Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Obama promotes steps to boost US trade
EVERETT, Washington (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday called for more steps to help U.S. companies compete overseas, standing in front of an enormous Boeing Dreamliner to summon a bright future for American manufacturing and exports.
Visiting a Boeing plant in Washington state where he watched some of the massive 787s under assembly, Obama pushed for Congress to continue financing a national export credit agency crucial to a goal of doubling exports by 2014. Obama, who faces re-election in November, pointed to the aviation giant as a homegrown company bolstering the U.S. economy by doing business overseas as he sought to make the case that the economy is on the …
Irish govt, bankers blamed for overheating economy
Ireland's government, banks and regulators all gambled on a runaway property market and left the country particularly badly exposed to the global credit crisis, banking experts concluded in two government-commissioned reports published Wednesday.
The reports _ one by Central Bank of Ireland governor Patrick Honohan, the other by Anglo-German economists Max Watson and Klaus Regling _ blamed Prime Minister Brian Cowen for overseeing budgets that fueled rampant property speculation until the bubble burst in 2008. They said Ireland's ill-staffed bank regulators repeatedly failed to raise the alarm despite evidence of unethical accounting and reckless lending practices at …
Our views: W.Va. will miss the farm factor; The state's hard-working farmers have had an effect on its character
NATIONALLY, farmers are an average of 55 years old. WestVirginia's farming community is even older - an average of 56.3years.
As of the 2002 agriculture census, West Virginia had about 20,812farmers - 700 fewer than it had in 1997. Most of them run smalloperations ranging in size from 50 to 179 acres.
But as the longtime operators of these tracts gradually move awayfrom production, much of their land is falling fallow for lack ofyounger family members who want to take over.
And as Jamie Kinsey, secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia FarmBureau, explained to the Daily Mail's Kris Wise, those who do want tofarm but do not inherit land face high capital costs to …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Italy gov't renews expulsion decree for EU citizens deemed dangerous
The Italian Cabinet approved new measures that allow authorities to expel EU citizens deemed a threat to public security or suspected of terrorism.
The measures passed in a Cabinet meeting Friday replace a similar package approved weeks ago and subsequently abandoned because it included a technical error.
The decree is aimed at improving safety in the streets.
The original version was passed in October in response to an outcry over a slaying in Rome that was the latest in a string of crimes blamed on foreign residents. A man from Romania _ …
Venezuela buys ConocoPhillips' gas project stake
Venezuela's state oil company has purchased ConocoPhillips' 40 percent stake in a joint natural gas venture with Chevron Corp.
Terms of the deal announced late Friday were not disclosed.
State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said it will now team up with Chevron to exploit the reserves in that area of Venezuela's Deltana Platform.
PDVSA will control 61 percent of the joint venture, and Chevron 39 percent. Some 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves have been discovered, and the project is expected to produce some 750 million cubic feet per day.
ConocoPhillips spokesman Charlie Rowton at headquarters in Houston confirmed …
Late closing set at W. Side pool
The outdoor swimming pool at Dvorak Park, 1119 W. Cullerton,tonight is expected to become the first Chicago Park District pool toremain open until 10 p.m. under a new district policy to discourageafter-hours use.
Park workers were busy yesterday installing and testing newfloodlights and making sure they are properly aligned to providemaximum …
Romney Uses Scare Tactics to Make Point
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney offered a verbal tour of "Hillary's House of Horrors" on Saturday, conjuring images of Halloween spook houses to underscore his criticisms of Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"You go in one room, she wants to raise your taxes. You go in another room and she wants to have government taking over health care," Romney said to laughter and applause at a town hall meeting in southwest Florida. "You go in the next room and she's weakened homeland security by voting against the authority of our government to listen in to al-Qaida's calls."
Romney said he would keep Clinton from reaching the White House …
Mistress found guilty in slaying of French banker
A Swiss court has ruled that a former mistress is guilty of the murder of one of France's richest men during sex games four years ago.
A 12-member jury at Geneva's Court of Assizes found Cecile Brossard guilty on Wednesday of shooting to death her lover Edouard Stern.
Brossard has admitted killing the banker but denied it was because of a dispute over $1 …
New Kind of Vaccine Raises Hopes
Vaccines are the most effective way to fight infectious diseases.They wiped smallpox off the planet, nearly eliminated childhoodkillers such as whooping cough and measles and dramatically reducedhepatitis and tetanus in adults.
But conventional vaccines have many shortcomings. Poliovaccine, for example, sometimes causes the disease it is meant toprevent; the diphtheria-whooping cough-tetanus shot occasionallytriggers allergic reactions so severe that children suffer braindamage. And vaccines have failed to stop some of the graver threats,including tuberculosis, herpes and the human immunodeficiency virusthat causes AIDS.
Now a revolutionary new type of vaccine …
Lievremont eyes first France win against Australia
PARIS (AP) — France coach Marc Lievremont seeks his first victory over Australia when the teams meet Saturday in a game that is also his final chance to experiment against southern hemisphere opposition before next year's World Cup.
Lievremont, who took charge three years ago, can count on a dominant pack to gain ground, but the backs have not been clicking and his continual tinkering with personnel should offer Australia chances to counter if their scrum holds up.
France's pack has shown its might in consecutive wins against Fiji (34-12) and Argentina (15-9) — and in beating South Africa last year — but Lievremont knows the Wallabies are smart enough to avoid a straight …
Sunday's Medalists
GOLD_Petter Northug, Norway
SILVER_Axel Teichmann, Germany
BRONZE_Johan Olsson, Sweden
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HOCKEY
Men
GOLD_Canada (Patrice Bergeron, Dan Boyle, Martin Brodeur, Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Getzlaf, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Duncan Keith, Roberto Luongo, Patrick Marleau, Brenden Morrow, Rick Nash, Scott Niedermayer, Corey Perry, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Brent Seabrook, Eric Staal, Joe Thornton)
SILVER_United States (David Backes, Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan, Chris …
It's Got Legs // Crab House Thinks Big, Delivers Taste, Value
Pump Prices May Inch Down More
NEW YORK - The headlines say oil prices have fallen 15 percent this year. Gas station receipts tell a different story - the cost of filling 'er up has slipped from about $35 to $33. Big deal.
The cost will probably drop further, but drivers shouldn't hope for a big windfall at the pump: there's a lot more that goes into gasoline prices than the current cost of crude oil.
Besides taxes and the costs of refining, distributing and marketing, there are factors such as local competition among gas stations. Just as with other forms of retail, consumers see savings when one retailer lowers its price, and the others scramble to match it.
"If gasoline costs me a dollar a gallon, and my competition down the street is selling it for 89 cents, my customer doesn't care what I paid for it," said Richard Oneslager, president of Balmar Petroleum, which operates 14 gas stations in Colorado.
Crude oil prices have fallen from about $61 to $51 a barrel this year on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but the price of gasoline on the side of the road has declined more slowly. The average price for a gallon of regular is down about 13 cents from $2.33 on Jan. 1 to $2.20 on Friday, a day after crude briefly fell below $50.
A typical car holds 12 to 15 gallons, so if it's filled four times in a month, that's savings of less than $8 in a month - not even enough for that daily cup of coffee.
Pump prices haven't plunged to $2 a gallon yet, which is where they were back in early 2005, when crude oil prices were also around $50 a barrel. The big difference was that, unlike now, crude oil wasn't coming off a record high of $78 a barrel just six months earlier.
Essentially, the recent price drop hasn't completely sunk in on the wholesale level, so gasoline retailers are still paying a lot for their product and won't lower prices until competition forces them to do so.
The Energy Department says the price of crude oil accounts for about half the retail price of gasoline. That means if crude oil is down 15 percent, pump prices should be down almost 8 percent.
But the time it takes for a drop in wholesale prices to fully affect retail prices is around 12 weeks, though most of the drop happens within the first two weeks.
"Retailers aren't making their price decisions on the price of crude oil," said John Eichberger, vice president of government relations at the National Association of Convenience Stores. Instead, they focus on how much they paid for their current load of gasoline, and how much their supplier is telling them their next load will cost.
"We don't care about anything except what that tank the truck just brought in cost," Oneslager said.
A sharp rise in crude oil is another story. After crude spiked to record highs the past two summers, it didn't take much time for gasoline prices to follow suit. That's mainly because retailers got nervous that their next shipment of gasoline would cost a bundle, and also because they knew that summer demand is high and drivers could at least for a while pay inflated prices, albeit reluctantly.
Contrary to what many drivers think, the huge "ExxonMobil" or "Chevron" signs above your local gas stations don't necessarily mean they're run by big oil companies - a lot of them are franchised. Jeff Sundstrom of AAA estimates that over 80 percent of the nation's gas stations are run by individuals or small to medium-sized businesses.
The average gasoline retailers have to charge 13 cents per gallon more than they paid to break even, Eichberger said, and mark it up even more to make a profit.
The Oil Price Information Service shows that in 2006, the average gross margin for retailers was 13.76 cents a gallon - meaning profit was less than a cent per gallon. Because of credit card transaction fees, the credit card industry profited more from gasoline sales last year than gas stations did, Eichberger said.
So station owners are loath to bring prices down too far too fast, especially if they're recovering from profits that were squeezed last year. Price wars hit in November and December, Oneslager said, even though wholesale prices were fairly steady and crude oil was down from its summer highs.
Crude oil prices are about $10 lower than where they were a month ago, and many market analysts are saying they could tumble even lower. The reasons include the Northeast United States' warm winter, which caused a glut in heating fuels, and traders following a wave of big funds in making bets in the market that prices will fall. Also, demand may not be as high as some had thought: the American Petroleum Institute said Friday that in 2006, U.S. demand for petroleum fell to below 2004 levels.
At this point, aside from retailers who are trying to make up big losses from last year, there's no reason gasoline prices need to stay high, Sundstrom said.
"Retailers need to see the development of a trend to lower prices. They need to be convinced that these prices will stay down. Now that we're going into third week of prices below $60, AAA's position is that a trend has been established," Sundstrom said.
He guessed that pump prices will fall further, nearing $2 a gallon in the coming weeks, as gasoline retailers ramp up the competition.
Kevin Lindemer, head of Global Insight's energy group, said that historically, gasoline prices tend to drop 2-2.5 cents for every $1 that crude oil drops in the energy markets. With crude oil prices down $10 now from its December levels, U.S. drivers are likely to see pump prices fall about 10 cents further.
That's an average of all U.S. gasoline prices; many regions are already seeing pump prices well under $2 a gallon, while others are still around $3.
Only three states, as of Friday, saw an average price under $2: Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma. What makes these states special is lower taxes, Sundstrom said, as well as proximity to pipelines and barge routes, which make distribution costs lower. The states that generally see the highest gas prices are California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.
Overall, drivers should see a bit more savings when filling their tanks, perhaps enough to upgrade their coffee to a latte occasionally. But they shouldn't get too comfortable, because the spring and summer driving seasons could push prices back up. Not only does demand rev up as more people go on road trips, but the type of gasoline is more expensive to refine - summer gasoline has to meet environmental regulations that winter gasoline does not.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Summary Box: Banks stocks lead market lower
RALLY OVER: Stocks fell, ending a four-day rally, after regulators took action against a former Goldman Sachs subsidiary over its mortgage and foreclosure practices. Investors were also worried that a jobs report due out Friday could revive fears of a new recession.
UP, THEN DOWN: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 119.96 points, or 1 percent, to 11,493.57. It rose as many as 103 points shortly after 10 a.m., when a manufacturing report showed evidence of growth in August. It turned lower after regulators announced enforcement actions against a former subsidiary of Goldman Sachs at 1:30 p.m.
RETAIL SALES: Retailers rose after several companies reported August sales gains that beat analysts' estimates.
Germany names strong side for Turkey, Belgium
BERLIN (AP) — Germany named its strongest available side for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Turkey and Belgium, despite having already qualified for next year's tournament.
Germany coach Joachim Loew recalled Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez, Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira and Hamburg defender Dennis Aogo to the 24-man squad Friday, when no new call-ups were made.
All three were missing for the September internationals when Germany became the first team to qualify for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine with a 6-2 rout of Austria on Sept. 2.
Stuttgart striker Cacau was a late call-up for that game, and is included again this time.
"It was important for us to qualify as quickly as possible for the European Championships," Loew said. "Now we also want to remain fully concentrated on the games against Turkey and Belgium. Our aim is to secure two victories to finish qualification unbeaten and with 10 wins from 10 games."
Germany plays Turkey in Istanbul on Oct. 7, and hosts Belgium in Duesseldorf four days later.
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Sven Bender and defender Marcel Schmelzer were dropped.
"They were both heavily involved (for Dortmund) in recent weeks so we'll do without them this time," Loew said. "I rang them. They should use the coming days to train well with their club."
Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler and Borussia Moenchengladbach attacking midfielder Marco Reus are the only uncapped players in the squad. The 22-year-old Reus will hope to finally make his debut after pulling out of the squad four times before due to injury.
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Squad:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover)
Defenders: Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Christian Traesch (Wolfsburg), Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV)
Midfielders: Mario Goetze (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Marco Reus (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Andre Schuerrle (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Mesut Oezil (Real Madrid)
Forwards: Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Cacau (Stuttgart)
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