ThxPORTAL - My OnlinE InvestmenT ProgresS

The current provisional evaluation of 5 is at the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.

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President Barack Obama said he hopes lawmakers can reach a last-minute deal today to avert a government shutdown after a third round of talks with congressional leaders last night failed to end an impasse over the federal budget.

After meeting with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Obama said issues remained unresolved and he hoped for a breakthrough that would prevent a shutdown, set to begin at midnight tonight.

"I'm not yet prepared to express wild optimism but I think we are further along," he told reporters. "My hope is, is that I'll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted."

The president canceled a scheduled trip to Indianapolis, where he was to promote his energy policies. He had met with Reid and Boehner earlier yesterday and late on April 6 in an effort to reach an accord.

Without an agreement, the government would begin shutting down for the first time in 15 years. Roughly 800,000 "non-essential" federal employees would be furloughed, affecting a host of government services. National parks would close, those filing paper tax returns wouldn't receive refunds, government permits would be unavailable, and most passport applications would go unprocessed.

Dow Slips

Concern over a possible shutdown helped push down stocks yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 17.26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,409.49 at 4 p.m. in New York and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.2 percent. Futures on the S&P 500 index rose 0.4 percent at 10:30 a.m. in London, indicating the benchmark index will rebound today.

Bond yields in the U.S. are lower now than when the government was running a budget surplus a decade ago even though Treasury Department data show that the amount of marketable debt outstanding has risen to $9.13 trillion from $4.34 trillion in mid-2007.

Treasurys fell today, sending the yield on the 10-year note five basis points higher to 3.60 percent. That's below the average of 7 percent since 1980 and compares with an average of 5.48 percent in the 1998 through 2001 period, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices.

'Extremely Narrow'

Neither Obama nor Reid identified the outstanding issues. Reid said they were "extremely, extremely narrow," yet "the sad part about it, we keep never quite getting to the finish line." He said he is "not really confident" that a deal will be reached, though "I'm very, very hopeful."

Boehner said in a statement with Reid that they had "narrowed the issues" and would "continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences."

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber's second-ranking Democrat, said yesterday that lawmakers are divided by provisions, known as policy riders, woven into a bill funding the government for the rest of this year. They would change administration policies on environmental regulations as well as funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions among other health services.

"It appears that the debate is no longer over deficit reduction," Durbin said. "It has really devolved into a debate over policy questions that have nothing to do directly, maybe even indirectly, with the budget deficit that we face or the money we're going to spend."

Lawmakers had also been debating about $40 billion in cuts from the government's $3.7 trillion annual budget.

Veto Threat

Yesterday, the administration threatened to veto a House-approved measure that would keep the government open for business until April 15, cut $12 billion in spending and fund the Pentagon through Sept. 30, the end of the 2011 fiscal year. The administration called the measure a "distraction from the real work" of forging a compromise.

"Non-essential" federal workers face the prospect of going without pay during the impasse. Representative Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat, is advising federal workers living in his district just outside Washington to conserve cash, warning a shutdown could stretch into next week. With so much concern over the budget deficit, he said, lawmakers may not agree to provide federal workers with back pay as they have in the past.

'Conserve Their Money'

"They're going to have to conserve their money to make their mortgage and car payments – they're going to have to determine what are the essentials," Moran said. He estimated that 100,000 workers in the Washington area may be furloughed.

Many government programs would continue during a shutdown, said Jeff Zients, deputy director of the White House budget office.

Social Security checks will continue to flow, the postal service will deliver the mail, military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya will go on and the air traffic control system will operate, Zients said.

"Generally speaking, services that are critical to safety of life and protection of property are excepted from a shutdown," he told reporters. So too, he said, are programs that don't rely on the budget bill being debated for their funding.

Elected officials, including Obama, Boehner and Reid, would be paid as usual during a shutdown unless Congress changes the law. Democratic Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Joe Manchin of West Virginia all announced they would forgo their paychecks during a shutdown.

Soldiers, law enforcement officials and others whose jobs are deemed essential would continue to work, yet wouldn't get paychecks until the budget impasse is resolved.

Obama said the dispute "could severely hamper the recovery and job growth."

"We've been working very hard over the last two years to get this economy back on its feet," he said. "For us to go backwards because Washington couldn't get its act together is unacceptable."

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(NaturalNews) Here's the latest on the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in Japan:

• Releases of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant are "now significant and continuing" said Andre-Claude Lacoste, said the head of France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). (http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest...)

• A "grayish smoke" cloud was observed coming from the roof of Reactor No. 3, causing an evacuation of all the workers there while Japanese authorities figure out if it's safe to return the workers to the site. It was called an "alarming setback" and provides further evidence of a worsening problem with Reactor No. 3 (where the MOX plutonium fuel is stored). (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...)

• Radioactive contamination has now likely reached to a 100km radius around the Fukushima power plant.

• WHO admits that the radiation leaks from Fukushima are far worse than what the public has so far been told (http://www.speroforum.com/a/50605/W...).

• Power cables have so far been physically rigged to all six reactors, but only one or two coolant pumps are working so far.

• Abnormal levels of radiation continue to be found in Japanese food and milk products.

• The World Bank reports that Japan will need to spend $235 billion to rebuild after the Fukushima disaster. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...) Note: Japan currently owns over $800 billion in U.S. debt and may start selling off some of that debt to pay for its rebuilding efforts.

• Two of the six reactors are now considered placed in "cold shutdown," meaning they pose very little risk of further escalations. Reactor No. 3, on the other hand, still poses a threat of what experts are now calling "re-criticality." (A fuel rod meltdown.)

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SHAH ALAM: Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB) is looking to expand the size of its Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera (AHB) unit trust scheme to RM1.5bil by year-end from RM1bil now.

According to PHB managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Kamalul Arifin Othman, since AHB was launched last November, more than 95% of the RM1bil fund has been subscribed.

“We need to expand the fund size to promote bumiputra ownership of prime commercial real estate and enhance opportunities for their ownership in high value and strategically located prime commercial properties in major cities,” Kamalul told StarBiz yesterday.

AHB is a fixed-price syariah-compliant real estate backed unit trust. It was designed with a specific objective to provide opportunity for bumiputra investors to participate in the beneficial ownership of real estate assets that would give the investors regular and consistent income streams.

Kamalul said PHB would be taking an “enterprise approach” in its expansion plans as it increased its footprint in the prime commercial real estate sector.

“Moving forward, we are looking to buy more completed and income-yielding assets, expand our landbank and venture into more property development projects,” he added.

To comply with its fund size expansion plan, he said PHB would need to source for new assets to be injected into AHB.

This year, another three to four assets are expected to be added.

Kamalul said the asset procurement through acquisition of completed assets and property development would ensure continuous asset accumulation for PHB.

“The completed assets facilitate immediate injection into AHB, while property development ensures future supply of good assets. This will ensure the fund will be able to meet its commitment to provide investors good and consistent income streams,” he said.

Currently, AHB's property portfolio comprises five assets three office towers, a hypermarket and a warehouse worth a total of over RM1bil.

These properties CP Tower, Wisma Consplant, and 26 Boulevard in Putrajaya; Tesco Setia Alam and a logistic warehouse in Shah Alam provide an average gross annual rental income of RM100mil. All the assets are located in the Klang Valley.

Kamalul said the plan was for PHB to have a market presence in every state throughout the country within the next three years.

“We are open to all good potential markets and income-yielding commercial property that have good tenants occupying the space,” he added.

The company is involved in a joint venture with Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd to undertake the Penang Sentral integrated transportation hub and a retail complex for the Northern Corridor Economic Region. The RM230mil project is expected to be ready in 2014.

PHB also owns three parcels of land including six acres in KL Sentral which is currently being developed into an integrated commercial project comprising a seven-storey green lifestyle retail mall named Nu Sentral and a 27-storey office tower.

The gross development value is estimated at RM1.4bil and it is scheduled to come onstream next year.

PHB also owns a 20-acre site in Bangsar and five acres in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Both parcels are designated for integrated high-end mixed commercial and residential developments that are expected to take off by next year.

“Through our profit-driven initiatives, we aim to achieve competitive returns for our investors,” Kamalul said.

The fund will pay out income distribution twice a year, in April and October. The first will be made in April.

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