BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is visiting Beijing this week looking for support for U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry – but he is likely to be disappointed.

China buys almost one-third of Iran’s oil exports and has rejected the U.S. sanctions as a tool to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program. That sets Washington up for a public setback if the government of the world’s second-largest economy refuses to cooperate.

“China has no reason to go along with this,” said Wang Lian, an Iran expert at Peking University’s School of International Relations. “China does not want to be seen as helping the U.S. when China’s own interest is concerned.”

Geithner was due in Beijing for a dinner meeting Tuesday with Vice Premier Wang Qishan, his counterpart in a regular high-level U.S.-Chinese dialogue. Geithner is to meet Wednesday with Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Xi Jinping – in line to become China’s next leader – and Vice Premier Li Keqiang, another rising star.

U.S.

Read all…

After one of the worst years of natural disasters, including storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes and the recent $12 billion flood in Thailand, IAG Australia has completed its reinsurance coverage for 2012. Not surprisingly the costs have ballooned, along with the amount of risk the company has had to take on its own books.

For shareholders, it will mean little – as long as there isn’t a string of mid-sized disasters – as the company reconfirmed an insurance margin of between 10 per cent and 12 per cent for this year. But for customers, the increase in reinsurance costs, estimated to be up to 40 per cent higher, will translate into more rises in insurance premiums.

Being the last of the big insurers to renegotiate its catastrophe reinsurance policy for the year, IAG was always going to face a challenge, particularly given the massive losses endured by global reinsurers over the past few years.

Suncorp, QBE and Wesfarmers have already run the gauntlet and renegotiated their reinsurance policy renewals in June.

Read all…

Nearly one in three Americans is expected to travel for the holidays, making for a slightly more busy travel season compared with a year ago.

About 91.9 million Americans are forecast to travel 50 miles or more from home, up 1.4 percent compared with the 90.7 million people who traveled last year. It marks the highest travel volume since 2006, according to a report released Wednesday by travel club AAA.

AAA called the travel gains a “notable milestone in the travel industry’s recovery.”

In Florida, 4.8 million people are expected to travel during the 11-day holiday period, up 1.2 percent compared with a year ago.

Though the number of people on the roads is expected to grow, air travel is forecast to take a hit this year. AAA forecast about 5.4 million leisure travelers will fly during the year-end holiday period, down 9.7 percent from a year ago.

Read all…

WASHINGTON — Mary Power is 92 and worried about surviving another frigid New England winter because deep cuts in federal home heating assistance benefits mean she probably can’t afford enough heating oil to stay warm.

She lives in a drafty trailer in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood and gets by on $11,148 a year in pension and Social Security benefits. Her heating aid help this year will drop from $1,035 to $685. With rising heating oil prices, it probably will cost her more than $3,000 for enough oil to keep warm unless she turns her thermostat down to 60 degrees, as she plans.

“I will just have to crawl into bed with the covers over me and stay there,” said Power, a widow who worked as a cashier and waitress until she was 80. “I will do what I have to do.”

Thousands of poor people across the Northeast are bracing for a difficult winter with substantially less home heating aid coming from the federal government.

“They’re playing Russian roulette with people’s lives,” said John Drew, who heads Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., which provides aid to low-income residents in Massachusetts.

The issue could flare just as New Hampshire votes in the Republican presidential primary.

Sen.

Read all…

To find a tenant with tenanthunter.com is a doddle even for tenants who need a reliable person to take over a lease or for landlords. Professional letting agencies can work effectively with proper skills and they have a database to find a proper tenant. If you let a flat for students or a young couple, an experienced agent can match a property and a resident.

If you decide you can do it yourself, then it is essential to check a prospective tenant’s credit history or identity, and the references before deciding to let your property. Remember to ask for a guarantor if you are not sure that a person can pay the rent. All these steps are much easier than having to evict a tenant problem. Read all…

NEW YORK (AP) — As potential voters in New Hampshire and Iowa scan the Internet, they probably are seeing ads for Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama alongside deals for shoes and holiday gifts.

The campaign ads will then follow those voters around the Web, popping up on news sites, Google searches and on social networking sites like Facebook.

Online advertising, once used primarily as a way to reach young and heavily wired consumers, has emerged as an essential communications tool in the 2012 presidential contest. While few expect Web ads to supplant television commercials anytime soon, strategists say online ads may be the most nimble, efficient and cost-effective way to reach voters.

“Online advertising cuts through because of its ability to target. It’s unparalleled in any other medium,” said Romney’s digital director, Zac Moffatt. “TV may be more effective for driving a big message, but per usage, the Internet is more powerful.

Read all…