Thursday, July 24, 2014

Friday July 25 Housing and Economic stories


World Cup overpass project collapses in Brazil - (www.cnbc.com) An overpass collapsed in the Brazilian World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring 10 more, an emergency official said. Television images showed part of a passenger bus crushed under the overpass and news website G1 said another two trucks and a vehicle were also smashed. The accident site is around 3 km (2 miles) from the Mineirao stadium, where a World Cup semi-final match will be held next Tuesday. The stadium has already hosted five games.

2004 Athens Olympic Venues Abandoned [Photos] - (www.businessinsider.com) What has happened to the Olympic venues from the 2004 Athens Olympics is the nightmare scenario for Sochi.
Unlike the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic venues, which were destroyed during the Bosnian War, there was no catastrophic event that led to the abandonment of the Athens arenas. Greece simply has no use for world-class, expensive-to-maintain venues for niche sports like softball, beach volleyball, or even swimming. They became useless immediately after the Olympics left town. As a result, a decade after Greece spent ~$15 billion to stage the games, some of these once-gleaming venues are crumbling.

Puerto Rico electric authority in deal with lenders - (www.cnbc.com) Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, on Monday said the lenders providing it revolving lines of credit have agreed not to exercise their rights to seek certain remedies following a series of ratings downgrades and other recent events that have raised concern about PREPA's financial condition. Under the agreement with the creditors, PREPA is permitted to delay certain payments currently due until July 31. PREPA said it will use that period to continue talks with creditors andevaluate alternatives to improve its financial condition. During that period, all payments owed to employees and suppliers will continue as normal. Prices on PREPA's 5.25 percent bonds due July 2040 weakened to less than 37 cents on the dollar from Thursday's closing price of 40 cents on the dollar.

Gowex Files for Bankruptcy Protection After Chairman Quits - (online.wsj.com) Jenaro García Steps Down After Acknowledging Falsifying Accounts. Spanish technology firm Gowex said on Sunday it had filed for bankruptcy protection after the company's chairman acknowledged falsifying accounts and resigned. The collapse of Gowex, which until last week was widely touted as one of Spain's entrepreneurial success stories, followed a scathing report by an investment firm on July 1 that alleged that 90% of the company's revenue was nonexistent. In a statement filed with Spain's Alternative Stock Market on Sunday, Gowex said that Chairman and Chief Executive Jenaro García met with some directors on Saturday and acknowledged that accounting statements for at least the past four years didn't reflect a "faithful image" of the company's performance. The statement said the board revoked Mr. García's management authority and then accepted his resignation. The statement said the company started bankruptcy proceedings, "under the expectation that the company can't meet its current liabilities."

Corinthian's Collapse Shows How U.S. Can Force For-Profit Colleges Out of Business - (www.bloomberg.com) For four years, the U.S. Education Department has threatened to rein in for-profit colleges and their soaring student debt. Now it has found a way. The department has taken its toughest regulatory action ever against a for-profit college: putting Corinthian Colleges Inc., with more than 70,000 students, on the path to going out of business. At least two other large players ITT Educational Services Inc. and Education Management Corp., are also at some risk of stricter enforcement, analysts said. “It’s a big deal, and people who want to isolate it and say that it only applies to Corinthian are kidding themselves,” said Trace Urdan, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities Inc. in San Francisco who follows the education industry. “Everyone has to be more careful with their cash and take their interactions with the department more seriously.”





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