Wall St mixed amid weak readings

Wall St mixed amid weak readings	20.05.2008
US stock markets finished mixed today as economic surveys suggested economic growth would remain weak, but that the world`s biggest economy may avoid a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 41.20 points (0.32 per cent) higher at 13,028.00 just after the closing bell was rung at the New York Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq composite lost 12.76 points (0.50 per cent) to 2516.09 and the broad-market Standard & Poor`s 500 index gained 1.18 points (0.08 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1426.53. The National Association of Business Economists (NABE) survey of 52 professional forecasters suggested that the economy would avoid a full bore recession, but that growth would remain lacklustre into 2009. "Although housing and credit markets will gradually loosen their grip, US economic growth is expected to only slowly return to health," said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, NABE president and chief economist at Ford Motor Company. On the corporate front, investors said they were keeping a close watch on Microsoft and Yahoo after the software giant said over the weekend that it was mulling a new potential deal with Yahoo that would not involve a renewed takeover bid. Surging oil prices also buffeted the market again as a key oil futures contract traded in New York closed at a record high of $US127.05 a barrel. Share this article Digg this Post to del.icio.us Post to Newsvine Post to Facebook Add to kwoff
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05/19/2008		$2m funding to lift social conscience
THE Federal Government has announced it will fund a project aimed at helping businesses develop more of a social conscience

05/19/2008		Interest rates denting business confidence
SUCCESSIVE interest rate rises have buffeted business confidence, with hikes leading to an increase in costs and belt-tightening among consumers, a survey has found

05/19/2008		Demand for executives continues to fall
DEMAND for executives has fallen to its lowest level since 2006 as the economy slows, says EL Consult`s executive demand index

05/19/2008		Holden says dollar won`t hurt exports
CAR maker Holden says it`s export deals aren`t yet at risk from the high value of the Australian dollar

`Thugs` to run with torch

THE Chinese flame attendants labelled "thugs" in London will run with the Olympic torch in Australia.
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Latest Comments:

This is just typical religion; never admit to being wrong under any circumstances. Just like evolution, instead of admitting that there is at least a smaill mistake in their church or religion, they come up with crap like: http://objectiveministries.org/creation/sciencefair.htmlQuite scary really!
Posted by: Sasha 2:52pm today

This is really quite disgusting.For a man complicit in the church's cover ups, blaming the victims and society for his organisation's criminal behaviour is pretty rich.If the sexualisation of modern society is to blame for priest sexual abuse, how does he explain decades' old sexual abuse by the church when society was much more conservative and NOT exposed to the 'loose morals' of today?Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.
Posted by: Tom of Brisbane 2:17pm today

I've heard it said that the proportion of Catholic priests and brothers molesting children is not much higher than what it is for society in general. That might not be any consolation to the many children molested while under the care of these supposed holy people, but let's not blame the majority of inncoent Roman Catholic clergy who have dedicated their lives to the service of the church. By the way, I am not a Catholic.
Posted by: David of Blue Mountians 2:07pm today

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Pope admits church handled abuse badly
But says society`s loose morals also to blame
Says widespread access to porn not helping

POPE Benedict XVI has berated US bishops for their poor handling of the child sex scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church, but also laid blame on the breakdown of values in US society.

Pope Benedict told a gathering of bishops they had "sometimes very badly handled" the decades-old problem of pedophile priests.

But he urged efforts "to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores".

"What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" the Pope said on the first full day of his US visit.

Instead, he suggested as a remedy an urgent reassessment of "the values underpinning society".

Describing clerics who sexually abuse children as "gravely immoral", the octogenarian Pope warned that the scourge of pedophilia "is found not only in your dioceses but in every sector of society".

"It calls for a determined, collective response," he said, but did not outline any firm action that the Vatican intended to take to purge the church of pedophile priests.

Instead, he had measured praise for the efforts made so far by the US church to heal the wounds left by the scandal.

"Your efforts to heal and protect are bearing great fruit," he told the bishops.

"If they are to achieve their full purpose, however, the programs you have adopted need to be placed in a wider context," the Pope said, urging church leaders to join with parents, teachers, and the media to protect children.

"Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships," he said in a speech delivered after evening prayer in the crypt of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

"They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today."

The US church was plunged into the worst crisis in its 200-year history in 2002 when the Archbishop of Boston confessed he had protected a priest who had sexually abused young members of his church.

After the scandal blew up, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops drafted a charter for the protection of children and has issued an annual report outlining progress made in implementing the plan.

Last year, 689 new allegations of abuse were lodged, and the church paid out $US615 million ($655.09 million) to settle child sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy - 54 per cent more than the previous year - the annual progress report said.

Victim support groups and activists accuse bishops of covering up for predator priests or, worse, of sexually molesting children themselves, and have called for firm action from the Vatican against all abusers.

In his speech, the Pope did not outline any concrete steps that would be taken, but urged the bishops to give more guidance to priests, who "have experienced shame over what has occurred".

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