Don't miss the total lunar eclipse

West Coast residents may miss out on the early stages of the eclipse as it will occur before moon rise but the rest of the country should be able to see the entire even--weather permitting, of course. Credit: NASA

On Wednesday, February 20, 2008, beginning at 7:01 p.m. PST, the moon will move completely under the shadow of the Earth in a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse can be seen in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Hope for good weather because the next total lunar eclipse won't happen until December 2010.

The moon will be completely under Earth's shadow for about 50 minutes. During this time, the moon won't be completely obscured because of indirect light coming from the Earth's atmosphere. But the moon will appear to change colors from light gray to orange or deep red. The shade depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the Earth's atmosphere.

Credit: NASA TV

http://www.news.com/2300-11397_3-6231126-1.html

US home owners set to be thrown bank lifeline to halt mortgage defaults

Six of the biggest mortgage lenders in the United States are expected to announce plans today to stop borrowers in danger of defaulting on loans from losing their homes. The plan is known as Project Lifeline.

Analysts at Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation predict that the number of Americans defaulting on their mortgage will be up 166 per cent this year, to 1.6 million.

Bank of America, Citigroup and four other US lenders are to offer a 30-day freeze on foreclosures to help them to refinance their loans, Bloomberg reported this morning.

It is thought that an announcement on the plans will be made in Washington at 4.15pm GMT.

The new move, spearheaded by Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, will see the banks, all members of Hope Now, an alliance of lenders formed last year, provide a lifeline to customers who are late on their payments by three months or more.

As the US teeters on the edge of recession, Mr Paulson, who has previously opposed a stay on foreclosures, is said to have asked the banks to go beyond previous pledges to freeze sub-prime interest rates for the next five years, in an attempt to avert the deepest housing slump in a generation.

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and Countrywide Financial, the other banks in the group, are also part of the plan.

Democrats have heaped criticism on the Bush Administration for failing to provide enough relief to homeowners caught in the global credit crunch.

Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House Financial Services Committee, said yesterday: “We are now in the midst of one of the most serious economic crises we have seen in recent years.”

Estimates by the Federal Reserve forecast that about two million US homeowners will see their mortgage repayments soar in the next two years as the price of credit increases.

Borrowers facing the prospect of higher mortgage repayments are also facing the prospect of negative equity, as values of houses dropped for the first time since the Depression.

The National Association of Realtors said that sales of single-family homes declined 13 per cent, the biggest drop in 25 years, as prices plummeted 1.8 per cent, the first drop since records began in 1968.

Patrick Foster
Times Online
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/united_states/article3354858.ece

Icy Hot Recall

Chattem, Inc., manufacturer of Icy Hot Heat Therapy products, has recalled its Icy Hot Heat Therapy products, including consumer "samples" that were included on a limited promotional basis in cartons of its 3 oz Aspercreme product. The products were recalled because of consumer reports of first, second and third degree burns as well as skin irritation. All lots and sizes of the following Icy Hot Heat Therapy products were recalled:

Icy Hot Heat Therapy Air Activated Heat - Back Icy Hot Heat Therapy Air Activated Heat - Arm, Neck, and Leg Icy Hot Heat Therapy Air Activated Heal - Arm, Neck, and Leg single consumer use "samples" on a limited promotional basis in cartons of 3 oz. Aspercreme Pain Relieving Cream

Consumers who have the Icy Hot Heat Therapy products under this recall should immediately stop using the products, discard them, and /or return them to the manufacturer.

Editor: Jeffrey H. Rasansky, Attorney at Law

Firm: Rasansky Law Firm
http://dallas.injuryboard.com/defective-products/icy-hot-recall-due-to-third-degree-burns.php


Read the complete FDA Press Release here:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/chattem02_08.html

"Critical" BlackBerry Outage

TORONTO, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Research In Motion's ubiquitous BlackBerry experienced a "critical severity outage" on Monday afternoon that left users stranded without wireless e-mail access, its maker said.

RIM notified its clients of the outage in an e-mail. Company officials were not available for comment.

"This is an emergency notification regarding the current BlackBerry Infrastructure outage," RIM support account manager Bryan Simpson said in the e-mail, which was sent to the company's large clients. The message said the outage affected business clients and "users of the Americas network."

The notice gave no estimate on the cause, when service might be restored or how many people could be affected.

By about 5:30 p.m. Eastern time -- more than an hour after RIM notified its customers of the problem -- some customers said a few e-mails were trickling through. Others, however, continued to be without service.

Still others appeared to enjoy a respite from a device affectionately dubbed the "CrackBerry" by its more compulsive users. On Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Liberal Party spokesman Jean-Francois Del Torchio said things seemed very relaxed for a while.

"It made my life a little bit easier, since I didn't have to reply. But when I arrived at my desktop and I saw all the e-mails I received, I was like, 'Oh, I still need to work'," he told Reuters.

But Carmi Levy, senior vice-president of strategic consulting at AR Communications, said service reliability is a serious concern for companies like RIM, because if problems become routine, they can turn customers and prospective buyers away.

"It's a big issue and it's a growing issue," he said, adding that huge outages can prove to be "a major Achilles' heel" for RIM.

Last April, a massive outage crashed BlackBerry service across North America, leaving thousands of users without access to wireless e-mail.

Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said at the time that such incidents were "very rare" and the Waterloo, Ontario-based company was taking steps to prevent such an outage from happening again.

Executives, politicians, lawyers and other professionals rely on the BlackBerry for its ability to send secure e-mails.

RIM is also adding more retail customers to its subscriber base, which late last year reached about 12 million people worldwide.

RIM shares fell to $93.25 in after-hours electronic trade, from their regular-session close of $94.47 on the Nasdaq market.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange, the shares finished the day C$4.73 higher at at C$94.62.
Reuters

By Wojtek Dabrowski
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7301675