All posts tagged: Rates

Poll Finds Strong Support For Larger Families Despite Falling US Birth Rates

Poll Finds Strong Support For Larger Families Despite Falling US Birth Rates

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times, Most respondents said having children is important to a fulfilling life, while citing faith, family values, and economic stability as key factors. The question of the declining birth rate in the United States has been weighing on many, including economists and those in the religious sector. As more Americans reach the age of qualification for Social Security, the question of how to meet that demand alone has caused some to question what the future holds if American birthrates continue their current downward trajectory. The current American fertility rate is roughly 1.6 children per woman. A poll of Epoch Times readers found most believe that children are important, and also that the nation should look for ways to support family growth. Importance Of Family With a national average of less than two children per woman, readers were asked how they feel about family size. A large majority of those polled, 87 percent, believe that having children is important to having a fulfilling life. To add to that, …

‘It feels unfair’: the Britons struggling to get a mortgage since Iran war began | Mortgage rates

‘It feels unfair’: the Britons struggling to get a mortgage since Iran war began | Mortgage rates

Published by Sam Flores

Prospects of cuts in UK interest rates in 2026, which were widely expected at the start of the year, were rapidly extinguished when the Iran war started at the end of February. The renewed threat of inflation means the Bank of England is now expected to raise rates at least once this year, with mortgage costs staying higher for longer. The boss of Britain’s largest housebuilder said on Thursday it was the most challenging time to be a first-time buyer since the 2008 financial crisis. We asked people about their experience of housing and mortgage rates after the start of the conflict in the Middle East. ‘We had to pull out of buying a home’ Panos, 36, an executive sous chef, and his wife had put in an offer to buy their first house – a three-bedroom, in Hanwell, west London – but the interest rate on the mortgage they going to take out jumped after the start of the war. When he spoke to his mortgage broker on 13 April, he was told the …

AI Model Release Tracker: Opus 4.8’s misalignment rates similar to Claude Mythos Preview

AI Model Release Tracker: Opus 4.8’s misalignment rates similar to Claude Mythos Preview

Published by skeptic

Elyse Betters Picaro/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. AI labs are shipping new models nonstop. Besides being better and faster than their predecessors, however, every new model isn’t guaranteed to be a major step change, despite how the company’s PR may wax poetic about them. Model strengths really emerge in context: Where are competitor models lacking or excelling? Which models have outstanding specialties, and which are just catching up to industry standards?   Also: How we test AI at ZDNET Our Model Release Tracker helps you make sense of where models stand relative to each other, and whether they’re worth a deeper look. While we don’t test every model or model update on this list, we’ll always include the key elements you need to know, along with our hands-on expert test, where applicable. We also include an Expert Score for certain models. Curious about how we test AI? Check out this breakdown of our process.  Here are some of the biggest model releases of 2026 so far and what to know about them. We’ll …

South Korea central bank holds rates, as expected

South Korea central bank holds rates, as expected

Published by Sam Flores

SEOUL, May 28 : The Bank of Korea kept its policy interest rate steady on Thursday, as it weighs geopolitical risks against a weakening won and resurgent inflation that point to higher rates ahead. The seven-member monetary policy board at the central bank voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.50 per cent, as expected by 30 of 32 economists polled by Reuters. The two outliers forecast a rate rise. Governor Shin Hyun Song will hold a press conference at 0210 GMT. Source link

Michigan Lawmakers Give Mackinac Island Control of Ferry Rates. Neighbors Aren’t Happy

Michigan Lawmakers Give Mackinac Island Control of Ferry Rates. Neighbors Aren’t Happy

Published by Sam Flores

The Michigan House on Thursday OK’d a bill that would give Mackinac Island authority over all aspects of ferry services to the tourist destination, including prices for not only fares but also parking and baggage handling. Just before the start of the Memorial Day weekend, the House passed Senate Bill 304 by a 91-16 vote Thursday, with all opposition coming from Republicans. The legislation now goes to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Because it amends the island’s charter, it would only take effect if a majority of its residents approve it. Both St. Ignace and Mackinaw City oppose the legislation because it gives the smaller city power to control parking rates in their municipalities. “This was a tough fight — but sometimes as legislators we have to be willing to take a hard stance and take a few arrows to do what is right,” state Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, wrote in a statement on social media. Since Hoffman Marine bought the two ferry services to the island — Shepler’s Inc. and Arnold Transit — in 2004, …

The House | Fit For Service? Royal Navy Fitness Test Pass Rates Fall Sharply Over Last Decade

The House | Fit For Service? Royal Navy Fitness Test Pass Rates Fall Sharply Over Last Decade

Published by Sam Flores

Officers at work on the bridge of HMS Dragon as it sails into Limassol, Cyprus, 27 April 2026 (Photography, LPhot Helayna Birkett. UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026) 6 min read27 min The Iran conflict has drawn attention to gaps in Royal Navy capability but, as Tom Scotson finds, it’s not just its ships that need to get into better shape In the early days of the Iran conflict, as UK allies in the Gulf – and even Cyprus – were being hit by drones and missiles, Keir Starmer pledged to send a warship to help defend them. The only problem was the only available vessel, HMS Dragon, was undergoing a refit in Portsmouth. The effort to get the ship ready was extraordinary but there was no escaping the embarrassment. The Royal Navy has been the object of ridicule from US secretary of war Pete Hegseth and, repeatedly, Donald Trump himself. It is widely acknowledged that the UK has an inadequate number of warships currently available, with new frigates only coming into service …

Flatbed Truck Rates Hit New Highs As These Drivers Fuel Boom

Flatbed Truck Rates Hit New Highs As These Drivers Fuel Boom

Published by Jenni Sidey

Flatbed trucking conditions have never looked stronger, with spot rates surging to record highs amid a mix of tightening capacity and rising industrial freight demand. “Flatbed trucking rates have hit a new all-time high as industrial demand and a crackdown on bad actors continue to shape trucking economics,” said FreightWaves founder Craig Fuller. Fuller added, “It is a great time to be a compliant trucker in America.” There are two drivers behind why U.S. flatbed spot trucking rates (via SONAR Flatbed Truckload Index) have surged to $4.21 per mile, well above the index’s $2.87 average and to record highs: Data center and AI infrastructure boom, which is driving higher volumes of steel, transformers, generators, construction materials, and other open-deck freight; And the crackdown on foreign truck drivers, which is shrinking the available labor pool and tightening capacity further, is creating a more favorable pricing backdrop for American owner-operators. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that freight brokers now face state-law negligent hiring claims when they hire unsafe trucking firms that later cause crashes. This …

Bank Indonesia to hike interest rates on May 20, slim majority of economists said

Bank Indonesia to hike interest rates on May 20, slim majority of economists said

Published by Sam Flores

BENGALURU, May 19 : Bank Indonesia will hike its key policy rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, according to a slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll who said the weak rupiah could lead the central bank to tighten policy. The rupiah, already under pressure from concerns about fiscal management and central bank independence before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, has dropped around 5 per cent since the conflict started, despite regular BI intervention in exchange markets, prompting economists to expect tighter policy. Sixteen of 29 economists polled in the period May 11-18, expected BI to raise its benchmark seven-day reverse repurchase rate to 5.00 per cent on May 20, with the overnight deposit and lending facility rates also seen rising 25 basis points, to 4.00 per cent and 5.75 per cent respectively. “I think the key rationale for a rate hike would be the depreciation of the rupiah in the past month,” said Tay Qi Hang, an economist at ‌the Economist ⁠Intelligence Unit. “What it fundamentally boils down …

I installed a Linux gaming distro and got better frame rates than Windows on the same PC

I installed a Linux gaming distro and got better frame rates than Windows on the same PC

Published by skeptic

Every year, someone declares it’s finally the year of the Linux desktop, and every year, the internet moves on without much changing. But something feels different lately. More people are ditching Windows on their daily machines for gaming, and the hardware support has gotten to a point where it’s hard to find a real excuse not to try it. For gaming specifically, I think we’re already there. Related I made the switch to Steam OS on my ROG Ally X and haven’t looked back Being reunited with SteamOS has never felt better, especially on the ROG Ally X The actual numbers, on the same hardware More is better Raghav Sethi/MakeUseOfCredit: Raghav Sethi/MakeUseOf I’ve been running CachyOS for a while now, and it is by far my favorite Linux distro yet, especially for gaming. It ships packages compiled specifically for your CPU architecture, and comes with custom schedulers and kernels designed to squeeze every bit of performance out of your hardware. In most games, CachyOS is right there with Windows, and sometimes it just beats it outright. …