WASHINGTON — US jobless claims fell by 22,000 last week, official figures showed Thursday, pointing to an improving labor market.
Claims fell to 391,000 for the week ending February 19, a level which if sustained, would indicate a definite improvement of the jobs market, a Labor Department official said.
Economists had expected claims stand at around 410,000.
WASHINGTON — Japanese automaker Toyota on Thursday recalled more than two million vehicles to correct floor mats or carpets that could jam accelerator pedals, the latest in a spate of recalls to hit the firm.
The voluntary move applies to some Lexus GS, RX and LX models as well as Toyota's Highlander, 4Runner and RAV4s.
NEW YORK — Leading US carmaker General Motors was back in the black after a massive government rescue, reporting Thursday full year net earnings of $4.7 billion for 2010 after deep losses in the previous year.
In its first annual report since emerging from bankruptcy reorganisation, GM said it had been profitable over four consecutive quarters, including $500 million net income in the fourth quarter ended December 31, even after net charges of $400 million related to repaying the federal government for its massive bailout.
The company said that it had officially returned to stable footing, with its audit committee ruling it was no longer hobbled by any "material weakness."
"Our focus for 2011 is to build on our progress and continue to generate momentum in the marketplace. We expect our first quarter will be a strong start," said chief financial officer Chris Liddell.
The company said it would pay out profit-sharing averaging $4,300 a person to 45,000 eligible GM employees, a recognition of the cuts workers took to earnings and benefits in the rescue.
The largest US automaker received 49.5 billion dollars from the Treasury and emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring in July 2009.
The report Thursday was its first annual report since raising $23.1 billion in in a public share offering in November.
"Last year was one of foundation building," said GM chairman and chief executive Dan Akerson.
"Particularly pleasing was that we demonstrated GM's ability to achieve sustainable profitability near the bottom of the U.S. industry cycle, with four consecutive profitable quarters."
WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund called for a weaker dollar to help the United States reduce its deficits with the rest of the world and rebalance the global economy, in a report released Wednesday.
In the report prepared for a Group of 20 finance chiefs meeting last week, the IMF said that its calculations showed the dollar remains "on the strong side" of medium-term fundamentals, while the euro and the Japanese yen were "broadly in line" and several Asian currencies, including China, were undervalued.
To address global imbalances, the G20 should allow the dollar to fall, the Washington-based institution said.
"Some further real effective depreciation of the US dollar would help ensure a sustained decline of the US current account deficit towards a level more consistent with medium-term fundamentals, helping to support more balanced growth," the IMF said.
The widening US current account deficit -- a broad measure of trade in goods, services, income and payment -- rose a fifth straight quarter in the third quarter last year, to $127.2 billion, according to the latest US official data.
The issue of a weak dollar is particularly sensitive in Brazil, where the government has said an international "currency war" is under way with the United States pumping cheap dollars into its post-crisis economy, while China's yuan sinks in tandem.
The IMF report was provided to finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 major developed and emerging economies for their meeting Friday and Saturday in Paris.
The G20 countries reached agreement on a series of economic indicators to measure imbalances within and between countries, with the goal of helping nations avoid a repeat of the problems at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
The IMF urged stepped-up G20 efforts to sustain the global economic recovery, citing elevated downside risks for advanced economies and "overheating" in some emerging economies.
Among the threats to global growth, the IMF highlighted "insufficient progress in developing medium-term fiscal consolidation plans, especially in the United States and Japan" and "sovereign and banking sector risks in the euro area periphery."
In emerging economies, the key policy challenge is to keep overheating pressures in check and respond appropriately to capital inflows, the IMF said.
"In key surplus economies, overheating pressures can be alleviated by permitting currency appreciation, facilitating a healthy rebalancing from external to internal demand."
The 187-nation institution also said it "appears highly unlikely" the United States would be able to meet its commitment to halve its budget deficit between 2010 and 2013, pledged at a G20 Toronto summit in June 2010.
WASHINGTON – Sales of previously owned homes in the United States rose for the third straight month in January at a pace topping year-ago levels, a key trade group reported Wednesday.
The National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales rose 2.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in January.
The sales rate over the past three months "is now above year-ago levels," the NAR said.
Most analysts had expected existing-home sales to dip to 5.23 million.
Sales were 5.3 percent higher than in January 2010.
"This is the first time in seven months that sales activity was higher than a year earlier," the trade association said in its report.
The brisk sales of previously owned homes, the lion's share of the US housing market, were fueled by all-cash purchases as investors snatched up homes at bargain-basement prices more than three years after the market bubble collapsed.
"The uptrend in home sales is consistent with improvements in the economy and jobs, which are helping boost consumer confidence," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
But he cautioned that the improvement, though welcome, could be better.
"The extremely favorable housing affordability conditions are a big factor, but buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit. As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity," he said.
A separate NAR study showed that investors made up 23 percent of purchases in January, up from 17 percent a year ago.
All-cash sales rose to a record 32 percent of purchases, the highest level since NAR started tracking them monthly in October 2008, when they accounted for 15 percent of the market.
"With tight credit standards, it's not surprising to see so much activity where cash is king and investors are taking advantage of conditions to purchase undervalued homes," Yun said.
NEW YORK — Oil sold in New York crossed the symbolic $100 a barrel level Wednesday, hitting prices not seen since 2008, amid fears over supplies from Libya.
As traders panicked that political chaos could spread further in the Middle East, the main US contract reached $100 a barrel for the first time since October 2008.
London's main Brent contract -- which is more sensitive to Middle East unrest thanks to Europe's greater dependence on oil from the region -- surged past $110 a barrel.
With foreign oil workers fleeing Libya and rumors swirling that Moamer Kadhafi may sabotage pipelines, analysts raised the prospect of a bonafide oil crisis.
"If Libya and Algeria were to halt oil production together, prices could peak above US$220," Michael Lo of Nomura told clients in a note.
He warned that the oil cartel OPEC could see its production capacity cut to 2.1 million barrels a day, levels seen during the 1990-91 Gulf War, when prices rose to $147 a barrel.
With US prices up by around $10 in the last two days, consumers can expect to see higher prices at the pump soon.
The recent increases could translate into a 25 cent increase in gasoline prices at the pump, based on averages produced by Moody's.
With much of the global economy still ailing from the financial crisis, many fear such sharply higher oil prices could smother the recovery and send many nations spiraling back into recession.
"A one-penny increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline acts as a sales tax on consumers at the rate of 1.2 billion dollars a year," said David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors, quoting research from Naroff Economic Advisors.
"This is nowhere near over. We are watching a 'sea change' occur among one tenth of the world?s population," he said warning the turmoil could cause a double-dip recession in the United States.
TALLINN – Estonia announced Tuesday it was drafting in its newborn cyber-squad to ward off potential attacks on the Baltic state's pioneering e-voting system in its looming general election.
"The cyber-unit of the Estonian Defence League will keep an eye on Internet traffic and will react in the event of any attack," Heiki Sibul, chairman of the national electoral commission, told reporters.
After five decades of Soviet rule ended in 1991, Estonia opted to go hi-tech as fast as possible. The European Union nation of 1.3 million became one of the world's most cyber-focused nations, earning the nickname "E-stonia".
Since falling victim to a politically-charged "cyber-war" in 2007 widely blamed on Russian hackers, it has become a leading light in fending off online attacks, and hosts NATO's IT-defence facility.
It created a volunteer unit of cyber-experts late last year within the Estonian Defence League, a part-time force equivalent to the National Guard in the United States.
Estonians who don't want to cast ballots in person on March 6 have the right to vote online between February 24 and March 2.
The country is a pioneer in e-voting, having pioneered it in local elections in 2005.
More than 9,000 people -- two percent of turnout -- went online for that ballot.
Since then, the system's popularity has grown.
By the 2007 general election, 30,000 people, or five percent of turnout, chose it. In Estonia's 2009 European parliament vote, the number was 58,000, or 15 percent.
In last October's local elections, 104,000 people, or 16 percent, chose the online ballot.
But there is still a way to go for e-voting to catch up with other online options. For example, 92 percent of Estonian taxpayers filed their 2009 annual income tax returns via the Internet.
To fight electoral fraud, the system relies on encoded ID cards, with which Estonians can also access virtually all public services at a special state portal.
Like a traditional paper ballot, the online system has safeguards to ensure a voter's choice remains confidential.
RIYADH – US Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman on Tuesday called on oil producers to boost output in a bid to ease crude prices, which struck $108 over unrest in the Middle East.
"We think that the proper response (to the high prices) is that producers respond to those price signals and see the need for more production and bring that product to the market," Poneman told reporters in Riyadh.
"When producers bring product to the market, price starts to subside," the US official said on the sidelines of a producer-consumer conference in the Saudi capital.
"All oil producers need to respond... expect all of them to respond."
Brent prices broke past $107 in Asian trade Tuesday as violence in Libya and Bahrain threatened to destabilise the key oil-producing Middle East and North African regions.
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]
Brent crude rose over $108 per barrel on Tuesday afternoon, surpassing two-year highs reached on Monday, while the OPEC basket soared to above $100 a barrel.
Poneman said the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, was watching with concern the unrest sweeping the Middle East and its impact in driving oil prices to high levels.
The US official also said economic recovery could suffer should crude prices keep rising.
Poneman is in the Saudi capital to sign a producer-consumer charter aimed at limiting sharp fluctuations in oil prices and which also covers issues of supply and demand, transparency and regulations.
Two member states of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Tuesday that the producers cartel will act when necessary if the ongoing violence disrupts supplies.
"We are watching the situation and ready to act when necessary," said UAE Energy Minister Mohamed al-Hamli, adding OPEC was especially concerned about developments in Libya as the African nation was a member of the organisation.
Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah also said OPEC would act if prices go too high, but did not provide a specific figure.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – NASA said Tuesday the space shuttle Discovery is "ready to fly" on its final mission to the International Space Station and weather looks good for launch on February 24.
"Over the last few months the team has been very busy effecting repairs to the external tank and making it stronger than ever," said NASA test director Steve Payne.
"We have also resolved a problem with a hydrogen vent system leak and are now ready to fly again," he told reporters.
Payne said there was one small interior leak on a reaction control system regulator, but described the issue as "minor" and one that NASA has seen before, so it was not expected to impact the launch planned for 4:50 pm (2150 GMT) on Thursday.
"Our launch countdown is proceeding smoothly and is on schedule," said Payne.
Shuttle launch weather officer Kathy Winters expected Thursday to be mainly sunny and breezy, with only a 20 percent likelihood of unfavorable weather for the launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"Overall, the weather looks good," she said.
Discovery was initially scheduled for launch in November 2010 but cracks emerged on the external fuel tank just ahead of the launch, postponing the mission until now.
Discovery, which first flew in 1984, will be the first shuttle to enter retirement when it concludes this mission. Final flights for the other two remaining in the fleet, Atlantis and Endeavour, are scheduled for later this year.
Tanking is set to begin Thursday morning at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) and should take about three hours to complete, Payne said. The six-member crew is to arrive at the launch pad at around 1:30 pm (1830 GMT).
The 11-day mission aims to deliver spare parts and install a new module to the International Space Station.
The Permanent Multipurpose Module will provide room for extra storage and space for experiments.
Discovery will also bring Robonaut 2, which NASA has described as "the first dexterous humanoid robot in space."
Astronauts will first test how it works in microgravity before figuring out how upgrades could graduate the robot to a full-fledged space assistant.
Discovery is slated to return to Earth on March 7, and when it is retired the shuttle will have flown more missions than any other spacecraft, NASA said.
"I can tell you it has generated a lot of interest," Payne said.
"People are starting to realize that they either see one now or they don't get to see one at all, so we have had some pretty good crowds come the last couple of times we expect an equally large crowd for this one," he said.
"It is always impressive to watch so I am sure we will have a full house."
When the US space shuttle program officially ends later this year, the Russian space program's Soyuz capsule will be the sole method for transporting astronauts to and from the ISS.
Endeavour is set for its final takeoff on April 19 and a last mission for Atlantis is scheduled for June 28, though funding for Atlantis remains in question.
There were initially five space shuttles in the fleet -- Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986 and Columbia disintegrated on its way back to Earth in 2003.
The sixth shuttle, Enterprise, did test flights in the atmosphere but was never flown into space. It is already on display at a museum outside Washington.
Earlier this year, the US company SpaceX succeeded in sending its Dragon space capsule into orbit and back, but it will likely be several years before a private US spaceflight can carry crew and cargo to the ISS.
WASHINGTON — US consumer confidence hit a three year high in February as Americans became more optimistic that their finances would soon improve, according to a widely-watched indicator.
"Consumers are more positive about the economy and their income prospects, but feel somewhat mixed about employment conditions," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's consumer research center.
The board's consumer confidence index rose to 70.4 percent in February, the highest level since the same month in 2008.
The improvement came despite lingering pessimism about the grim but slowly improving US jobs market.
With the unemployment rate still at nine percent, the number of Americans expecting more job opportunities in the months ahead actually fell.
Meanwhile respondents said they expected their own incomes to rise.
Economists were optimistic that the improved sentiment -- which is seen as a sign of likely spending and investment -- could be sustained.
"We expect this trend to continue in the near term, particularly as the labor recovery persists," said Theresa Chen of Barclays Capital.
LONDON (AFP) – Global markets dived Tuesday and oil prices spiked above $108 per barrel, as sentiment was rocked by violent unrest in Libya, while the safe-haven US dollar gained ground.
"The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt are continuing to spread across the region. It seems to be Libya's turn now. These developments cause a high degree of uncertainty," said Commerzbank analyst Ulrich Leuchtmann.
Financial markets were also rattled by news of a deadly earthquake in New Zealand and a ratings downgrade for Japan, dealers said.
Just after midday, London's FTSE 100 index of top shares shed 0.95 percent to 5,958 points, while the Paris CAC 40 plunged 1.46 percent to 4,037.59 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 retreated 0.31 percent to 7,299.74 points.
Oil prices surged past $108 as Libyan output was hit by violent protests and concerns grew over spreading unrest in the strategic crude-producing Middle East and North Africa area.
In early morning trade, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April spiked to $108.57 per barrel, hitting the highest level since September 4, 2008.
And the European single currency sank as low as $1.3525, compared with $1.3678 late on Monday, when US financial markets were closed for the Presidents' Day public holiday.
"A trio of events have battered risky assets during the European session," said research director Kathleen Brooks at trading website Forex.com.
"Firstly, the ongoing people's uprising in Libya and the escalation of violence and casualties is weighing on the oil price; secondly the New Zealand earthquake; and lastly news that Moody's had revised lower its outlook on Japanese sovereign debt to negative from stable."
Libya denounced charges it was massacring protesters as lies Tuesday as Moamer Kadhafi broke cover over the challenge to his four-decade rule after a raft of diplomatic and military defections.
With the Middle East turmoil pushing oil prices ever higher, rulers of the Gulf state of Bahrain were confronted by fresh mass protests and governments made plans to evacuate citizens from hotspots across the Arab world.
Both the UN Security Council and Arab League were to meet to discuss the bloody crackdown by Libyan authorities that prompted the UN's rights chief to warn that crimes against humanity may have been committed.
"The ongoing tensions in the Middle East and North Africa region, in particular in Libya, are pushing the oil price higher and weighing on equity market sentiment," said VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon.
Asian stocks also nosedived on Tuesday, with Tokyo down 1.78 percent and Hong Kong losing 2.11 percent, as the political crisis in Libya worsened, with reports of escalating violence against pro-democracy demonstrators.
Tokyo was also hit after ratings agency Moody's said it had lowered its outlook on Japan's sovereign debt to "negative" due to concerns the state would not be able to bring it under control.
The agency said the government's policies may not be strong enough to contain the industrialised world's biggest debt.
Moody's previously held a "stable" outlook on the nation's "Aa2" rating, the third highest on a scale of 19, and analysts said the outlook change would likely lead to a downgrade.
It follows rival agency Standard & Poor's decision to cut Japan's rating for the first time since 2002.
Wellington's stock market meanwhile suffered a sell-off, falling 0.69 percent after a powerful earthquake killed at least 65 people in New Zealand's second city, Christchurch.
The 6.3-magnitude quake buckled roads and rained glass and rubble on streets packed with lunchtime shoppers.
FRANKFURT – The German luxury carmaker BMW unveiled on Monday its long-awaited new brand, BMW i, with two new models to be equipped with electric and hybrid drive systems from 2013.
The group is also creating a venture capital unit to offer mobility services such as car sharing and navigation systems.
"This is BMW i - Born Electric," a statement quoted sales director Ian Robertson as saying as the group presented the BMW i3 electric car for city use and the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid for those seeking a more powerful vehicle.
The group added that it had created a New York-based venture capital unit to "significantly expand its range of mobility services over the years ahead," with an initial investment that is to total $100 million (73 million euros).
The vehicles are to be built at BMW's plant in Leipzig, eastern Germany, which will benefit from an investment of 400 million euros and create 800 jobs, the statement said.
Auto analysts said the company announced little that was completely new, but were interested in BMW's marketing strategy and the combination of an electric powertrain, aluminum chassis and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) body.
BMW said in November that it would invest more than 500 million euros with a new partner, SGL Carbon, to launch the lightweight i3 city car.
"The decisive point will be the price," which was not revealed, said auto expert Stefan Bratzel from the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladbach, western Germany.
"If it is too expensive it won't be a big success I would say," he told AFP.
BMW i Ventures will work with the mobile telephone application My City Way meanwhile to provide services such as car-sharing, route planning and local information like the location of parking places.
"Mobility requirements are changing in rapidly expanding megacities," Robertson explained.
The initial roll-out is planned for 40 US cities and 40 others worldwide, including BMW's home of Munich, southern Germany.
Christophe Stuermer at IHS Global Insight called this "the big field of experimenting and guesswork that the auto industry is working on at the moment."
He also noted that "there seems to be a strategy behind the fact that they (BMW) are making the sub-brand so weak, a single letter."
"They want to set it apart just a little bit," but "at the same time, will make sure that the BMW umbrella brand is always mentioned," Stuermer noted.
BMW already has a premium line of small cars in its Mini brand, and the IHS analyst said the new brand will "certainly be a challenge communications-wise for the Mini people," who could well incorporate electric systems in the future.
BMW will face a lot of competition with experience in the electric and hybrid car market, as Nissan of Japan is set to introduce its Leaf model in December.
Nissan's French partner Renault is to sell the Zoe version from mid-2012, while Peugeot-Citroen are betting clients will go for a long-term rental scheme offered with their Ion and C-Zero models.
Daimler plans to launch an electric Smart ForTwo car in Europe early next year and is working with the Chinese company Build Your Dreams (BYD) on a concept for the Chinese market.
VW, the biggest European carmaker is gearing up for the launch of an electric Golf and is also working on several hybrid models.
Chevrolet's Volt model is already on the road, as is the Toyota Prius, the first widely distributed hybrid vehicle.
Last year, many hopeful drug reform advocates expected California to be the first state to officially overturn the prohibition of marijuana. But after Prop. 19's failure on the state-wide ballot at the end of 2010, few would have expected the next major push for reform would come from Washington.
Yet, here they are: the Washington legislature is poised to consider House Bill 1550, which would legalize and regulate cannabis, and apply taxes on sales.
The effort was enough to prompt a Seattle city attorney and The Seattle Times editorial board to come out in favor of the measure, urging legislators to make Washington State the first in the union to move for a repeal of prohibition.
The legislation would allow for specific licensing of cannabis farmers, producers and sellers, limiting sales to otherwise age-restricted venues like liquor stores. It would also permit local municipalities to use the electoral process to set restrictions or other determinations on sales of marijuana.
Under the proposed laws, the Department of Agriculture would also regulate farming operations and mandate certain growing techniques in order to maintain potency standards, which would be clearly labeled on product packaging.
The full document was available online (PDF).
The times, they are a-changin'
"In 1998, Washington was one of the earliest to vote for medical marijuana. It was a leap of faith, and the right decision," the Times opined. "In 2003, Seattle was one of the first places in America to vote to make simple marijuana possession the lowest police priority. That, too, was a leap of faith, and the right decision. A year ago, City Attorney Pete Holmes stopped all prosecutions for simple possession: the right decision.
"It is time for the next step. It is a leap, yes — but not such a big one, now."
The editorial specifically called out sympathies toward people whose impulse is to avoid marijuana altogether.
"We understand the feeling," they explained. "We have felt it ourselves. Certainly the life of a parent would be easier if everyone had no choice but to be straight and sober all the time. But an intoxicant-free world is not the one we have, nor is it the one most adults want.
"Marijuana is available now. If your child doesn't smoke it, maybe it is because your parenting works. But prohibition has not worked."
The day prior, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes leveled a similar argument in the paper, telling readers that marijuana is much more akin to alcohol than other hard drugs, and that prohibition is "ineffective" at reducing its negative effects on society.
"Instead, I support tightening laws against driving while stoned, preventing the sale of marijuana to minors, and ensuring that anything other than small-scale noncommercial marijuana production takes place in regulated agricultural facilities — and not residential basements," he wrote.
"It is critical that we get these details right. Ending marijuana prohibition isn't a panacea, but it's a necessary step in the right direction, and the specifics of a rational regulatory system for marijuana are important."
Were marijuana legalized in Washington and made available for retail sales, it could generate over $300 million in new revenues and displace over $25 million in costs to law enforcement, a state analysis said.
The bill was being considered by the Washington State House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee. It was seen as unlikely to pass, as the same committee voted down a similar measure last year. All but two or the Democratic members voted against legalization.
The Seattle Times won a Pulitzer prize in 2010 for its coverage of the shooting deaths of four police officers.
Another effort, led by legalization activists at "Sensible Washington," filed last week for placement on the next statewide ballot. The group said it would begin circulating petitions soon.
Even if Washington legalized marijuana, it would remain against federal law, but it was unclear what action, if any, the Department of Justice might take. President Barack Obama has said he does not favor legalization, but called drug reforms a "legitimate" issue worthy of debate.
This video is from news station KONG HD 5 in Seattle, as snipped by Mox News.
This video is from a public hearing of the Washington legislature's House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee on Feb. 8, 2011.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.
