Money In Bra Saves Womens Life

What an amazing story! Money stuffed in a woman's bra saved her life after she was shot aboard a bus in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, local media reported. The incident took place Saturday in Bahia's capital, Salvador, where 58-year-old Ivonete Pereira was shot in the chest by one of two attackers who tried to rob the bus. She was traveling to her summer home in the nearby town of Lauro de Freitas and because of frequent bus attacks in the region, she hid 150 reals (69 dollars) in 20- and 10-real notes coiled inside the left side of her bra. When the bus passed through the Boca do Rio neighborhood, the robbers suddenly announced their intention. A shootout ensued with a police officer on the scene and a stray bullet hit Pereira. Her bra was stuffed with just enough cash to absorb most of the impact, although she still had to be taken to hospital to have the bullet removed. A retired sergeant was gunned down during the shooting with the assailants, who managed to escape.

Average British Person £40000 Worse Off.

The average Briton is 40,000 pounds worse off because of the credit crunch, as house prices and stock markets slump, according to a report. An analysis by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers said the economic crisis had erased 1.9 trillion pounds of household wealth since July 2007. A 20 percent fall in house prices had cost 800 billion pounds while the estimated loss on equities from the sharp fall in stock markets was put at 1.1 trillion pounds. Photo John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that meant the wealth of an average person would have dropped by around 28 percent. "Translating these figures to a more individual perspective, the estimated loss of wealth of 1.9 trillion pounds would equate to around 40,000 pounds on average per adult in the UK," he said. While the level of losses would vary considerably, Hawksworth said they could result in a cut in total annual household expenditure of around 45 billion pounds, the equivalent to about 5 percent of household spending. "The knock-on effect of this level of wealth destruction will result in significantly more belt-tightening and reduced spending by households over the next year and this situation could be exacerbated by expected further falls in house prices over this period," he said. However, positive effects of recent interest rate cuts, increases to the money supply and other fiscal stimulus measures announced by the government could see an economic recovery later in 2010 and beyond, he added.

Interest Rates Unchanged. Record Low.

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent on Thursday, and said it would take another two months to complete its 75 billion pound quantitative easing programme. This was the first month that the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee had left interest rates on hold since last September, having cut them by a total of 4.5 percentage points to tackle Britain's first economic recession since the early 1990s. It signalled last month that borrowing costs would not go any lower but it would now resort to pumping money directly into the economy -- so-called quantitative easing -- to boost demand. The BoE said it had voted to continue with the 75 billion pound programme to buy government and corporate debt, and would review the decision each month. "The Committee noted that since its previous meeting a total of just over 26 billion pounds of asset purchases had been made and that it would take a further two months to complete that programme," it said in a statement. There was little market reaction to the decision. However, some economists said the Bank could have provided more details on its quantitative easing programme. "British business is concerned that, in the face of a severe recession, quantitative easing has not been sufficiently effective so far. Yields on both gilts and corporate bonds will have to fall much further, before the policy produces a meaningful unblocking of the credit markets," said David Kern, chief economist at British Chambers of Commerce "Quantitative easing must be implemented in a more transparent way. The Bank of England must spell out what rate of expansion in the money supply they are planning to achieve. To alleviate the downturn, it is important to increase monetary growth amongst industrial and commercial companies and individuals."