US consumer spending rebounds in May

US consumers boosted spending in May after a slowdown the previous month as personal income grew far more than expected.

Consumer spending - the engine of the US economy - rose 0.3 per cent, led by purchases of manufactured durable goods, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

The May gain followed a 0.3 per cent decline in April. Analysts had forecast a stronger 0.4 per cent rebound.

Personal income jumped 0.5 per cent last month, well above the 0.2 per cent estimate, in the fourth consecutive month of gains.

Year-over-year, consumer spending was up 1.8 per cent and personal income gained 1.1 per cent.

Inflation remained tame. The personal consumption expenditures price index edged up 0.1 per cent in May, after falling 0.3 per cent in April.

The core PCE price index, excluding food and energy, also was up 0.1 per cent, barely changed from a nearly flat reading in the prior month.

The year-over-year core reading, closely watched by the Federal Reserve, was up only 1.1 per cent.

"Core PCE inflation remains well below the Fed's 2.5 per cent 'threshold' for raising the funds rate, although it did not slow any more this month," said Jim O'Sullivan of High Frequency Economics.

Americans boosted their savings in May, pushing the personal savings rate up two-tenths point to 3.2 per cent.

Jennifer Lee of BMO Capital Markets noted there were downward revisions on consumer spending to a few prior months.

"Second-quarter consumer spending is coming in at just 1.2 per cent annualised, the slowest since mid-2011. This is very disappointing, and comes even as incomes pick up," she said.

09.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sydney men charged over ecstasy supply

THREE men have been charged after a long-running police investigation into commercial drug supply in Sydney's east and south.

Strike Force Shear, which was formed last year to investigate the supply of ecstasy, raided several properties in Parramatta, Hurstville Grove and Bexley on Thursday.

A 26-year-old man was charged with numerous drug offences after the Parramatta raid.

He was refused bail when he appeared in Parramatta Local Court.

Officers arrested a 22-year-old man at the house in Hurstville Grove and charged him with two counts of supply commercial quantity of ecstasy.

He was refused bail and is scheduled to appear in Sutherland Local Court on Friday.

At the unit in Bexley, police arrested a 23-year-old and charged him with several drug offences.

He was refused bail to appear in Kogarah Local Court on Friday.

09.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Chase speaking at Gandolfini's funeral

MOURNERS have gathered for the funeral of US actor James Gandolfini.

The creator of The Sopranos, David Chase, is one of four people scheduled to speak during the ceremony at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York. The others are his widow, Deborah Lin Gandolfini, and two family friends.

The 51-year-old actor best known for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano in the HBO series died of a heart attack last week while on holiday with his son in Italy.

Invited guests began gathering early for the morning funeral. Dick Cavett chatted with actor Steve Buscemi near the front of the church. Aida Turturro, who played Gandolfini's sister in The Sopranos, was one of the first from that show's large cast to arrive.

Some 1500 seats had been set up. The public was to be allowed in after the invited guests.

A private family wake was held for the actor on Wednesday in New Jersey.

Broadway theatres paid tribute by dimming their lights briefly on Wednesday night. Gandolfini was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 as an actor in God of Carnage.

09.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Obama seeks to calm Snowden tension

US President Barack Obama has sought to calm tensions surrounding fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden's stay in a Moscow airport.

Signs are also growing that Snowden doesn't possess documents allowing him to travel further.

Snowden, who is wanted by the US authorities for leaking sensational details of US surveillance to the media, is said by the Kremlin to have been in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport since arriving on a flight from Hong Kong on Sunday.

But in a mystery that has captivated the world, there has not been a single sighting of Snowden at the airport and his onward travel plans remain an enigma after he failed to board a flight on which he was booked to Havana on Monday.

The episode risks further ratcheting up tensions between Washington and Moscow, as well as Beijing, which are already strained by the conflict in Syria.

But Obama insisted the United States - which has revoked Snowden's passport - would not scramble jets to intercept him should he fly from Russia.

"I am not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," Obama said on a visit to Senegal, oddly giving the wrong age for the 30-year-old former National Security Agency (NSA) technician.

Obama also said he had not called the President Xi Jinping of China or Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue.

Putin has indicated that Moscow is keen to see the back of its unexpected visitor, while also strongly rejecting US pressure to hand over Snowden as the two countries have no extradition treaty.

"The sooner this (he flies onwards from Moscow) happens, the better," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Ecuador, whose embassy in London is already giving refuge to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he faces extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault, has said it is considering an asylum request from Snowden.

09.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Italy has hit bottom, but 'recovery looms'

ITALY'S business association says the eurozone's third largest economy has "hit bottom" and is on the slow path to growth.

However, it sharply revised its gross domestic product forecast.

Confindustria said in a report that gross domestic product would shrink 1.9 per cent in 2013, compared to a previous forecast of a 1.1 per cent decline.

It said Italy would begin recovering in the last quarter of 2013 and see a return to growth in 2014, but warned progress would be "very slow" and cut the growth estimate for next year from 0.6 per cent to 0.5 per cent.

While it said indicators such as figures for car sales and family confidence suggest "we have hit bottom," Confindustria ratched up its 2013 debt to GDP ratio forecast from 126.4 per cent to 131.7 per cent and suggested it would rise to 132.4 per cent in 2014.

There was glum news on the public deficit front as well, with the business lobby saying Italy's deficit would rise from 1.9 per cent to 3.0 per cent in 2013, hitting the European Union recommended ceiling.

09.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

US stocks rise for third straight day

US stocks have pushed higher for a third day as bond yields fell again on easing worries that the Federal Reserve will soon cut back its stimulus program.

Stocks opened higher on Thursday, also helped by moderately positive economic data.

They gained support from comments by New York Fed chief William Dudley stressing that the central bank will not shut down its $US85 billion ($A92 billion) a month asset-purchase program - aimed at holding interest rates down - "if labour market conditions and the economy's growth momentum were to be less favourable" than the Fed currently predicts.

At 11am (0100 AEST), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 149.56 (1.00 per cent) at 15,059.70.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 14.63 (0.91 per cent) at 1,617.89, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite increased 32.57 (0.96 per cent) to 3,408.79.

The indexes extended two days of gains as the market bounces back from last week's steep declines.

Data releases suggested US economic growth remains at a moderate pace: consumer spending rebounded in May from April's fall, incomes were higher, inflation pressures remain low, new jobless claims were slightly improved, and pending home sales were strong.

"This morning's economic data are more supportive of the view that the Fed can hold off on tapering than not," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

Bond prices jumped for a second day. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.50 per cent from 2.54 per cent late Wednesday, while the 30-year fell to 3.52 per cent from 3.57 per cent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

09.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

US stocks retreat slightly

US stocks Thursday edged lower after recent record-setting gains, despite a favourable report on jobless claims.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.99 (0.01 per cent) to 15,103.13.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.70 (0.04 per cent) to 1,631.99, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.92 (0.03 per cent) to 3,412.35.

The losses came after the Dow and S&P set fresh record highs amid low interest rates and somewhat better US economic data.

The Department of Labor reported Thursday that new claims of US unemployment insurance benefits fell to 323,000, well below the 336,000 consensus estimate.

Major indices "are poised to take a breather from their recent rally despite this morning's positive update on the labour market," said Wells Fargo in a market note.

09.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Portuguese unemployment hits record 17.7%

PORTUGAL'S unemployment rate rose sharply in the first quarter of 2013 to a record high 17.7 per cent from 16.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, data from the national statistics institute INE shows.

For the whole of 2013 the government has forecast a rate of 18.2 per cent and 18.5 per cent for next year as the effects of recession and austerity measures take hold.

The record high comes as a new government spending package, announced by the centre-right government last week, foresees the slashing of 30,000 public sector jobs out of a total 700,000.

Civil servants are also to work 40 hours per week, compared with 35 at present and are to be eligible for full retirement at the age of 66, one year later than now.

The new terms are aimed at ensuring continued aid payments from a package worth 78 billion euros ($A101.71 billion) granted by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in May 2011.

According to the INE data, 4.4 million people currently hold jobs in Portugal out of a total population of about 10.5 million.

In 2012, the economy contracted by 3.2 per cent and is forecast to shrink another 2.3 per cent in 2013.

09.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kenya asks UN to drop ICC charges

KENYA has written to the UN Security Council seeking to scrap the international crimes against humanity trials for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Vice President William Ruto, according to a letter seen on Thursday.

Kenyatta, 51, voted into power in March elections, is to go on trial in July at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for crimes against humanity relating to post-election violence in 2007-08.

Ruto, 46, faces three counts of crimes against humanity for his role in deadly violence.

"What this delegation is asking for is not deferral," Kenya's ambassador to the UN, Macharia Kamau, wrote in a letter to the council seen by AFP.

"What this delegation is asking for is for the immediate termination of the case at The Hague."

The letter, dated May 2 and stamped confidential, is the first such official request for the cases to be dropped.

However, while the security council can ask for a case to be deferred for a year, it does not have the authority to order the ICC drop a case completely.

Kenya, however, appealed to "friendly nations to use their good offices and prevail upon the International Criminal Court to reconsider the continued process".

Some 1,100 people died in bloodshed after the 2007 elections over allegations of vote rigging, shattering Kenya's image as a beacon of regional stability.

What began as political riots quickly turned into ethnic killings and reprisal attacks, plunging Kenya into its worst wave of violence since independence in 1963.

The letter warned that continuing with the trials would risk destabilising Kenya.

"Kenyans... spoke with a loud, clear, concise voice when they overwhelmingly elected Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto as president and deputy president," it said.

"It is obvious that their absence from the country may undermine the prevailing peace and any resultant insecurity may spill over to the neighbouring countries."

09.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Technology changes how we chat to mum

TECHNOLOGY is changing the way Australians communicate with their mums, with more using social media and video calls to stay in touch, new research suggests.

But no matter what method is used, it seems one thing will never change - we still call mum for help and advice.

In the run-up to Mother's Day, Telstra released data showing that half of all Australians chat to their mums once a week and 20 per cent do so every day.

But the evidence suggests more are using apps like Skype.

"These days more mums are happy to be called on their mobile for the weekly catch up and increasingly they are enjoying video calls too," Telstra's Inese Kingsmill said.

"In fact, 10 per cent of the mums we surveyed like receiving video calls from their kids and grandkids.

"Phoning home will take on a new meaning as technology advances."

Many of the calls - no matter what the medium - are made out of desperation rather than kindness.

That's particularly true among younger people, with 13 per cent of those aged between 18-25 only telephoning mum when they want something, according to Telstra's research.

Mums aged between 40-44 are the least responsive to these sorts of calls, with seven per cent saying they'd ignore them.

"I'm sure many mums can relate to the urgent phone call from their kids wanting to know how to remove red wine stains from the carpet or how to get lumps out of the gravy," Ms Kingsmill added.

Facebook said 27 per cent of Australians aged between 13-18 were connected to their mums via the social networking site.

That's higher than in many other countries, including France (15.5 per cent) and Brazil (13.5 per cent).

Fifteen per cent of Australians have friended their mum on Facebook, listing the relationship in the "family" section on their profiles.

09.17 | 0 komentar | Read More