According to the latest reports, the home sales of the United States have stabilized for the month of August. This is good news because last July, home sales went down significantly.  In fact, there is a 7.6 increase in home sales for the month of August compared to the previous month; this amounts to 4.13 million seasonally adjusted sales. However, compared to August of 2009, sales were down by 19 percent.

This was expected by the analysts. On the contrary, sales for the month of July were unexpected, because the analysts did not anticipate the tax credit expiration for home buyers. Because of this event, the sales for the month of July were lowest in 15 years.

In other news, the battle for the auto rental firm Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group continues as Avis strikes back against its opponent, Hertz Global Holdings. Avis increased its offer to 45.79 dollars per share from 40.75 dollars per share in its previous offer. This was announced a few weeks after Hertz and Dollar Thrifty stated that they had agreed upon a deal.

This deal was worth 1.4 billion dollars or 50 dollars per share. Avis was disappointed because of the lack of communication Dollar Thrifty was giving them.

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Post tags: month of august, united states

A high school coach, Eric Cooper Sr, decided to download an app on his iPhone. This iPhone app is called the Phone Aid. Little did he know that this app would definitely come to the aid of one of his star players, and in fact one of the star center players in the entire United States high school basketball. Initially, this 1.99 dollar application that coach Cooper Sr downloaded was just his way of making his CPR skills better. He never anticipated he would put that information to good use one week later.

What happened is that Xavier Jones, the 6 foot 8 star player, collapsed during a team practice at the La Verne Lutheran High School, located in California. His team mate passed the ball to him, and all of a sudden, he fell down and it seemed that his heart has stopped. Upon seeing this, coach Eric Cooper Sr with the help of John Osorno, the assistant coach, tried to revive Xavier Jones.

And they were successful; primarily because of the information that coach Cooper got from the iPhone App called Phone Aid that he downloaded a week before the incident. The high school center, it turned out, had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and he needs to have defibrillator chest implant.

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Post tags: coach eric, cpr skills, eric cooper, high school basketball, iphone, school coach, star center, star players, united states

The most popular chip maker in the United States and arguably around the world, Intel Corp, plans to buy McAfee for 7.7 billion dollars. McAfee is one of the most popular antivirus software companies, and Intel’s acquisition of the company reveals its plans to improve its defenses against viruses and hacking. This is a move which is congruent to Intel’s desire to go further into mobile computing.

This has allowed shareholders from McAfee to obtain a premium of 60 percent higher than the price of the stocks which closed for McAfee last Wednesday. Because of this acquisition as well, McAfee’s stocks soared to 47.38 dollars, or 58.30 percent as reflected in the pre-market trading last Thursday. Meanwhile, the shares of Intel reduced to $19.16 or 2.19 percent.

Paul Otellini, who is the chief executive of Intel, stated the value of the online world. He said that the growth of inter-connected devices is so vast nowadays that it has tremendous influence on the way we socialize, interact, and basically the way we live. While connectivity and energy efficiency are major factors that consumers are looking for in interconnectivity, Otellini states that in the future, security will be a major interplaying factor; thus, the acquisition of McAfee.

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Post tags: acquisition, antivirus software, billion dollars, chip maker, desire, intel, intel corp, mobile computing, software companies, united states, viruses, world intel

The confidence of Homebuilders dropped for the third straight month as the economy of the United States is still unstable and a lot of houses are foreclosed. These factors have kept a lot of people from purchasing new houses. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the monthly index, which is seasonally adjusted is the lowest since March of 2009, with a value of 13.

How this works is that if the builder sentiment reading is below 50, the sentiment is negative. The last time that the sentiment was positive is during April 2006. Home builders are saying that many buyers simply cannot risk buying homes because they are afraid the economy might be too weak or that the job market may not strengthen.

There was a little light for builders from the federal tax credits, but these expired last April. Therefore, according to, Bob Jones, who is a builder from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, builders and buyers have one thing in common, and that is they are both afraid that the economy is not okay. Foreclosures are also a big problem. According to a survey, around 90 percent of surveyed builders stated that their market is hurt by foreclosures.

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Post tags: Homebuilders, National Association of Home Builders, united states

A lot more Americans have listed their names on the jobless claims than what was originally expected during last week’s application. In fact, this number is the highest in three years. This indicates that a lot of companies are removing jobs for its employers as the current economic condition of the United States, albeit recovering, is doing it very slowly.

The total number of jobless claims for the week that ended on July 31 is 479,000, which is a 19,000 climb from the previous week. This is the highest number of jobless claims in three months, since the month of April. This figure also exceeded the highest estimates of analysts from Bloomberg.

The weak economy of the United States has forced several companies to not risk adding more employees to their labor force. This can have potential risks to the level of consumer spending among Americans, which in turn will result in no upside momentum for the labor market.

The original forecast was 455,000 for the week ending July 31. This was the average prediction by 43 projections, with the highest being 470,000. Apparently, even this highest projection was exceeded by the actual number. On the other hand, according to analysts, there was no special factor which caused this unusually high value.

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Post tags: Jobless, Month of July, united states

The latest figures show that in the United States, fewer consumers are spending and incomes have gone down considerable for the month of June. There is certainly only one major culprit for this, and that is the lack of available jobs for the citizens of the US.

Last month saw an increase, albeit a smaller than expected one, at 0.1 percent. For the month of July, this value remained unchanged according to the Department of Commerce data. Furthermore, there was no recorded increase in incomes, which is the first since September. Also, July also marked the highest savings rate for the year.

For now, increasing demands is a tall order, especially because the rates at which unemployment is fluctuating right now is well within the highest in nearly 26 years. This really affects the overall confidence of the consumers with regards to the economic condition of the country, and affecting their consumer behaviors as well.

The chairperson of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said that the only way for the demands to increase is for the wages to increase. Furthermore, Ryan Sweet, who is an economist from Moody’s Economy.com, said that the second half of the year will still see slower spending from the consumers.

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Post tags: consumers, Income, united states

Honda Motor Corporation will join the race of the world’s biggest car manufacturing companies which are planning to create strong hybrid cars. These hybrid cars will serve as alternatives to cars which use a depleting fuel source and are contributory to global warming and therefore its harmful effects. Honda has already planned to develop a strong hybrid car which will be released in the market by 2012, much like it’s competitors.

This hybrid car is a plug-in hybrid and battery electric model car which is a stronger version of its mild hybrid car. The former mild hybrid cars which were developed a decade ago, are gasoline-electric cars which were not successful in the market at all.

In fact, other companies such as Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Corp are aiming at these old Honda models and showing that their cars are more efficient and are stronger as hybrid cars. According to Takanobu Ito, the chief executive of Honda, the company plans to sell battery-powered electric model cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2012.

These cars will be initially sold in the United States and Japan. On the other hand, Honda’s rival, Toyota, will release a plug-in hybrid car next year. This shows that the technology level of Toyota is way better than Honda.

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Post tags: Honda, hybrid cars, success, toyota, united states

As the much anticipated sporting event of the year,  World Cup 2010 in South Africa is already in full swing.  All over the world, people are excited to see their bets battle it out in the field to be on top of the competition.

If you don’t have the bucks to watch the soccer games in South Africa, you might as well wait for it on television. Here are the FIFA World Cup 2010 Game Schedules so you won’t miss a beat:

FIFA World Cup 2010 Groups

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France.
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece.
Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana.
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon.
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia.
Group G: Brazil North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal.
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile.

2010 FIFA World Cup Schedule ( All Times Local UTC+2)

First Round:

June 11 Friday

16:00 – South Africa Vs Mexico – Johannesburg (SC)
20:30 – Uruguay Vs France – Cape Town

June 12 Saturday

13:30 – South Korea Vs Greece – Johannesburg (SC)
16:00 – Argentina Vs Nigeria – Port Elizabeth (Ellis)
20:30 – England Vs USA– Rustenburg

June 13 Sunday

13:30 – Algeria Vs Slovenia – Polokwane
16:00 – Serbia Vs Ghana – Pretoria
20:30 – Germany Vs Australia – Durban

June 14 Monday

13:30 – Netherlands Vs Denmark – Johannesburg (SC)
16:00 – Japan Vs Cameroon – Bloemfontein
20:30 – Italy Vs Paraguay – Cape Town

June 15 Tuesday

13:30 – New Zealand Vs Slovakia – Rustenburg
16:00 – Ivory Coast Vs Portugal – Port Elizabeth
20:30 – Brazil Vs North Korea – Johannesburg (Ellis)

June 16 Wednesday

13:30 – Honduras Vs Chile – Nelspruit
16:00 – Spain Vs Switzerland – Durban
20:30 – South Africa Vs Uruguay – Pretoria

June 17 Thursday

13:30 – Argentina Vs South Korea – Johannesburg (SC)
16:00 – Greece Vs Nigeria – Bloemfontein
20:30 – France Vs Mexico – Polokwane

June 18 Friday

13:30 – Germany Vs Serbia – Port Elizabeth
16:00 – Slovenia Vs USA – Johannesburg (Ellis)
20:30 – England Vs Algeria – Cape Town

June 19 Saturday

13:30 – Netherlands Vs Japan – Durban
16:00 – Ghana Vs Australia – Rustenburg
20:30 – Cameroon Vs Denmark – Pretoria

June 20 Sunday

13:30 – Slovakia Vs Paraguay – Bloemfontein
16:00 – Italy Vs New Zealand – Nelspruit
20:30 – Brazil Vs Ivory Coast – Johannesburg (SC)

June 21 Monday

13:30 – Portugal Vs North Korea – Cape Town
16:00 – Chile Vs Switzerland – Port Elizabeth
20:30 – Spain Vs Honduras – Johannesburg (Ellis)

June 22 Tuesday

16:00 – Mexico Vs Uruguay – Rustenburg
16:00 – France Vs South Africa – Bloemfontein
20:30 – Nigeria Vs South Korea – Durban
20:30 – Greece Vs Argentina – Polokwane

June 23 Wednesday

16:00 – Slovenia Vs England – Port Elizabeth
16:00 – USA Vs Algeria – Pretoria
20:30 – Ghana Vs Germany – Johannesburg (SC)
20:30 – Australia Vs Serbia – Nelspruit

June 24 Thursday

16:00 – Slovakia Vs Italy – Johannesburg (Ellis)
16:00 – Paraguay Vs New Zealand – Polokwane
20:30 – Denmark Vs Japan – Rustenburg
20:30 – Cameroon Vs Netherlands – Cape Town

June 25 Friday

16:00 – Portugal Vs Brazil – Durban
16:00 – North Korea Vs Ivory Coast – Nelspruit
20:30 – Chile Vs Spain – Pretoria
20:30 – Switzerland Vs Honduras – Bloemfontein

Second Round – ROUND OF 16

June 26 Saturday

16:00 – Group A winner Vs Group B 2nd place – Port Elizabeth
20:30 – Group C winner Vs Group D 2nd place – Rustenburg

June 27 Sunday

16:00 – Group D winner Vs Group C 2nd place – Bloemfontein
20:30 – Group B winner Vs Group A 2nd place – Johannesburg (SC)

June 28 Monday

16:00 – Group E winner Vs Group F 2nd place – Durban
20:30 – Group G winner Vs Group H 2nd place – Johannesburg (Ellis)

June 29 Tuesday

16:00 – Group F winner Vs Group E 2nd place – Pretoria
20:30 – Group H winner Vs Group G 2nd place – Cape Town

Quarter-finals

July 2 Friday

16:00 – 1st Quarter-final – Port Elizabeth
20:30 – 2nd Quarter-final – Johannesburg (SC)

July 3 Saturday

16:00 – 3rd Quarter-final – Cape Town
20:30 – 4th Quarter-final – Johannesburg (Ellis)

Semi-finals:

July 6 Tuesday

20:30 – 1st Semi-final – Cape Town

July 7 Wednesday

20:30 – 2nd Semi-final – Durban

Third Place (July 10 Saturday)

20:30 – Semi-final losers – Port Elizabeth

Final (July 11 Sunday)

20:30 – Semi-final winners – Johannesburg (SC)

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Post tags: FIFA, game schedules, South Africa, united states, world cup 2010

The Or Tambo International Airport has been under siege from thousands of Americans taking their vacation in South Africa. These Americans came from different cities such as New York, Atlanta and Washington. Others who were not so fortunate to get direct flights arrived groggy as their connecting flights took up to 2 days to complete.

Americans go to this continent to explore Kruger National Park or hike the Table Mountain. Some are interested in Nelson Mandela’s fight and choose to trace his path. This time around, the exodus of Americans is for a different reason though. Yes, it’s the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
There are only 3 days left to go before the soccer spectacle the whole world awaits is to start.

Statistics show that during this World Cup, the largest number of ticket holders did not come from countries that hold soccer as their primary sport. The country that has the most ticket holders is amazingly the United States, the country that focuses on Baseball, American Football and Basketball of course.

FIFA stated that more than 130,000 of the nearly 3 million tickets went to Americans. Apart from the host country, the United States garnered the most ticket purchases.

Not all of them are going to support the American World Cup team though. Inhabitants of the United States are fans of various teams such as Mexico, Honduras and other Latin American nations.

The main point of this all is soccer’s growing influence in a country that is so engrossed in other games. This comes as a big shock.

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Post tags: 2010 World Cup ceremonies, FIFA, nelson mandela, Soccer, South Africa, ticket holders, ticket sales, united states

Wildlife has been vastly affected by the deadly oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In particular, pelicans are greatly troubled by the oil. Their feathers end up soaked in oil whenever they try to grab a fish. These birds were brought to the Louisiana bird rehabilitation center where they received aid from volunteers.

The number of birds needing help grew at a fast rate as the oil slowly edges towards their nesting and breeding grounds. Around 160 birds have already been rescued from the waters and have been cleansed at the center. If you do the math, approximately 3-4 birds are brought in everyday since the incident occurred 7 weeks ago. However, that is not the case here. 66 birds have been accounted to have arrived in the past two days. This is very alarming for the state of Louisiana especially since most of those birds are brown pelicans, their state bird. The brown pelican was recently taken off the endangered species list due to the citizen’s effort in restoring their population.

James Harris, one of the many who have devoted their time to restoring the brown pelican population, says that this incident would put all their work to waste. “This could be a major setback for that effort,” he says. Harris is a biologist working for the US-FWS or United States Fish and Wildlife Service and has been on this project for 20 years.

The center is devoted to saving these birds from the oil soaked waters of Louisiana and promises to do its best to take care of the semi-endangered species.

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Post tags: bp, gulf of mexico, Louisiana, oil spill, pelican, united states, wildlife conservation