The European Central Bank said low inflation in the 17-nation euro area allowed policy makers to cut interest rates last week, as economists lowered forecasts for consumer prices and economic growth.
The decision was
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GILLETTE, Wyo. • While mine workers converge on St. Louis for a pivotal bankruptcy court hearing involving Patriot Coal, the St. Louis company that helped give birth to Patriot is holding its annual shareholders meeting more than 1,000 miles away.
Peabody Energy is holding its annual shareholders meeting in Wyoming to highlight the importance of the coal-rich Powder River Basin.
One of the world’s largest coal producers, Peabody owns three mines in the basin, including the North Antelope Rochelle mine Internet Payday loans.
One group critical of the company, Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, claims the company is trying to avoid hearing concerns in its hometown.
Company spokeswoman Beth Sutton says the company periodically holds board meetings, like the one it is holding Monday, in places where it has operations.
A Muslim woman has been ordered to remove her niqab when she testifies at the preliminary hearing for two men she alleges sexually assaulted her years ago.
“Permitting her to wear her niqab while testifying in court does … create a serious risk to trial fairness,” Ontario Court Justice Norris Weisman wrote in his nine-page decision. “Her credibility is very much in issue and unfortunately, no accommodation of the parties conflicting Charter rights is possible.”
It is the second time Weisman has ruled N.S. – known in court by her initials – should remove the face covering when testifying in court.
He released his written ruling Wednesday.
The woman’s lawyer, David Butt, said his client is “disappointed” and he will be asking a Superior Court judge to quash the decision obliging her to remove the face covering.
The judge should have considered expert testimony about the “substantial body of evidence” that says facial expressions are not helpful in judging whether a person is telling the truth, Butt said. Butt said he will promptly file the papers seeking the review, which will put next week’s preliminary hearing on hold again.
In 2008, Weisman ruled she should be required to testify with her face bare after finding her “religious belief is not that strong.”
That decision was appealed to two higher courts before landing in the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to him last December payday loans for bad credit.
His latest decision says he is satisifed her wish to wear her niqab is based “on a religious belief that is both sincere and strong.” However, Weisman said he is concerned that her “overwhelming negative emotions in having her face exposed to public …will adversely affect her ability to tell the truth as she sees it, resulting in a wrongful acquittal of the accused and consequent loss of public confidence in the administration of justice.
“I am even more concerned, however, that her niqab will impair accurate assessment of her demeanour and credibility, resulting in wrongful convictions, loss of freedom for the accused, and loss of public respect for the justice system.”
The complainant, now 37, alleges she was sexually abused as a child by an uncle and another man over a five year period from 1982 to 1987.
Last week, lawyers revisited the veil issue. The Supreme Court said a judge’s decision on whether to allow the face-covering must be made on a case-by-case basis.
The court said judges should consider four questions before making a decision, including whether permitting a witness to wear a niqab would create a serious risk to trial fairness.
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Toronto judge in niqab case ‘fair in his treatment of everybody’
The Ontario Provincial Police have lifted the Amber Alert for a 13-year-old girl.
Victoria Larabie was found in Durham region just after 9 p.m. Sunday night.
She is from Douro-Dummer Township, near Peterborough. She was reportedly picked up by someone driving a black SUV around 11:30 a.m. Sunday near Norwood, approximately 30 kilometres northeast of Peterborough, heading towards Hwy. 115.
Larabie’s grandmother reported her missing to err on the side of caution, said Const. Iain McEwan of the Peterborough OPP.
The dawn of the age of aerial civilian drones is rich with possibilities for people far from the war zones where they made their devastating mark as a weapon of choice against terrorists.
The unmanned, generally small aircraft can steer water and pesticides to crops with precision, saving farmers money while reducing environmental risk. They can inspect distant bridges, pipelines and power lines and find hurricane victims stranded on rooftops.
Drones _ some as tiny as a hummingbird _ promise everyday benefits as broad as the sky is wide. But the drone industry and those eager to tap its potential are running headlong into fears the peeping-eye, go-anywhere technology will be misused.
Since January, drone-related legislation has been introduced in more than 30 states, largely in response to privacy concerns. Many of the bills would prevent police from using drones for broad public surveillance or to watch individuals without sufficient grounds to believe they were involved in crimes.
Stephen Ingley, executive director of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association, says resistance to the technology is frustrating. Drones “clearly have so much potential for saving lives, and it’s a darn shame we’re having to go through this right now,” he said.
But privacy advocates say now is the time to debate the proper use of civilian drones and set rules, before they become ubiquitous. Sentiment for curbing domestic drone use has brought the left and right together perhaps more than any other recent issue.
“The thought of government drones buzzing overhead and constantly monitoring the activities of law-abiding citizens runs contrary to the notion of what it means to live in a free society,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said at a recent hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With military budgets shrinking, drone makers have been counting on the civilian market to spur the industry’s growth. Some companies that make drones or supply support equipment and services say the uncertainty has caused them to put U.S. expansion plans on hold, and they are looking overseas for new markets.
“Our lack of success in educating the public about unmanned aircraft is coming back to bite us,” said Robert Fitzgerald, CEO of the BOSH Group of Newport News, Va., which provides support services to drone users.
“The U.S. has been at the lead of this technology a long time,” he said. “If our government holds back this technology, there’s the freedom to move elsewhere … and all of a sudden these things will be flying everywhere else and competing with us.”
Law enforcement is expected to be one of the bigger initial markets for civilian drones. Last month, the FBI used drones to maintain continuous surveillance of a bunker in Alabama where a 5-year-old boy was being held hostage.
In Virginia, the state General Assembly passed a bill that would place a two-year moratorium on the use of drones by state and local law enforcement. The measure is supported by groups as varied as the American Civil Liberties Union on the left and the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation on the right.
Gov. Bob McDonnell is proposing amendments that would retain the broad ban on spy drones but allow specific exemptions when lives are in danger, such as for search-and rescue operations. The legislature reconvenes on April 3 to consider the matter.
Seattle abandoned its drone program after community protests in February. The city’s police department had purchased two drones through a federal grant without consulting the city council.
In Congress, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-chairman of the House’s privacy caucus, has introduced a bill that prohibits the Federal Aviation Administration from issuing drone licenses unless the applicant provides a statement explaining who will operate the drone, where it will be flown, what kind of data will be collected, how the data will be used, whether the information will be sold to third parties and the period for which the information will be retained.
Privacy advocates acknowledge the many benign uses of drones. In Mesa County, Colo., for example, an annual landfill survey using manned aircraft cost about $10,000. The county recently performed the same survey using a drone for about $200.
Drones can help police departments find missing people, reconstruct traffic accidents and act as lookouts for SWAT teams. Real estate agents can have them film videos of properties and surrounding neighborhoods, offering clients a better-than-bird’s-eye view though one that neighbors may not wish to have shared.
“Any legislation that restricts the use of this kind of capability to serve the public is putting the public at risk,” said Steve Gitlin, vice president of AeroVironment, a leading maker of smaller drones.
Yet the virtues of drones can also make them dangerous, privacy advocates say. The low cost and ease of use may encourage police and others to conduct the kind of continuous or intrusive surveillance that might otherwise be impractical.
Drones can be equipped with high-powered cameras and listening devices, and infrared cameras that can see people in the dark.
“High-rise buildings, security fences or even the walls of a building are not barriers to increasingly common drone technology,” Amie Stepanovich, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Council’s surveillance project, told the Senate panel.
Civilian drone use is limited to government agencies and public universities that have received a few hundred permits from the FAA. A law passed by Congress last year requires the FAA to open U.S. skies to widespread drone flights by 2015, but the agency is behind schedule and it’s doubtful it will meet that deadline. Lawmakers and industry officials have complained for years about the FAA’s slow progress.
The FAA estimates that within five years of gaining broader access about 7,500 civilian drones will be in use.
Although the Supreme Court has not dealt directly with drones, it has OK’d aerial surveillance without warrants in drug cases in which officers in a plane or helicopter spotted marijuana plants growing on a suspect’s property.
But in a case involving the use of ground-based equipment, the court said police generally need a warrant before using a thermal imaging device to detect hot spots in a home that might indicate that marijuana plants are being grown there.
In some states economic concerns have trumped public unease. In Oklahoma, an anti-drone bill was shelved at the request of Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, who was concerned it might hinder growth of the state’s drone industry. The North Dakota state Senate killed a drone bill in part because it might impede the state’s chances of being selected by the Federal Aviation Administration as one of six national drone test sites, which could generate local jobs.
A bill that would have limited the ability of state and local governments to use drones died in the Washington legislature. The measure was opposed by the Boeing Co., which employs more than 80,000 workers in the state and which has a subsidiary, Insitu, that’s a leading military drone manufacturer.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., recently drew attention to the domestic use of drones when he staged a Senate filibuster, demanding to know whether the president has authority to use weaponized drones to kill Americans on American soil. The White House said no, if the person isn’t engaged in combat. Industry officials worry that the episode could temporarily set back civilian drone use.
“The opposition has become very loud,” said Gitlin of AeroVironment, “but we are confident that over time the benefits of these solutions are going to far outweigh the concerns, and they’ll become part of normal life in the future.”
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Associated Press writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.
World stock markets recovered from earlier losses as trading in the U.S. started, with investors monitoring Cypriot talks to get a bailout that can spare the country from financial ruin.
Separately, Japanese stocks tumbled after the country’s new central bank chief, Haruhiko Kuroda, delivered his first speech since taking office. Kuroda reiterated a pledge to bring Asia’s second biggest economy out of deflation but disappointed investors by offering few specifics.
In Europe, Cyprus was scrambling to agree on a plan for recapitalizing its banks and appeared to be returning to an altered form of a plan it rejected earlier this week: allowing depositors to take losses on accounts containing more than (EURO)100,000 at its second-largest and most stressed bank, Laiki.
Cyprus’s banks have been closed for a week, and the European Central Bank has threatened to cut off an emergency program supporting them if a solution is not found by the end of Monday.
“The ECB has put an impressive literal gun at the head of Cyprus as banks would probably go bust without…(support) once they re-open their doors,” said ING economist Carsten Brzeski in a note. “However, it is hard to imagine that the ECB would really be willing to be the one to pull the trigger which could eventually even lead to a Cypriot exit from the eurozone.”
Britain’s FTSE 100 turned positive and rose 0.3 percent to 6,406.26. Germany’s DAX lost 0.1 percent to 7,927.49, and France’s CAC-40 was also down just 0.1 percent to 3,771.82.
Wall Street opened higher, with the Dow rising 0.4 percent to 14,476.79 the broader S&P 500 index up by the same rate to 1,552.46.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 2.4 percent to close at 12,338.53 after Kuroda’s remarks.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.5 percent to 22,115.30. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.1 percent at 1,948.71. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia also fell.
Mainland Chinese shares gained for the fourth straight trading day, with the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.1 percent to 2,328.28 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 960.84.
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 rose 0.2 percent to 4,967.30.
Oil prices rose, with benchmark crude for May delivery up 20 cents to $92.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York.
The euro rose to $1.2946 from $1.2899 in late trading Thursday, while the dollar was steady against the yen at 94.89.
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Associated Press Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this story from Hong Hong.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will probably take two lessons from better-than- forecast job growth: his record easing is working, and the Fed should press on with its $85 billion monthly bond purchases.
Employment rose 236,000 in February for the third monthly increase above 200,000 in four months, pushing down the jobless rate to a four-year low of 7.7 percent, according to Labor Department data released today.
Shipping analysts are getting more bearish on the outlook for rates to haul iron ore and coal as China, the biggest consumer of both commodities, grows at the slowest pace in three years at a time of record fleet expansion.
Capesizes, each holding about 180,000 metric tons of cargo, will earn an average of $11,709 a day in 2012, the lowest in at least 14 years, the median of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows. They predicted $15,000 in a December survey. The fleet will expand 13 percent this year, compared with a 4 percent advance in cargo volumes, according to London-based Clarkson Plc (CKN), the world
The FR-S represents a huge departure for Toyota’s Scion brand. For starters, it looks really good.
Second, it offers genuinely remarkable performance. At its best, the FR-S harkens back to old-school sports cars with ample — but not absurd — power output, glove-tight steering and a ride that’s very firm but still not too punishing considering all the fun you’re having.
That’s if you’re the driver, of course. Your passengers might not be having such a good time. Besides the firm ride, the FR-S’s backseats are awfully snug. This is one of those cars in which the driver’s absolutely got the best seat in the house. (Keep in mind, not all cars in this class even have backseats. At least they’re there in a pinch.)
The weight balance is nearly perfect. The center of gravity feels as if it hovers somewhere just over the 6-speed gearshift lever. The small, lightweight car is a blast to throw around curves and corners.
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The engine is a pleasure to push all the way to its redline and its 200 horsepower output felt like more than enough to play with. My only real complaint was a clutch that engaged too abruptly and too high. It made it hard to shift smoothly, especially in the higher gears, a fact that only added to passenger annoyance. The car I was given to test was a pre-production prototype, though, so this may be something that’s been changed in the final production cars.
The FR-S is the fruit of a collaboration between Toyota () and Fuji Heavy Industry ()’s Subaru division. (Toyota owns 16.5% of Fuji.) A nearly identical car will be sold as the Subaru BRZ.
Toyota did some engineering work on the engine, which retains Subaru’s famous "boxer" shape in which the cylinders go straight out to the sides. Toyota takes credit for most of the car’s very un-Subaru-like exterior design. Subaru engineers did most of the work on the suspension.
In the United States, Subaru has long been known for selling only all-wheel drive cars, so this model represents somewhat of an adjustment for that brand, too. Subaru fans may find it an adjustment worth making.
Shares of casual-dining chains are rallying, even with Americans eating out less, as investors speculate about acquisitions and prefer holding stocks with little foreign exposure.
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