Canada's impending housing collapse not in sight | Mortgages ...

OTTAWA ? Not so fast. The purported collapse of Canada?s housing market does not appear to be in sight, and any correction down the road could likely be a mild one.

'Sorry to inform you, but Canada's Great Real Estate Crash has been postponed'

The Canadian Real Estate Association data is latest to suggest our housing market is healthier than we thought and looks set for a rebound in 2014. Continue reading.

Recent data have defied warnings from market watchers of an impending plunge ??caused mainly by the impact of tighter mortgage rules imposed by the federal government last summer to slow the race by consumers for record-low lending rates.

The latest figures show sales of existing homes strengthened for a second month in May, up by a seasonally adjusted 3.6%, after declining 10% between July and March.

The Canadian Real Estate Association, in a report Monday, also said home prices were up 3.7% in May from the same month a year earlier, to a national average of $388,910.

For all of this year, CREA pegs the average price rise at 2.1%, to $370,900, weaker but far removed from correction territory. And in 2014, the average value is expected to rise 1.8% to $377,700, the Ottawa-based industry group said.

?Prices remain stable, perhaps maddeningly so for the legions of bubble mongers,? said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Mr. Porter noted the May data show ?housing remains on track for a fabled soft landing ? making a mockery of talk of an imminent collapse.?

Prices remain stable, perhaps maddeningly so for the legions of bubble mongers

While CREA still anticipates sales to fall 2.5% in total during 2013 compared to 2012 ??to 443,400 units from 454,573 ? home buying should rebound to 464,300 units in 2014, a jump of 4.7%.

Last July, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced stricter mortgage lending rules, the fourth such move in four years. The changes included a shorter amortization period for mortgages insured by government-owned Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in an effort to limit lending to those least able to afford it.

Mr. Flaherty went even further, subsequently warning banks not to pursue ?race-to-the-bottom? rates for mortgages that could further pile on household debt beyond already record-high levels and reignite those concerns over a possible housing bubble.

Much of his expressed concern was focused on condominium building in Toronto and Vancouver, which it was feared might result in a glut and possible crash in those markets.

?History tells us that the impact from changes to mortgage insurance rules tend to be temporary, lasting up to three quarters,? said Diana Petramala, at TD Economics.

Ms. Petramala agrees Canada?s housing market appears to be headed for a soft landing, ?with sales and prices growing at more sustainable levels than had been the case through 2010 and 2011.?

The spark that helped ignite the housing frenzy initially came from policymakers at the Bank of Canada. Led by then-governor Mark Carney, the bank slashed its trendsetting lending rate to 25 basis points in 2009 to spur spending by households and businesses coming out of the recession.

While that rate was subsequently raised to 1% in September 2010, it has not been adjusted since. Many economists do not expect that to change until at least late 2014.

?As long as interest rates stay low, affordability will remain relatively high. We have many times changed the mortgage rules, and we were attacking the wrong source of the problem,? said Charles St-Arnaud, an economist at Nomura Global Economics in New York.

History tells us that the impact from changes to mortgage insurance rules tend to be temporary

?The reason why the housing market was so strong was, basically, interest rates were so low. The issue was not the availability of credit, it was the price at which it was given,? he said.

?If you were to give the same availability but, let?s say, 200 basis points higher, I don?t think we would be here in terms of the housing market.?

Mr. Carney has also been adamant ??along with Mr. Flaherty ? that consumers need to tighten their belts, warning household debt posed the biggest threat to the Canadian economy.

That mantle of concern has been passed to Stephen Poloz, who on June 3 replaced Mr. Carney ? soon to be the new Bank of England governor.

Mr. Poloz delivers his first public speech on Wednesday. Titled ?Recovery: Rebuilding Confidence in Canada,? he is expected to touch on business and consumer spending during his address and a news conference that follows.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/06/17/canadas-impending-housing-collapse-not-in-sight/

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NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? NASA has eight new astronauts ? its first new batch in four years.

The space agency announced its newest astronaut class Monday. Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. A female helicopter pilot also is in the group. In fact, four of the eight are women, the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected by NASA.

The eight were chosen from more than 6,000 applications, the second largest number ever received. They will report for duty in August at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says these new candidates will help lead the first human mission to an asteroid, and then Mars.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-picks-8-astronauts-4-them-women-151019151.html

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Feds to comply with NY morning-after pill ruling

NEW YORK (AP) ? The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions.

The Department of Justice, in the latest development in a complex back-and-forth over access to the morning-after pill, notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman it will submit a plan for compliance. If he approves it, the department will drop its appeal of his April ruling.

"Once the court confirms that the government's understanding is correct, the government intends to file with the Circuit Court notice that it is voluntarily withdrawing its appeal in this matter," the department said in a letter to the judge.

Last week, the appeals court dealt the government a setback by saying it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency contraception until the appeal was decided. That order was met with praise from advocates for girls' and women's rights and with scorn from social conservatives and other opponents, who argue the drug's availability takes away the rights of parents of girls who could get it without their permission.

Advocates for girls' and women's rights said Monday the federal government's decision to comply with the judge's ruling could be a move forward for "reproductive justice" if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acts quickly and puts emergency contraception over the counter without restriction.

Annie Tummino, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit over unrestricted access to the morning-after pill and coordinator of the National Women's Liberation, said women and girls should have "the absolute right to control our bodies without having to ask a doctor or a pharmacist for permission."

"It's about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control," she said in an emailed statement.

The government had appealed the judge's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

It asked the judge to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case. But the judge declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales of the morning-after pill was "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result if the judge's ruling were enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female hormone progestin than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent, but it works best within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the pill, which prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg, has no effect.

The Food and Drug Administration was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in early May that Plan B One-Step, the newer version of emergency contraception, the same drug but combined into one pill instead of two, could be sold without a prescription to those age 15 or older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

The judge later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established "nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.

He also said they placed a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those age 17 or over to show proof-of-age identification at pharmacies. He cited studies showing that blacks with low incomes are less likely than other people to have government-issued IDs.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feds-comply-ny-morning-pill-ruling-235524089.html

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We want your UFC 161 picks

Time to make your picks for UFC 161, which is going down this Saturday in Winnipeg. Head to Cagewriter's Facebook page to vote on who you think will win. Tell us why your pick will win in the comments.

Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson
Stipe Miocic vs. Roy Nelson
Alexis Davis vs. Rosi Sexton
Pat Barry vs. Shawn Jordan
Ryan Jimmo vs. Igor Pokrajac

Some pick will be chosen to appear on Cagewriter this Friday. Vote early, comment often, and check back on Friday to see if your pick made the post.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/want-ufc-161-picks-134305516.html

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Shape of nanoparticles points the way toward more targeted drugs

June 10, 2013 ? Conventional treatments for diseases such as cancer can carry harmful side effects -- and the primary reason is that such treatments are not targeted specifically to the cells of the body where they're needed. What if drugs for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other diseases can be targeted specifically and only to cells that need the medicine, and leave normal tissues untouched?

A new study involving Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute's Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., contributing to work by Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D., at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that the shape of nanoparticles can enhance drug targeting. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that rod-shaped nanoparticles -- or nanorods -- as opposed to spherical nanoparticles, appear to adhere more effectively to the surface of endothelial cells that line the inside of blood vessels.

"While nanoparticle shape has been shown to impact cellular uptake, the latest study shows that specific tissues can be targeted by controlling the shape of nanoparticles. Keeping the material, volume, and the targeting antibody the same, a simple change in the shape of the nanoparticle enhances its ability to target specific tissues," said Mitragotri.

"The elongated particles are more effective," added Ruoslahti. "Presumably the reason is that if you have a spherical particle and it has binding sites on it, the curvature of the sphere allows only so many of those binding sites to interact with membrane receptors on the surface of a cell."

In contrast, the elongated nanorods have a larger surface area that is in contact with the surface of the endothelial cells. More of the antibodies that coat the nanorod can therefore bind receptors on the surface of endothelial cells, and that leads to more effective cell adhesion and more effective drug delivery.

Testing targeted nanoparticles

Mitragotri's lab tested the efficacy of rod-shaped nanoparticles in synthesized networks of channels called "synthetic microvascular networks," or SMNs, that mimic conditions inside blood vessels. The nanoparticles were also tested in vivo in animal models, and separately in mathematical models.

The researchers also found that nanorods targeted to lung tissue in mice accumulated at a rate that was two-fold over nanospheres engineered with the same targeting antibody. Also, enhanced targeting of nanorods was seen in endothelial cells in the brain, which has historically been a challenging organ to target with drugs.

Nanoparticles already used in some cancer drugs

Nanoparticles have been studied as vessels to carry drugs through the body. Once they are engineered with antibodies that bind to specific receptors on the surface of targeted cells, these nanoparticles also can, in principle, become highly specific to the disease they are designed to treat.

Ruoslahti, a pioneer in the field of cell adhesion -- how cells bind to their surroundings -- has developed small chain molecules called peptides that can be used to target drugs to tumors and atherosclerotic plaques.

Promising results

"Greater specific attachment exhibited by rod-shaped particles offers several advantages in the field of drug delivery, particularly in the delivery of drugs such as chemotherapeutics, which are highly toxic and necessitate the use of targeted approaches," the authors wrote in their paper.

The studies demonstrate that nanorods with a high aspect ratio attach more effectively to targeted cells compared with spherical nanoparticles. The findings hold promise for the development of novel targeted therapies with fewer harmful side effects.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/-2pz26i9faM/130610152138.htm

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Feds to comply with NY morning-after pill ruling

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The federal government on Monday, June 10, 2013 told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. (AP Photo/Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., File)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The federal government on Monday, June 10, 2013 told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. (AP Photo/Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions.

The Department of Justice, in the latest development in a complex back-and-forth over access to the morning-after pill, notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman it will submit a plan for compliance. If he approves it, the department will drop its appeal of his April ruling.

"Once the court confirms that the government's understanding is correct, the government intends to file with the Circuit Court notice that it is voluntarily withdrawing its appeal in this matter," the department said in a letter to the judge.

Last week, the appeals court dealt the government a setback by saying it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency contraception until the appeal was decided. That order was met with praise from advocates for girls' and women's rights and with scorn from social conservatives and other opponents, who argue the drug's availability takes away the rights of parents of girls who could get it without their permission.

Advocates for girls' and women's rights said Monday the federal government's decision to comply with the judge's ruling could be a move forward for "reproductive justice" if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acts quickly and puts emergency contraception over the counter without restriction.

Annie Tummino, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit over unrestricted access to the morning-after pill and coordinator of the National Women's Liberation, said women and girls should have "the absolute right to control our bodies without having to ask a doctor or a pharmacist for permission."

"It's about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control," she said in an emailed statement.

The government had appealed the judge's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

It asked the judge to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case. But the judge declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales of the morning-after pill was "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result if the judge's ruling were enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female hormone progestin than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent, but it works best within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the pill, which prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg, has no effect.

The Food and Drug Administration was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in early May that Plan B One-Step, the newer version of emergency contraception, the same drug but combined into one pill instead of two, could be sold without a prescription to those age 15 or older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

The judge later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established "nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.

He also said they placed a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those age 17 or over to show proof-of-age identification at pharmacies. He cited studies showing that blacks with low incomes are less likely than other people to have government-issued IDs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-10-Morning-After%20Pill/id-5f7783aa7065428fa043427098072621

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'New' provider Tagtel Communications (aka Pecus) prepares to ...

If you have had just average interest knowing the companies that have Internet Access Provider (IAP) licenses in Zimbabwe, you probably always had a lingering?question about the companies?POTRAZ lists on their website as licensed. Well, one company in particular ? a Pecus Enterprises. The issue is that they have been almost invisible despite being licensed along with the other 11 providers several years ago.

The information we?re getting indicates the company is preparing to launch services in January 2014 and it will be operating under the name ?Tagtel Communications?. Our source wasn?t clear what?s been holding the company all along but says that they are now installing base stations and should be ready to roll out services come January.

Scouring the net for the name ?Tagtel? yielded this press release by a UK company that apparently sold Tagtel network equipment to manage DNS services back in 2011. Yes, two years ago! This may ofcourse?indicate that the company has actually been offering services, maybe to select customers.

As for the services they will offer, we?re expecting something along the lines of the other IAPs like Africom, PowerTel, Aquiva, Aptics and so forth. Which means primarily broadband internet with some mild attempts at competing in the voice market against the 3 mobile sisters. But maybe they?ll suprise!

We contacted Tagtel Communications via phone but the people that answered said the CEO (the only one who could speak to us) was coming in later in the?day, then we were told he is out of the country. Usually means they won?t speak yet.

?image credit: ~Pyb

Source: http://www.techzim.co.zw/2013/06/new-provider-tagtel-communications-aka-pecus-prepares-to-launch/

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