Pistons close out year with first victory of season; overpower Pacers
John Raffel – AHN Sports CorrespondentAuburn Hills, MI, United States (AHN Sports) – The season was going perfect for the Indiana Pacers. But that was before they ran into a hungry Detroit Pistons team. Jonas Jerebko scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds while Greg Monroe added 19 points and 11 boards to lead the Pistons over the Indiana Pacers 96-88 Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills. It’s the first win of the season for the Pistons, 1-3, and the first loss for the Pacers, 3-1. “It feels great,” said Jerebko who was 3-of-4 in 3-point attempts. “A loss tonight would not have been fun.” It was a solid offensive night for the Pistons [...] Continue Reading…
Hungary abandons debt auction
Linda Young – AHN News WriterBucharest, Hungary (AHN) – The Hungarian government abandoned part of its planned debt auction Thursday after it had to raise interest rates on the bonds to sell them. Hungary sold only $62 million in debt rather than the $75 million it planned to sell after being forced to increase the average interest rate on the 10-year bonds it auctioned to 9.7 percent from 8.78 percent. The country’s debt agency, AKK, said that the range of yields offered was too broad. The country is part of the European Union but not part of the eurozone and its currency is denominated in forints. The target was to sell 18 billion forints in bonds, [...] Continue Reading…
Fixed mortgage rates end year just under 4 percent
Diane Alter – AHN News ReporterWashington DC, United States (AHN) – Average fixed mortgage rates in the United States end 2011 near all-time record lows. The 30-year fixed home loan exits the year at 3.95 percent. According to Freddie Mac, the rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has stayed at or below 4 percent for nine consecutive weeks. It averaged above 5 percent just twice in 2011. For the week ending Dec. 29, the 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.95 percent, up from 3.91 percent the prior week, and below 4.86 percent in the same period a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.24 percent, up from last week’s 3.21 percent, and below 4.20 [...] Continue Reading…
International elephant competition concluded in Nepal
Anil Giri – AHN News CorrespondentKathmandu, Nepal (AHN) – Nepal’s southern city, Chitwan, Sauraha, famous as a tourist attraction, successfully ended the eighth edition of the international elephant race on Wednesday, a competition found only in Nepal. The yearly event is conducted during the Christmas season. A football game between elephant calves, an elephant beauty contest and an elephant race were all part of the festival. Ten different teams from Nepal, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, Brazil and other countries participated in the competition. Some 20 elephants and more than a dozen calves took part in the elephant race and football match. According to the rules, participants cannot select the elephant themselves. The elephants for the [...] Continue Reading…
U.S. consumer confidence up more than forecast
Diane Alter – AHN News ReporterNew York, NY, United States (AHN) – Confidence among U.S. consumers rose in December to the highest level in eight months, helped by an improving job market that helped gain ground lost following the mid-year government budget battles and credit rating downgrades. The Conference Board’s index increased to 64.5, exceeding all estimates, in a report released Tuesday. The number is the highest since April. During the recession that ended in June 2009, the index averaged 53.7. In November, unemployment dropped to its lowest level in more than two years, and gasoline is the cheapest since February. The extra money in consumers’ wallets spurred households to take advantage of discounts during the holiday [...] Continue Reading…
DEA: Mexican drug cartel extortion moving more into U.S.
Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal CorrespondentWashington, DC, United States (AHN) – Mexican drug cartels are increasingly demanding protection fees from retail businesses on the U.S. side of the border, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Law enforcement agencies are having trouble stopping the extortion because the businesses that pay the money typically employ illegal immigrants. They do not report the extortion to police to avoid the risk their workers might be arrested and deported. Gang members threaten to damage the businesses if the owners refuse to pay the extortion money, DEA officials say. Commonly, messengers for the gangs will mention the risk that a business could suffer a devastating fire if the owners do not [...] Continue Reading…
Israel’s jobless rate falls, but economists refrain from cheering
The Media Line StaffJerusalem, Israel David Rosenberg / The Med – Israel’s unemployment rate dropped to a preliminary 5 percent in October, capping a steady decline of two-and-a-half years to its lowest rates since the late 1980s, but even the government’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) was quick to discount the importance of the figure. Moreover, economists said the trend of declining joblessness – the fruit of nearly eight years of almost non-stop economic growth – is probably reaching an end as the troubles of Europe spread to the global economy and to Israel, whose economy is small and heavily reliant on foreign trade. “The economy is slowing, maybe not dramatically, but it is slowing. When we [...] Continue Reading…
China, Japan agree on direct yuan, yen trade
Windsor Genova – AHN News News WriterBeijing, China (AHN) – The governments of China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, announced Monday an agreement to directly trade in yuan and yen instead of converting their currencies first to dollars. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda also agreed during a meeting in Beijing ending on Monday that Japan will hold yuan in its foreign-exchange reserves, which are now largely denominated in dollars. The direct currency swap is seen to benefit Chinese and Japanese companies in terms of reduced trading cost and currency risk. The direct currency exchange will also ease investments between the two countries. Trade between the two countries amounted [...] Continue Reading…
A kinder, gentler Hamas?
The Media Line StaffPalestinian Territory Mohammed Najib (The Media – Is there a new Hamas in the making, one ready to put down its arms and live in peace with Israel? Or is it the same old Islamist movement putting on the airs of moderation as it abandons its old friends Syria and Iran and makes new ones in Egypt, Turkey and Qatar? Anyone following the movement’s latest steps has a lot of evidence on which to base their pick. On the one hand, Hamas has resumed talks about ending its four-year split with the more moderate Fatah movement and joining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). On the other hand, Hamas took the opportunity of its 24th [...] Continue Reading…
Chargers quarterback not happy team will miss NFL playoffs again
John Raffel – AHN Sports CorrespondentDetroit, MI, United States (AHN Sports) – Philip Rivers has been playing some of his best football at quarterback in recent weeks. But it hasn’t been enough to salvage the season for the San Diego Chargers. Sunday, in a 38-10 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, Rivers was 28-of-53 for 299 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. “They beat us,” Rivers said, noting that in recent losses, there have been opportunities for his team to pull it out. “We didn’t get beat like this. This is the one of very few in a long time that we’ve been beat like this and you know, we’ve got to them credit.” [...] Continue Reading…
