Regulators move forward on foreclosure relief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Borrowers whose homes were foreclosed on during the U.S. housing crisis will start receiving payments in April from a $3.6 billion fund under a previously announced settlement with 13 banks, regulators said on Thursday.

Certain borrowers whose mortgages were serviced by one of the 13 banks can expect to receive between a few hundred dollars and $125,000, under settlements designed to end case-by-case reviews of past foreclosures.

The Office of the Comptroller Currency and the Federal Reserve in 2011 ordered banks including Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Wells Fargo to review individual loan files after widespread mistakes were discovered in the way mortgage servicers had processed home seizures.

The reviews were initially expected to determine which borrowers were harmed and to compensate them based on their individual experiences. The process proved slow and expensive, though, with more than $1.5 billion going to consultants.

In January regulators replaced the reviews with about $9.3 billion in settlements, including $3.6 billion in cash payments to foreclosed borrowers. Struggling borrowers will receive the rest of the money in the form of assistance, including loan modifications and forgiveness.

By the end of March, regulators will provide information about the payments to borrowers who fall into one of 11 categories, including those eligible for protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, those who were not in default when foreclosed on, and those denied a loan modification, the OCC said.

Regulators are still determining how many borrowers fall into each category, OCC Deputy Comptroller Morris Morgan said on a conference call with reporters. Once they have that figure, they can calculate how much money each borrower is likely to receive, he said.

DECLINING ERROR RATE

The OCC and the Fed have faced criticism from Congress over both the reviews and the settlement that ended them. Lawmakers have asked for more information about the consultants who conducted the reviews and what they turned up.

Regulators initially said about 6.5 percent of the loans reviewed appeared to have some errors. On Thursday Morgan said that error rate had declined, but did not provide a specific figure.

The banks are expected to try to keep borrowers in their homes, but the settlement does not mandate specific kinds of relief.

The servicers will receive varying degrees of credit for modifying first and second loans, waiving deficiency judgments, offering short sales, and other types of relief.

Three servicers subject to the original reviews, Everbank, OneWest and GMAC Mortgage, did not enter into the settlements and will continue their reviews, the OCC said.

(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/regulators-move-forward-foreclosure-relief-171456794--sector.html

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Budget 2013 Minor sops Income Tax payers surcharge on super rich ...

Walking a tight rope ahead of next year?s General Elections, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday did not tinker with the Income Tax slabs or rates while presenting the Union Budget 2013-14 in the Lok Sabha. As part of his tax proposals, he gave a benefit of Rs 2,000 to individual tax payers with taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh.

Chidambaram also imposed a surcharge of 10% on those earning over Rs 1 crore in a year. This surcharge has been imposed on individuals, HUFs, firms and entities with a similar tax status. The surcharge would be payable for the 2013-14 fiscal only.

The Finance Minister announced that first-home buyer who takes a loan for an amount not exceeding Rs 25 lakh would be allowed an additional deduction of interest of Rs 1 lakh to be claimed in assessment year 2014-15 with spillover effect.

But in bad news for consumers, the Finance Minister made mobile phones, cigarettes and luxury vehicles costlier by hiking duties on these products.

Chidambaram also announced the setting up of Nirbhaya Fund for women safety and allocated Rs 1,000 crores to it.

In the earlier part of his speech, Chidambaram noted that the global economic growth has slowed, including that of India. He however added that high growth is a novelty and not beyond India?s capacity.

Highlights of Union Budget for 2013-14

Personal Tax Corporate Tax Direct Tax
Indirect Tax Tax Reforms Growth, Inflation
Fiscal Health Rural, Social Sector Agriculture, Food
Financial Sector, Banks Infrastructure Subsidy
Estimates Miscellaneous

Personal Tax

No case to revise either tax slabs or rates
Personal income tax slabs unchanged FY14
Some relief to tax payers in Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh bracket
Tax credit of 2,000 rupees for incomes of upto 5 lakh rupees
Surcharge of 10% on people with income over 10 mln rupees
Surcharge on high income tax payers only for one year
Only 42,800 tax payers with income over 10 mln rupees
Education cess to continue at 3%
Donation to national children fund to get 100% tax relief

Corporate Tax

10% surcharge on cos with income above 100 mln rupees
Dividend distribution surcharge raised to 10% vs 5%
GAAR modified provisions seen effective Apr 1, 2016
20% withholding tax on profits distributed by unlisted cos
Tax holiday for power plants extended to Mar 2014
Sops for power projects to continue for 1 year
15% tax on dividend from overseas arms to continue
Financial institutions securitisation trust exempted from tax

Direct Taxes

Direct tax proposals to yield 133 bln rupee FY14
To introduce DTC Bill before end of Budget Session
To incorporate Jan decisions on anti-tax avoidance rule
Direct Taxes Code work in progress
Tax on MF redemption, purchase on exchanges cut to 0.001%
Agricultural land exempt from TDS on property deals
Royalty to overseas parents to attract 25% tax vs 10%
No income tax on investor protection fund of depositaries
1% TDS on immovable property transfer of over 5 mln rupee

Indirect Taxes

Indirect tax proposals to yield 47 bln rupee FY14
No change in standard rate of excise duty
No change in peak basic custom duty rate on non-agri goods
No change in standard rate of service tax
Customs duty on leather making machine cut to 5.0% vs 7.5%
Transaction tax of 0.01% on non-farm commodities future
Commodity Transaction tax on non-farm derivatives trade
Transaction tax on equity futures cut to 0.01% vs 0.017%
Pegs FY14 customs revenue at 1.87 trln rupees
To impose service tax on all air-conditioned restaurants
Sops for low-cost housing to continue
Films exhibited in cinema halls to have no service tax
Moots voluntary compliance encouragement plan for service tax
Vocational courses exempt from service tax
Coir, jute handmade carpets exempt from excise duty
Farm produce testing service included in negative list
Export duty on rice bran oil, oil cakes withdrawn
To provide certain concessions to aircraft MRO industry
To up import duty on set-top boxes to 10% from 5%
Cut custom duty on leather footware machines to 5% vs 7.5%
Import duty on raw silk to be raised to 15% from 5%
10% export duty on unprocessed ilmenite
2% customs duty on bituminous coal
To up import duty on luxury cars to 100% from 75%
Import duty on yatchs raised to 25% from 10% now
Duty on 800CC motor cycles raised to 75% vs 60%
Zero excise duty on cotton, fibre
Handmade jute, coir carpets to be excise duty exempt
Zero excise duty on cotton at fibre stage
To up specific excise duty on all cigarettes by 18%
To raise excise duty on non-taxi SUVs to 30%
Female passengers can get 100,000 rupees duty-free gold
Male passengers can get duty-free gold worth 50,000 rupees
Ships, vessels exempted from excise duty
To up duty on mobile phones above 2,000 rupees to 6%
No change in mobile phone excise duty up to 2,000 rupees
Excise duty on marble hiked to 60 rupee/sq mtr vs 30 rupee
Basic customs duty on dehulled oatgrains cut to 15%
No change in 10% basic customs duty on non-farm products

Tax Reforms

To set up tax administration reform commission
Little room to raise taxes in constrained economy
Need for state and central govts to pass a GST law
Draft bill on GST in Parliament in next few months
2 additions to service tax negative list
Include vocational courses in negative list
One-time amnesty scheme for service tax due from 2007
Allocates 90 bln rupee as CST compensation to states
To encourage voluntary compliance to boost service tax collection

Growth, Inflation

Final GDP growth rate would be lower than CSO, RBI view
CSO estimated FY13 GDP growth at 5%
RBI estimated GDP growth at 5.5% FY13
Overall GDP growth rate seen at 6.1-6.7% in FY14
Global economic growth slowed to 3.2% in FY12 from 3.9% FY11
Challenge to achieve trend growth rate of 8%
Only China to grow faster than India in FY14
Average GDP growth of 8% in 11th Plan
Growth is highest goal
Achieving high growth not beyond our capacity
No development, inclusiveness without high growth
Can achieve faster growth rates as seen earlier
Growth a necessary condition for development
Battle against inflation must be fought on all fronts
Food inflation is worrying
Govt spend is both good, bad from inflation perspective
Need to augment supply side to fight food inflation
Oilseed, pulses supply-demand mismatch pushes up inflation
No choice but to rationalise spending
Govt expenditure boosts aggregate demand
Efforts over last few months brought down WPI inflation to 7%
Efforts in last few months brought down core inflation to 4.5%
India can become 7th largest economy by 2017
Can become USD 5 trillion economy by 2025
We have achieved high growth before, can do it again
UPA govt believes in inclusive development

Fiscal Health

FY13 net short-term borrowing revised to 457 bln rupees
FY13 fiscal deficit estimate revised to 5.2% of GDP
Need to bring down fiscal deficit to 3% by FY17
FY13 revenue deficit revised at 3.9% of GDP
Need to bring down revenue deficit to 1.5% by FY17
Need to have zero effective revenue deficit FY17
FY13 divestment mop-up seen 240 bln rupees
FY13 gross market borrowing seen at 5.58 trln rupees
Pegs FY15 fiscal deficit at 4.2%; 3.6% in FY16
FY13 Plan expenditure was too ambitious
FY13 non-Plan expenditure too conservative
12th Plan total expenditure revised to 14.31 trln rupees
FY13 Plan spend too ambitious, non-Plan too conservative
Fiscal consolidation can?t be done only by spend cuts
Current account deficit high on gold, coal imports
Need to encourage foreign investment
Need USD 75 bln to finance current acct gap over next 2 yrs
Current account deficit high on oil imports
India doesn?t have choice between FII and FDI
Foreign investment is an imperative
No choice but to encourage foreign investment
Faced with huge fiscal gap, no choice but curtail spend
Economic space constrained by high fiscal gap
Hope FY14 Budget will be testimony to inclusive growth
Exports, imports amount to 43% of GDP
Economic space constraints due to high fiscal deficit
Reliance on FX inflows to fund current acct deficit
Current account gap is greater worry
Gross domestic savings down 6% in FY12
To remove distrust in minds of investors
Will improve communication of our policies to investors
Doing business in India should seem mutually beneficial
Pvt sector remains main contributor to savings
Econ space constraints on low saving, tight RBI policy
Global crisis spared none
India not unaffected by what is happening in rest of world
There is no reason for gloom or pessimism

Rural, Social Sector

Giving enough funds to programmes for women, children
Allocate 415.61 bln rupees for Scheduled Castes sub-plan
Gender budget allot 971.34 bln rupees FY14
Funds for the sub-funds cannot be diverted
Allotment to minority ministry 35.11 bln rupees FY14
To allot more 2 bln rupee to child, women welfare ministry
To allot 373.3 bln rupees for health, family welfare
To allot 1.1 bln rupees to disability dept FY14
373.3 bln rupees for health, family welfare in FY14
To allot 47.27 bln rupees for medical training & research
To allot 658.67 bln rupees to human resource ministry
212.39 bln rupees in FY14 for new national health mission
Allocate 658.67 bln rupees to human resource department
Allot 16.5 bln rupees to 6 AIIMS-like institutes
FY14 for new national health mission allocation up 24%
Allot 272.58 bln rupees to Sarva Shiksha mission
To allot 272.58 bln rupees for Sarva Shiksha scheme
132.15 bln rupees for mid-day meal scheme FY14
To create opportunities for youth to get skills for jobs
To allot 245.98 bln rupees to the tribal sub-plan
Allocate 415.61 bln rupees for Scheduled Castes sub-plan
To allot 772.36 bln rupees to child budget FY14
Allot for girl child development plan 52.84 bln rupees
To allot 177 bln rupees for child development scheme
Allocation for HRD 17% over FY13 revised estimate
To allot 152.6 bln rupees for drinking water, sanitation
Allot 177 bln rupees for early childhood care, education
14 bln rupees for water purification plans FY14
To allot 801.9 bln rupees for UPA flagship schemes FY14
Allocates 330 bln rupees for rural employment scheme
To allot 151.84 bln rupees for Indira Awas scheme
To launch new scheme for rural road development
MNREGA allocation hiked to 330 bln rupees FY14
Allocates 148.73 bln rupees Nehru urban renewal mission
PM rural road scheme for Andhra, Maharashtra
PM rural road scheme for Haryana, Rajasthan
PMGSY allocation for FY14 at 217 bln rupees
1.5 bln rupees for healthcare plan for elderly
To allot 115 bln rupees for Backward Region Fund
Skilled, trained youth to give enormous boost to economy
To give 10 bln rupees to skill development fund for youth
Made modest, cautious start for direct cash transfer Jan 1
Direct cash transfer scheme covered 1.1 mln people so far
Cities above 100,000 population to have pvt FM channels
Viability gap funds to city bodies for energy from waste
115 bln rupees for backward regions grant fund FY14
To cut number of centrally-sponsored plans to 70 vs 173

Agriculture, Food

To allot 270.49 bln rupees for agri ministry FY14
FY14 farm credit target 7 trln rupees
To allot 34.15 bln rupees for agri research
Farm credit will top FY13 target of 5.75 trln rupees
Interest subvention for short-term farm loans to continue
Farm loan Interest subvention Plan to continue
5 bln rupees for crop diversification programme
Farmers who repay loan on time will get loan at 4%
To allot 5 bln rupees for crop diversification programme
To spend 10 bln rupee on green revolution in east India
10 bln rupees to eastern states for farm development
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas scheme to get 99.54 bln rupees FY14
Allot 22.5 bln rupees for food security mission
To allot 53.87 bln rupees for integrated watershed plan
11th plan growth in farm sector was 3.6%
FY13 total food grain output over 250 mln tn
Farm exports were 1.384 trln rupees in Apr-Dec
To allot 50 bln rupees to NABARD for warehouses FY14
2 bln rupees for pilot plan for nutri-farms
To allocate 10 bln rupees to rice-producing East states
Plant Protection Institute to be set up in Chhattisgarh
Indian Institute of Bio-Technology to be set up at Ranchi
To launch national livestock mission in FY14
Allot 750 mln rupee for coconut rejuvenation pilot plan
To allot 3.07 bln rupees for National livestock mission
750 mln rupee more for revival of coconut palm in Kerala
Allot 100 bln rupees for food security plan FY14
Credit guarantee fund to be created for small farmers
1 bln rupee credit guarantee fund for small farmers
Food security bill a promise of UPA govt

Financial Sector, Banks

To introduce investment allowance for high value invest
To introduce 15% investment allowance to attract invest
Rajiv equity plan to be eased; to cover MF investments
Rajiv Gandhi equity plan invest cap up by 200,000 rupees
15% deduction for invest up to 1 bln rupees till FY15
Expect to raise 250 bln rupees via tax-free bonds FY13
Pvt sector infra investment seen 47% in 12th plan
To allow some institutions to issue tax-free bonds FY14
To OK 500 bln rupee tax-free bonds in FY14
To encourage infra debt funds to boost infra growth
PSU banks well regulated, must be adequately capitalised
To allot 140 bln rupees for capital infusion in PSU banks
140 bln rupees to PSU banks for recapitalisation FY14
Will ensure PSU banks always meet Basel III norms
Gave 125 bln rupees to PSU bks for recapitalisation FY13
PSU banks assured all branches to have ATMs by Mar 2014
Plan to set up exclusive bank for women
To provide 10 bln rupees initial capital for women?s bank
Plan council for international competitiveness of financial sector
To allot 60 bln rupees for rural housing fund under NHB
License to women bank by Oct 2013
To provide 60 bln rupees for rural housing fund
20 bln rupee allocation to create urban housing fund
NHB to set up urban housing fund
KYC of banks sufficient for insurance policies
Insurance cos can open Tier 2 city branch without IRDA nod
Banking correspondence can sell micro-insurance products
Towns with 10,000 people to have LIC, GIC offices
Inflation indexed bonds to be introduced
To launch inflation-indexed certificates
To introduce inflation linked instruments
Scope of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to be expanded
Hope insurance, PFRDA bill will be passed in this session
India capital market best regulated
OK to FII to trade in exchange traded FX derivatives
SEBI to ease norms for foreign portfolio investment
Allow FIIs to use corporate bond income for margin need
SMEs will be allowed to be listed without IPO
FII status for investment less than 10% in a company
FDI status for investment over 10% in a company
Distributors can become members of exchanges? MF segment
Stock Exchanges to have dedicated debt segment
MF distributors allowed to become stock exchange members
Insurance, pension cos can directly trade in debt segment
Exchanges can introduce dedicated debt segment
ETFs will be eligible for pension, insurance investment
Post offices to move to core banking solutions
To give 5.32 bln rupees for core banking at post offices
5.3 bln rupees to post offices for core banking solution
To allot 3 bln rupees for mother, child nutrition plan

Infrastructure

IIFCL, ADB to offer credit enhancement for infra cos
Rural Infra Dev Fund corpus raised to 200 bln rupees
To set up regulatory authority for road sector
Road construction facing financial stress
To set up regulatory body for road sector
Revival of invest in manufacturing sector a key challenge
30 bln rupee road projects to be awarded in Apr-Sep
To allot 148.73 bln rupees for JNNURM
To use bulk of Nehru urban renewal Plan for buying buses
To buy 10,000 buses from fund of Nehru urban renewal plan
Infra debt funds to be encouraged
12th plan projects $1 trln for infra invest
1.51 trln rupees for textile upgradation fund 12th Plan
Allocates 500 mln rupees to set up apparel parks
960 mln rupees for interest subvention in textile FY14
Loans at 6% rate for women textile entrepreneurs
Assure support to commerce ministry to boost exports
Initial work on Chennai-Bengaluru corridor started
To give Delhi-Mumbai corridor more funds if needed
To set up 2 new ports at Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal
2 ports at Andhra, W Bengal to add 100 mln tn capacity
To have Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial corridor
Plan grid connecting waterways, roads, ports
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Project has made rapid progress
Oil, gas policy to move to revenue sharing model
Natural gas pricing policy to be reviewed
Work on 2 new smart industrial cities will start FY14
Natural gas policy will be reviewed
To announce policy on Shale gas exploration
Shale gas projects to be encouraged
To move oil E&P pacts to revenue sharing from profit sharing
Must reduce dependence on imported coal
5 mtpa LNG terminal to be fully operational in FY14
Coal import estimated to rise to 185 mln tn by FY17
To cut dependence on coal import in medium-, long-term
States must prepare plans immediately for power distribution cos
Urge state govts to approve recast of electricity boards
To give 5 bln rupee to SIDBI for factoring loan guarantee
To double SIDBI?s refinance capacity to 100 bln rupees
Non-tax sop to MSME to stay 3 yr post move to higher class
Non-tax benefits to MSME for 3 yrs after moving higher
MSME benefits to stay 3 yrs post move to higher category
Textile tech upgrade scheme to get 24 bln rupees FY14
Additional tax sop for first time home owners
Up to 2.5 mln rupee 1st home loan to get more tax cut
No custom duty for plant, machinery for semi-conductors
Wind energy sector deserves incentives
Generation-based incentives for wind energy projects
To expand pvt FM stations to 294 more cities
294 more cities to be connected by FM radio
To auction 839 more radio channels in FY14

Subsidy

FY14 total subsidy seen 2.31 trln rupees
FY14 petroleum subsidy seen 650 bln rupees
FY13 petroleum subsidy seen 969 bln rupees
FY14 food subsidy seen 900 bln rupees
FY13 food subsidy seen 850 bln rupees
FY13 fertiliser subsidy seen 660 bln rupees
FY14 fertiliser subsidy seen 660 bln rupees

Estimates

FY14 total spend pegged at 16.65 trln rupees
FY14 total Plan spend pegged at 5.55 trln rupees
FY14 Plan spend 29.4% more than FY13 revised estimates
FY14 non-Plan expenditure estimated 11.09 trln rupees
FY14 gross market borrowing seen at 6.29 trln rupees
FY14 net market borrowing seen at 4.84 trln rupees
FY14 fiscal deficit projected at 4.8% of GDP
FY14 revenue deficit projected at 3.3% of GDP
FY14 total capital receipts seen at 6.09 trln rupees
Pegs FY14 excise revenue at 1.975 trln rupees
FY14 divestment mop-up aim at 400 bln rupees
Pegs FY14 svc tax revenue at 1.80 trln rupees
Pegs FY14 non-tax revenue at 1.72 trln rupees
FY14 divest mop-up in non-government cos seen 140 bln rupees
FY14 short-term borrowing pegged 198.4 bln rupees
FY14 gilt redemptions seen at 1.45 trln rupees
FY14 nominal GDP growth pegged 13.4%
Pegs FY14 gross tax revenue at 12.36 trln rupees
Pegs FY14 corporate tax revenue at 4.195 trln rupees
Kept 500 bln rupees for gilt buyback/switch
Gilt buyback/switches for better debt management
Miscellaneous capital receipts pegged 558.14 bln rupees
FY14 total non-debt receipts pegged 664.68 bln rupees
Net MSS receipts pegged 200 bln rupees
FY14 external assistance pegged 105.6 bln rupees
FY14 small savings receipt seen at 57.98 bln rupees
FY14 recovery from loans, advances seen 106.54 bln rupees
FY14 defence allocation 2.03 trln rupees
867.4 bln rupees in FY14 for defence CAPEX
To allot 62.7 bln rupees to science, technology ministry
Allocate 39.83 bln rupees for high school education scheme
58.8 bln rupees for department of atomic energy
To allot 56.15 bln rupees to Department of Space
Transfer to state, Union Territories 5.87 trln rupee FY14

Miscellaneous

Initiatives underway to ensure women security
Allot 10 bln rupees for ?Nirbhaya? women safety fund
To set up national institute of sports coaching
To provide 2.5 bln rupees for sports university at Patiala
Allot 2.5 bln rupee to sports coaching institute over 3 yr
Grant 1 bln rupee each to four universities
1 bln rupee grant each to Aligarh, Banaras universities
Allocate 1 bln rupee grant to TISS, Guwahati

Source: http://www.9newz.com/udget-2013-minor-sops-income-tax-payers-surcharge-on-super-rich

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Pit blaze could be dying embers for Britain's coal mines

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's burning coal pit may herald the last act for UK underground coal mining, which is already battling greener government policy and cheap imports from Colombia, Russia and the United States.

The fire, which erupted at the Daw Mill Colliery on Friday, is still raging and owners UK Coal, which produces around 40 percent of Britain's coal, has said the mine was unlikely to reopen, endangering the future of the entire company.

Domestic producers supply 30 percent of the fuel for Britain's coal-fired power stations and mined around 17 million tonnes last year, which was split evenly between deep and opencast mines.

The share of imports has risen sharply since privatisation in 1994, a decade after the bitter strike which ended the glory days of the industry that powered the Industrial Revolution.

EU laws will come into force in 2016 that will require coal-fired power stations to slash emissions of soot and other harmful pollutants, meaning many older plants will close rather than paying the hundreds of millions required to clean up.

Government forecasts suggest the amount of coal burnt in Britain's power stations will fall sharply after 2016, to around 28 million tonnes from 58 million tonnes in 2012.

That figure is expected to dwindle further to just 13 million tonnes by the end of the decade as more coal-fired power stations close while costs are expected to rise.

"Doubts about demand for coal in the decades ahead are causing finance to dry up for the domestic coal industry in the short-term because investors are less sure as to whether they will get their money back (over the long-term)," said David Brewer of CoalPro, the main lobby for Britain's coal industry.

Although almost every tonne of coal produced in Britain is burnt in the country's power stations, and domestic miners have negotiated long-term contracts with utilities, in future domestic producers will have to compete with high volumes of imports for a smaller slice of the pie.

"Although buyers will still value the security of supply and lower transport costs offered by UK coal, imports can offer greater flexibility in terms of quality (such as levels of sulphur, ash content and energy value)," one trader with a British utility said.

If Daw Mill fails to reopen, it would be the second body blow to Britain's mining industry in the space of three months.

In December, Hargreaves Services, owners of the 100-year old Maltby pit, said the mine will close in March with the loss of 540 jobs.

The future of Hatfield Colliery, also in Yorkshire, is increasingly doubtful after plans for a coal-capturing power station near the mine were scrapped, industry sources said.

Around 12-gigawatts of current coal-fired capacity is slated to come offline by 2016, according to data from ENTSO-E, a European network of grid operators, and lower cost imports may test the loyalty of utilities if the cost of UK coal continues to rise.

EU laws controlling emissions of soot and other harmful pollutants, government subsidies for wind, nuclear power and gas and tighter carbon emissions targets mean that coal is likely to be the big loser in the UK energy mix.

From April, power generators will have to pay a carbon floor price of 16 pounds for every tonne of carbon dioxide emitted, driving up costs of using coal.

"Producers might need extra finance to get through the short-term problems, such as more working capital. And if this is not available operators might have to draw their horns in and reduce the scale of their business," Brewer said.

Relatively high labour costs compared to foreign producers of coal have made deep shaft mining increasingly unprofitable, underground deposits are dwindling and, while easier to access, surface mines are hobbled by expensive fuel, driving up costs for equipment such as excavators and gas-guzzling mining trucks.

Mining unions warn that many of the 6,000 remaining jobs in the industry are at risk unless more government support is offered.

"The coal mining industry continues to be butchered by an energy industry driven by imports of coal," said Chris Kitchen, general secretary with the National Union of Mineworkers, which has seen its membership decline from over 100,000 in the 1980s.

Prompt physical coal delivered into northwestern Europe trades at around $85 (56 pounds) a tonne, while API2 coal swaps, the benchmark price for British production, are worth around $100.

No new power coal-fired power stations can be built in Britain unless they capture and bury greenhouse gases, and few utilities are willing to pay for the technology without bigger subsidies.

SOME HOPE?

However the grim outlook does not appear to have deterred some investors. Around 50 applications are in the planning process to develop open-cast mines, according to the Loose Anti-Opencast Network, a pressure group that opposes new surface operations.

Energy minister John Hayes vowed last month to put the "coal back into coalition."

There are concerns among his Conservative colleagues that their centrist Liberal Democrats government partners have penalised the domestic coal mining industry in favour of more expensive renewables.

UK Coal, whose listed shareholder is Coalfield Resources met with the government this week to discuss the future of the company's operations, and in a letter published on Wednesday Britain's energy ministry said it was "committed to exploring all the options" to support the company.

But even if pressure on the government to do more to prop the ailing coal mining industry succeeds, any financial help could be limited by EU rules that curb state aid and deep cuts in public spending.

(Editing by William Hardy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pit-blaze-could-dying-embers-britains-coal-mines-175103744--sector.html

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Drought Fells a Texas Town?s Biggest Employer

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The closing of the Cargill beef processing plant has meant the loss of more than 2,000 jobs in Plainview, scattering families who had worked at the plant for generations.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/drought-fells-a-texas-towns-biggest-employer.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Britain's Old Lady shows appetite for new thinking

LONDON (Reuters) - There has been a sudden flowering of new ideas at the Bank of England over the past few days, with everything from negative interest rates to a long-term commitment to bond-buying said to be up for discussion.

Could it be that a new boss is coming? Or simply that things in Britain's economy are getting decidedly worse?

Just a couple of weeks ago, most economists did not expect policy at the bank, nicknamed the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, to change this year - or at least not before Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney arrives in July to take over.

Outgoing Governor Mervyn King had cast doubt on the ability of monetary policy to do much to revive Britain's stagnant economy, and stubborn inflation appeared to have left officials in a quandary over pumping in more new money.

But last week, the bank's policy minutes unexpectedly showed that King and markets expert Paul Fisher had joined stalwart dove David Miles in a minority in favour of new asset purchases.

And just as significantly, policymakers have since said they considered a range of other options to boost demand, ranging from charging banks to deposit money at the central bank to a scheme to finance firms' day-to-day borrowing.

It smacks of a break with what former policymaker Adam Posen described as a conservative culture which made him "furious" during his years at the bank.

"They have in the past talked about other potential options," said Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics. "But they seem to have come back to it ... partly because the economic recovery still is not getting going."

Britain is teetering on its third recession in four years, its main euro zone trading partner is suffering, and the government is committed to more tight-spending austerity after a credit rating downgrade.

The ideas-fest also comes at a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan have embarked on other alternative strategies, whether by giving an open-ended commitment to bond purchases or targeting higher inflation.

Currency markets have already reacted. The yen has slid against the dollar and sterling is at a two-and-a-half year low - in part because Bank of England policymakers have said they are relaxed about the temporary inflation impact of depreciation needed to bring Britain's trade deficit closer to balance.

TOO NARROW?

The bank is said to be sensitive to the perception that it is too reliant on two or three tools - interest rates, bond purchases and a relatively new scheme to boost bank lending - at a time when the economy may need more.

"They are trying to make it clear, first of all that they want to loosen policy, and second that they have a range of options available. They have not run out of tools for stimulus - which was what it sounded like for a period," said Michael Saunders, chief UK economist at Citi.

Policymakers have been clearer than previously, for example, that they believe bond purchases with newly created money - also known as quantitative easing - can still provide benefits, although some officials think other options may be better.

And if asset purchases do restart, they could have a different tempo to before. King, Miles and Fisher all backed a 25 billion pound ($39 billion) increase - less than previous rounds which have led to 375 billion pounds of purchases so far.

But Fisher said publicly late on Tuesday that this could be just the first in a longer series, coming closer than before to the U.S. Federal Reserve's style of ongoing purchases.

CARNEY COMING

Capital's Redwood thinks a new boss may be behind some of the new thinking.

"There has been a lot of talk about how Carney will improve things when he arrives, so they'd like to be seen to be doing those things already," she said.

British lawmakers were much impressed when Carney - who has a reputation for having steered Canada clear of the worst of the financial crisis - appeared before them earlier this month.

At the Bank of Canada he has championed explicit interest rate guidance - letting markets clearly know what to expect - something the Bank of England has avoided.

He also flirted with modish ideas such as targeting not just inflation as the Bank of England does, but a mix of economic output and inflation known as nominal gross domestic product.

Carney steered clear of specifics when he spoke to British lawmakers. But this week Deputy Governor Paul Tucker - whom Carney beat to the top job - told the same parliamentary committee of two unusual policies the BoE had considered - negative interest rates and creating a tradeable instrument that banks could use to finance firms' working capital.

There is no guarantee that either policy will see the light of day.

The prospect of negative interest rates, effectively charging banks to hold their money - and what they might mean for hard-pressed savers - was splashed over the business sections of several British newspapers on Wednesday. The BoE's other deputy governor, Charlie Bean, subsequently played down the idea, describing it as "blue sky thinking".

February's policy minutes said this and other policy options such as buying assets other than gilts had been considered and found wanting - as has happened several times before.

However, this time might be different, in part because of the confidence given to the bank by the successful launch of its Funding for Lending Scheme in August 2012.

Under the scheme, the BoE gives cheap funding to banks as long as they increase mortgage and business lending. While it is too early to see if the scheme will have its full desired effect, it has already lowered banks' borrowing costs and eased credit conditions for some firms and home-buyers.

But new ideas are likely to keep flowing, if only because the economy needs something and the bank is reluctant to cut benchmark interest rates below their record-low 0.5 percent lest they disrupt the finances of mutually-owned building societies, which need customer deposits to fund lending.

($1 = 0.6608 British pounds)

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britains-old-lady-shows-appetite-thinking-110945189--business.html

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Robosigning victims soon to get cash from lenders

John W. Schoen , NBC News ? ? ? 1 hr.

Mortgage lenders will begin making cash payments to homeowners harmed by wrongful foreclosures of anywhere between a few hundred dollars to as much has $125,000 beginning in April, federal bank regulators said Thursday.

The payments were part of a deal struck with 10 banks that abruptly ended a comprehensive review of some 4.2 million mortgages after widespread mistakes were found in documents used to foreclose millions of American homes following the housing bust.

But critics of the settlement, first announced in January, say it doesn?t adequately compensate those who lost homes for the harm they suffered.

The review was designed to determine which homeowners were harmed by "robosigning? and other shoddy document practices that resulted in wrongful foreclosures and then compensate those borrowers for their losses. But after more than 18 months and $1.5 billion in fees to independent consultants, only about 104,000 loan reviews had been completed, regulators said Thursday

?It just doesn?t make sense for these (mortgage) servicers to continue funneling money to consultants that could be better used to help distressed borrowers who have lost their homes,? said Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the of the Currency, in a speech earlier this month. ?The cost of concluding these reviews would far exceed the harm that would be found.?

The lenders are Aurora Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sovereign Bank, U.S. Bank National Association and Wells Fargo Bank. Three other mortgage lenders, GMAC Mortgage, Everbank and OneWest, didn?t sign the deal and will continue their own mortgage reviews.

The banks who agreed to the settlement will pay a total of $3.7 billion to a fund compensating borrowers who were harmed. They?ve been ordered to review eligible loans and divide them into 11 categories depending on the severity of harm borrowers suffered. Regulators have not yet determined how many borrowers fall into each category

The list ranges from relatively minor clerical mistakes all the way to homes that were improperly seized even though the borrower was not in default. The maximum payout will be $125,000. The average payment represents about $850 per eligible loan.

Critics of the review process argue that the amount paid by the banks is inadequate, and that the settlement amount was based on flawed accounting of harm done to borrowers.

?If the review is being done on the basis of the (mortgage) servicer files, and the servicer files are a mess, how can you make a finding that?s accurate?? said Alys Cohen, a consumer attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

But OCC officials say they had enough information to conclude that the error rate on document processing was about 6.5 percent. Since January, a further review of the data collected indicates the error rate was even lower, Deputy Comptroller Morris Morgan said on a conference call with reporters.

Consumer advocates and several members of Congress are pressing the OCC to disclose the results of the loan reviews that were competed. Earlier this month, Rep Maxine Waters, D-Calif., wrote to Curry requesting a final accounting of the final payments made to homeowners under the settlement.

?Without this information, the public will have no means by which to determine whether relief was provided in a manner that appropriately reflects the overall impact of foreclosures on certain communities and demographic groups,? she said.

The settlement is also intended to prod banks to modify more loans and stop foreclosures in progress. They?ve agreed to pay another $5.7 billion in so-called ?soft dollars? that will be used to write down loan balances and approve short sales, in which the banks approves the sale of a house for less than the balance of the mortgage.

Under formulas similar to those worked out in a separate National Mortgage Settlement with the Department of Justice and state attorneys general, banks will receive a series of credits for various types of mortgage relief. Joseph Smith, the independent monitor appointed to oversee that settlement, recently reported that lenders had earned the bulk of those credits by approving short sales and writing down second mortgages.

Housing advocates note that, unlike relief extended to first mortgages, those measures don?t directly help keep families in their homes.

Though the pace of new foreclosures has fallen since the depths of the housing crisis, the volume of so-called ?distressed? sales continues to weigh on housing prices. Foreclosure-related sales made up 21 percent of all U.S. home sales last year, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Short sales made up another 22 percent, meaning two in five transfers involved distressed sales.

OCC officials say their settlement terms are also designed to prevent future foreclosures. Consumer advocates and housing counselors say it?s not yet clear whether the measures in place go far enough.

That concern was echoed in Smith?s latest report.

?I believe we have made progress, particularly as it relates to consumer relief,? he said. ?But I know from my regular conversations with advocates across the nation that the banks and I have much more work to do on behalf of borrowers.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/robosigning-victims-soon-get-cash-payments-lenders-1C8612646

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Neptune/Venus conjunction,Tantric/Divine lovers astrology, Tara ...

its been a wild spiritually flooding week.

with a few twists and turns

Thursday Feb 28

VENUS?and NEPTUNE?join in a TANTRIC ?DANCE in PISCES

yes Venus conjuncts Neptune every 1.5 years or so

but in PISCES only once every 160 years or so

so very rare auspicious?-VENUS is human love, women, values, the arts, luxury, beauty, relationships

NEPTUNE?is DIVINE LOVE, love of God/Jesus/Allah/Krishna/Buddha/Goddess/shekinah/Mary/the Great Mystery

this soul mate conjunction brings the human and the divine together

where they/we/ the Universe./ all that is dissolves into an OCEAN of BLISS

Bliss is also a subject of the 12th house

so if you have a relationship I?d suggest that you get ready to expeirence tantric union today

the aspect happens @ 5:37 am PST/8:37 am EST

TANTRA BLISS RITUAL

all spiritual people awake at 3:30 or 4:00 am it has something to do with the way the Sun?s light hits the earth

TANTRIC love making?doesnt have to involve actual sexual contact, it can,

it is about preparing yourself to meet the DIVINE as a DIVINE being, bathe first,

preparing to meet the BELOVED through your partner, someone you trust,

the meeting place must be clean, clear, sweet smelling

rose water, fine incense, and the like, everything to make the atmosphere sensual and calm

the two should be meeting with an feeling of reverence respect and devotion

the kissing and caressing needs to be done with a conscious awe of the miracle of being alive,

of being a spiritual being, a soul in a human form with consciousness and self awareness,

it is an act of replicating the divine interplay of YIN YANG/yab/yum/ masculine/feminine

every act is holy, every act of love is workshipping the DIVINE Mother goddess

the pointis to surrender to each other, but go beyond the physical sensations,

itis about equilibrium and controlling the senses, men especially must never ejaculate,

the control of the ojas, leads to spiritual awakening, if you master this

you will feel waves of ecstacy?for both men and women and you can ride the KUNDALINI energy for hours

you will merge into your BELOVED< the little death of orgasm is a long fall into dissolving your ego and shattering

the illusion of separation, this is what the pATRIARCHY has condemned, and made sinfull

your knowledge of partaking of the DIVINE through your own body and through the body of another person

if you are ALONE

you can prepare yourself as you would for a super special date,

get dressed in finery, and make yourself feel beautiful

you can sit in a sacred circle, and begin to breathe and be aware of your breath,

open each chakra through imagining each one as red flower opening, red is root,

orange is sex, 3rd is yellow just below the navel, 4th is green the heart, 5th is hroat indigo,

6th is 3rd eye and violet, 7th is crown chakra white, 8th is about a foot above your body its gold,

the 9th chakra is the UNiverse itself, send you desire out to connect with the force of the ONE

you can bring into your imagination a strong image of the Divine lover as a? God/Goddess

you can imagine yourself making love with them but with an attitude of respect, no ego,

feel, smell, make it as real as possible, PISCES rules fantasy, so this will be easily accomplished.

feel yourself becoming one with the imageof the beloved,

breathe deeply send your energy dowen?into the firey?core of the erath?andbreathe?the fire into your body and sen di tup your spine

you should feel a shudder up your spine, you can feel heat, the KUNDALINI energy will rise

you can have a full body orgasm if you really surrender to this process.

Stay in bliss for a long as you can, then let yourself trance sleep.

before you sleep/trance call in the Tantric lovers to surround you and protect you.

relax and dream, as if youve? just had th emost powerful release of your life

when you wake,write down what you remember in a sacred place.

43.667923 -79.321969

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Source: http://infinitynow.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/neptunevenus-conjunctiontantricdivine-lovers-astrology-tara-greene/

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