Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Rates for U.S. 30 year mortgages dropped to the lowest level on record as the number of homeowners seeking to reduce their monthly payments soared. The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan for the week ending Jan. 19 fell to 3.88 percent, an all time record low, and down from 3.89 percent in the prior week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The average rate on 15-year mortgage edged up slightly, ending the current week at 3.17 percent, a hair higher than last week’s [...] Continue Reading…
Mortgage rates hit another record low
January 23rd, 2012 
davidguide Nation’s Mayors Support Gay Marriage But Complain About Unemployment
January 21st, 2012 davidguide Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal Correspondent
DC, Washington, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up its winter meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepping into controversies on same sex marriage and education. Emanuel joined about 80 other mayors from across the nation in endorsing laws to give legal recognition to same sex marriage, along with the tax breaks and other benefits spouses can share. The mayors signed on to a statement that said, “Our cities derive great strength from their diversity and gay and lesbian families are a crucial [...] Continue Reading…
Visions for a healthier West Bank economy
January 13th, 2012 davidguide Ramallah, Palestinian Territory (IRIN) – Izz Tawil draws a black circle on the flip-chart in his office in Ramallah, capital of the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). “The Palestinian economy is a closed cash-circle,” the general manager of the Palestinian microfinance network Sharakeh explains. He goes on to draw several small arrows on the line, meant to indicate different elements of an isolated system: At the bottom, there is the construction worker, who gets his salary from a company contracted by the Palestinian Authority (PA), while the PA itself is kept alive through foreign [...] Continue Reading…
Mortgage rates fall to new lows
January 13th, 2012 davidguide Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – If it sounds like you have heard this before you are right. Mortgage rates have fallen once again to a record low. On Thursday, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages fell to 3.89 percent in the current week. That is below the previous record low set three weeks ago of 3.91 percent. The average on 15-year fixed mortgages inched down to an average 3.16 percent from a record low of 3.21 percent, also set three weeks ago. Average [...] Continue Reading…
Lawsuit Accuses Company Of Fraudulently Cycling Patients Through Nursing Homes, Hospice Care
January 5th, 2012 davidguide Plano, TX, United States (KaiserHealth) – A national hospice company improperly cycled patients through nursing homes and hospice with a goal of making as much profit as possible from Medicare, according to a whistleblower lawsuit announced this week. Federal attorneys also sued the hospice company, AseraCare, alleging it milked Medicare’s hospice benefit by pressuring its employees to enroll people into hospice who weren’t dying and resisted discharging them despite evidence they weren’t deteriorating. One hospice patient who should have been immobile from end-stage heart disease was healthy enough to go to his granddaughter’s graduation and a berry-picking excursion [...] Continue Reading…
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger pleased about Henry’s return
January 3rd, 2012 davidguide AHN Sports Staff
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN Sports) – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is excited over Thierry Henry’s return on a two-month loan from the New York Red Bulls. “I have done this for footballing reasons because I need a striker for two months and I don’t have one at the moment,” Wenger said, according to The Guardian. “Thierry’s value is on the pitch. I felt that at the World Cup [last year], when he came on for France against South Africa, he gave something to the team. He has something. He knows where to be. He knows [...] Continue Reading…
S&P index says home prices down for sixth straight month
December 28th, 2011 davidguide Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – U.S. residential house prices dropped by 1.2 percent in October compared with September, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index. In addition, S&P/Case-Shiller issued a negative outlook for housing prices. “There was weakness in the monthly statistics, as 19 of the cities posted price declines in October over September,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. “Nationally, home prices are still below where they were a year ago.” It was the sixth consecutive month of decline. Prices were down by 3.4 [...] Continue Reading…
Mortgage rates fall to historic lows once again
December 24th, 2011 davidguide Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – How low can they go? That is the question many people are asking after the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages hit new lows again for the week ending Dec. 22. The average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages fell to a record 3.91 percent. It marks the third time in 2011 that rates have hit new lows. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reports the rate on the 30-year home loan fell from 3.94 percent from a week ago. The average on the 15-year fixed [...] Continue Reading…
Canada denies Iran a consulate in Vancouver
December 20th, 2011 davidguide Matthew Borghese – AHN News Contributor
Vancouver, BC, Canada (AHN) – Canada will not allow Iran to establish a diplomatic consulate in Vancouver as tensions rise over Tehran’s continued push for nuclear power. Current Canadian sanctions against Iran ban direct air travel and only allows for an official embassy in Ottawa. Canada only holds official talks with Iran on a small range of topics, including human rights and nuclear proliferation. However, Iranian-Canadians say the current policy forces them to mail vital documents to the capital in order to receive consular support. Iran does not allow for dual-citizenship and the [...] Continue Reading…
Israel faces housing bubble – or bust, OECD warns
December 14th, 2011 davidguide The Media Line Staff
Jerusalem, Israel David Rosenberg (The Medi – Home prices – an anxious subject for both Israeli consumers and policy makers as they first raced higher and then suddenly started to sink – remain a threat to the economy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned on Monday. Although the price rises have eased as the government has clamped down on mortgage lending, Israel is by no means out of the hole yet, the Paris-based organization said in a report. Israel faces a twin risk of prices spiraling upward to bubble levels, if current [...] Continue Reading…
