mayor Boris Johnson last night also expressed astonishment at Mr Crow’s bumper pay rise.

 

More...

• £500,000 a year for council boss who 'retired' with golden goodbye... then got new job with ANOTHER local authority
• Tables: Official salary figures for all UK professions (thisismoney.co.uk)
• Families trapped in a pay and price squeeze: Gloom as Bank warns of 'choppy recovery'

He said: ‘Anyone delivering public services in the current climate who thinks they deserve a double digit pay rise is not living in the real world.’
Rail expert Christian Wolmar said: ‘Bob Crow is always talking about the hypocrisy of managers earning huge sums and I would have thought it was incumbent on him to bear the same fate as his members, most of whom are not getting a pay rise.
‘It is a pretty extraordinary decision and suggests that even in the RMT some animals are more equal than others.
‘He espouses a strong brand of socialism but I suspect it will be a very long time before everybody is earning £95,000 a year.’
But the RMT last night insisted Mr Crow was ‘worth every penny’. A spokesman said the pay rise had been approved by members at the union’s annual general meeting ‘to recognise his achievements in securing some very good pay and terms and conditions results’.

Travel mayhem: Queues for buses at Victoria during the last Tube strike

He added: ‘In the view of our members, Bob Crow is worth every penny.’
Mr Crow, 49, has carved out an unenviable reputation as Britain’s most militant union boss after leading rail and Tube workers on a seemingly endless series of high-profile walkouts.
Since his election in 2002, the former communist has been known for bullying style and lack of concern for the travelling public.
He once declared: ‘I’m not one of those union officials who continually say they regret inconvenience caused by industrial action.’
Transport chiefs in London fear he will threaten to cripple the Olympics in 2012 in a bid to extract even more cash for his well-paid members. The threat is taken so seriously that ministers are even considering tightening the union strike laws.
Mr Crow has also been at the forefront of calls for general strikes to destabilise the Government and force ministers to abandon a programme of cuts designed to tackle the economic crisis.
Last month he called on unions to launch ‘a sustained campaign of generalised strikes’ to fight the Government’s ‘fiscal fascism’.
He declared: ‘We say, “Don’t fear them. Fight them”. Our trade union has a slogan, “Never on our knees”.’

Trapped in a pay and price squeeze: Gloom for families as Bank warns of 'choppy recovery'

Gloom: With earnings outstripped by inflation, paying bills is getting harder

Millions of families face a painful squeeze in the cost of living, with figures showing a sharp fall in wage rises against a background of soaring prices.
Workers in the private sector saw their pay increase by an average of only 0.8 per cent in the past year, while inflation is four times higher at 3.2 per cent.
Details of the cap on wages were revealed as the Bank of England warned that inflation is expected to stay above the official target of 2 per cent through to the end of 2011. 
At the same time, sharp rises are in the pipeline on petrol and food following the doubling of the commodity price of wheat, barley and some other grain in recent weeks.
Bank Governor Mervyn King issued the alert as he said Britain is facing a ‘choppy recovery’ and cut his prediction of how quickly the economy will grow next year.
In yesterday’s quarterly inflation report, the Bank slashed its growth forecast for 2011 by just under a percentage point to 2.5 per cent.
But inflation would remain above the Government’s 2 per cent target for this year and next before falling back to 1.4 per cent in two years, it said.

Tumbling consumer confidence and the Government’s savage budget cuts will act as a brake on the economy as it struggles to emerge from recession, Mr King warned.
The crippled banking system and the mounting signs of stress in the global economy could derail Britain’s tentative recovery from the deepest downturn since the Second World War, he said.
Mr King warned: ‘Business and consumer sentiment have shown signs of softening, measures of financial fragility remain elevated and there is great uncertainty about the outlook for both the United States and our most important trading partner, the euro area.’

some good news....jpg

The squeeze on living standards - the harshest since the 1970s - will be intensified by the decision to push up VAT to 20 per cent from January 4.

 

More...

• Comrade Crow's 12% pay increase: As millions suffer wage freezes, RMT's militant leader pockets £10,000
• ALEX BRUMMER: Watch out for icebergs, Cap'n Mervyn
• MAIL COMMENT: Banks must not stifle this fragile recovery
• Foreign workers surge by 114,000... but the number of Britons with jobs falls
• Hundreds of playground schemes axed as Government slashes £235m from education budget
• When will interest rates rise? (thisismoney.co.uk)

The salary figures were published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and confirm a pay apartheid between the private and public sectors.
Compared with the private sector’s 0.8 per cent average rise, increases in the public sector were more than triple that at 2.9 per cent.
Average public sector pay is also higher than in other walks of life, with a weekly figure of £470 against £451 in private firms - an annual gap of almost £1,000.
While the Government has announced a public-sector pay freeze for millions of workers designed to cut national debt, the unions have threatened a fight which could bring massive disruption in the autumn and beyond.

'Choppy' recovery: Bank of England governor Mervyn King yesterday

Retail industry experts have warned that the price of bread could rise by as much as 15p a loaf in the coming months.
Higher wheat prices will also push up the cost of pasta, pies and processed food while a pint in the pub could cost more than £4.
Prices will also be driven up across the high street by reports that petrol could reach a record high of more than £1.25 a litre in the new year.
Separately, power companies have been withdrawing cheap gas and electricity tariffs with some hinting at a need for rises.
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, predicted that consumers will feel the pinch from wage restraint and high inflation.
‘With wage growth muted and a major fiscal squeeze increasingly kicking in, it is hard to see consumer spending being anything else than muted for an extended period,’ he said.
Details on pay were published alongside the latest unemployment figures which delivered the good news that the total was down 49,000 to 2.46million.
At the same time the number in employment rose by a 21-year high of 184,000 compared with a year ago.

However the vast majority of this increase - 115,000 - was in those taking low-paid part-time jobs as they fight to keep their heads above water.
The figure was also buoyed by a rise in the number of pensioners taking part-time work to supplement meagre incomes.

The jobless figures also confirmed that older workers are not benefiting from the apparent improvement. The number of over-50s in full-time work came down by 11,000.
Mervyn King’s comments reopened the debate over whether the scale and extent of the Government’s programme of cuts might plunge Britain back into recession.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne insisted the recovery was ‘soundly based’, and dismissed fears of a ‘ double dip’ recession. He said the Government’s efforts to tackle the budget deficit were helping prevent a hike in interest rates which would damage the economy.
‘We mustn’t extend these maritime images too much. The Governor of the Bank of England was talking about “choppy recovery” and “ working against the head winds” and heaven knows what else.
‘The reality is that it is very unusual that there is a double dip recession in economic history and there are a lot of forces that are working to sustain the recovery. I just don’t think that there is going to be a threat to the recovery.’
But former chancellor Alistair Darling accused ministers of a ‘reckless style of austerity economics’ which threatened to derail the recovery. He added: ‘It will hit confidence and it will hit jobs.’

Give pay-offs back, Labour rivals told

Labour's leadership contenders have been challenged to accept their ‘ responsibility’ for the economic crisis - and hand back their £20,000 ministerial pay-offs.
Conservative Party chairman Sayeeda Warsi said ministers should atone for ‘running up colossal debts on the nation’s credit card’.
Labour ministers pocketed an astonishing £1million in severance pay after being booted out at the election - even though most have kept their jobs as MPs on £64,766 a year.
Former Cabinet ministers, including the Labour leadership candidates David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and Andy Burnham, were each entitled to handouts worth £19,938.

Baroness Warsi, here with Chris Huhne, has written to the leadership candidates to ask for the money back

The former Treasury chief secretary Liam Byrne, who left an infamous note for incoming ministers saying there was ‘no money left’ walked away with a similar sum.
The pay-offs were described as ‘rewards for failure’ and Baroness Warsi said ministers had a moral responsibility to hand the money back.
She said Labour was ‘in denial’ about the impact of its spending splurge. ‘At a time when people are being asked to tighten their belts, it is unacceptable that those responsible for this mess walk away with up to £20,000 each.’
Lady Warsi, a lawyer, wrote to the four former Cabinet ministers now challenging for the Labour leadership asking them to return the money.
Labour dismissed the call for the leadership contenders to give up their severance payments.
A spokesman said: ‘This is a pathetic attempt by the coalition to create a smokescreen around today’s serious economic issues.’

Watch out for icebergs, Cap'n Mervyn

COMMENTARY By Alex Brummer, CITY EDITOR

Now that the nation has been scared to death by the Government’s austerity budget, the Bank of England has decided to play good fairy.
Growth might be lower than it would have been had the Tories not promised to deliver such deep cuts. But the Governor Mervyn King, arguably Britain’s most important economic policymaker, thinks that with a little bit of help from the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, the dreaded ‘double dip’ can be avoided and Britain can return to above average growth by 2011.

By his own admission yesterday, any recovery will be ‘choppy’. After the steepest loss of output in the UK since the 1930s, the return to prosperity was never going to be smooth.
However what is clearly emerging in Britain is a tale of two economies. On the one side, the Tory-led coalition has outlined the most severe cuts in public spending in modern times - in an effort to prevent Britain becoming the new Greece, as Chancellor George Osborne puts it. This prospect already has some British consumers and businesses running for cover.
In stark contrast, manufacturing, for years the most unfashionable part of the UK economy, is having something of a renaissance. Firms are benefiting strongly from the falling value of the pound, which makes our exports much cheaper overseas.
Meanwhile, as Mr Osborne fits in an Italian break, much of Middle Britain has taken to heart his threats of tough times ahead. The services sector index, which was robust earlier this year, has flattened. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is warning of falling house prices (despite the sale of one newbuild property in central London for an astonishing £140million.) The British Retail Consortium is forecasting dull sales for everything except food. And the two biggest travel firms TUI (which owns Thomson) and Thomas Cook report hundreds of thousands of traditional summer holidays unsold.

Historically, all of the strongest upswings in the British economy in the post-war era have followed falls in the value of the pound.

Nevertheless, if Britain is aiming for a different kind of recovery - less dependent on the moneybags in the City filling their pockets - this might be no bad thing. Strong retail savings by households are necessary if companies are to be able to raise cash on the stock market to invest. Similarly, the squeeze on real incomes - as earnings are held low and inflation is allowed to drift above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target, should enable UK firms to remain reasonably competitive in the global marketplace.
This will be key if the UK is to have an export and manufacturing-led recovery. Historically, all of the strongest upswings in the British economy in the post-war era have followed falls in the value of the pound. On the Bank of England’s reckoning the pound has lost 25 per cent of its value against the currencies of the countries with which we do most trade. The most recent fall occurred during a period of such unprecedented turbulence in the banking sector, financial markets and the economy that it went almost unnoticed as an event in its own right.
However, this is a larger loss of value for the pound than under the Labour governments of the 1970s and when Britain was ejected from the exchange rate mechanism in 1992 under John Major. After all of these devaluations the British economy enjoyed an export led bounce-back.
The overarching picture looks a great deal more complicated this time, as Mr King acknowledged at his quarterly Inflation Report briefing. The biggest problem is the impact of the budget cuts and its effect on consumer and business behaviour. On the other hand, it almost certainly means that the UK will be able to retain its topnotch credit rating, plus longer-term interest rates (those paid by companies investing for the future) will be lower than would otherwise be the case.
Moreover, calculations by the Bank suggest that despite all the hot words from the Chancellor, the projected decline in public-sector borrowing will be broadly similar to that in the 1990s when the UK economy still managed to grow.

The overarching picture looks a great deal more complicated this time... The biggest problem is the impact of the budget cuts and its effect on consumer and business behaviour.

Another worry this time around is poor credit conditions. Despite all the aid (more than £1trillion) which the authorities have provided to the banking sector, in one way or another, the money markets are still not operating as they were before the credit crunch of three years ago. Put starkly, the banks are not lending enough.
Big businesses might have found ways of raising new loans, yet smaller and medium-sized businesses are still struggling not only to find the new money, but to meet punitive demands for upfront fees and extra security as the banks behave appallingly.
The final and perhaps most daunting factor facing Britain is the state of the global economy. Much of our surge in exports so far has been to the North American market, so it is critical to the UK that the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, continues to pump funds into the U.S. economy. In Europe, the only hope comes from Germany, which is still expanding despite the unresolved problems of Greece and the Club Med nations. Finally, there are also disturbing indications that China - a large potential market - is coming off the boil.
The lesson from economic crises of the past is that recovery is often uneven and rarely a straight line with serious setbacks along the road. The uncertainty is never a pleasant experience for consumers or business and can be deeply unsettling. The only small comfort is that the Bank of England believes that it can ride out current inflation worries, arising from VAT and prices of commodities such as wheat, and hold interest rates at record low levels of 0.5 per cent. That might be bad luck for savers but should assist in stimulating demand.
A great deal rides on the Bank’s ability to negotiate these turbulent waters.

Serial stabber suspect caught trying to flee the country after leaving deadly trail, police say

This image provided by the Michigan State Police shows a composite sketch of a man they say is the serial stabber.

A serial stabber who police think carried out a three-state killing spree was arrested, police said Thursday.

The suspect was caught at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport late Wednesday night, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told The Associated Press.

The official said that after the suspect was arrested on unrelated charges, he was handed to the FBI and Atlanta police.

The early-morning attacks started May 24 in Flint, Mich., leaving five men dead and 10 others wounded. Almost all the Flint victims are black and the three men stabbed in Leesburg, Va. have been described by authorities as dark-skinned, leading police to believe the attacks were racially motivated.

A sketch of the suspect depicts him as white. His name has not been released.

"While this is a key step in the investigation, there are still many issues that need to be addressed before we identify this individual as the person responsible for this horrific crime spree," Leesburg Police Officer Chris Jones said in a statement.

Initially, police focused on the Flint area, but a similar stabbing in Toledo, Ohio, followed by the Leesburg attacks that began Aug. 3, widened the search.

Police say they narrowed in on the suspect after witnesses spotted him in a dark green Chevy Blazer.

Last week, a surveillance camera captured a similar vehicle cruising through a Leesburg parking lot where a teen was hit in the head with a hammer by a man who asked him for help fixing the Blazer, police said.

Authorities plan a press conference Thursday afternoon

Tiger Woods In the Middle of Corey Pavin-Jim Gray Spat

OK, so who's not telling the truth: Corey Pavin or Jim Gray?
Gray, a contributing reporter for Golf Channel, confronted Pavin Wedneday after the U.S. Ryder Cup captain said Gray had been "incorrect" on what Pavin had said to him the day before: that Tiger Woods would be named to the team.
"You're going down," Gray yelled at Pavin during their spat.
Wow. Sounds like some pro wrestling banter.
I don't know who's telling the truth. I do know that Gray was a laughing embarrassment with his tough questions of LeBron James during the TV reality circus show called "The Decision."
But I don't know what was said in the initial interview between Pavin and Gray.
What do you think? Do you believe, Gray or Pavin?

Can JetBlue flight attendant stretch 15 minutes ?

NEW YORK -- Last week, nobody knew Steve Slater. 

Now, office water coolers, Twitter feeds, Facebook and chat rooms are buzzing with expressions of support and the question: What's next for the flight attendant who quit his JetBlue job in such memorable fashion that some have called him an instant American hero?

Heroic or not, the story of Slater's confrontation with a misbehaving passenger has swept through Madison Avenue and Hollywood in addition to Main Street.

Slater's story has the most immediate effect on TV news organizations, with broadcast networks and CNN among outlets trying to book him for interviews. A media scrum followed Slater's brief jail stay. "Good Morning America" producers jumped into the same car as Slater, but he made them get out.

An ABC News spokeswoman said Wednesday that the producers had done nothing unusual and simply were chasing the story as their peers were.

"It's a very competitive story, and everybody wants to hear from him directly about what happened," said David Friedman, executive producer of CBS' "The Early Show."

Friedman's bookers staked out the jail, Slater's house and his lawyer's office -- but not necessarily with the aim of nailing an exclusive interview.

"All I care about is that we have him on our show," he said.

Friedman said he figures an interview can be done anytime during the next 10 days.

Will Slater get a manager or agent to explore further opportunities such as book deals, TV shows or even a movie?

Major talent agencies are unlikely to sign anyone who doesn't have a background in a craft such as acting or writing. Companies that book reality TV stars and celebrities of varying degrees as guest speakers might be a more logical fit.

Steve Peckham, senior vp at branding agency Olson, said it looks like a case of 15 minutes of fame.

"I suspect Mr. Slater's fame is about to peak as he is sure to hit the late-night TV and radio talk show circuit, but it won't last long," Peckham said. "So a pure advertising play might prove challenging."

Yet ad folks say they already have discussed the Slater situation with colleagues or clients.

Chris Raih, founder and managing director of Los Angeles-based creative agency Zambezi, said he and his team had mentioned him Wednesday morning.

"People around the country seem to have followed this classic go-to-hell moment with voyeuristic glee," he said. "They want to root for him even more in a recessionary environment when many have gobbled up their anger."

But he cautioned that ad campaigns referencing Slater and the incident will be hard to pull off given that it takes weeks to shoot a commercial and more lead time to get a campaign out. "I don't think any brand will be fast enough to capitalize on this moment," Raih said.

But Raih's team is working on a 2011 campaign based on the idea that people should "go for it" each day. Other ad folks see some opportunity for a campaign once possible legal implications and other risks become clearer.

Beer companies were a popular suggestion for a natural ad home for Slater given that he had a cold one before his exit from the plane.

Michael Priem, CEO of USDM.net -- an agency that works with U.S. and international airlines, Hilton and others -- said he has brought up the Slater story in meetings and expects travel and tourism marketing firms to react to it, whether by referencing the case directly or drawing indirect lessons from it.

He can see any service company benefitting from a campaign that uses Slater as a spokesman.

"He could show how painful it is to be in the wait line for a cell phone carrier or sit at a service center that frustrates us," Priem said.

Joseph Jaffe, a consulting on new marketing, had a Hollywood comparison for the flight attendant.

"Steve Slater is the modern-day equivalent of Charles Bronson in 'Death Wish' -- except, of course, there's no artillery, bloodshed or permanent damage in this particular example of brand vigilantism," he said. "I'd recommend JetBlue gets behind him. They have the kind of brand personality and authentic self-assuredness to use this as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate purpose and conviction. And if not, then I'd recommend one of their competitors snapped him up."

Angela Farrell, an accountant at marketing firm MSCO, reminded that "American Idol" seems to be in need of a new controversial host/hero, and Scott Cromer, partner and managing director of creative agency Mutt Industries said, "The whole thing feels like a John Hughes film."

Said Jim Joseph, president of Lippe Taylor: "I think he will end up being a spokesperson of some sort. He's quickly becoming the mascot for the disgruntled employee."

Perseid meteor shower visible from Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is in line to see a real spectacle in the night sky on Thursday, 12 August 2010, according to a local astronomer.
John Fletcher, who runs the Mount Tuffley Observatory in Gloucester, said that tonight is the night to get the best view of the Perseid meteor shower.
The phenomenon is visible each year from late July to late August, but tonight is being touted at the best night for watching in 2010.

We see these beautiful, bright streaks across the sky. These are the shooting stars, no more than mere grains of dust. John Fletcher

This is because as the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour, they can be seen all across the UK sky - weather permitting.
And Mr Fletcher said he's already managed to spot the stars, streaking through the night sky.
"Two nights ago [Tuesday], around midnight, I saw - leading up to the maximum, which is tonight - nine bright ones and several fainter ones, emanating from the northern direction," he said.
"They came from the direction of Perseus, the constellation - this constellation is in the north, below the constellation Cassiopeia.
"So if you look in the northern direction you'll see a 'W' shape of stars and that's the constellation of Cassiopeia, and that's where they will emanate from."

Time exposure photograph of polar stars during a meteor shower

The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.
Every 133 years, the huge comet swings through the inner part of our Solar System and leaves behind a trail of dust and gravel.
When Earth passes through the debris, specks hit our atmosphere at 140,000mph and disintegrate in flashes of light.
These meteors are called the Perseids because they appear to fly out of the constellation Perseus.
"We see these beautiful, bright streaks across the sky," Mr Fletcher added.
"These are the shooting stars, no more than mere grains of dust.
"This is what should be seen tonight, if the sky is clear.
"In the western sky, in the late evening [and] before it gets totally dark, is when we'll see the bright star of Venus.
"[Venus] is a very, very brilliant star and a crescent moon - after that then it's the Perseid meteor shower."

A month without food for Ramadan in Bradford

Muslims across the world are celebrating the holy month of ramadan

Muslims across West Yorkshire and the world are marking the most important month in the Islamic calendar - Ramadan.

But one non-Muslim from Bradford is taking part in the holy month in a bid to gain a better understanding of how her fellow Muslims friends are feeling.
Eilish Bromley works with the youth service in Bradford. She's not Muslim but will begin fasting this year.
She explains her reasons behind it.
She says: "I've got a lot friends who are Asian and they're fasting so I want to respect their religion and fast.
During this month, Muslims refrain from drinking, eating and other activities from dawn until sunset.
Fasting is intended to teach Muslims the virtues of patience, humility and spirituality, and is carried out as an offering to God.
Participants rise in the darkness to eat a pre-dawn meal called "suhur".
They must stop eating and drinking before the dawn call to prayer, and must not break their fast until the fourth call to prayer at dusk.
Muslims are expected to start observing the fasting ritual once they reach puberty, as long as they are healthy.
Eilish says: "I'm also trying to have a small understanding of what's going on around the world, people who are suffering in poverty, and I hope this will also help me gain more understanding about myself."
She says she will have to rise early around 3am, before dawn, to have her breakfast.
Eilish has fasted in the past and it's something she says she was glad she did and will be glad to do it again.

I'm also trying to have a small understanding of what's going on around the world. people who are suffering in poverty. I want to understand that. Elish Bromley, Bradford

She explains: "I will try and eat the same amount I eat normally. I didn't notice any weight loss the last time I did it. I don't think you necessarily lose any weight.
"It's about trying to gain a better understanding of people and what they are going through, which is why I want to do it."
Fasting this year will be particularly difficult for British Muslims, for whom daylight fasting means going 17 hours without food.
The elderly, the chronically ill and the mentally ill are exempt from fasting, although the first two groups are expected to try to feed the poor instead.
The holiday of Eid ul-Fitr marks the end of the fasting period of Ramadan and the first day of the following month, which is called called Shawwal.
When fasting is over, celebrations are held and Muslims go to their mosques in their best clothes to say the first Eid prayer.