LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The rate of late payments for auto loans fell nationally in the first three months of the year to the lowest level in more than a decade, even as lenders financed more vehicle purchases for high-risk borrowers.
For the January to March quarter, the rate of U.S. auto loan payments at least 60 days overdue declined to 0.36 percent, or down about 27 percent from the same period last year, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Wednesday.
That's also down about 22 percent from the last three months of 2011.
The latest rate is the lowest since TransUnion began tracking auto loan data in 1999. The highest rate recorded by the company was 2.39 percent in the first quarter of 2000.
The auto loan delinquency rate has fallen on an annual basis for 10 consecutive quarters. One key reason: After the last recession, many borrowers made keeping up with their car payments a priority over other types of financial obligations, including credit cards and home loans.
"Consumers have done a very good job of adjusting to their ever-changing circumstances and managing their debt load," said Peter Turek, a vice president at TransUnion's financial services business unit. "The data show consumers are, in fact, paying their auto loans more on time than other loan products."
A lower rate of unpaid auto loans is good news for car shoppers, because it makes banks more willing to make auto loans, Turek added.
Low interest rates also have helped more car buyers qualify for financing.
While more borrowers made payments on time in the first quarter, they also had more debt in the form auto loans.
The average amount of auto loan debt owed by borrowers climbed about 5 percent from a year earlier to $13,272, said TransUnion, which culled data from a random sampling of about 27 million credit reports.
Many consumers moved to pay down debt and save money when the U.S. economy soured after 2007. Consumer confidence in the economy has shown some signs of improvement in recent months, and that's made some borrowers feel more comfortable taking on debt.
Sales of autos rose last month. And retail spending has been rising. The U.S. unemployment rate, while still high, has fallen a full percentage point since August to 8.1 percent last month ? the lowest level since January 2009.
Lenders are not only making more auto loans, but lending more to borrowers with less-than-sterling credit, the company said.
Part of that is a reaction to a severe pullback in lending during the economic downturn.
One of the largest auto lenders, AmeriCredit, throttled back new car loans by 90 percent during the recession, Turek noted.
"Lenders are definitely looking at expanding and helping consumers who have challenged credit," he said.
Still, TransUnion anticipates the national auto loan delinquency rate will remain relatively low the rest of this year, barring any major shocks to the U.S. economy.
The anterior insular cortex is a small brain region that plays a crucial role in human self-awareness and in related neuropsychiatric disorders. A unique cell type ? the von Economo neuron (VEN) ? is located there. For a long time, the VEN was assumed to be unique to humans, great apes, whales and elephants. Henry Evrard, neuroanatomist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in T?bingen, Germany, now discovered that the VEN occurs also in the insula of macaque monkeys. The morphology, size and distribution of the monkey VEN suggest that it is at least a primal anatomical homolog of the human VEN. This finding offers new and much-needed opportunities to examine in detail the connections and functions of a cell and brain region that could have a key role in human self-awareness and in mental disorders including autism and specific forms of dementia.
The insular cortex, or simply insula, is a hidden cortical region folded and tucked away deep in the brain ? an island within the cortex. Within the last decade, the insula has emerged from darkness as having a key role in diverse functions usually linked to our internal bodily states, to our emotions, to our self-awareness, and to our social interactions. The very anterior part of the insula in particular is where humans consciously sense subjective emotions, such as love, hate, resentment, self-confidence or embarrassment. In relation to these feelings, the anterior insula is involved in various psychopathologies. Damage of the insula leads to apathy, and to the inability to tell what feelings we or our conversational partner experience. These inabilities and alteration of the insula are also encountered in autism and other highly detrimental neuropsychiatric disorders including the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).
The von Economo neuron (VEN) occurs almost exclusively in the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Until recently it was believed that the VEN is only present in humans, great apes and some large-brained mammals with complex social behaviour such as whales and elephants. In contrast to the typical neighbouring pyramidal neuron that is present in all mammals and all brain regions, the VEN has a peculiar spindle shape and is about three times as large. Their numeral density is selectively altered in autism and bvFTD. Henry Evrard and his team, at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in T?bingen now discovered VENs in the anterior insula in macaque monkeys. His present work provides compelling evidence that monkeys possess at least a primitive form of the human VEN although they do not have the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror, a behavioural hallmark of self-awareness.
"This means, other than previously believed, that highly concentrated VEN populations are not an exclusivity of hominids, but also occurs in other primate species", explains Henry Evrard. "The VEN phylogeny needs to be reexamined. Most importantly, the very much-needed analysis of the connections and physiology of these specific neurons is now possible." Knowing the functions of the VEN and its connections to other regions of the brain in monkeys could give us clues on the evolution of the anatomical substrate of self-awareness in humans and may help us in better understanding serious neuropsychiatric disabilities including autism, or even addictions such as to drugs or smoking.
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Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: http://www.mpg.de
Thanks to Max-Planck-Gesellschaft for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
Jeer him all you want. Try to overthrow him from power. John Laurinaitis keeps finding a way to endure ? and thrive ? as General Manager of Raw and SmackDown.
Heading into Laurinaitis' match against John Cena at WWE Over the Limit, the WWE Universe didn't give the GM a puncher's chance of defeating Cena and avoiding termination. But if we've learned anything from Laurinaitis' tenure in WWE, it's this: Big Johnny makes his own odds.
By firing and then enlisting the help of Big Show to pull off a monumental upset over Cena, the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations showed just how resourceful and determined he can be when the cards are stacked against him. And by fighting through tremendous pain in his match, Laurinaitis also proved what lengths he's willing to go to remain in charge.
Laurinaitis has now thwarted opposition from Cena, WWE Champion CM Punk and WWE COO Triple H, among others, during the seven months since he was first appointed as the Interim General Manager of Raw on Oct. 10, 2011. He's survived two extremely close calls in that span, including a tumultuous period in February when he had to plead to the WWE Board of Directors to keep his job as Raw GM.?
As much as members of the WWE Universe may loathe this question, it needs to be asked: Can anyone stop John Laurinaitis? Is it even worth the trouble of attempting to derail ?People Power? anymore?
Sure, there are other Superstars in the WWE locker room who wish they could oust Laurinaitis from his executive throne. But every single one of them knows the price they must pay for taking a stand against the vindictive boss. Sheamus became the latest casualty caught in the battle lines when he rushed to the Cenation leader's aid on Monday night's Raw SuperShow. Wasting no time in choosing a punishment for The Great White, Laurinaitis forced him into Raw's first-ever 2-on-3 Handicap Tag Team Lumberjack Match.
Another obstacle that any detractor faces is the faithful legion of supporters who continue to endorse Laurinaitis' leadership, regardless of how controversial his methods may be. Whether it be power-hungry advisors like Eve and David Otunga, or those simply looking to hold on to their WWE roster spots like The World's Largest Athlete, the General Manager has some formidable followers watching his back.
At this point, it seems that only the Board of Directors might have the supremacy to take Laurinaitis off his path of dominance. Anyone else could just be asking for a world of hurt ? Big Johnny's world.
What do you think, WWE Universe? Is there any possible way to strip John Laurinaitis of his role as GM of both Raw and SmackDown? Sound off on Facebook?or by using the hashtag #HowToStopJohnny on Twitter.
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Singapore Stock Broker Comparison
*last updated as of 21/5/2012
A few points to Share:
1) CDP - Central Depository (like a central storage for all your stocks - under the Singapore Government)
2) For the "No Info." part, hope that users of that trading platforms can share with us your views & i will upload again the updated one :)
3) Over the recent years, there has been a change of heart for the retail investors... they are moving towards the new comers: Limntan & esp. hot favourite Standard Chartered Bank for the various reasons shown below.
Limtan
Limtan is a new comer in the world of stock brokerage firms but is strongly supported by the backing of NTUC, where you can obtain linkpoints in exchange for redemptions when you trade.
I opened a new account at the Invest Fair recently with Limtan and will be rewarded with a NTUC $30 voucher if i just make a single trade. Not Bad at attracting new customers to join.
However, i tried its platform and i think it is not really viable to compete against the established players yet.
Standard Chartered Bank
SCB stands out with the No Minimum Fees, hands down! It is super cost savings for people who have only less than $5k to trade (the usual $25 commission to and fro * 2 will eat up already 10% if you just invest $500!).
There are however, some drawbacks. i) the stock trading platform is ill-equipped and show only one stock price at one time.
ii) the stocks are held through custodian account by SCB instead of CDP (However, i do not fear as much since Standard Chartered is quite an established bank but i advise that you do not put all your eggs into one basket as well!)
Conlusion
I seriously think that SCB is worth a try for new stock investors & dividend income investors who are there to accumulate stocks for the long haul and practise dollar cost averaging. When you minus your costs, it means that your profits will rise too! Cheers!
Tami (not her actual name) came to see me for stage fright and meeting anxiety. She is a music student working piece-time as a waitress, and whenever she played in forehead of her teacher or a group, she trembled like a blade. She needed to release this fear in method to move on with her studies and her work.
I explained to Tami around EFT. She seemed extremely nervous when I explained how our fears are stored in the material substance rather than a place in the brain. I tried to interpret about energy and how by changing the body?s force, we feel better. However, she was way too nervous to sit from one side the explanation. So I explained the absolute minimum and left the rest of the interpretation for the treatment.
I started the treatment by having Tami lie from the top to the bottom of whilst I tapped on her. I did so by sitting behind her seat of the brain and tapping on the Top of the Head and all the Eye points, tapping all the way in a even motion from one point to the next. This election of points is because it is easy for me to do without compromising my position, it is very nice and unobtrusive for the client, and it is adequate points for treatment.
In the first session, I chose to shrink with explaining EFT as I tapped on Tami. One time that was finished, she was so relaxed, she was almost sleeping. We then went on to treat the first occurrence that came to her mind. That was the meeting that she had with her new boss two months ago. I abroach on Tami, guessing most aspects and using the intelligence I managed to get from her during history-pleasing. I said statements such as the following.
?Smooth though you were trembling,?? ?Smooth though there was this fear of existence judged,?? ?Even though he was in a station of authority,?? (I also introduced the statue of the boss on the toilet with his trousers round his ankles, and Tami giggled. I said as I kept tapping ?he is equitable a human being, just like you and me. He goes to the dressing-table and looks very undignified too, just like everyone other?.
The intensity of fear about the interview went from an 8 out of 10 to a 4 to a 2, and at that time less, but by then Tami had released so abundant fear, she was too tired to talk. I guess it was naught or thereabouts.
I finished by giving Tami the Active Anxiety Stopper to do without wording preceding performances, and she left looking very relaxed. I direct the eye forward to our next session. Thank you Tami for letting me number your story, so that others can perceive the strength to come forward for healing. If EFT is new to you, you may wish to discover out more by downloading one of the many free guides from EFT websites and acquisition of knowledge some more about it.
? Suzanne Zacharia 2012. My appellation is Suzanne Zacharia and I am committed to spreading the vocable about health options. I believe that the greater degree of and better options one has, the more choice in that place is. And of course, you are advised to consult with your of medicine practitioner before embarking on any course of choice , complementary, or beauty therapy. Want to use this part? You can, as long as you credit me with it and invite your readers to get my Independent ?EFT How-to for You? and regular free EFT Tapping script samples in my newsletter at http://www.eft-scripts.com/ ? New to EFT? No worries, equitable get your own copy of ?EFT How-to for You? and start EFTing through ease very soon!
Although we generally raved about the performance of Sonos' Play:3 wireless HiFi speakers, one of our chief complaints rested in their slightly muddy bass output. Folks who've felt similarly should be pleased to know that the company has unveiled its first subwoofer, dubbed Sonos Sub. This $700 bass-dropper works wirelessly with your existing Sonos speakers, requiring a quick a setup within the app to ensure it's in-phase and putting out an adequate level of volume. You'll only find a single cable and switch for power on the outside, while looking through its center reveals a duo of "force-cancelling" drivers. Two internal air-ports also flow from top to bottom to aid in the unit's bass reproduction.
We gave a pre-production unit a very brief listen with a stereo array of Sonos Play:3s and came out fairly impressed. The speakers are no slouches on their own, but there's no denying the extra power a sub can add to the HiFi boxes. Measuring in at 15.8 x 6.2 x 15 inches (402 x 158 x 380mm) the Sub dwarf's even the larger Play:5, but a Sonos rep let us know it ensures it'll cover a range of spaces -- not mention folks using the Connect:Amp with their own HiFi speakers (Sonos' Connect, ZP90 and ZP80 aren't compatible, however). We got pleasing results from our unit planted on a table a few feet away from any walls, and the system didn't show any signs or shaking or rattling. The Sub can thankfully rest sideways for placement under some couches, but you'll likely want to "set it and forget it" since it weighs about 36 pounds. Our only displeasure rests in the glossy finish -- a magnet for fingerprints and dust -- but we're told a non-gloss version will be offered later for $100 less. You'll be able to pick up this wub-maker come June 19, so check out the video and press release after the break for more info in the meantime.
New York, May 22 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - MF Global Holdings Ltd, the now bankrupt derivatives broker paid its chief Jon Corzine more than $8 million in pay and stock options in the same year it went bankrupt. Corzine's package was disclosed on Friday by Louis Freeh, the trustee unwinding the company's bankrupt estate.
Jon Stevens Corzine, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and former Governor of New Jersey was paid $3 million in cash, the filing showed, as well as $5.35 million in stock options, which now are not worth the paper its printed on.
MF Global declared bankruptcy on October 31, 2011, amid a liquidity crisis at the firm prompted by $6.3 billion trade MF Global made on its own behalf on bonds of some of Europe?s most indebted nations.
A coalition of former MF Global customers last week asked that the case be put on fast track to cut down on fees charged by the legal team winding down the estate. The money thus saved will go to the defunct firm's customers.
Despite promises of 'substantial renewal,' the new cabinet is filled with faces long seen around the Kremlin who will keep Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev hemmed in.
By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / May 22, 2012
Russian President Vladimir Putin (l.) speaks to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during their meeting in Moscow on Monday, May 21, 2012. Putin has announced a new Cabinet filled with faces long seen around the Kremlin.
There's a new government in Moscow, and a new Kremlin administration as well. It may take observers some time to master everyone's new job titles, but the officials are mostly familiar faces and proven loyalists of freshly-inaugurated President Vladimir Putin.
Though Mr. Putin has moved over from his former job as prime minister in the White House, where the Cabinet sits, to the presidential office in the Kremlin, the overwhelming message from his blizzard of official appointments yesterday and today is one of continuity. The leader who has effectively run Russia for the past twelve years?with a detail-obsessed, hands-on managerial style plans to keep things that way.
Outgoing president and new prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, whose four-year tenure in the Kremlin was overshadowed by Putin at every step,?will find himself equally hemmed in at his new office in the White House, experts say.
"The new government will depend entirely on Putin, its center will be in the Kremlin and all the key people will be there," says Dmitry Oreshkin, head of the Mercator Group, a Moscow political consultancy. "People of Putin's age and circle will determine Russian politics for the next few years, while the younger generation represented by Medvedev will have fewer plenary powers, will not be independent and will have narrow perspectives for their activity."
Yesterday the Kremlin announced the new cabinet lineup. It included few fresh faces, despite Mr. Medvedev's earlier promises of "substantial renewal" in the government he is set to lead.
Most of the key "power ministries" will remain in familiar hands. They include Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has proven to be a skillful advocate for Russian policy amid turmoil in the Middle East?and acrimony with the West over issues like missile defense.
ATLANTA (AP) ? Half the nation's overweight teens have unhealthy blood pressure, cholesterol or blood sugar levels that put them at risk for future heart attacks and other cardiac problems, new federal research says.
And an even larger proportion of obese adolescents have such a risk, according to the alarming new numbers.
"What this is saying, unfortunately, is that we're losing the battle early with many kids," said Dr. Stephen Daniels, a University of Colorado School of Medicine expert who was not involved in the study.
People can keep their risk of heart disease very low if they reach age 45 or 50 at normal weight and with normal blood pressure, normal cholesterol and no diabetes. So these results are not good, he said.
The study was released Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research focused on 3,383 adolescents ages 12 through 19. The youths were part of an intensive national study that involves interviewing, weighing, measuring and performing medical tests on people across the country.
The ongoing CDC study is considered a gold standard for looking at national health trends, said Dr. William Mahle, an Emory University pediatric cardiologist.
So there was some good news, Mahle said, that the study found no increase in levels of obesity, high blood pressure or bad cholesterol during the years it covered ? 1999 through 2008.
"All of us are looking for some sign or signal that we're making headway," said Mahle, who was not involved with the study. "So that was reassuring."
But one measure did get worse: The percentage of adolescents who were diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes rose dramatically, from 9 percent to 21 percent. Pre-diabetics have higher than normal blood sugar levels, but not high enough to count as diabetes.
It's not clear why the proportion of kids with high blood sugar would increase while the measures for the other heart disease risk factors held steady. It may have something to do with the kind of test used to measure blood sugar, Daniels said.
Adolescents in the study were given a blood test that can give varying results depending on the day or time of day the test is given. Other tests, though more involved and more expensive, are considered more precise.
Daniels said it's possible another testing method might not have produced a swing so large.
That is possible, said Ashleigh May, the CDC epidemiologist who was the study's lead author.
"This study is just a first step to identify problems in youth. More work needs to be done to identify why this is happening and the advantages of using various test methods in this population," she said.
Overall the study found that 50 percent of overweight youths and 60 percent of obese youths had at least one risk factor for future heart disease.
But normal-weight kids aren't off the hook ? 37 percent had at least one risk factor and could face increased chances for heart trouble as adults, the study suggests.
NEW YORK (AP) ? A dinosaur dispute is brewing between the Mongolian government and an American auction house, which sold a fossil of a fearsome T. Rex relative despite a court order not to.
The 8-foot-tall, 24-foot-long skeleton of a Tyannosaurus bataar ? or tarbosaurus, a name that means "alarming lizard" ? went for $1,052,500 Sunday at a New York auction, says Heritage Auctions, which hasn't identified the buyer or seller. But the sale is contingent on the outcome of the Dallas-based auction house's court fight with Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the auction house said.
Elbegdorj says the fossil ? a nearly complete skeleton of a two-legged, fanged beast that stalked Central Asia about 80 million years ago ? may belong to his country. Heritage says that it was assured the specimen was obtained legally, and that Mongolia hasn't established the fossil's origins lie there.
The auction came a day after a Dallas judge ordered Heritage not to sell the specimen while the case played out ? and the sale happened even with Texas state District Judge Carlos R. Cortez listening via cellphone, said Elbegdorj lawyer Robert Painter. He said Monday he planned to ask the judge to find that Heritage defied his ruling and hold the auction house in contempt of court.
"It's an order, not a suggestion," Painter said by phone. "I think Heritage Auctions has a lot of explaining to do."
Heritage President Greg Rohan said in a statement Sunday that the auctioneers "respect the various opinions on the subject and wish to protect the legal rights of all parties involved."
About 75 percent complete and assembled so it's ready for display, the fossil is "a once-in-a-generation" opportunity for collectors, Heritage natural history director David Herskowitz said in a release. He told the Daily Mail of London last week that the skeleton was found more than a decade ago in the Gobi desert and is owned by a fossil collector from Dorset, a county in Britain's southwest.
News of the sale stirred alarm in Mongolia, which bans the exporting of dinosaur bones and fossils. While the tarbosaurus skeleton's discovery site hasn't been disclosed, much of the Gobi desert is in Mongolia, and Elbegdorj's court papers include a statement from an American Museum of Natural History paleontologist saying that Mongolia is the only place in the world where the tarbosaurus is known to be found.
"At stake are the heritage, history and culture of a sovereign nation," Elbegdorj's court papers say.
Rohan said in a statement that Heritage has "legal assurances from our reputable consignors that the specimen was obtained legally."
While the judge hasn't yet ruled on the heart of the dispute, he ordered Heritage not to auction or transfer the fossil to anyone for now.
"The skeleton is inherently unique and irreplaceable, and if it is sold to a bona fide purchaser, it will likely be unable to be recovered" by the Mongolian government, Cortez wrote.
A hearing is set for June 1.
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