Euribor market rates push higher after ECB super-payback

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 5 (Reuters) – Key euro-priced bank-to-bank lending rates hit their highest levels in 10 months on Monday, days after banks paid back 442 billion euros to the European Central Bank.

The three-month Euribor rate EURIBOR3MD= — traditionally the main gauge of interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks’ appetite for lending — climbed to 0.793 percent from 0.790 percent the previous day, the highest level since early September.

Shorter-term one-week rates EURIBORSWD= hit 0.456 percent from 0.452 percent, the highest level this year, while six-month rates EURIBOR6MD= and one-year rates EURIBOR1YD= remained at 1.060 percent and 1.329 percent respectively.

Banks paid back 442 billion euros worth of one-year loans to the ECB on Thursday and reborrowed just over half in shorter-term maturities, reducing the overall amount of liquidity in the system.

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 0900 GMT.

* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one week to one year, double click on EURIBOR=

* For a table of the previous day’s fixings of EONIA swap rates, which show market expectations for future overnight lending rates, double click on EONIAINDEX

* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right click on the links in angle brackets below, and select ‘Related Graph’ 1 week EURIBORSWD= EONIAINDEXSW= 2 week EURIBOR2WD= EONIAINDEX2W= 3 week EURIBOR3WD= EONIAINDEX3W= 1 month EURIBOR1MD= EONIAINDEX1M= 2 month EURIBOR2MD= EONIAINDEX2M= 3 month EURIBOR3MD= EONIAINDEX3M= 4 month EURIBOR4MD= EONIAINDEX4M= 5 month EURIBOR5MD= EONIAINDEX5M= 6 month EURIBOR6MD= EONIAINDEX6M= 7 month EURIBOR7MD= EONIAINDEX7M= 8 month EURIBORS8M= EONIAINDEX8M= 9 month EURIBOR9MD= EONIAINDEX9M= 10 month EURIBOR10MD= EONIAINDEX10M= 11 month EURIBOR11MD= EONIAINDEX11M= 1 year EURIBOR1YD= EONIAINDEX1Y= (Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FOREX-Dollar on defensive but euro gains limited

June 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) – The dollar struggled on Thursday after the Federal Reserve reiterated its pledge to keep rates low, though its losses against the euro were limited by persistent doubts about the euro zone economy.

The dollar’s broad weakness helped sterling to extend gains to a six-week high and underpinned the euro, yet traders remained reluctant to chase those advances with more signs of fragile recovery tempering appetite for risky positions.

“There was a little disappointment in the market from the Fed statement but the euro has struggled to rally. The market remains sceptical about problems in Europe and that feeling won’t go away soon,” said Antje Praefcke, currency analyst at Commerzbank.

At 0720 GMT, the euro EUR= was broadly unchanged on the day at $1.2315 having stalled at $1.2351 in Asia.

Versus a basket of currencies .DXY, the dollar slipped to 85.595 in Asia, bringing it closer to a five-week low hit on Monday of 85.091. It later steadied to trade broadly unchanged at 85.829.

“If the market was hoping for re-assurance from the FOMC they would soon be disappointed as the Federal Reserve signalled that growth was likely to disappoint over the course of the next 12 months, due in no small part from the problems in Europe,” said Michael Hewson, currency analyst at CMC Markets.

In a statement at the end of a two-day meeting, the Fed scaled back its assessment of the pace of recovery, taking note of pockets of weakness, and also issued a cautionary note about volatile markets in light of Europe’s debt woes. [nN22150078]

The dollar was also undermined by data showing sales of new U.S. single-family homes tumbling more than expected in May.

NEW AUSTRALIAN PM

The Aussie dollar AUD=D4 rose as high as $0.8771 after Australia’s ruling Labor Party elected a new prime minister in Julia Gillard, in a bid to avoid election defeat later this year. [ID:nSGE65M0LY]

Gillard immediately offered to end a bitter dispute over a controversial “super profits” mining tax, saying she would throw open the door for fresh negotiations. But she stressed miners should pay more tax. [ID:nSGE65M0LY]

The Aussie later trimmed gains to stand at $0.8725, steady from late U.S. trading on Wednesday.

“We expect new PM Gillard to announce a watered down version of the Resource Super Profits Tax in the coming weeks,” said RBC analysts in a note to clients.

“The Australian dollar, resources, and equities will be the likely beneficiaries and should find immediate and longer term support from today’s change of PM,” they said.

Sterling rose to $1.5001 GBP=D4, the highest since May 12, extending gains made the previous day after a hint of an early rise in interest rates in the Bank of England’s minutes. The pound subsequently eased to trade with slight losses at $1.4940.

Against the yen JPY=, the dollar stood at 89.87 yen, stuck near a one-month low of 89.73 yen hit on Wednesday on trading platform EBS.

“Price action in dollar/yen remains poor and my order board suggests some more weakness to come, with an initial target of 89.10. Option related offers above 90.30 should see us capped,” said a London-based spot trader from a U.S. bank. (Additional reporting by Satomi Noguchi, editing by Mike Peacock)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

U.S. crude rises more than $1 on economy, weaker dollar

June 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 14 (Reuters) – U.S. crude climbed more than $1 on Monday, heading towards $75 a barrel as renewed optimism about the global economic recovery rekindled appetite for risk, sending stock markets higher and the dollar down.

The dollar weakened about 0.6 percent against a basket of currencies .DXY, with the euro at a one-week high, while Japanese stocks rose as the nation’s manufacturers grew more optimistic about the business environment in the April-June quarter. [ID:nTOE65A05M]

U.S. crude for July CLc1 rose as much as $1.01 to $74.79 a barrel and was up 96 cents to $74.74 at 0514 GMT, still down 14 percent from a 19-month high above $87 in early May. ICE Brent LCOc1 gained 77 cents to $75.12. (Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Key Euribor rates edge higher amid euro stresses

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 11 (Reuters) – Key euro-priced bank-to-bank lending rates continued to edge higher on Friday despite the European Central Bank’s promise of extra liquidity to keep supplies flush until the end of the year.

The three-month Euribor rate EURIBOR3MD=, traditionally the main gauge of interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks’ appetite for lending, inched up to 0.719 percent from 0.718 percent, the highest level since mid-December.

Six-month rates EURIBOR6MD= rose to 1.003 percent from 1.001 percent, having broken through the ECB’s benchmark interest rate level of 1.0 percent on Thursday for the first time since last November.

One-year rates EURIBOR1YD= also edged up marginally to a new nine-month high of 1.271 percent from 1.270 percent.

On the other hand shorter-term one-week rates EURIBORSWD= eased a tad to 0.367 percent from 0.368 percent.

The debt troubles hitting Greece and other financially strained euro zone countries, have reignited fears about region’s banks and forced the ECB to reintroduce extra lending operations and abandon a long-held resistance to buying government bonds.

Markets are also bracing themselves for July 1 when banks have to pay back 442 billion euros worth of one-year loans borrowed from the ECB last year, although the transition will be smoothed after the ECB announced three extra batches of unlimited three-month funds on Thursday. [ID:nLDE6590CW]

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 0900 GMT.

* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one week to one year, double click on EURIBOR=

* For a table of the previous day’s fixings of EONIA swap rates, which show market expectations for future overnight lending rates, double click on EONIAINDEX

* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right click on the links in angle brackets below, and select ‘Related Graph’ 1 week EURIBORSWD= EONIAINDEXSW= 2 week EURIBOR2WD= EONIAINDEX2W= 3 week EURIBOR3WD= EONIAINDEX3W= 1 month EURIBOR1MD= EONIAINDEX1M= 2 month EURIBOR2MD= EONIAINDEX2M= 3 month EURIBOR3MD= EONIAINDEX3M= 4 month EURIBOR4MD= EONIAINDEX4M= 5 month EURIBOR5MD= EONIAINDEX5M= 6 month EURIBOR6MD= EONIAINDEX6M= 7 month EURIBOR7MD= EONIAINDEX7M= 8 month EURIBORS8M= EONIAINDEX8M= 9 month EURIBOR9MD= EONIAINDEX9M= 10 month EURIBOR10MD= EONIAINDEX10M= 11 month EURIBOR11MD= EONIAINDEX11M= 1 year EURIBOR1YD= EONIAINDEX1Y= (Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Investors again step up at 10-year US note auction

June 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 9 (Reuters) – Investors again loaded up their plates on Wednesday with reopened 10-year Treasury notes in the second of this week’s debt auctions, with analysts generally deeming demand in the sale to be near average.

Bonds

The sale of $21 billion of the notes follows near average demand in an auction of $36 billion of three-year Treasury notes US3YT=RR on Tuesday.

Lower Treasury debt prices and higher yields on Wednesday helped to boost the appetite for the reopened 10-year notes US10YT=RR, analysts said.

“Another very decent auction that came very close to the solid, average auction statistics observed in the more recent ten year reopenings,” said William O’Donnell, head of U.S. Treasury strategy at RBS Securities in Stamford, Connecticut.

“Nothing stands out except that the concession this morning helped to bring the auction pretty much on the screws and on-averages,” he said.

The high yield in the auction came in at 3.242 percent, not far off the rate at which the similar securities are trading in the open market.

Wednesday’s sale is the second in a week of three auctions worth $70 billion in total. The Treasury will auction $13 billion in 30-year reopened bonds on Thursday.

“Basically on the screws as the yield comes where market was trading at the time. Also just like yesterday participation levels look in-line with recent averages if you look how much dealers had to take down, how much the rest of the street bid on,” said Suvrat Prakash, US interest rate strategist with BNP Paribas in New York. (Reporting by Chris Reese and Burton Frierson: Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ECB says had no bids in 7-day dollar tender

June 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 2 (Reuters) – The European Central Bank received no bids for its latest offer of seven-day U.S. dollar funds on Wednesday.

The ECB reintroduced dollar lending last month as part of its response to the widening debt crisis, but banks have shown little appetite for funds.

For details, please see Reuters information page ECB27. (Reporting by Sakari Suoninen)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Euribor rates climb to five-month high

June 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 2 (Reuters) – Key euro-priced three-month bank-to-bank lending rates rose to a new five-month high on Wednesday as worries about the euro zone debt crisis continued to weigh on confidence in the region’s banking sector.

The three-month Euribor rate EURIBOR3MD=, traditionally the main gauge of interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks’ appetite for lending, rose to 0.704 percent from 0.702 percent, hitting its highest level since late December.

Six-month rates EURIBOR6MD= climbed to 0.994 percent from 0.991 percent while one-year rates EURIBOR1YD= rose to 1.266 percent from 1.262 percent. One-week rates EURIBORSWD= edged up to 0.363 percent from 0.361 percent.

The debt troubles hitting Greece and other financially strained euro zone countries have reignited fears about the region’s banks and forced the European Central Bank to reintroduce extra liquidity measures and abandon a long-held resistance to buying government bonds.

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 0900 GMT.

* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one week to one year, double click on EURIBOR=

* For a table of the previous day’s fixings of EONIA swap rates, which show market expectations for future overnight lending rates, double click on EONIAINDEX

* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right click on the links in angle brackets below, and select ‘Related Graph’ 1 week EURIBORSWD= EONIAINDEXSW= 2 week EURIBOR2WD= EONIAINDEX2W= 3 week EURIBOR3WD= EONIAINDEX3W= 1 month EURIBOR1MD= EONIAINDEX1M= 2 month EURIBOR2MD= EONIAINDEX2M= 3 month EURIBOR3MD= EONIAINDEX3M= 4 month EURIBOR4MD= EONIAINDEX4M= 5 month EURIBOR5MD= EONIAINDEX5M= 6 month EURIBOR6MD= EONIAINDEX6M= 7 month EURIBOR7MD= EONIAINDEX7M= 8 month EURIBORS8M= EONIAINDEX8M= 9 month EURIBOR9MD= EONIAINDEX9M= 10 month EURIBOR10MD= EONIAINDEX10M= 11 month EURIBOR11MD= EONIAINDEX11M= 1 year EURIBOR1YD= EONIAINDEX1Y=

(Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom; editing by John Stonestreet)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Euribor rates climb as euro tensions rumble on

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 1 (Reuters) – Key euro-priced three-month bank-to-bank lending rates rose to a new five-month high on Tuesday as fears about the euro-zone debt crisis continued to hit confidence between the region’s banks.

The three-month Euribor rate EURIBOR3MD=, traditionally the main gauge of interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks’ appetite for lending, rose to 0.702 percent from 0.701 percent, hitting its highest level since late December.

Six-month rates EURIBOR6MD= climbed to 0.991 percent from 0.989 percent while one-year rates EURIBOR1YD= rose to 1.262 percent from 1.260. Shorter-term one-week rates EURIBORSWD= edged down to 0.361 percent from 0.363 percent.

The debt troubles hitting Greece and other financially strained euro zone countries have reignited fears about region’s banks and forced the European Central Bank to reintroduce extra liquidity measures and abandon a long-held resistance to buying government bonds.

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 0900 GMT.

* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one week to one year, double click on EURIBOR=

* For a table of the previous day’s fixings of EONIA swap rates, which show market expectations for future overnight lending rates, double click on EONIAINDEX

* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right click on the links in angle brackets below, and select ‘Related Graph’ 1 week EURIBORSWD= EONIAINDEXSW= 2 week EURIBOR2WD= EONIAINDEX2W= 3 week EURIBOR3WD= EONIAINDEX3W= 1 month EURIBOR1MD= EONIAINDEX1M= 2 month EURIBOR2MD= EONIAINDEX2M= 3 month EURIBOR3MD= EONIAINDEX3M= 4 month EURIBOR4MD= EONIAINDEX4M= 5 month EURIBOR5MD= EONIAINDEX5M= 6 month EURIBOR6MD= EONIAINDEX6M= 7 month EURIBOR7MD= EONIAINDEX7M= 8 month EURIBORS8M= EONIAINDEX8M= 9 month EURIBOR9MD= EONIAINDEX9M= 10 month EURIBOR10MD= EONIAINDEX10M= 11 month EURIBOR11MD= EONIAINDEX11M= 1 year EURIBOR1YD= EONIAINDEX1Y= (Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tintin memorabilia raises $1 million in Paris auction

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – An auction of rare memorabilia of the Belgian cartoon series Tintin has raised more than 1 million euros ($1.23 million), organizers said on Monday.

Arts

The Tintin series, created by Georges Remi under the pen name Herge, has become one of the most popular comics in the world with translations in more than50 languages and 200 million copies of the 24 books sold.

There is huge appetite for collectors of anything related to the adventurous investigative reporter and his little white dog.

The Paris auction on May 29 included 230 items from about 70 collectors that even Herge’s foundation Moulinsart, a partner in the sale, never knew existed.

Total proceeds of the latest sale came to 1,072,110 euros, the organizers Piasa said in a statement.

The item which attracted the highest bid at 243,750 euros was a couple of frames from King Ottokar’s Sceptre.

In 2008, the original cover of “Tintin in America” sold for about 750,000 euros. Last year, a lot of almost 600 items, including hand-drawn original cartoon strips, raised nearly 1.2 million euros with buyers from as far away as China and Lebanon.

(Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Euro stresses push up key Euribor interbank rates

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

May 31 (Reuters) – Key euro-priced three-month bank-to-bank lending rates rose to a new five-month high on Monday as fears about the euro-zone debt crisis continued to hit confidence in the region’s banks.

The three-month Euribor rate EURIBOR3MD=, traditionally the main gauge of interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks’ appetite for lending, rose to 0.701 percent from 0.699 percent, hitting its highest level since late December.

Shorter-term one-week rates EURIBORSWD= rose to 0.363 percent from 0.361 percent, six-month rates EURIBOR6MD= inched up to 0.989 percent from 0.988 percent while one-year rates EURIBOR1YD= rose to 1.260 percent from 1.258.

The debt troubles hitting Greece and other financially strained euro zone countries has forced the European Central Bank to announce extra liquidity measures again and abandon a long-held resistance to buying government bonds.

It has reignited fears about the solvency and liquidity positions of the region’s banks.

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 0900 GMT.

* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one week to one year, double click on EURIBOR=

* For a table of the previous day’s fixings of EONIA swap rates, which show market expectations for future overnight lending rates, double click on EONIAINDEX

* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right click on the links in angle brackets below, and select ‘Related Graph’ 1 week EURIBORSWD= EONIAINDEXSW= 2 week EURIBOR2WD= EONIAINDEX2W= 3 week EURIBOR3WD= EONIAINDEX3W= 1 month EURIBOR1MD= EONIAINDEX1M= 2 month EURIBOR2MD= EONIAINDEX2M= 3 month EURIBOR3MD= EONIAINDEX3M= 4 month EURIBOR4MD= EONIAINDEX4M= 5 month EURIBOR5MD= EONIAINDEX5M= 6 month EURIBOR6MD= EONIAINDEX6M= 7 month EURIBOR7MD= EONIAINDEX7M= 8 month EURIBORS8M= EONIAINDEX8M= 9 month EURIBOR9MD= EONIAINDEX9M= 10 month EURIBOR10MD= EONIAINDEX10M= 11 month EURIBOR11MD= EONIAINDEX11M= 1 year EURIBOR1YD= EONIAINDEX1Y= (Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How a pet pooch can help treat Parkinson”s

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 13 (ANI): A significant treatment for Parkinson”s disease has been revealed by doctors – a pet pooch.

Health of a 28-year-old woman with the brain disease improved thanks to her pooch.

The woman, who started taking large doses of four different drugs a day to control symptoms three years after being diagnosed, had a morphine pump for 14 hours a day and her health was deteriorating fast.

But after being given a highland terrier by a friend, docs reported improvements in symptoms and a drop in the drugs she needed, reports The Sun.

What’s more, she no longer needed her daily morphine.

Doctors at Imperial College London, who report her case in the Journal Of Neurology, said: “Remarkably sustained benefits occurred, with improvement in her walking and symptoms including appetite, sleep and bowel function, as well as socialisation.”

Docs are not able to zero in on the reason as to how the dog had such a dramatic effect, but they say that having to walk, feed and look after the pet encouraged her to exercise regularly. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Veggies in first course can improve preschoolers’ appetite

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 6 (ANI): Providing vegetables in the first course of lunch to preschoolers may increase their chances of eating more vegetables, say researchers.

Penn State nutrition researchers conducted several experiments based on the portion of nutrient-rich, low-calorie foods given to children and adults and found some interesting results.

Children were provided with no carrots or 30 grams (about 1 ounce), 60 grams (about 2 ounces), or 90 grams (about 3 ounces) of carrots as the first course of their lunch.

The children had 10 minutes to eat the carrots, after which researchers served them pasta, broccoli, unsweetened applesauce, and low-fat milk.

The result was that as the veggie portions of the first course of the meal were increased, so did the consumption for subsequent veggie portions.

When the children received 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of carrots at the start of the meal, their broccoli intake rose by nearly 50 percent compared to having no carrots as a first course. But when the first course was increased to 60 grams (about 2 ounces) of carrots, average broccoli consumption nearly tripled to about 63 grams — or a third of the recommended vegetable intake for preschool children.

“We gave the children carrots first without other competing foods,” explained Barbara J. Rolls, Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences. “When they are hungry at the start of the meal, it presents us with an opportunity to get them to eat more vegetables.”

This study not only suggested that a healthy veggie snack may prompt more appetite for vegetables, but also challenged the fact that children do not like veggies.

The team”s findings appear in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kids eat more fruit ‘when it looks good’

May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 5 (ANI): Want to make your kid eat more apples, strawberries and grapes? Well, then try to make the fruits look good.

A new study, published in journal Appetite, studied nearly 100 pupils in the Netherlands and Belgium to reach the above conclusion, reports The BBC.

In the study, children aged four to seven were presented apples, strawberries and seedless grapes in different ways.

When given a choice, the children plumped for these fruits more readily when they were made into a hedgehog – skewered with colourful cocktail sticks that were pierced into a watermelon.

The same cubed fruits didn’t entice the children”s palates when they were simply offered on a white dish.

The study found that kids ate nearly twice as much of the “fun” fruit, even though they said they understood that both fruit options should taste the same.

Attractive packaging and “perhaps adding a little toy, like the toy that comes with a Happy Meal, to the packaging could make this kind of snack even more appealing”, the boffins told the journal.

“It is probably necessary for parents and food producers to remain innovative,” they added.

Dr Laura Wyness of the British Nutrition Foundation said: “It is advisable to try to make food as appetising as possible.

“How food looks probably does have quite an influence, especially for kids who are getting used to different types of food.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Marriage hadn”t changed Tiger”s appetite for sex, says in-the-know journo

May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 4 (ANI): Tiger Woods would have long been exposed as a love rat, if only a People magazine reporter would have written about his philandering ways.

Steve Helling, who has now written a book, titled ‘Tiger’ on the ace golfer, said that he had a chance to expose Woods as a cheater long before his scandal broke in November 2009 – but chose not to.

“Over the years, I had heard rumours of Tiger”s partying – drunken nights at the clubs, dirty dancing with other women, phone numbers slipped to pretty blonds – but I didn”t follow up on the tips,” the New York Daily News quoted Helling as saying in the tome.

And Helling concealed all this because he didn”t want to be cut off from the golden golfer.

“Negative coverage of Tiger – or even positive coverage that wasn”t approved and micromanaged – would often result in swift, permanent excommunication from the Tiger Woods camp. It was in everyone”s best interest to sweep the rumours under the rug,” he wrote.

And now that the cat is out of the bag, Helling is spilling the beans too.

“Marriage hadn”t changed Tiger”s appetite for sex, and he was always on the prowl for women,” he said of Woods.

He claimed that Woods was apparently looking around as soon as he and Elin Nordegren said “I do” in 2004.

According to Helling, a television producer source said: “[Tiger] dated a lot of girls even after he was married to Elin. When he was filming some commercials at Universal Studios, he asked out a few girls, and this was after he was married. If they said no, he”d move on.””

Helling insists that he wasn”t the only one who ignored the whispers of Tiger”s infidelities.

He claims that a club owner in Florida who saw Tiger “drinking and dancing with a woman who wasn”t his wife” in 2006 called several weeklies with the story.

“No one returned his calls, and the one person he spoke with told him that they weren”t interested in the story,” said Helling.

And that’s why Tiger stayed in bed with his mistresses – and out of the headlines – during his supposedly squeaky-clean 13 years in the public eye, which got shattered in the past months.

“It took 13 calculated years to meticulously shape his image. It took two weeks to destroy it,” said Helling. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cannibal croc ends fast with chicken dinner

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The manager of a Sydney wildlife park says a saltwater crocodile that made a name for itself in Darwin after eating two prospective mates has put its life in the Top End behind it.

The 4.6-metre reptile, known in Darwin as Igor, is now called Rex and lives in Darling Harbour in a specially designed enclosure where the water is warmed to 30 degrees Celsius.

It was sent to the harbour city in December after killing two prospective mates at the Darwin Crocodile Farm.

Concerns were raised over how Rex was settling in to his new surrounds after he lost his appetite.

The crocodile broke a three-month fast yesterday when it devoured a chicken.

Sydney Wildlife World’s life sciences manager, Mark Craig, says there is nothing unusual about the reptile’s three-month fast.

“If after six months he hadn’t eaten then perhaps we would be starting to get a little bit worried,” Mr Craig said.

And he says the animal has finally taken control of its new territory.

“I hate to say this, but I think maybe Darwin is a bit of a distant memory now and it’s all about Sydney, Darling Harbour,” he said.

In light of the crocodile’s taste for the opposite sex, Mr Craig says the reptile will spend its remaining years as a bachelor.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

James Cameron criticises conversion of films to 3D

March 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 26 (ANI): James Cameron has slammed the procedure employed by some filmmakers to convert films lensed in 2D to the 3D format.

According to Cameron, making a movie in 3D – like he filmed Avatar – ensures better quality over subsequent conversion.

Cameron said filmmakers “should have been pounding on the gates of the studios saying we want to make movies in 3D.”

However, the Titanic director, 55, pointed out that the appetite for 3D films might soon dip.

“The problem is these decisions should be made by film-makers, they shouldn”t be made by studios, because if it was up to studios they”re going to sacrifice quality for lower cost,” the BBC quoted Cameron, as saying.

Cameron has also disclosed plans to convert Titanic into 3D, but said he will take his time and not go with a “slapdash conversion”. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eating healthy food when choice is limited can make you feel more hungry

March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 23 (ANI): Healthy food makes consumers feel hungrier when choices are limited, according to a new American study.

The research has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research.

University of Chicago researchers Stacey Finkelstein and Ayelet Fishbach analysed external controls in the domain of healthy eating — such as marketers who only offer shoppers healthy food samples or consumers who eat healthy meals in a restaurant that only offers healthy alternatives.

The authors write: “In the presence of external controls, people who eat healthily feel that they have made sufficient progress on their health goals.

“Then, they switch to the conflicting goal to satisfy their appetite: they express hunger and seek food.”

In one experiment, the authors told people their job was to taste a food that was described as healthy or tasty (imposed conditions) or had people choose between the same food samples (free-choice conditions). Thereafter the volunteers rated their hunger.

The authors say: “People who were given a food sample described as healthy rated they were hungrier than those who were given the same sample framed as tasty and delicious.

“Those who freely chose the food sample were equally hungry. Thus, only those who were given the healthy food sample (imposed consumption) became hungrier.”

In another study, participants were given a sample of the same piece of bread that was described as healthy (low-fat with lots of vitamins) or tasty (delicious with a thick crust and soft center). They also asked people how much they valued watching their weight.

The authors note: “People given the bread described as healthy were hungrier, thus they consumed more of an available snack, than those given the same piece described as tasty.”

But the effect disappeared for those who valued watching their weight; they chose to eat the healthy bread.

The authors conclude: “When controlling agents take actions to help consumers meet their long-term objectives, people need to infer that they have made the choice to do so themselves. Otherwise, these efforts will backfire.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Titanic’ to be re-released in 3D, says James Cameron

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 16 (ANI): Director James Cameron has revealed that he will re-release his 1997 hit ‘Titanic’ in 3D.

The movie may hit screens in 2012, to mark 100 years since the sinking of the ship.

“We”re targeting spring of 2012 for the release (of a 3D version of Titanic), which is the 100 year anniversary of the sailing of the ship,” the Daily Star quoted him as telling USA Today.

The helmer also plans to re-release his recent blockbuster ‘Avatar’ later this year.

He added: “The wildcard is that we might be re-releasing the movie this fall. It”s kind of gotten stomped out (in theatres since the release) of Alice in Wonderland. The word we”re getting back from exhibitors is we probably left a couple of hundred million dollars on the table as a result.

“The question is the appetite still going to be there after the summer glut of movies. We”re going to assess that. We”re talking about maybe adding in additional footage and doing something creative.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Key 3-month Euribor rate falls to record low

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

FRANKFURT, Mar 1 (Reuters) – The key 3-month Euribor interest rate fell to record lows on Monday as the glut of cash pushed into markets by the European Central Bank kept downward pressure on bank-to-bank lending rates.

The three-month rate EURIBOR3MD=, traditionally the main gauge of interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks’ appetite for unsecured lending fell to 0.655 percent from the previous record low of 0.656 percent.

Other Euribor rates rose. The six-month rate EURIBOR6MD= increased to 0.959 percent from 0.958 percent, the one-year rate EURIBOR1YD= rose to 1.216 percent from 1.215 percent and the shorter-term one-week rate EURIBORSWD= inched up to 0.344 percent from 0.341 percent.

The ECB is due to announce on March 4 how it will proceed with phasing out its emergency lending measures brought in during the financial crisis.

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 1000 GMT.

* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one week to one year, double click on EURIBOR=

* For a table of the previous day’s fixings of EONIA swap rates, which show market expectations for future overnight lending rates, double click on EONIAINDEX

* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right click on the links in angle brackets below, and select ‘Related Graph’ 1 week EURIBORSWD= EONIAINDEXSW= 2 week EURIBOR2WD= EONIAINDEX2W= 3 week EURIBOR3WD= EONIAINDEX3W= 1 month EURIBOR1MD= EONIAINDEX1M= 2 month EURIBOR2MD= EONIAINDEX2M= 3 month EURIBOR3MD= EONIAINDEX3M= 4 month EURIBOR4MD= EONIAINDEX4M= 5 month EURIBOR5MD= EONIAINDEX5M= 6 month EURIBOR6MD= EONIAINDEX6M= 7 month EURIBOR7MD= EONIAINDEX7M= 8 month EURIBORS8M= EONIAINDEX8M= 9 month EURIBOR9MD= EONIAINDEX9M= 10 month EURIBOR10MD= EONIAINDEX10M= 11 month EURIBOR11MD= EONIAINDEX11M= 1 year EURIBOR1YD= EONIAINDEX1Y= (Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blame the brain for overeating

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 14 (ANI): The next time you sabotage your efforts to get back on track after bingeing on an extra scoop of ice cream blame the brain, says a new study.

A new study, from UT Southwestern Medical Center, has suggested that fat from certain foods we eat makes its way to the brain. Once there, the fat molecules cause the brain to send messages to the body’s cells, warning them to ignore the appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin, hormones involved in weight regulation.

The researchers also found that one particular type of fat – palmitic acid – is particularly effective at instigating this mechanism.

“Normally, our body is primed to say when we’ve had enough, but that doesn’t always happen when we’re eating something good,” said Dr. Deborah Clegg, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the rodent study appearing in the September issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

“What we’ve shown in this study is that someone’s entire brain chemistry can change in a very short period of time. Our findings suggest that when you eat something high in fat, your brain gets ‘hit’ with the fatty acids, and you become resistant to insulin and leptin,” Dr. Clegg said.

“Since you’re not being told by the brain to stop eating, you overeat,” the expert added.

Although it is known that eating a high-fat diet can cause insulin resistance, little has been known about the mechanism that triggers this resistance or whether specific types of fat are more likely to cause increased insulin resistance.

Dr. Clegg said she suspected the brain might play a role because it incorporates some of the fat we eat – whether it is from healthy oils or the not-so-healthy saturated fat found in butter and beef – into its structure.

Based on this suspicion, her team attempted to isolate the effects of fat on the animals’ brains.

To reach the conclusion, researchers exposed the animals to fat in different ways: by injecting various types of fat directly into the brain, infusing fat through the carotid artery or feeding the animals through a stomach tube three times a day. The animals received the same amount of calories and fat; only the type of fat differed. The types included palmitic acid, monounsaturated fatty acid and oleic acid.

Palmitic acid is a common saturated fatty acid occurring in foods such as butter, cheese, milk and beef. Oleic acid, on the other hand, is one of the most common unsaturated fatty acids. Olive and grapeseed oils are rich in oleic acid.

“We found that the palmitic acid specifically reduced the ability of leptin and insulin to activate their intracellular signaling cascades,” Dr. Clegg said.

“The oleic fat did not do this. The action was very specific to palmitic acid, which is very high in foods that are rich in saturated-fat,” the expert added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts