| Latvia's real estate star falls
With real estate prices having risen 500 percent since 2002, Latvia has long been an investment hot-spot where the sector has outstripped its counterparts in EU member states. But the Baltic state's property firms are getting gloomy as a government anti-inflation drive bites and jitters spill over from the United States' home loan crisis. "Activities in the market have slowed down considerably. People are waiting, though nobody can really predict what will happen in the future. The situation is bleak," said Aigars Smits, head of the Arco Real Estate company. Real estate prices began dipping in Latvia in May, after the government introduced a package of measures to fight rampant inflation, including stricter rules on issuing mortgages. Latvian authorities say that the number of real estate transactions has now shrunk to the level of 2001, before the boom kicked in.
Schwarzenegger Seeks Broad New Budget Powers To Avoid Deficits
It would be capped at 15 percent of the budget and could be used only to help with the next downturn. Schwarzenegger gleaned the idea from former President Bill Clinton, who had similar budget powers as governor of Arkansas. He said it would put an end to the feast-and-famine cycle of California budgeting. "For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door, but the wolf is back," Schwarzenegger said, addressing state lawmakers in the Assembly chamber two days before he is to lay out a budget for the coming fiscal year filled with deep cuts. "We cannot continue to put people through the binge and purge of our budget process," Schwarzenegger said. "It is not fair. It is not reasonable. It is not in the best interests of anyone." Revenues have tapered off with the slowing economy, and Schwarzenegger is grappling with a projected $14 billion budget gap over the next 18 months.
Thirsty and hungry? Let's go to McWells
McWells, for all intents and purposes, looked like a restaurant at first glance. A huge bar stands in the front, but booths and tables litter the rest of the area for family and friends to nosh, giving it a dated WingHouse-type feel.
We sat at the bar and ordered a couple of beers, my Michelob Ultra (trying to keep with the South Beach Diet) cost only $2, the same with Casey's McWells. I kid you not, there is a beer at the bar called McWells. It's a Budweiser product, we found out from the bartender. And, as with most Budweiser products, Casey was choking it down after a couple of sips.
Not a fan, to say the least, but good news: It was only $2. He stuck with Guinness after that, and at $5.50, it cost a bit more than most places. But the $2 domestic draft I was drinking was saving us some change.
Give retirement benefit certificate for grant: Govt
The three then fled in a white Maruti car (PB 31A 0232). SSP, Ludhiana (rural), Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SP (D) Pritam Singh and other officials reached the scene to take stock of the situation. Bhullar said the police had sounded alert across the town and put checkpoints on extra vigil to nab the culprits. The police had obtained vital clues, he added. The local police has registered a case against three persons in this regard. .
Credit Crunch Contagion
So, short sellers beware. Past this however, and especially if holiday shopping numbers come in disappointing next week, I expect any strength in the stock market here to be quite fleeting, lasting into next week or so, and that's all. And although it could be quite violent in nature, much like the 40-point short covering rally in the S&P 500 (SPX) experienced last week to test the break of the 200-day moving average, what we should see here moving into the weekend is much the same, where I would be surprised to see prices get back above this resistance. This hypothesis is supported not only by the count and select internal readings on the broads now, but also increasing long-term trend line breaks in sector indices as well, where just last week the Retail Index ($GSPMS) has now joined the Bank Index ($BKX) in this regard.
We are looking for voluntary translators from Arabic into English.
Barack Obama (Ill.). "I cannot make that commitment," added former senator John Edwards of North Carolina. And Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) put it simply when she outlined the dilemma that Democratic presidential aspirants face on Iraq. "It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting," the party's front-runner said. After President Bush's announcement this month of a limited troop drawdown and a continuation of the "surge" strategy through next summer, the key question for centrist Democrats in the presidential race is no longer whether U.S. forces will remain in Iraq but what size, mission and length a post-buildup, post-Bush force would take on. Even if the Democratic hopefuls decline to offer specifics, some of the people mentioned as possible defense secretaries under a Democratic White House offer a vision of a U.S.
Rules for student loans get tighter
Now the credit crisis is spilling over into college-student loans.
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest lender to college students, will no longer make private education loans to students who are higher credit risks, so-called subprime borrowers. Private student loans, which carry higher interest rates than federal loans, help bridge the gap between tuition costs and federal aid.
Sallie Mae's change will hurt for-profit education companies because they rely on students' access to private loans more than non-profit colleges and universities, student-loan experts said. On Tuesday, a number of education stocks, including Hoffman Estates-based Career Education Corp., experienced big sell-offs on fears that the schools could see a decline in enrollment.
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