Showing posts with label Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Report. Show all posts
on 7 Jun 2013

RIYADH: A Saudi man who slapped his wife has earned himself a flogging and jail sentence, in a rare ruling in the Gulf kingdom that

imposes stiff restrictions on women, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.

A court in the town of Safwa, in the eastern Qatif district, sentenced the man to 10 days in jail and 30 lashes, Al-Sharq daily said.

The judge also allowed the woman to attend the flogging and ordered her

husband to enrol in a course on dealing with partners.

The woman, in her twenties, had lodged a complaint against her husband

after he slapped her during an argument. The man admitted hitting her, saying his wife "was rude to his parents."

The ruling is very uncommon in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where men

usually get the upper hand, while women are dependent on their male guardians in most aspects of their lives.

Women need a close male relative to accompany them if they enter government buildings and courts. Saudi women also are banned from driving and are obliged to cover themselves from head to toe when they are in public.

The King Khalid Foundation, which is a Saudi charity, launched in May the kingdom's first anti-domestic violence advertising campaign.


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on 31 May 2013

The Obama administration wants to raise fees for borrowers and require larger down payments for home loans as part of a long-term effort to restructure the nation's housing market. But it warned that these measures could boost mortgage rates and make it harder for home buyers to secure the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, a mainstay of American home buying for decades.

In a long-awaited white paper, the administration said it intends to wind down the federal mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and curtail the Federal Housing Administration to help reduce the government's outsized role in mortgage funding.

The housing finance system, which has ensured that Americans can get home loans, came crashing down in the financial crisis, helping fuel millions of foreclosures and the recession.

"I think it's absolutely the case that the U.S. government provided too much support for housing, too strong incentives for investment in housing," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Friday during a speech at the Brookings Institution. He noted that in addition to those fundamental mistakes, the government "allowed a huge amount of basic mortgage business to shift where there was no regulation or oversight."

But in proposing a strategy for the future, administration officials acknowledged they are walking a tightrope. Any steps that dial back government support too dramatically - making mortgages more expensive - could extend the housing decline.

Geithner said that a new housing finance system without Fannie and Freddie could take seven years to put in place, suggesting it might fall in part to future administrations.

"We have to see the process of repair in the housing market completed," Geithner said.

The white paper focuses on a series of short steps to increase fees and down-payment requirements. The administration hopes these measures will allow banks to more effectively compete in offering loans without government guarantees.

The report offers three options for replacing Fannie and Freddie. They include creating a new government agency that would continue to insure mortgages or a new agency that would step in only during times of crisis. Each, however, could put taxpayers at more risk of having to bail out the mortgage market during big declines.

The most drastic option would end government backing for home loans beyond the FHA. But the administration warned that this measure could affect access to credit for many potential homeowners. It could boost mortgage rates the most, the officials said, and it could make it harder for community banks to compete in the housing market.

In not offering a single long-term vision for the housing finance system, the administration sought to avoid a contentious clash with Republicans, who often have portrayed the mortgage giants as the chief culprit in the financial crisis. Republicans are likely to agree with the administration's plan to reduce taxpayer support for mortgages over time.

But Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement that while the proposal includes elements that GOP lawmakers have embraced in the past, it "isn't a plan to move us forward, but rather a collection of opinions to consider. What's needed is a real plan, and we intend to sit down with administration officials to find common ground ... we need legislation that protects taxpayers from further losses and future bailouts and builds a stable housing finance system based on private capital."


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on 29 May 2013

Sales of previously owned homes increased nationwide in January, driven by all-cash purchases that suggest investors are chasing after foreclosures and other bargains in an ailing housing market, an industry group reported Wednesday.

Sales rose 2.7 percent from December, to a seasonally adjusted 5.36 million, the National Association of Realtors reported. The purchases - which include single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses - were up 5.3 percent from a year ago.

Although the figures reflect an improved economy, they also capture some of the underlying weaknesses in the housing market, namely the persistently large number of foreclosures that continued to drag down prices in January and attract investors.

Foreclosures and other distressed properties made up 37 percent of homes sold last month, the group reported. The cheap homes lured investors, who accounted for 23 percent of buyers, up from 20 percent the previous month and 17 percent a year ago.

As more investors entered the market, all-cash purchases surged to their highest level since the group started tracking the numbers in October 2008. The increase suggests that stringent lending rules are shutting out traditional buyers and empowering people with hefty sums of cash to close deals, said Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist.

But the January sales numbers may be deceptively high, said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities.

After reports of widespread paperwork errors surfaced in October, many major lenders temporarily halted foreclosures. Some have since lifted the freeze. "Sales that would have normally taken place in October, November and December got pushed into January," Vitner said.

None of this bodes well for home prices, because foreclosures tend to drag down values. The median price nationwide fell 3.7 percent, to $158,000, in January, the Realtor group said.

Many economists said that if the economy takes a turn for the worse or oil prices rise significantly because of political turmoil in the Middle East, consumer confidence could wane and home sales could plunge.

Some economists also cast doubt on the Realtor group's numbers, suggesting that they were inflated because of its methodology. Most recently, mortgage research firm CoreLogic said the sales results could have been overstated by 15 to 20 percent in 2010.

Yun said his group will review data from the past few years.

He acknowledged a possible "upward drift" in the numbers. The sales data are collected from local multiple listing services. A Realtor, for instance, may advertise a home in two neighboring cities. When the home sells, the transaction may be counted twice, he said.

A decline in homes sold by owner may also distort the numbers, Yun said. Multiple listing services include mainly properties advertised by Realtors. As more sellers have turned to Realtors in recent years, the increase may register as an increase in sales when it is only a rise in transactions by Realtors, he said.

Yun cautioned that no housing data is flawless. The CoreLogic data, for instance, came from court records. As the recent foreclosure paperwork debacle shows, not all court records are accurate.


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on 11 Apr 2013
That's Mrs. Theroux to you

Even with one infamously failed marriage under her always-stylish belt, Jennifer Aniston remains a traditionalist. People magazine reports the actress will take Justin Theroux's name after they tie the knot.

She's "crazy about Justin and can't wait to be his wife," says a source. "She plans on privately changing her name to Theroux. She likes the way it sounds and jokes that [Jennifer Theroux] sounds very posh."

Aniston did the same while married to Brad Pitt, taking his significantly less posh-sounding last name shortly after their lavish 2000 wedding. For this walk down the aisle, there will be no fireworks displays or prepubescent Frank Sinatra impersonators: "It will be a small affair with their closest friends."

And for the record, Jen, 44, tells the mag there's no bun in her endlessly scrutinized oven (speculation ramped back up after Justin placed his hand in the vicinity of her midsection on the Oscars red carpet).

"She's always said that she would love to have a baby, especially since Justin came into her life, but she won't be upset of disappointed if it doesn't happen," explains the insider. "She loves life with Justin as it is."

RELATED: Fashion hits and misses from the Oscars


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By Kat Giantis

During her recent bikini-fueled trip to Hawaii, Halle Berry raised more than a few eyebrows when she kept her midsection covered up (photo at left). Now we know the reason for the belly camouflage. The actress, 46, is expecting a baby this fall with fiancé Olivier Martinez, 47, her rep confirms.

According to TMZ, which apparently has sources everywhere, even deep inside Halle's womb, their bundle of joy is a boy.

An insider tells Us Weekly that Berry is "elated" over the news.

"Halle is feeling great. It's a very exciting time," a spy enthuses to People, adding for the benefit of the armchair obstetricians, "This happened naturally -- everyone is really happy. … She always talks about being a mom, and she definitely wanted this for a long time."

Halle is already mom to 5-year-old daughter Nahla with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, whom she split with in 2010 after a five-year relationship. Since then, the two have viciously battled over custody, with the volatility coming to a head last Thanksgiving.

That's when Martinez reportedly beat Aubry's pretty face to a pulp after a judge shut down the betrothed couple's request to move with Nahla to France.

It's Berry's contention that the paparazzi situation in Los Angeles has become untenable, a point she drove home this week when she confronted a contingent of airport-stationed shutterbugs upon their return from Maui.

"There's a child," she repeatedly yelled at the encroaching snappers, before shoving Martinez into a waiting car as he attempted to confront a photographer who got too close.

Click on for more photos of Halle keeping her middle under wraps in Hawaii …


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on 7 Apr 2013
Distracted driver on phone doing makeup

It turns out electronic devices aren't the leading cause of distracted driving car crashes. Around 10 percent of all accidents that cause a death involve distracted driving, and Bloomberg reports that an Erie Insurance Group study has found that daydreaming and being lost in thought are responsible for 62 percent of those crashes. Mobile phone use, meanwhile, accounted for just 12 percent of those accidents. The study used police reports for its data, and as such, the numbers could greatly underestimate the role distracted driving plays in serious incidents.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, it requires some 20 complex decisions to stay on course for every mile you drive. The group recommends drivers be aware of when their not paying attention to the road and do what they can to minimize those moments.

Other distractions include rubbernecking, other passengers and pets roaming around the cabin.


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Nissan NV200

The Nissan NV200 is having a rough go of it as New York City's Taxi of Tomorrow. The Greater New York Taxi Association wants the van banned on the grounds that it isn't a hybrid, and has gone so far as to sue the city to keep the NV200 out of taxi fleets. According to The New York Times, the city has responded by proposing to allow taxi drivers to use certain hybrid vehicles. The Taxi and Limousine Commission's proposal would allow any vehicle with an interior volume of 138 cubic feet or more. Unfortunately, that excludes nearly every machine that isn't the size of the NV200.

Technically, Nissan is working on a hybrid version of the Taxi of Tomorrow, but it may be years before that model hits the streets, and the Greater New York Taxi Association isn't satisfied with the city's offer. In a statement, the Association said, "These rules look like they have been created to short-circuit the litigation. We do not consider this to be a serious proposal."


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2014 Mazda CX-5 - front three-quarter view

Automotive News reports Mazda is set to turn a profit for the first time in five years. The automaker is more dependent on exports from Japan than other automakers based in that country, and as a result, it has long suffered at the hands of a strong yen. But the currency has declined in value by some 16 percent over the past six months and Mazda's shares have tripled in value to their highest level since 2008. Contrast this situation to a year ago when Mazda printed 1.22 billion new shares to raise cash. The move was equivalent to 70 percent of the company's then-outstanding stock, and values tumbled to record lows as a result.

Now that the yen has fallen to a value of around 96 per dollar, Mazda operations in the US are more profitable and the company now projects it will earn around $279 million for the next fiscal year. Automotive News says a one yen change against the dollar can have a 9.1 percent impact on Mazda operating profit compared to 4.7 percent at Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries or 3.1 percent at Toyota. Those automakers better insulate themselves from currency fluctuations with overseas manufacturing facilities.


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2012 Chrysler 300 S - front three-quarter view

Word has it Chrysler is keen to shove its new turbo diesel V6 into a range of models. Wards Auto reports Chrysler President and CEO Saad Chehab has made it clear the automaker is investigating the possibility of using the 3.0-liter oil-burner in the 300. While speaking at an Automotive Press Association luncheon, Chehab said, "It's a matter of how much the customer is willing to pay for that premium. That's the only issue with it."

The Chrysler 300 is sold as the Lancia Thema in Europe complete with a diesel of its very own, and since the Jeep Grand Cherokee is now available with the diesel V6 here in the States, it only makes sense that the engine could potentially show up on the 300 order sheet. Opting for the 3.0 V6 in the Jeep Grand Cherokee will set you back an additional $4,500, however.

Chehab also said the engine could make an appearance in the next-generation Chrysler 200, which is set to debut next year.


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Jonathan Browning

Jonathan Browning, Volkswagen North America CEO, has said that workers at the company's Chattanooga, Tennessee manufacturing facility will decide if they want union representation. Browning made the comment while speaking to reporters at the New York Auto Show, according to Reuters. Browning also made it clear that the United Auto Workers isn't the only option open to employees at the plant.

"If employees vote in favor of formal representation, then it's important to understand that there are a number of alternatives that may or may not include the UAW," Browning said.

Technically, the company hasn't scheduled a vote on unionization at the Chattanooga factory, but Browning says the company is in the early stages of discussions on the matter. The automaker's board has not discussed the topic in an official capacity.

If the workforce does decide to join the UAW, it would be the first foreign-owned plant to do so. The union has been courting plants owned by foreign automakers for years, but has never managed to sway workers.


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on 4 Apr 2013
Baidu CEO Robin Li P

Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc., often referred to as the “Google of China,” is developing its own version of Google Glass, according to a report in Chinese news portal Sina Tech.

Called “Baidu Eye,” the wearable device has reportedly been in development for several years and is now in the prototype testing stage. Much like Google Glass, the technology is a conventional pair of glasses enhanced with small LCD screens, voice control, image recognition and bone conduction (allowing minute sound to be conducted to the inner ear through the bones of the skull).

STORY: Apple Apologizes Amid Media Backlash in China

Sina Tech says the project is being led by Baidu’s chief product designer Sun Yun-feng.

Founded in 2000, by Chinese billionaires Robin Li and Eric Xu, Baidu dominates the Chinese Internet search space, with around 70 percent market share, but has recently faced increased competition from local upstart Qihoo 360. At the end of 2012, Baidu had 71.5 percent market share for Chinese search. As of March that figure had dipped to 70.5 percent. Qihoo 360, meanwhile, had jumped from 10.4 percent of all Chinese Internet searches to 13.5 percent by March.

The successful launch of a new piece of innovative hardware, such as the purported Baidu Eye, would be a strong step toward the company’s ongoing goal of diversifying and becoming less dependent on search.


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Apple TV Product Image - H 2013

Apple is developing an "iTV" for release in late 2013, according to a research note from Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets cited by Macrumors and other Apple-centric sites.

White believes the new product will "revolutionize the TV experience forever" with the previously unknown "iRing" motion controller, which will function as a "navigation pointer" for users.

The report also claims Apple will introduce a second-screen experience on a "mini iTV" an iPad-sized device.

White says the mini could be used for phone calls and home automation tasks and also project images from the main screen up to a distance of 200 hundred meters.

White writes that, while similar to an iPad, the mini is not a full-featured iPad replacement but more an extension of the iTV.

Pricing would be in the $1500-$2500 range, depending on options. He believes providers might subsidize the cost.

Apple has long been rumored to be developing a full Apple TV but little verified concrete information has leaked to the public.

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson said the Apple founder was working on a device before his death but provided no details.

Previous reports of features, pricing and release date have all turned out to be fanciful speculation.

The company currently offers AppleTV, a small box that connects to a TV to show iTunes content and material from other streaming services.

It has limited functionality and retails for about $100.  Apple sold about 2 million of the devices in the last quarter.CEO Tim Cook has consistently described it as "niche" offering and a "hobby."

View the original article here

Apple TV Product Image - H 2013

Apple is developing an "iTV" for release in late 2013, according to a research note from Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets cited by Macrumors and other Apple-centric sites.

White believes the new product will "revolutionize the TV experience forever" with the previously unknown "iRing" motion controller, which will function as a "navigation pointer" for users.

The report also claims Apple will introduce a second-screen experience on a "mini iTV" an iPad-sized device.

White says the mini could be used for phone calls and home automation tasks and also project images from the main screen up to a distance of 200 hundred meters.

White writes that, while similar to an iPad, the mini is not a full-featured iPad replacement but more an extension of the iTV.

Pricing would be in the $1500-$2500 range, depending on options. He believes providers might subsidize the cost.

Apple has long been rumored to be developing a full Apple TV but little verified concrete information has leaked to the public.

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson said the Apple founder was working on a device before his death but provided no details.

Previous reports of features, pricing and release date have all turned out to be fanciful speculation.

The company currently offers AppleTV, a small box that connects to a TV to show iTunes content and material from other streaming services.

It has limited functionality and retails for about $100.  Apple sold about 2 million of the devices in the last quarter.CEO Tim Cook has consistently described it as "niche" offering and a "hobby."

View the original article here

Apple TV Product Image - H 2013

Apple is developing an "iTV" for release in late 2013, according to a research note from Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets cited by Macrumors and other Apple-centric sites.

White believes the new product will "revolutionize the TV experience forever" with the previously unknown "iRing" motion controller, which will function as a "navigation pointer" for users.

The report also claims Apple will introduce a second-screen experience on a "mini iTV" an iPad-sized device.

White says the mini could be used for phone calls and home automation tasks and also project images from the main screen up to a distance of 200 hundred meters.

White writes that, while similar to an iPad, the mini is not a full-featured iPad replacement but more an extension of the iTV.

Pricing would be in the $1500-$2500 range, depending on options. He believes providers might subsidize the cost.

Apple has long been rumored to be developing a full Apple TV but little verified concrete information has leaked to the public.

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson said the Apple founder was working on a device before his death but provided no details.

Previous reports of features, pricing and release date have all turned out to be fanciful speculation.

The company currently offers AppleTV, a small box that connects to a TV to show iTunes content and material from other streaming services.

It has limited functionality and retails for about $100.  Apple sold about 2 million of the devices in the last quarter.CEO Tim Cook has consistently described it as "niche" offering and a "hobby."

View the original article here

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