Auto sector slump stalls economy in April (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's economy stalled in April, setting the stage for weak second-quarter growth, as supply disruptions caused by Japan's earthquake and tsunami triggered a slump in the key auto manufacturing sector.

Gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged in April following 0.3 percent growth in March, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters, on average, forecast a 0.1 percent decline in April GDP.

Mining sector strength contributed to the slightly stronger-than-expected number. But it was still the second worst monthly performance since September 2010, slightly better than the 0.1 percent contraction in February.

"There was an outsized gain in mining that helped cushion against declines in manufacturing, wholesaling, and financial services," Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, wrote in a note to clients.

"Overall, better than expected but obviously not a good reading in absolute terms, and we expect May to show similar softness."

The slightly stronger-then-expected reading helped the Canadian dollar extend gains against the greenback. The currency firmed to its strongest level in six weeks, boosted primarily by a rally in oil prices and relief that the Greek parliament approved an austerity package.

The Canadian data showed manufacturing production fell 0.7 percent in April following a robust 1.6 percent increase in March, with most of the weakness stemming from the auto sector.

Mining and oil and gas extraction jumped 1 percent and even construction edged up, offsetting the manufacturing declines so that overall goods-producing industries were flat in April.

Service-producing industries remained flat as strong consumer spending offset declines in wholesale, finance and insurance.

"This data point confirms the well-known belief that the second quarter of the year will be quite weak. Our most recent forecast pegs the expenditure-based measure of annualized quarterly growth at just 1.3 percent," David Tulk, chief Canada macro strategist at TD Securities, wrote in a research note.

"Looking further into the future, the real story will be the magnitude of the rebound over the second half of the year."

A separate report showing Canadian consumer confidence fell for the second straight month in June provided further evidence second-quarter annualized growth will slow from the first-quarter's robust 3.9 percent pace.

The Conference Board of Canada said its consumer confidence index fell 2.5 points to 83.1 in June.

"The deterioration in consumer confidence this month was caused by increased uncertainty about future income and job prospects. Sentiment dropped across the country, with the exception of Quebec," the not-for-profit research group said in a statement.

"Canadians continue to report that their current financial situation is worse now than it was six months ago."

The survey was conducted between June 5 and June 13.

(With additional reporting Howaida Sorour and writing by Jeffrey Hodgson; editing by Peter Galloway)

Yahoo! News

April factory hit by Japan fallout (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Manufacturers saw sales slip 1.3 percent in April, as expected, as the Japanese tsunami cut off supplies to the auto industry, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

The median forecast of analysts surveyed by Reuters was for a 1.3 percent decline in sales at the factory gate as the economy enters a soft patch following vigorous first-quarter growth.

The decline reversed much of the 1.9 percent gain in March. Total sales at C$46.7 billion have recovered to the levels of late 2008 at the start of the recession, but remained below the July 2008 peak of C$53 billion.

The biggest drag on April sales came from a 7.8 percent drop in the transportation equipment sector. Motor vehicles and parts producers suffered steep sales declines due to supply disruptions arising from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Excluding autos, sales fell 0.5 percent.

Sales also fell significantly in the energy and aerospace sectors.

Inventories and unfilled orders were both at two-year highs, expanding 1.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. New orders tumbled 10.3 percent, almost eclipsing the 11.5 percent increase in the previous month due to weaker orders for aerospace products.

(Reporting by Louise Egan and Howaida Sorour, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Yahoo! News

Nigeria's new parliament sworn in after April polls (AFP)

ABUJA (AFP) – Nigerian lawmakers elected in watershed polls in April were formally sworn in to parliament Monday facing the key task of enacting legislation on long-delayed oil sector reforms.

The 109 senators were the first to take the oath, followed by 360 members of the House of Representatives.

"This, indeed, is a new dawn ... for our great country," said senate president David Mark, who retained the post, becoming the first to hold the position for two successive terms.

A deputy chief whip in the last parliament, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal a northerner, was elected speaker of the house of representative, beating his rival, Mulikat Adeola-Akande, from southwest Nigeria.

The National Assembly has the responsibility for ?very critical legislation that will propel Nigeria to the world's 20 most advanced economies," Mark told the senators.

Topping the agenda of the new 469-member National Assembly will be passing legislation to overhaul Nigeria's vital oil industry.

Uncertainty over the sweeping legislation, which has been years in the making, has chilled investments in new projects in Nigeria, one of the world's largest oil producers, with energy firms unclear on what the new rules will be.

The overhaul is aimed at allowing Nigeria's government to collect more revenue from lucrative offshore projects as well as restructuring the state oil company, widely seen as corruption-ridden.

Government officials had pledged the law would be passed before the end of the last parliament.

Mark said this session of the National Assembly "has to be truly transformational in all ramifications. Our budgeting system needs a radical change."

?Nigerians complain that their democracy is too expensive," Mark said.

"We as representatives of the people must initiate legislation that will reduce the cost of governance at all levels thereby freeing resources to attend to the basic needs of the people,A? he said.

Despite the country's oil wealth, the majority of Nigerians live in poverty with basic services such as electricity and drinking water in erratic supply.

Nigerian lawmakers are meanwhile considered some of the highly paid in Africa.

The swearing-in of the new parliament took place as the outgoing speaker of the House of Representatives and powerful politician, Dimeji Bankole, was under arrest on allegations of corruption linked to house funds.

The anti-graft police arrested Bankole late Sunday fearing he was planning to flee the country ahead of questioning over alleged misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars of parliament funds.

Bankole lost his parliamentary seat in the April elections.

The polls were seen as a test of whether the Africa's most populous country was capable of holding credible elections.

While judged as the fairest election since the end of military rule in 1999, the country was hit by deadly post-vote riots which left 800 dead in the mainly Muslim north.

The election also exposed a regional and religious divide in the country of more than 150 million people.

One of the first tasks of the upper house will likely be to vet cabinet nominees expected to be submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan this week.

Yahoo! News

NASA: April 29 for next-to-last shuttle launch

permission for his wife to attend the afternoon launch.

Giffords was critically wounded in Tucson, Ariz., three months ago and has been undergoing extensive rehabilitation at a hospital in Houston, home to Kelly and the rest of the astronaut corps.

Launch director Mike Leinbach said he hopes Giffords comes and stressed it would not be a distraction to his team.

View the Original article

Federal Tax Forms Can Be Deposited Till 18th April

On federal tax day, 27 post offices across Honolulu will remain open till late timings on 18th April. They will offer their mail collection services till late night. These services will be used for the shipment of federal tax collection boxes. This service will be provided specially for federal tax returns because government does not want its any citizen to lose the chance of depositing his tax.
In this way, taxpayers will get an extra weekend for filing their taxes. They can now deposit their taxes up to 18 April. The period of their taxes for this year had started from 18 April 2010. Emancipation Day is a holiday of Districts of Columbia, this day will be observed on 15th April Friday. After this, taxpayers will have three more days to deposit their taxes.
In order to facilitate taxpayers, government has put collection boxes at 27 post offices across Honolulu. These boxes are labelled with bright signs of oranges; public must know that the orange sign indicates that the box is for Tax Mail Drop. These boxes will be sealed before their putting at post offices. By midnight of 18th April, these boxes will be picked up. All those deposited tax forms in these mail boxes will be picked up by midnight also that the tax forms will get sealed with post marks of 18th April. No one will be allowed to deposit his tax forms after the midnight of 18th April. From the next day on 19th April, all tax offices will close at their regular timings.
Post Office of The Honolulu Airport will close at 8 pm.

Related posts:STX OSV IPO Limited


View the Original article

Endeavor launch delayed until April 29

By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTSShuttle launch delayed for 10 days, NASA says, until April 29Scheduling conflict involved a Russian cargo ship's docking with international space stationEndeavor underwent inspections after minor weather damage last week (CNN) -- The launch of the space shuttle Endeavor, originally scheduled for April 19, has been delayed until April 29, NASA said Monday.

The delay is due to a scheduling conflict with a Russian cargo ship that was scheduled to be docked at the international space station near Endeavor's original launch date, NASA's public information office said.

Endeavor underwent inspections for two days after thunderstorms, hail and a lightning strike last week near the launch pad caused minor damage to insulation foam at the top of the spacecraft.

Six astronauts are scheduled to fly in Endeavor's 36th and final mission later this month. Mark Kelly, the huband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, will command the mission.

Giffords reportedly has plans to attend the launch. She is recovering after being severely wounded in a shooting that killed six people in January in Tucson, Arizona.

View the Original article

Joke's on New England with April Fools' snowstorm

By Robert F. Bukaty, AP

Motorists make their way north during a spring snowstorm on Interstate 295 in Freeport, Maine, on Friday.

EnlargeCloseBy Robert F. Bukaty, AP

Motorists make their way north during a spring snowstorm on Interstate 295 in Freeport, Maine, on Friday.

The spring nor'easter packed a wallop as people awoke Friday — April Fools' Day — with wet, heavy snow quickly covering the pavement and clinging to trees, which drooped under the weight.

Falling tree limbs knocked out electricity for nearly 60,000 homes and businesses in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island at the storm's peak, officials said. Scores of cars and trucks slid off roads, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

Brunswick Naval Air Station spokesman John Ripley gave himself permission to work from home after a failed attempt to drive to work on slippery I-295

"It was pretty dicey, to say the least," said Ripley, of Portland, who saw four vehicles off the highway and watched another fishtail before turning back.

Parts of Maine and New Hampshire were expected to see upward of a foot of snow, but the storm failed to live up to its billing elsewhere.

In Massachusetts, Fitchburg got 8.1 inches and Boylston saw 7.7 inches, and the numbers tapered to the south. Eastern New York and western Massachusetts were expected to get about 2 to 3 inches of snowfall, far less than originally forecast.

Power outages were the biggest problem. About 23,000 homes and businesses in southern Maine and another 20,000 in southern New Hampshire were in the dark at the storm's peak, officials said, and utility crews were working to restore electricity

In Portland, Maine, Pete Johnson was caught by surprise by the intensity of the storm Friday morning. He didn't believe the weather forecasters, especially after a relatively snow-free March. So, he took off his snow tires.

He said he should've known better.

"If you've done this long enough, you know it's going to snow again," he said, grabbing a cup of coffee before making a slippery drive to Boston for a business meeting.

In Concord, N.H., the parks and recreation department was boasting a week ago about getting its tennis courts ready for spring. On Friday, it switched gears, challenging followers of its Facebook page to submit pictures of snowmen in the parks.

"Old man winter is not giving up without a fight this year," department director David Gill said Friday.

Skiers weren't complaining.

John Olif, 23, of Killington, Vt., had made three runs down the mountain by 9:30 a.m. Friday and was tickled.

"Last year at this time, everything was melting. But it's mid-February out here pretty much. It's definitely a treat," he said. "It's 100% open and it's April 1. It's a powder day on April Fools', not a joke or anything."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters

View the Original article

April Fools Day History

Comments 0

April fools day is celebrated around the world on the first day of April by playing pranks and jokes on loved ones. The earliest origins of this day appear in the Chaucer’s Canterbury Tale  “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” published around in 1392. Great controversy exists whether this is the first mention of the day. In 1509, a reference to the same day was made by a French poet as poisson d’avril. A Flemish poet by the name Eduard de Dene has written an account of a nobleman who on this very date sent out his servants on many different foolish errands. The first reference o fthe day by the Britishers was made when John Aubrey in the year 1686 called the holiday as “Fooles holy day”.

View the Original article