Already vulnerable, boomers most likely to be piling on debt, CIBC says



Baby boomers and Canadians who least can afford it are the most responsible for statistics that show consumers are piling on too much debt, according to an analysis of household finances released Thursday by the CIBC.

The micro-examination of debt in Canada suggests the problem may be more serious than thought and sheds new light on Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney's statement last week that he is most worried about "vulnerable" households.

The raw numbers are bad enough. The ratio of household debt to disposable annual income has been rising steadily since 2007 and recently reached a record 153 per cent.

That puts Canadian households on the doorstep of the 160 per cent level, where Americans were prior to the housing collapse. But as the CIBC report suggests, households in other countries, particularly Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland have reached significantly higher thresholds without triggering a crisis.

"It's not only the amount of debt Canadians are carrying, but how many are getting close to the limit of their borrowing capacity," said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld, co-author of the paper with economist Benjamin Tal.

"It would have been nice to have found that the rise in debt was coming from those with a lot of room to borrow, but instead what we see is those with a lot of debt are piling on more."

Another concern, Shenfeld said, is that Canadians over 45 years old who should be saving for retirement are increasingly dipping into the credit market, a trend likely contributing to the rise in bankruptcies among the 50 and older set.


http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/alread ... 25304.html

Harper outlines "major transformation" of immigration, retirement, investment



The federal government is poised to transform immigration, pensions and research and development policy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today.

In a major speech to global movers and shakers at the World Economic Forum, he said the idea is to position Canada as a more competitive force in the global economy and to confront the pressures of an aging population.

"In the months to come, our government will undertake major transformations to position Canada for growth over the next generation," Harper said in an address to the some of the 2,600 forum delegates.

He also reiterated a commitment to streamline environmental approvals for major energy projects.

He vowed to press ahead with developing ways to export energy to Asia.

And he chided wealthy countries for being too complacent about ringing up debt that they can't afford, taking their riches for granted and imperilling the entire global economy.

"I ask whether the creation of economic growth, and therefore jobs, really is the No. 1 policy priority for everyone," he said.

"Or is it the case that in the developed world, too many of us have, in fact, become complacent about our prosperity, taking our wealth as a given, assuming it is somehow the natural order of things?"

Harper said his government has worked to keep financial disorder out of Canada and is stepping up efforts to set the country on the right foot for coming decades.

"We will do more, much more," he said.

"Under our government, Canada will make the transformations necessary to sustain economic growth, job creation and prosperity now and for the next generation."

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/harper ... 37418.html


Harper considering raising OAS age to 67

The Conservative government is considering raising the age Canadians can receive the Old Age Security benefit from 65 to 67, CTV News has learned.

In the keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised major reforms on retirement pensions, environment approvals and immigration policy.

"In the months to come, our government will undertake major transformations to position Canada for growth over the next generation," Harper said in his speech, referring to the upcoming budget.

Harper didn't mention specific reforms in the speech but said Canada needs to find savings in the Old Age Security benefit, as Canada's aging population is growing more expensive and the current model is unsustainable.



Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... z1keQNTxQ3



Costly secretariat lives on with little to do


In the six years since the Harper government came to power, Canadian taxpayers have spent millions of dollars on supporting a federal appointments commission that doesn't exist.

The money has disappeared into a bureaucracy set up to support the commission — a bureaucracy that seems to have just about everything except a commission to support.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally announced the creation of the Public Appointments Commission in the spring of 2006, one of the first acts of his newly elected Conservative government and a centrepiece of its much-touted accountability policy.

At the same time, the government created a new federal department called the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat to support the commission with a budget of more than $1 million a year.

By cabinet decree, the secretariat reports directly to the prime minister.

In theory, the commission was to oversee the hiring process for hundreds of federal boards and agencies, ensuring appointments are made on merit and not just doled out to partisan pals of the party in power.

It all sounded like a good idea at the time.

But on the same day Harper introduced the new commission, he also announced its first commissioners would be respected Alberta businessman Gwyn Morgan, a prominent Conservative and friend of the PM.

A month later, the federal opposition parties voted to block Morgan's appointment.

Secretariat lived on

Visibly angered and embarrassed, Harper scrapped the commission in retaliation.

But no one scrapped its bureaucracy, the appointments secretariat. Far from it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2 ... itics.html

Caution urged for mutant flu work


Why would scientists deliberately create a form of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is probably highly transmissible in humans? In the growing debate about research that has done precisely that1, a key question is whether the public-health benefits of the work outweigh the risks of a potential pandemic if the virus escaped from the lab.

For the scientists who have created the mutated strains of the H5N1 virus, the justifications are clear. Surveillance of flu viruses could, they argue, allow health organizations to monitor birds and other animals for the mutations that would provide an early warning of a pandemic and enable authorities to act quickly to contain the virus.

That claim is meeting with scepticism, however. More than a dozen flu experts contacted by Nature say they believe that the work opens up important vistas in basic research, and that it sends a valuable warning about the potential for the virus to spark a human pandemic. But they caution that virus surveillance systems are ill-equipped to detect such mutations arising in flu viruses. As such, work on the viruses is unlikely to offer significant, immediate public-health benefits, they say.


http://www.nature.com/news/caution-urge ... ork-1.9882


Australia

Bird flu detected in Victoria


At least 10,000 ducks will have to be destroyed to contain an outbreak of bird flu at two Victorian farms.

The virus found in birds on the two properties is a low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) and not the deadlier form of the virus that spread through Asia, threatening humans and leading to a mass cull of poultry.

Dr Andrew Cameron, the state's chief veterinary officer, says there is no risk to the community but authorities had to act quickly to quarantine the two properties run by the same company north of Melbourne to remove any chance the virus could spread.

"This is all about making sure that the virus doesn't one day in the future evolve and mutate into a more serious form," he told reporters on Friday.

The source of the latest outbreak has not been confirmed, but officials believe the virus could have been introduced from wild waterfowl known to harbour influenza viruses.



http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news ... 1qlai.html

AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN (14): INDONESIA (JAKARTA), SUSPECTED
***********************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 26 Jan 2012
Source: The Jakarta Post, Jakar [edited]
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012 ... eaths.html


After being treated for 5 days, a suspected bird flu [avian A/(H5N1) virus infection] victim from Tangerang died at the Tangerang General Hospital (RSUD) on Wednesday [25 Jan 2012]. Hospital spokesman Achmad Muchlis said that the patient died from respiratory failure at about 12:30 a.m.

The condition of the patient, an 18-year-old resident from Panongan district, Tangerang regency, deteriorated since he was treated in an isolation room. However, he tested negative for H5N1 [infection] in a polymerase chain reaction test conducted by the hospital. The hospital needs to conduct a test involving virus sequencing to get a more accurate result on whether the man had the deadly disease [This is unlikely to succeed in the absence of a positive PCR test. - Mod.CP]. When The Jakarta Post visited the hospital, his isolation room located next to the morgue was locked. The hospital spokesperson said his family would take his body home soon.


http://www.promedmail.org/?p=2400:1000: ... 702832:::::

Case of swine flu confirmed in Madison County


HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -
The flu is starting to show up in Madison County.

State health officials say lab tests confirm a case of H1N1 influenza in Madison County. The positive test came back earlier this month.

http://www.waff.com/story/16609793/case ... son-county






Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012(Japan)


Influenza epidemic doubles number of cases per hospital


An nationwide influenza epidemic is spreading, doubling the number of cases per hospital, according to data compiled through Tuesday by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Over 90 percent of the cases this flu season are due to the Hong Kong influenza A virus subtype H3N2. The data marked the first epidemic in five years of the seasonal flu virus, which can cause encephalitis in infants and gravely affect the elderly, the institute said.

Data collected on a regular basis from around 5,000 medical institutions across the country show that the average number of cases stood at 7.33 in the week through Jan. 15, up from 3.76 a week earlier.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120126a5.html

Weekly jobless benefit claims rise amid overall downward trend

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 377,000, up from a nearly four-year low the previous week. But the longer-term trend is pointing to a healthier job market.

Applications have trended down over the past few months. The four week average has declined to 377,500. When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it tends to signal that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01 ... z1keGQjkS3



Spanish Unemployment Rises to 22.9%


Spain’s unemployment rate rose to 22.9 percent, the highest in 15 years, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to change labor rules and deliver on his election pledge to create jobs in a shrinking economy.

The unemployment rate rose in the fourth quarter from 21.5 percent in the previous three months, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said today. That’s more than twice the euro- region average and exceeds the median estimate of 22.2 percent in a Bloomberg survey of seven analysts.

Spain is home to a third of the euro region’s unemployed, according to the European Union’s statistics office, which estimates that half of young Spaniards are out of work. The People’s Party government, which won the Nov. 20 election after a campaign focused on jobs, has promised to overhaul labor and wage rules in the next two weeks to prompt companies to hire.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-2 ... 22-9-.html

Freezing rain causes water shortage in Guizhou, SW China


A continuous round of freezing rain in Xifeng County of southwest China's Guizhou Province has brought on a myriad of inconveniences for locals by disrupting traffic and cutting off water supplies.

Gaofeng village is situated at more than 1,200 meters above sea level, the highest in Xifeng County's Shitong Township, causing it to incur a high amount of freezing.

Heavy snow and freezing rain began to hit the village on Jan. 18, destroying crops and covering electric lines with thick ice.

The harsh weather conditions have also caused a serious water shortage in the area. For an 84-year old villager named Zhu Shaohua, all of the water in his two supply buckets has frozen. Water would not flow out from Zhu's tap even after he warmed its pipes with hot water.

At the local village water station, the freezing has broken a valve, preventing water from being supplied to locals until the temperature raises and the ice thaws out, said the person in charge of the station.

However, the freezing usually lasts until mid-February in Gaofeng Village, so more than 280 local households have had no choice but to carry over water in buckets from a well one kilometer away.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/s ... _category2

Thunderstorms pound Texas


Heavy rains have caused flooding and major traffic chaos across parts of Texas. The intense rain left streets, road signs and cars submerged in water.

Dallas, San Antonio and Austin all reported numerous road closures on Wednesday.

Officials are also talking about possible reports of tornadoes, but that it yet to be confirmed.


http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/s ... _category2

£1m reward for failure: He's missed lending targets, the share price has plunged and he's axeing 3,500 jobs. But still RBS chief pockets huge bonus


The boss of state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland was handed an annual bonus of nearly £1million yesterday.
To widespread fury, the board of directors awarded Stephen Hester more than many ordinary workers earn in a lifetime.

The bank insists it has shown restraint because its chief executive was ‘entitled’ to £1.5million.
But David Ruffley, a senior Tory on the Treasury select committee, said: ‘Mr Hester is already paid a £1.2million basic salary, which seems to me generous given that the share price has fallen and RBS has failed to meet its lending targets set by the Chancellor.

‘It is therefore totally unacceptable that there should be a bonus of just under £1million for what in the rest of the private sector would be seen as sub-standard performance.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1keMJ8fOh

Investors fear mounting losses in Portugal as second rescue looms

Portugal is fighting a losing battle to contain its public debt and may be forced to impose haircuts of up to 50pc on private creditors, according to a top German institute.


A report for the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Portugal would have to run a primary budget surplus of over 11pc of GDP a year to prevent debt dynamics spiralling out of control, even in a benign scenario of 2pc annual growth.


"Portugal's debt is unsustainable. That is the only possible conclusion," said David Bencek, the co-author, warning that no country can achieve a primary budget surplus above 5pc for long.


"We won't know what the trigger will be but once there is a decision on Greece people are going to start looking closely and realise that Portugal is the same position as Greece was a year ago."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fina ... looms.html

Portugal and Greek concerns weigh on world stocks



World stocks fell from a 5-1/2 month high on Friday as gains spurred by the Federal Reserve's pledge of low interest rates gave way to concerns about Portugal, seen as the next domino in the euro zone crisis, and uncertainty over Greek debt talks.

Portuguese five- and 10-year government bond yields were set to remain under pressure after hitting euro-era highs on Thursday as fears grow that the country may follow Greece in requiring another bailout or seeking to restructure its debt.

Athens is locked in tough negotiations with its private creditors on a restructuring it needs quickly to avert a disorderly default when a major bond redemption falls due in March. Greece's bondholders are demanding the European Central Bank contribute to a deal to put the country's messy finances back on track.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-sto ... 44543.html

Greece, creditors edge closer to deal

Greece and its private creditors made progress on Thursday in talks on restructuring its debt, both sides said, and they will continue negotiating on Friday with the aim of sealing an agreement within a few days.

Athens needs a deal quickly to avert a chaotic default when a major bond redemption comes due in March. Greece's creditors are demanding that the European Central Bank contribute to a deal to put the country's messy finances back on track.

"The talks focused on legal and technical issues and progress was made. They will continue on Friday and probably on Saturday too," a senior Greek government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"We aim to conclude the deal very soon."

The Institute of International Finance, which leads talks on behalf of creditors, similarly cited progress and said work would continue Friday. Neither side disclosed any details.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/creditors ... 03727.html