GMA proceeds to Dubai to meet with investors.
Byline: FIL C. SIONIL DAVOS, Switzerland (via PLDT) -- "Fruitful and productive" summed up the participation of President Arroyo in this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) here as she and her party motored back to Zurich enroute to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for more discussions with businessmen...

Arena parking takes center court at town hall meeting.
Byline: Mark Brown The Register-Guard About 45 people braved slush--covered streets and winter weather to attend a town hall meeting Tuesday night with Democratic state lawmakers and hear their agendas for the upcoming February supplemental session of the Legislature. Some of them were there to...

Legislature planning to address several issues in upcoming session.
Byline: The Register-Guard Crime: Refer to the November ballot a bill that would set tougher sanctions for property and drug crimes and expand treatment slots for lawbreakers with drug or alcohol addictions. It would be meant to give voters an alternative to a mandatory-sentencing initiative being sought...

A good deal in bad times; Homeowners may avoid foreclosure with the help of mortgage lenders.
Byline: Martin Luttrell WORCESTER - A legal ad for a foreclosure auction drew three people to a contemporary colonial off Salisbury Street last Wednesday. But there would be no sale that day. The owners had the auction stayed while they considered a selling method that...

IMF cuts growth outlook, cites risks.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Reuters) -- The International Monetary Fund cut its 2008 forecast for world growth on Tuesday and warned the global economy will deliver the weakest performance in five years and could slow even further. Blaming the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market for this...

Public nuisance: a new battleground for policyholders and insurers: the current wave of public nuisance-based tort litigation is focused on two areas, lead paint and global warming.
Summary * A public nuisance is defined as "an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public," and under public nuisance theory, governments may seek to compel the party responsible to abate the nuisance. * Historically, public nuisance theory was used to shut...

Few carriers expected to suffer short term from subprime mortgage mess: longer-term, however, the subprime risk "contagion" could infect carriers with heavy exposure to mortgage-backed securities, analysts warn.
The chaos in the subprime mortgage marketplace is expected to affect few property/casualty insurers in the short term, a new report found, but the next 18 to 24 months could be rough, particularly for life and health carries with too much exposure to mortgage-backed securities. Aggregate exposure...

Housing gets a boost; Governor delivers funding for projects.
Byline: John J. Monahan WORCESTER - Hoping to rescue several affordable housing programs in city neighborhoods from a stalled real estate market, Gov. Deval L. Patrick yesterday delivered almost $1 million in state grants to help three local community development housing programs. News of the...

Anna Schwartz--"blame the Fed".
"There never would have been a sub-prime mortgage crisis if the Fed had been alert. This is something Alan Greenspan must answer for," said Dr. Anna Schwartz in an interview with British journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard that appeared in the Sunday Telegraph on January 13. Dr. Schwartz, who won fame...

IMF head reverses course, calls for global spendathon.
The head of the International Monetary Fund told central bankers, commercial bankers, business titans, finance ministers, and economists at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the world needs massive deficit spending, asserting that merely reducing interest rates will not be sufficient to "stimulate" the global economy....