Weather-related automobile crashes involving up to 69 vehicles closed westbound Interstate 10 in the downtown Phoenix area Saturday evening, according to media reports and the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Reports said Arizona Department of Public Safety officers, as well as Phoenix Fire Department units, responded to three major crashes between 16th Street and Seventh Avenue about 6 p.m. There were reports of one serious injury business
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The number of homes sold in July fell 11.5 percent from July 2009, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association. The group says 1,968 homes sold last month in the region vs. 2,223 last year.
The average sales price rose 2 percent to $217,320 from $212,977 in July 2009. The average sales price rose 1 percent from June.
Pending sales contracts in July totaled 1,802, down 23 percent from the year before, and down 4 percent from 1,880 in June saving account pay day loan.
The statistics are culled from the association’s Carolina Multiple Listing Services Inc., which carries information on homes for sale in a 10-county service area.
USD 259 has closed on a deal to buy 127 acres southeast of Wichita for a new high school.
The district bought the property Friday on the southeast side of 127th Street East and Pawnee from Wichita developer Gary Oborny, of Occidental Management.
Oborny declined to release the purchase price. The district has said the price was $1.56 million.
USD 259 plans to build a high school on the property next year as part of its $370 million bond issue. The school is expected to be open by the 2013-2014 school year.
Oborny retained about 30 acres on the corner for a future commercial development. He says the property isn’t likely to be developed for another five years, depending on how fast housing developments pop up in the area, which is mostly rural.
“If it happens sooner, it happens sooner. I can’t imagine it will,” Oborny says.
More information about Oborny’s plans can be found here.
Insitu Inc. has won a $43.7 million contract for up to 56 of its unmanned surveillance aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Bingen, Wash.-based Insitu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), said it will now begin a 24-month engineering, manufacturing and development process to build and test its Integrator unmanned system.
Work on the project will be mostly split between locations in Bingen and across the Columbia River in Hood River and should be completed by September 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Defense website.
Visitor spending in Hawaii increased a modest 0.5 percent year over year to $760.2 million in April, marking two straight months of growth, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Visitors from the U.S. West, Hawaii’s biggest market, spent $296.8 million in April, a 5.6 percent increase from the year before.
The biggest percentage increase in visitor spending came from Canadians, who spent 24.5 percent more in April, totaling $60.2 million.
The slight boost in visitor spending came courtesy of a 1.1 percent increase in visitor arrivals by air — to 536,194.
Hawaii saw a boost in visitors from the U.S. West and Canada, with increases of 5.8 percent and 2 percent, respectively. But visitor arrivals from both the U.S. East and Japan were down for the month, by 4.7 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
The statistics measure spending by visitors who arrive by air and do not factor in spending from cruise ship passengers.
Overall visitor arrivals by air and cruise ship (which brought in 15,865 visitors in April) increased by 1.9 percent to a total of 552,059 visitors year over year.
Among the major Hawaiian islands, Maui continued to see the biggest increase in visitor arrivals, up 3 percent to 161,140 in April. It is the only island to see continuous growth in visitor arrivals since the start of the year.
Maui also saw an 8.9 percent increase in visitor spending in April, which totaled $202.1 million.
Year-over-year results from Hawaii’s top visitor markets for April:
• 5.8 percent increase in arrivals by air (245,203 visitors) from the U.S. West;
• 4.7 percent decline in arrivals by air (119,768 visitors) from the U.S. East;
• 1.4 percent decline in arrivals (83,230 visitors) from Japan;
• 2 percent increase in arrivals (33,259 visitors) from Canada.
The U.S. economy continued to improve modestly in February despite uncharacteristically severe weather in many regions of the country, the latest Federal Reserve report on economic conditions reports.
Nine of the Fed’s 12 regional banks — including the New York Bank which encompasses Buffalo and Upstate — reported in the U.S. central bank’s Beige Book survey that economic activity improved last month.
Two districts, St. Louis and Atlanta, reported a more mixed performance and one district, Richmond, Va., was snowed under by winter storms.
The survey is a collection of anecdotes compiled by the Fed to give policy makers a feel for conditions across the country as they prepare for the next meeting on March 16 to plot monetary policy strategy.
Among the survey’s findings: Credit conditions have not improved and businesses still are unable to obtain credit, which is a critical factor behind the sluggish pace of growth creditreport.
Also, loan demand remains weak and banks are sticking to tight standards.
There were no signs in February of an improving labor market, though the pace of layoffs slowed.
Consumers appeared somewhat more willing to spend, the survey found, and demand for services was generally positive.
Manufacturing activity was stronger, but worries persisted about whether it was a result of customers restocking their shelves and unlikely to result in sustained improvement.
SHANGHAI—Google is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a cyber-attack from China that the U.S search giant said it was a victim of in mid-December, two sources told Reuters on Monday.
Google, the world’s most popular search engine, said last week it may pull out of the world’s biggest Internet market by users after reporting it had been hit by a “sophisticated” cyber-attack on its network that resulted in theft of its intellectual property.
The sources, who are familiar with the situation, told Reuters that the attack, which targeted people who have access to specific parts of Google networks, may have been facilitated by people working in Google China’s office.
“We’re not commenting on rumour and speculation. This is an ongoing investigation, and we simply cannot comment on the details,” a Google spokeswoman said.
Security analysts told Reuters the malicious software (malware) used in the Google attack was a modification of a trojan called Hydraq. A trojan is malware that, once inside a computer, allows someone unauthorised access. The sophistication in the attack was in knowing whom to attack, not the malware itself, the analysts said.
Local media, citing unnamed sources, reported that some Google China employees were denied access to internal networks after Jan. 13, while some staff were put on leave and others transferred to different offices in Google’s Asia Pacific operations. Google said it would not comment on its business operations.
TALKS SOON
Google, which has denied rumours that it has already decided to shut down its China offices, said on Monday it contacted the Chinese government last week after the announcement.
“We are going to have talks with them in the coming few days,” Google said.
Google is also still in the process of scanning its internal networks since the cyber-attack in mid-December.
China has tried to play down Google’s threat to leave, saying there are many ways to resolve the issue, but insisting all foreign companies, Google included, must abide by Chinese laws.
Washington said it was issuing a diplomatic note to China formally requesting an explanation for the attacks.
The Google issue risks becoming another irritant in China’s relationship with the United States. Ties are already strained by arguments over the yuan currency’s exchange rate, which U.S. critics say is unfairly low, trade protectionism and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
Washington has long been worried about Beijing’s cyber-spying programme. A congressional advisory panel said in November the Chinese government appeared increasingly to be penetrating U.S. computers to gather useful data for its military.
India must loosen foreign investment rules in insurance, banking and retail to create more jobs and accelerate economic growth, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
The South Asian nation’s policies to attract overseas investors remain “restrictive in comparison with a majority of OECD countries,” the Paris-based organization said in a report titled “OECD Investment Policy Reviews: India.”
India limits New York Life Insurance Co. and other foreign insurers to a 26 percent stake in local companies and bars retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from opening outlets in the world’s second-most populous country. The OECD called for an improvement in the “investment environment” in India, which the World Bank places 133rd among 183 countries in a ranking based on the ease of doing business.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told investors in New Delhi last month that the country had received foreign direct investment of $121 billion since 2001 and that it isn’t a “large number given the scale of our economy.” The flows were less than a quarter of the $566 billion that China attracted during the period.
“India may be able to better achieve its objectives through non-discriminatory policies rather than sectoral restrictions on foreign investment,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said in the report.
A plan to raise the foreign-direct-investment ceiling in insurance to 49 percent has been stuck in parliament for more than three years and is currently being debated by a group of all political parties.
Bank Access
In retail, local laws are aimed at protecting small shops in Asia’s third-largest economy. India permits overseas chains such as Wal-Mart to operate as wholesalers and sell groceries and other goods to businesses such as supermarkets, department stores and restaurants payday loans. They are barred them from opening stores or buying stakes in supermarket chains.
In banking, India’s central bank postponed in April a plan to review granting greater access for foreign lenders into the economy. The Reserve Bank of India regulates the entry of foreign banks and even limits expansion of their branches to 12 a year, the OECD said.
“Growth could be accelerated by the enhanced productivity from increased foreign investment,” the report said. “In banking, insurance and especially retail distribution, the influx of FDI could help raise incomes in the agriculture sector while increasing the choice and lowering living costs.”
Economic Growth
The OECD said that while growth and investment in India has been “impressive” since 1991, when Prime Minister Singh as finance minister opened the nation’s economy to foreign investors, income inequalities among states have increased.
India’s economic growth has averaged 8.5 percent each year since 2004 after expanding at a 6 percent pace during the 1990s. India’s investment rate has more than doubled to 35 percent of gross domestic product since 1991.
The OECD called upon poorer states in India to cut bureaucracy to attract more investment and spur growth.
“While the central government has reduced the number of approvals needed for new investment, there remains a need to streamline administrative procedures at the state level,” according to the report.
The OECD also called on India to improve the judiciary, whose capacity to handle cases such as those related to intellectual property rights “in a timely manner remains insufficient.”
Drugmakers would take a bigger hit under healthcare legislation unveiled in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, while insurers would face mandatory rebates and the loss of their antitrust exemption.
Despite a carefully crafted deal with the White House and senators earlier this year, House lawmakers want pharmaceutical companies to pay more through rebates for Medicare patients also enrolled in the government’s Medicaid program for the poor.
And while they also want to close the gap in drug coverage for elderly and disabled Medicare patients — a move that could get more people to take their medications — House leaders would require the nation’s health secretary to negotiate lower drug prices under the program.
Insurers, already expected to take the biggest whack under any health reform measure, saw most of their worries realized with the House bill eliminating the industry’s exemption to antitrust laws and targeting their profits.
The measure forces insurance companies to give customers rebates if less than 85 percent of enrollees’ fees is spent on actual health care.
The much-anticipated public option also could give insurers stiff competition by keeping prices down with reimbursements potentially as low as Medicare rates as well as requiring providers to opt out against accepting patients with the public plan coverage. The bill also allows for a cooperative insurance exchange for consumers to compare plans.
While the drug and insurance sectors would take a hit, most healthcare companies also would see their income dented, especially when it comes to government reimbursement.
“Pretty much for every industry, provisions are worse in the House bill than in the Senate,” said Ipsita Smolinski, an analyst for investors at Capitol Street.
At the same time, the bill would increase the number of Americans with insurance by 36 million, the Congressional Budget Office estimated payday advance. That would bring new customers for drugmakers, insurers and other providers of health services and products.
The broader S&P Health Care Sector index .GSPA closed up nearly 1 percent, trailing the 2.25 percent increase for the overall market. Health insurer stocks ended sharply higher on Thursday, helped in part by Aetna Inc’s encouraging third-quarter earnings report.
Drugmakers and insurers are expected to fight back against the provisions, especially as Senate leaders prepare to release their own bill as soon as next week.
“Unfortunately, some people are unrealistic in the expectations of what our industry can contribute to healthcare reform without triggering catastrophic job losses and driving critically important (research and development) overseas,” said Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
America’s Health Insurance Plans President Karen Ignagni said that the government public insurance option “would cause millions of people to lose their current coverage” while other consumers could see benefit cuts or higher costs.
For hospitals, the picture appeared somewhat murkier. A greater number of insured patients would help offset losses from mandatory care hospitals provide in emergency rooms, but they would also face lower government reimbursement and possible higher device costs.
Clinical laboratories, hospice providers and other sectors will see their reimbursements cut based on a rate that the American Clinical Laboratory Association said could be between about 1.1 and 1.4 percent annually.
The Group of 20 rich and developing economies, fresh from a triumphant show of unity at Pittsburgh, faces months of deal-making and communication to markets that will test its credibility as the premier global forum for economic cooperation.
“It worked,” G20 leaders declared on Friday of their response to the global financial crisis. “Our forceful response helped stop the dangerous, sharp decline in global activity and stabilize financial markets,” they said in the final summit communique.
The summit host, U.S. President Barack Obama, called the gathering a success for a commitment to global economic growth that is “balanced and sustained” and cited in particular a deal to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
“I am proud that the G20 nations agreed to phase out $300 billion worth of fossil fuel subsidies. This will increase our energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combat the threat of climate change, and help create the new jobs and industries of the future,” he said on Saturday in his weekly radio and Web address.
The leaders agreed that their summits would supplant those of the Group of Seven nations as the high table of global policy making, promising to give rising powers such as China more say in rebuilding and guiding the world economy.
While G7 states were right to accept the inevitable dilution of global economic power caused by the rapid industrialization of poorer countries, analysts said the size and diversity of the group would probably complicate policy coordination.
“There are a lot of cooks in the kitchen … I would wait until we declare victory,” said Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund cash advance no faxing. “They have to prove their value and legitimacy.”
Challenges to the group’s new mantle lie everywhere, from inertia on climate change to skepticism in global financial markets.
G20 nations will remain in the spotlight at the IMF meetings in Istanbul next month, a G20 finance ministers meeting in Scotland in November and the U.N. climate change talks in December.
DISAGREEMENT
Markets were unlikely to react to the support in Pittsburgh for a U.S.-led push to reshape the global economy by smoothing out huge surpluses in exporting powerhouses such as China and large deficits in big importers such as the United States.
“Any indication of unity will move the dollar,” Christopher Low, chief economist, FTN Financial in New York. “But disagreement will rule and that should result in no market reaction.”
G20 leaders agreed to work together to assess how domestic policies mesh and to evaluate whether they were “collectively consistent with more sustainable and balanced growth.”
Countries with sustained, significant surpluses — a description that fits China — pledged to strengthen domestic sources of growth, according to the communique. By the same token, countries with big deficits — such as the United States — pledged to support private savings.
The leaders agreed to shift some voting rights at the IMF to under-represented countries such as China from rich ones, another sign of the changing balance of economic power accelerated by the financial crisis.
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