6 June 2008
News and Comments – 06/06/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
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8 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
6 June 2008 at 6:02 am.
Australian PM wants EU-style regional group for Asia-Pacific
by Neil Sands Thu Jun 5, 2:03 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called on Asia-Pacific countries Thursday to form a European Union-style grouping that he said would enhance regional security and prosperity.
Rudd said an Asia-Pacific Community — a potential economic powerhouse including China, India, the United States and Japan — could be established by 2020.
“The key thing is to enhance security and regional cooperation, which at present is fragmented,” Rudd said in a radio interview after outlining the idea in an address to the Asia Society Australasia on Wednesday night.
“Remember the region is currently host to a whole range of unresolved territorial conflicts — the Taiwan Straits, the Korean peninsula, Kashmir, involving a whole range of nuclear weapons states.
“We can either stand back and allow things to drift, or we can say ‘actually there should be a better way of handling this’. That’s what we’re putting forward as an ambitious proposal for the future.”
Rudd, a fluent Mandarin speaker and ardent Sinophile, has made engagement with Asia a foreign policy priority since his election last November.
Cameron Says:
6 June 2008 at 7:43 am.
Obama, Clinton meet for ‘unity’ talks, sources say
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton met late Thursday in Washington, D.C. — their first meeting since Obama became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November,” a joint statement from the two sides said.
CNN’s Candy Crowley confirmed that the two met to discuss plans for “bringing the campaigns together in unity for the party.”
Earlier, reporters on Obama’s press plane learned that the presumed Democratic nominee for president was not aboard when it departed Virginia, where he had been campaigning. Aides said staff members “scheduled him some meetings” in Washington.
The meeting originally was believed to be at Clinton’s D.C. home, but sources later said the two met elsewhere in Washington.
A group that is urging Obama to select Clinton as his running mate praised the meeting. “We are thrilled to hear that Senators Obama and Clinton are meeting already,” said a statement from VoteBoth. “We hope that Thursday night’s conversation is a step toward an Obama-Clinton ticket that will unify the party.”
Also Thursday, Clinton thanked supporters in an e-mail and pledged to help Obama capture the White House after eight years of Republican control. Clinton also plans to thank supporters in person at a Washington event Saturday.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/05/clinton.obama.wrap/index.html
Cameron Says:
6 June 2008 at 7:47 am.
Record foreclosures won’t ease soon
By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
With homes entering foreclosure at a record rate, economists see no letup in the surge of homeowners who are losing their properties for failure to pay their mortgage.
For the first quarter of the year, the rate of new foreclosures hit 0.99%, the highest point since record-keeping began in 1979, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. And the delinquency rate — reflecting those at least 30 days behind on their bills and at risk of sinking into foreclosure — reached 6.35%. That was another record.
“It doesn’t get any worse than this,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com. “There’s no sign of stabilization. It’s going to continue at least through the end of this year.”
Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight, says: “I look at a lot of housing reports, and this is probably the worst report I’ve come across. We still think home prices will drop another 10%, and foreclosures will remain elevated through the end of the year.”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-06-05-foreclosures_N.htm
Cameron Says:
6 June 2008 at 7:56 am.
Jobless rate soars to 5.5% in May
Biggest rise in unemployment in 33 years; payrolls fall 49,000
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. unemployment rate jumped by a half percentage point 5.5% in May on the biggest increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment in 33 years, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 49,000 in May, the fifth consecutive decrease and in line with expectations of economists. See Economic Calendar.
The economy has lost 324,000 jobs so far this year.
Unemployment rose by 861,000 to 8.5 million, the government said. It is the biggest increase in unemployment since January 1975.
The 0.5 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate was a shock, as economists expected a much smaller 0.1 percentage point gain to 5.1%. The jobless rate is the highest since October 2004. It was the biggest percentage point gain in unemployment since 1986.
The report is likely to have little impact on the Federal Open Market Committee, which meets in three weeks. Analysts expect no change in the 2% federal fund target rate in the near future. Fed officials have said they believe the economy and the job market are likely to worsen in coming months before bouncing back by the end of the year.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jobless-rate-soars-55-may/story.aspx?guid={6B9B2E20-06E8-4FC0-AD5A-3029D5057F89}&siteid=yahoomy
Cameron Says:
6 June 2008 at 8:19 am.
Israeli minister says alternatives to attack on Iran running out
An Israeli deputy prime minister on Friday warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme.
“If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it,” said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister.
“Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme,” Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot daily.
He stressed such an operation could only be conducted with US support.
A former defence minister and armed forces chief of staff, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Ehud Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606073645.fjrccoo1&show_article=1
Angela Rogin Says:
6 June 2008 at 8:58 am.
Good grief Cameron, overload on news today. It’s hard to take it all in.
Hawk Says:
6 June 2008 at 10:30 am.
Israel is in a tough position. No one wants to start a war but there is a good possibility that when the world finds out that Israel is under attack from Iran, it will be announced by a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv.
Carrie Says:
6 June 2008 at 12:54 pm.
Cameron,
The place that Barack and Hillary had the meeting was a hotel in Northern Virginia where they are having the Bilderberger meeting this week. They have them every year and about 125 of the most powerful people in the world get together to set an agenda for the year. My parents have been following that for years and it really upsets them because it is against the law for secret meetings to be held that set policy like that. I’m sorry that I can’t remember the exact law, my dad would know.
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