| Dollar Slides on China Sanctions
U.S. 10-year Treasury bond prices closed slightly lower on a high-range day today. Consumer spending and a positive business activity report helped to boost confidence in the U.S. economy. Bonds have been trading in a fairly tight range for about a month, and despite the whipsawing, prices closed within normal range today. Housing reports continue to be a major focus for traders, who see the housing sector as a broad economic indicator of U.S. economic health. The dollar fell against the euro and the yen today, after U.S. imposed trade sanctions on China. The protectionist measure caused to the dollar to fall against the major currencies. The yen has been the key focus for currency traders lately, as the ramifications of the yen carry trade are felt during global selloffs, when traders buy back the yen to cover riskier positions.
US homophobes support Latvia's hate campaign
While Latvia makes faltering steps into Europes economic embrace, there are many who're determined to shun the equal rights and cultural tolerance that ultimately comes with the package. Latvia joined the EU and NATO in 2004 and has experienced some struggles to balance the coutry's nationalism with European laws and values. Unsurprisingly, it's been the Church thats resisted the development of a strong, legally protected LGBT community. Cardinal Janis Pujats, head of the Latvian Roman Catholic Church, issued a series of statements on March 13 denouncing a new national program aimed at preventing problems of intolerance of sexual minorities. The Latvian population is mostly Christian, the largest group being Lutheran with smaller percentages claiming to be Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox.
First-home buyers pack on the debt
Family welfare and financial support groups say first-home buyers are loading themselves up with debt and are needing outside help to pay bills. Studies indicate home affordability has sharply deteriorated since 2003, with 75 per cent of the average income now needed to finance the cost of the national average home. In 2003, the average cost to finance a home was 43.5 per cent of the average Kiwi's take-home pay. Citizens Advice Bureau social policy manager Louise May said utility bills and food budgets would be the first to feel the pinch when loan repayments became too much. There had been a surge in those seeking help to pay bills in recent years, but she was unable say how much was related to mortgage debt. Banking ombudsman Liz Brown said banks had a legal obligation to lend responsibly, and most home-loan-related complaints her office received were from people who had been refused loans.
Alcatel-Lucent launches IP Transformation Center in Singapore
Alcatel-Lucent (Paris: Euronext and NYSE: ALU)today announced the planned launch of a new, state-of-the-art Internet Protocol (IP) Transformation Center (IPTC) in Singapore, to bolster its network of IPTCs worldwide. The first center of its scale in Asia-Pacific,the Alcatel-Lucent IPTC will develop, integrate and test end-to-end IP networking solutions to help operators and enterprises, faced with a very competitive environment in the region, to transform their networks to a full IP-based architecture, complete with best-of-breed products from a variety of vendors and strategic partnerships. Supported by the Economic Development Board of Singapore, the Asia IPTC is expected to host about 50 technologies and employ approximately 80 professionals, representing an investment of up to 20 million Euros over three years.
`Study house' for tribal students mooted
KOCHI: A recent study by the Kochi-based Centre for Socio-Economic & Environmental Studies (CSES) has suggested the creation of a new institution called the `Paditha Veedu' (study house) in each tribal `ooru'/settlement/colony to improve the quality of education of Scheduled Tribe children. The study has made other suggestions for improving the quality of education for tribal children. The TTC curriculum in districts with tribal concentration should have tribal content. The study suggests that the continuation of alternative schooling under the Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan (single teacher multi-grade schools) needs to be seriously debated. Teacher appointments in tribal areas should be done with emphasis on tribal preferences. Traditional skills and new soft skills should be transmitted through formal school system.
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