UK House Prices -The next bubble waiting to burst ??

Just the tip of the iceberg of problems that the world housing bubble is floating on......

Snow warns US government running out of cash, asks for higher debt ceiling

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Treasury Secretary John Snow has warned that unless
Congress raises the national debt limit, the US government will run out of cash
to finance its daily work in two months.
In a letter to Senate leaders on Thursday, Snow said the statutory debt
limit imposed by Congress of 8.184 trln usd would be reached in mid-February and
the government would then lose its borrowing power.
"At that time, unless the debt limit is raised or the Treasury Department
takes authorized extraordinary actions, we will be unable to continue to finance
government operations," said the letter, seen by Agence France-Presse.
Snow warned that even if the Treasury took "all available prudent and legal
actions" to avoid breaching the ceiling, "we anticipate that we can finance
government operations no longer than mid-March".
"Accordingly, I am writing to request that Congress raise the statutory debt
limit as soon as possible."
The Republican-led Congress last voted to increase the debt limit in
mid-November 2004, despite opposition from Democrats who demanded the
free-spending federal government tighten its belt instead.
The US debt limit sparked bitter partisan battles in the mid-1990s between a
Republican-dominated Congress and the Democratic administration of president
Bill Clinton, leading to shutdowns of the federal government.
Once the US government hits the ceiling, it comes under threat of defaulting
on its debts and can lose the ability to raise future credit on the capital
markets.
Snow underlined that the "full faith and credit of the United States" was a
unique selling point on the markets.
jit/jjc/wk

Russia turns down the gas after Ukraine rejects price hike plan

MOSCOW (AFX) - Russia began lowering the pressure of natural gas entering
Ukraine's pipeline system, a spokesman for the Gazprom energy company said,
giving assurances that supplies to the rest of Europe were not at risk.
"We have been forced to start the operation to lower the pressure in
Ukraine's gas pipeline system," state-controlled Gazprom's spokesman Sergei
Kupriyanov told Agence France-Presse after a deadline expired for Kiev to agree
to a steep gas price increase as from April.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter gas price dispute for
months, sparking concerns in European Union states that depend heavily on
Russian energy supplies.
"Export gas will be delivered in its totality," Kupriyanov continued,
referring to deliveries to the rest of Europe.
"We were ready to come to an agreement with the Ukrainian people... Our
offer was rejected," Kupriyanov said.
Around one-fifth of Europe's gas supply comes from Russia via Ukraine and is
carried into Ukraine by a single main trunk pipeline from Russia that then
branches off into the country's pipeline network and European routes further
west.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov said last week that if Moscow
stopped supplying Kiev then his country of 48 mln people would have the right to
take 15 pct of the gas transiting through its territory to Western Europe.
There was no immediate official comment from the Ukrainian government after
Gazprom's announcement of the pressure reduction.
Kiev has so far been paying 50 usd per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas
from Russia. Gazprom, wants 230 usd, arguing that Soviet-era tariffs no longer
apply and the price needs to be aligned with market rates.
Kiev has said it can pay more over a transitional period but Gazprom said it
would shut down Ukraine's gas supply from January 1 unless Kiev agreed to the
higher price immediately.
Ukraine depends on Russia for around one-third of its natural gas supplies,
importing some 25 bln cubic meters per year, and many ordinary Ukrainians have
expressed alarm despite official assurances that the country has enough reserves
to last the winter. As the row with Russia deepened, Kiev signed an agreement
last week with the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, which has some of the
largest gas reserves in the world, to supply 40 bln cubic meters of gas to
Ukraine at 50 usd per 1,000 cubic meters.
dt/afm/wk