News Headline

nytimes.com — With no end in sight to the turbulence in the housing and financial markets, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that central bank would issue new lending rules to restrict exotic mortgages and high-cost loans for people with weak credit. At a forum on lending for low- and moderate-income households, Mr. Bernanke said the difficulties that led to Bear Stearns's collapse highlighted weaknesses in the financial system that policy makers were trying to address. He said they included poorly underwritten mortgages, regulatory gaps, tight credit and insufficiently capitalized financial institutions.

Read Full Article »

hosted.ap.org — A mortgage rescue plan to save hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure drew overwhelming Senate support, inching toward passage despite Republican objections. The Senate voted 76-10 to advance the bill, a broad array of housing measures including overhauls of the Federal Housing Administration and government-sponsored home loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its centerpiece is a new $300 billion FHA program to allow debt-ridden homeowners who are currently too financially risky to qualify for government-backed loans to refinance into safer, more affordable mortgages. The measure is on track for passage by an overwhelming margin. It has survived several test votes in the Senate, indicating enough support to override President Bush's promised veto.

Read Full Article »

time.com — The Federal Reserve is considering giving squeezed Wall Street firms more time to draw emergency loans directly from the central bank to help them overcome credit problems, chairman Ben Bernanke said. In March, the Fed agreed to let investment houses go to the Fed — on a temporary basis — for a quick, overnight source of cash. That decision has drawn criticism from Democrats that the Fed is bailing out Wall Street and putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk. The Fed's consideration of giving Wall Street firms more time to tap the Fed's emergency loan program is part of an ongoing effort by the central bank to bring back stability to fragile financial markets and help to bolster shaky confidence on the part of investors.

Read Full Article »

nytimes.com — With gasoline prices high and rising, a new financial milestone has arrived: the $100 tank of gas. For decades, the $100 barrel stood as a hypothetical outlier in doom-and-gloom conversations about future oil prices. And nobody could even imagine an American family paying $100 to fill the tank. But during the first five months of 2008, about 11 percent of American drivers said they bought 24 gallons or more at their last fill-up, according to a survey of 81,000 drivers by the NPD Group, a market research firm — which at today's prices would place many of them at or around $100.

Read Full Article »

ft.com — The Group of Eight countries are failing to stamp out corruption and bribery, with damaging implications for trade, business and broader international goals such as tackling poverty, according to Transparency International, the watchdog. Christiaan Poortman, Transparency's director of global programs, said some countries had not ratified the UN convention for fear of "being put at a competitive disadvantage." Mr Poortman said that the intensified scramble for oil and minerals, as developing countries become more voracious, created a "propitious environment for corruption." He praised the U.S. and Germany for pursuing high-level prosecutions against some of their biggest companies.

Read Full Article »

csmonitor.com — The long trend toward open trade and global markets is under new stress as problems from food shortages to climate change test its staying power. The march toward economic globalization is not shifting into reverse gear, but it shows signs of deceleration as leaders of the developed world meet in Japan for their annual summit. They'll be focusing on issues of immediate concern, but their agenda also includes a more general problem: how to maintain expansion of global commerce, which has helped many countries reach new levels of prosperity but has costs as well as benefits for workers.

Read Full Article »

cnn.com — The United Arab Emirates has forgiven the nearly $7 billion Baghdad owes it, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan promised to "put out these debts,&#34 and appoint an ambassador to Baghdad, al-Maliki said in a written statement. Debt relief is a major issue for Iraq, and the United States has urged other nations to forgive Iraqi debt, most of which is held by Arab states, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said in late May.

Read Full Article »

nytimes.com — Under pressure from the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in two decades, employers across the country are fighting back in state legislatures, the federal courts and city halls. Business groups have resisted measures that would revoke the licenses of employers of illegal immigrants. They are proposing alternatives that would revise federal rules for verifying the identity documents of new hires and would expand programs to bring legal immigrant laborers. Businesses, generally Republican stalwarts, are standing up to others within the party who accuse them of undercutting border enforcement and jeopardizing American jobs by hiring illegal immigrants as cheap labor.

Read Full Article »

newsobserver.com — Fireworks may fizzle out for patriotic fans of pyrotechnic displays this fourth of July. Supplies were singed massive explosions 20 Chinese fireworks warehouses this year, and fuel prices are forcing backyard pyrotechnicians to accept less bang for their bucks.

Read Full Article »

nytimes.com — Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. called on Wednesday for a new regulatory system that would prevent future financial turmoil while allowing even large financial institutions to fail without risking a wider market collapse. "Looking beyond the current market challenges of today, we need to create a resolution process that ensures the financial system can withstand the failure of a large, complex financial firm," Mr. Paulson said, during a London stop on his European tour. He said that any new regulation must give the Federal Reserve, the United States" central bank, access to information from all types of financial institutions, including investment banks, and tools that would reduce risk to the financial system without creating the sense that any troubled institution would be bailed out.

Read Full Article »