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Purveyor's JournalMich. Gov. Snyder Declares Financial Emergency In Detroit; Emergency Manager Candidate In Mind
Source: Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday he has declared a financial emergency in Detroit, a determination that could lead to the appointment of an emergency manager over the city's finances.
Snyder told The Associated Press that his decision on whether to appoint an emergency manager will come after the city's 10-day appeals process. He said Mayor Dave Bing's office already has been notified of a March 12 hearing date.
Snyder said he already has a candidate in mind for the emergency manager position, but declined Friday to released details about that person.
The move was all but guaranteed after a review team reported to Snyder on Feb. 19 that Detroit was in a financial emergency and needed the state's help to emerge from it. A review team first looked into Detroit's books in December 2011, but stopped short of declaring a financial emergency.
Read more: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/6509aabc8a34416287673f2ce127453b/US--Detroit-Finances-Emergency-Manager
Syrian Rebel Chief Says His Fighters Are In Desperate Need Of Weapons, Not Food, Bandages
Source: Associated Press
Associated Press, Updated: Friday, March 1, 11:52 AM
BEIRUT — The chief of Syrian rebel forces said Friday that his fighters are in “desperate” need of weapons and ammunition rather than the food supplies and bandages that the U.S. now plans to provide.
The Obama administration on Thursday announced it was giving an additional $60 million in assistance to the country’s political opposition and said that it would, for the first time, provide non-lethal aid directly to rebels battling to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The move was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at an international conference on Syria in Rome, and several European nations are expected in the coming days to take similar steps in working with the military wing of the opposition in order to ramp up pressure on Assad to step down and pave the way for a democratic transition.
A number of Syrian opposition figures and fighters on the ground, however, expressed disappointment with the limited assistance.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Activists+Bodies+most+them+shot+head+found+road+near+Syrian/8034623/story.html
Google CFO Says Company Keeping $48 Billion Cash Stash For Possible Acquisitions, Investments
By Associated Press, Published: February 28
SAN FRANCISCO — Google plans to cling to its bulging stash of cash to pay for potential acquisitions and other technology investments that might boost future profits, a top executive said Thursday.
Patrick Pichette, who oversees Google Inc.’s bank accounts as the company’s chief financial officer, explained the company’s rationale for hoarding $48 billion in cash during a technology conference hosted by Morgan Stanley.
“It serves the shareholder best to actually have that strategic ability to pounce” when there is the opportunity to make a major acquisition, Pichette said.
Although he didn’t identify possible takeover candidates for the future, Pichette cited Google’s $12.4 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility last year as a prime example of why the company believes it needs to have lots of money at its disposal. Although Motorola has been a financial drag on the company so far, Google believes having it will ultimately will help it put its digital services on more smartphones and tablet computers.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-cfo-says-company-keeping-48b-in-back-packet-for-possible-acquisitions-investments/2013/02/28/da38a138-81da-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_print.html
NFL To Investigate Improper Questions About Sexual Orientation
Questions by team representatives regarding sexual orientation to collegiate players hoping for a multi-million-dollar National Football League career have prompted an investigation by the league.
An NFL statement on its website said the league would look into reports that prospects were asked improper questions at the NFL Scouting Combine, four days of physical tests and interviews that ended Tuesday in Indianapolis.
University of Colorado tight end Nick Kasa first raised the issue in a radio interview with ESPN on Tuesday.
“(Teams) ask you like, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ ‘Are you married?’ ‘Do you like girls?’, those kinds of things,” Kasa said. “It was just kind of weird, but they would ask you with a straight face.”
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/28/nfl-to-investigate-improper-questions-about-sexual-orientation/
Israel ‘To Delay Settlement Starts For Obama Trip’
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, March 1, 2013 6:59 EST
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned settler housing tenders being issued for the West Bank and east Jerusalem when US President Barack Obama visits this month, a daily said Friday.
Netanyahu had told officials the “suspension” did not amount to a freeze in settlement construction, and that it would only be in place up until the end of Obama’s trip to avoid “embarrassing” leaders, Maariv newspaper reported.
In March 2010, Israel sparked the ire of the US administration by announcing, during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, that 1,600 new homes would be built in the east Jerusalem quarter of Ramat Shlomo.
“According to instructions provided by the prime minister’s office to the appropriate officials in the ministries of defence and housing, no new tenders for housing will be issued for these areas in the coming weeks,” said Maariv.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/01/israel-to-delay-settlement-starts-for-obama-trip/
Chrysler And Whole Auto Industry Adding Jobs To Meet Surging Sales
Indiana plant gets jobs boost, along with Michigan, Tennessee and other statesPosted: Feb 28, 2013
As consumers pile back into the market for a new car, the good news is that high-value auto manufacturing jobs keep getting added, and in cities that can sure use the help.
The latest is Chrysler, which on Feb. 28, announced it was investing $400 million into its two plants in Indiana, creating 1,250 new jobs.
It's the latest in a series of investments by the automaker that has resulted in the creation of 8,000 new positions since Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 and has been managed by Italian automaker Fiat. The new project also protects the jobs of another 3,400 jobs in Kokomo, Indiana a hub of automotive parts manufacturing.
"Chrysler's future and the future of North Central Indiana are tied together, and that future has never looked brighter," said Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, following the announcement by Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.
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http://autos.aol.com/article/chrysler-and-whole-auto-industry-adding-jobs-to-meet-surging-sal/
Consumer Confidence Jumped In February On Job Market Improvement
By Jim Puzzanghera
March 1, 2013, 7:51 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Consumer confidence surged in February as the improving job market offset concerns about higher taxes and looming federal spending cuts, according to a leading private barometer.
The monthly consumer sentiment index from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan rose 5.1% last month from January. The new reading of 77.6 also was up 3.1% from a year earlier.
“Consumer confidence continued to improve in February due to expected gains in employment," said Richard Curtin, the survey's chief economist. "These expected job gains have partially offset concerns about higher payroll taxes and the impending reduction in federal spending."
Although the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% in January, the economy added 157,000 new jobs and figures for the last three months of 2012 were revised sharply upward. Weekly jobless claims have been trending down.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-consumer-confidence-jobs-economy-20130301,0,5803904.story
Syria Rebels Seek Premier-in-Waiting as U.S. Steps Up Help
By Donna Abu-Nasr - Mar 1, 2013
Syrian opposition groups are debating who should head a provisional government as they prepare for an Istanbul meeting to announce their first formal alternative to President Bashar al-Assad’s administration.
Abdelbaset Sieda, a former head of the Syrian National Council, the biggest faction in the coalition that’s meeting in Istanbul, said his group will submit three candidates at the meeting. The prime minister will be chosen “preferably by consensus” rather than through a vote, he said.
It’s not clear when the meeting, originally scheduled for March 2, will take place. The coalition said on its Facebook page yesterday that it has been delayed for “logistical reasons.”
The announcement of a transitional government comes as the U.S. and other international backers of the opposition in Syria push for an end to a conflict that began almost two years ago and has left more than 70,000 people dead, according to United Nations estimates.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-28/syria-rebels-seek-premier-in-waiting-as-u-s-steps-up-support.html
Kerry To Chide Turkish PM Over Zionism Comments
ANKARA | Fri Mar 1, 2013 10:34am EST
(Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to take Turkey's prime minister to task for describing Zionism as a crime against humanity, an attack on a key U.S. ally that has overshadowed their talks on the crisis in neighboring Syria.
Kerry, on his first trip to a Muslim nation since taking office, is meeting Turkish leaders for talks meant to focus on Syria's civil war and bilateral interests from energy security to counter-terrorism.
But comment by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan at a U.N. meeting in Vienna this week, condemned by his Israeli counterpart, the White House and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has clouded his trip.
"This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity ... It does have a corrosive effect (on relations)," a senior U.S. official told reporters as Kerry flew to Ankara.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/01/us-usa-turkey-idUSBRE9200EB20130301
Manufacturing in U.S. Grew in February by Most Since June 2011
Source: Bloomberg
By Alex Kowalski - Mar 1, 2013
Manufacturing in the U.S. expanded at a faster pace than forecast in February, reaching the highest level since June 2011 as factories boosted production.
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index advanced to 54.2, from 53.1 in January, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today. The figures exceeded the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey in which the median projection was 52.5. A reading greater than 50 signals expansion.
Orders expanded the most in almost two years, the report showed, as manufacturers such as Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) emerged from an industry setback in the second half of 2012. The production gains complement a rebound in the housing market and help underpin the economy amid budget disputes in Washington.
“Things are starting to improve for manufacturing, and the improvements are starting to build on each other,” Michael Montgomery, a U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said before the report. “Inventory growth has turned the corner. Orders have picked up finally.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-01/ism-index-of-u-s-manufacturing-increased-to-54-2-in-february.html
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