text:
French Republicans Call For Referendum on Curbing Migration - Party's Head
© REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201804181063683379-france-republicans-referendum-migrants/
PARIS (Sputnik) - Laurent Wauquiez, the president of French center-right The Republicans party, has said that he wants to hold a referendum in order to step up measures against migration.
The National Assembly has been discussing since Monday a draft law on asylum and immigration policies aiming at speeding up the review process for asylum claims to make it easier for the government to return migrants who fail to get asylum to their countries of origin.
© AFP 2019 / SAKIS MITROLIDIS
Slovak Politician: Migrants Should Be Helped, But Not in Our Country
The draft bill has sparked arguments between major political fractions, with several members of Macron's La Republique En Marche! (Republic on the Move) party characterizing the reform as "stigmatizing," a violation of human rights or simply useless. Meanwhile, parties on the right, including Marine Le Pen's National Front, have called for stricter measures to curb migration.
"I want a referendum to be organized … with a very simple question: do you want France to create laws that allow reducing migration to minimum?… This is an important enough debate for the French to have the right to choose," Wauqioez told RTL broadcaster on Wednesday.
Wauquiez said that he wanted to review jus soli or birthright citizenship and that his party's goal was to reduce migration. He noted that the bill proposed by the government did not allow for this.
"In 2017, the first year of Emmanuel Macron, France granted 260,000 residence permits. This is a record for the last 43 years. If nothing changes during his five-year term, there will be a million migrants in our country… Migration has become an extremely difficult issue in our country, with integration problems and the rise of communalism that everybody notes, and which is linked to a simple reality: we receive too many migrants comparing to the integration capacity of our country," Wauquiez said.
The draft law on asylum and immigration policies was presented French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb in February. Along with intensifying the deportation policy, Collomb has pledged to create better conditions for those who have the right to stay in France under a refugee status.
READ MORE: Rampant Migrant Unemployment Threatens to Further Raise Swedish Taxes — Forecast
'Clinically Dead': Author Warns 'Heart of Western Civilization Risks Being Colonized by Migrants'
The bill has faced harsh criticism from a number of migrant charities, which have claimed that it would become more difficult for migrants to defend their rights and prepare their cases.
France, as well as a number of other European states, have been significantly affected by the ongoing migration crisis. The city of Calais, located on the northern coast of France near the French side of Channel Tunnel, which connects the country with the United Kingdom, has for years been home to hundreds of migrants trying to cross the border.
READ MORE: Let Nothing Be Wasted: French Migrants Will Reportedly Wear Ex-President's Suits
In 2016, the migrant camp in Calais was dismantled due to the horrible living conditions there, but asylum seekers and refugees still arrive in the city and are forced to stay on French soil.
In 2017, over 100,000 migrants and refugees applied for asylum in France, which became the highest number in the past 40 years. In January, Collomb said that around 26,000 illegal migrants were sent back in 2017, noting that forced returns had increased by 14 percent compared to previous years.
Rampant Migrant Unemployment Threatens to Further Raise Swedish Taxes - Forecast
Swedish Students Reported to Police over 'Fact-Based' Anti-Migrant Leaflets
referendum, migrants, French Republican party, Laurent Wauquiez, France


text:
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Sept 6 Cafe – Chew on this
The evolution of tooth eruption in mammals
with Tesla Monson
Wednesday September 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM
Restaurant Valparaiso, 1403 Solano Ave. Albany
Why do we have wisdom teeth? And why do so many people need to have them extracted? Teeth are extremely important biological structures that act as a physical interface between mammals and their environment. A great deal is known about the biology of how teeth erupt into the mouth. However, there still remains significant disagreement on the factors driving the evolution of tooth eruption in mammals. To address this, Dr. Monson examined the teeth of more than 8,000 animals at museums in the United States, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Her research investigates the relationship between tooth eruption and traits like body size, longevity, and litter size. For the East Bay Science Café, Dr. Monson will talk about why teeth are so important and discuss what the timing and sequence of tooth eruption can tell us about humans as well as other mammals.
Evolution of tooth eruption in mammals
Dr. Tesla Monson
Dr. Tesla Monson is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley and is currently teaching IB35AC, Human Biological Variation. Her research focuses on the evolution of mammalian variation, particularly of the skeleton and teeth. Tesla's work has taken her around the world to look at museum collections of extant and fossil animals. Tesla is also the host and producer of The Graduates on KALX 90.7 FM, a radio talk show featuring graduate student research at Cal and promoting diversity in the sciences.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Kenya: 29-year old woman arrested and charged with alleged intentional transmission for breastfeeding a baby
Kenya Breastfeeding Women
HIV-positive woman, 29, denies infecting baby by breastfeeding
Source: the Star
A woman was charged yesterday with deliberately infecting a nine-month-old baby with HIV through breastfeeding.
Nakuru principal magistrate Joe Omido heard that X, 29, knowing she was HIV-positive, intentionally and wilfully breastfed the baby infecting her with the deadly virus.
Initial HIV tests from a hospital returned positive, but the court has directed that the results be verified.
X denied the charges and asked to be released on bond. She said she was unwell and needed urgent medical attention.
The prosecution, through counsel Sandrah Kosgey, objected to her application, saying the police had yet to complete investigations.
"I pray to have the accused detained for seven days to allow police more time to complete investigations, including tests on the baby to determine if he was indeed infected," Kosgey said.
Omido said the offence was serious and directed that the accused be remanded until October 2, when she will apply for bond.
"The accused is to be remanded at Njoro police station. The baby and the accused should be taken to hospital for treatment," he ruled.
Omido ordered X and the baby tested. Police reports said X is on antiretrovirals and had been a close friend of the baby's mother, who was not aware of her HIV status.
Mother was away
X was arrested on Monday after reports she was found breastfeeding the baby in her mother's absence.
She allegedly committed the offence on September 18 in Gichobo, Njoro subcounty. It is alleged that the mother was away and had left X with the baby.
Neighbours — also unaware of X's medical status — saw her breastfeed the baby.
According to the Health ministry, the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmissions stands at 3.7 per cent. It says some mothers fail to get proper treatment during pregnancy and birth.
The ministry's report shows that mother-to-child transmission accounts for more than 90 per cent of new HIV infections among children. It says this can be prevented if HIV-positive mothers adhere to antiretroviral treatment.
Some 85 per cent of HIV-positive mothers are currently on ARVs to prevent them from passing the virus to their babies.


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Q: sqlalchemy declarative_base() schema_name not working I'm creating SQLAlchemy objects for MSSQL via sub-classing declarative_base().
When shifting from in-memory sqlite to production on MSSQL a try and specify the correct MS 'schema' with:
create_engine(config.DB, schema_name='myschema', echo=False)

however the sql emitted is does not include this schema in the query. Am i doing something wrong?
All is working great with sqlite in-memory.

A: answered by ThiefMaster on freenode #sqlalchemy
if you set the schema directly on the object then it works:
__table_args__ = {'schema': 'myschema'}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: How to create a jsp Form with validation and mail form details to administrator? I am new to JSP and related technologies. I need to write a JSP form with some required fields (including Captcha), the form will require validation. Upon successful submission of the form, it should be able to email to a stated email address which is grabbed/parsed from a .txt file.
That is basically the flow. But technically how should I do it in JSP/java? Is there any good tutorial referencing to my above form requirement? How should I be able to grab/parse the text file. And lastly,
I remembered that php has a function called mail() to do the emailing, how should I do it in jsp?
Thank you very much.

A: JSP is just a view technology providing a template to write client side markup/style/scripting languages in, such as HTML/CSS/JS code, alongside with the possibility to control the page flow dynamically with help of taglibs such as JSTL and access to backend data with help of EL. In your speficic case a plain vanilla HTML form would already suffice.
<form action="servletname" method="post">
    <input type="text" name="foo">

    <input type="text" name="bar">

    <input type="submit">

</form>

To control, preprocess and/or postprocess the request and response, the best way is to use a Servlet. Basically just extend HttpServlet and implement the doGet() to preprocess data or the doPost() to postprocess the data. The servlet can be mapped on a certain url-pattern in web.xml. The HTML form action URL should match this url-pattern.
If you want to make use of the very same form to redisplay the submitted page and any error messages, then you can just make use of EL:
<form action="servletname" method="post">
    <input type="text" name="foo" value="${param.foo}" ${not empty messages.succes ? 'disabled' : ''}>
    ${messages.foo}

    <input type="text" name="bar" value="${param.bar}" ${not empty messages.succes ? 'disabled' : ''}>
    ${messages.bar}

    <input type="submit">
    ${messages.succes}

</form>

Where ${messages} is basically a Map<String, String> which you've put in the request scope in the servlet. For example:
protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    Map<String, String> messages = new HashMap<String, String>();
    request.setAttribute("messages", messages);

    String foo = request.getParameter("foo");
    String bar = request.getParameter("bar");

    if (foo == null || foo.trim().isEmpty()) {
        messages.put("foo", "Please enter this field");
    }

    if (bar == null || bar.trim().isEmpty()) {
        messages.put("bar", "Please enter this field");
    }

    if (messages.isEmpty()) {
        YourMailer.send(createTemplate(foo, bar), mailto);
        messages.put("succes", "Mail successfully sent!");
    }

    // At end, forward request to JSP page for display:
    request.getRequestDispatcher("pagename.jsp").forward(request, response);
}

More about JSP/Servlet can be found in Java EE 5 tutorial part II chapters 4-9 and in Marty Hall's Coreservlets.com tutorials. To go a step further you can always abstract all the boilerplate stuff (request parameter retrieval, value conversion/validation, event handling, navigation, etcetera) away with help of any MVC framework which is built on top of Servlet API, like Sun JSF, Apache Struts, Spring MVC, etcetera.
With regard to captcha's, you can just use any Java Captcha API to your taste and follow the instructions. Often they have their own servlet/filter which stores a key/toggle/signal in the request or session scope which determines whether the captcha did match or not. You can just access its outcome inside your servlet.
With regard to mailing, you can just use any Java mail API to your taste, however the choice is only limited to the great JavaMail API and the more convenienced one provided by Apache which is built on top of JavaMail API.

A: That's a lot of questions in one question; here are a couple links which might be helpful (i.e., we've used them in the past):
Kaptcha: http://code.google.com/p/kaptcha/
JavaMail: http://java.sun.com/products/javamail/

A: Try using skeleton app AppFuse. It offers different frameworks from the basic to advanced ones. Here's an article on captcha integration.


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Оптимизация MS Excel
---

Первое значение оптимизации - поиск решения для задач оптимизации.

Второе значение - оптимизация пользовательского интерфейса.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Scientists discovered the bones of nearly 50 winged reptiles from a new species, Caiuajara dobruskii, that lived during the Cretaceous in southern Brazil, according to a study published August 13, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Paulo Manzig from Universidade do Contestado, Brazil, and colleagues.
The authors discovered the bones in a pterosaur bone bed in rocks from the Cretaceous period. They belonged to individuals ranging from young to adult, with wing spans ranging from 0.65-2.35m, allowing scientists to analyze how the bones fit into their clade, but also how the species developed as it matured. After the initial analysis, scientists determined that the bones represent a new pterosaur, Caiuajara dobruskii, which is the southernmost known occurrence of this particular clade.
Several features of the Caiuajara dobruskii head differ from all other members of this clade, including the presence of a bony expansion projecting inside the large opening in the skull in front of the eyes, and the rounded depressions in the outer surface of the jaw. Younger and older reptiles mainly varied in the size and angle of the bony crest on the top of the head. The crest appeared to change from small and inclined in juveniles, to large and steep in adults.
According to the authors, the bone analysis suggests this species was gregarious, lived in colonies and may have been able to fly at a very young age.


Maysville, KY, is unique in that it has two historic neighborhoods. Four miles outside of the downtown historic district lies Old Washington, a 1780s frontier village. Old Washington was incorporated in 1786 by the Virginia legislature and named after the Revolutionary War hero George Washington, who became America's first president in 1789. A town known in history for its many firsts, Washington was recorded in the first Federal Census taken in 1790 as having 462 inhabitants. It had the first postal station and first waterworks system west of the Allegheny Mountains. Simon Kenton planted the first corn in Mason County, and last but not least, Washington was the first county seat of Mason County. Washington's role in the settlement of the American frontier was so significant; the National Parks Service has included its entire historic district and several individual buildings in its Historic American Buildings Survey program. Today visitors can tour buildings throughout the village that reflect the rapid growth from pioneer log cabins to sophisticated brick homes in the Federal and Georgian townhouse styles. Along with the museums, visitors can also enjoy the unique specialty shops. One such building is the Pillsbury Boy's School at 505 S. Court Street. Built c. 1812 by Dr. Basil Duke, this building was purchased by Zerelda Pillsbury with $500 who opened a boy's school in 1865. The home has four fireplaces with original mantels, walls are three bricks thick; when the present owners restored home in 1976 they found initials of students carved into mantelpieces. It is now a private residence. Here many prominent Kentuckians were educated. In 1976 it was purchased and restored by Phyllis and David Helphenstine. Now furnished in period antiques the Pillsbury House has the distinction of being on the National Register of Historic Places.
Among the main hall's significant details is the gold leafed pier mirror with marble topped table reaching from floor to ceiling. It is here the hostess would check to be sure her petticoats were not showing before opening the door to receive guests. There is a silver calling card holder and a candle stand at the base of the stairway with candles to light one's way to bed each night. Other appointments include oil portraits, the framed Register certificate, an original oil of the Pillsbury, wall sconce with prisms and Old Paris vases. The wallpaper on both halls and the living room is an 1860 replica brocade. The living room has a tea table set for tea, tilt-top card table with one of the astral lamps, rosewood fireplace screens that adjust up and down to protect the ladies face from chapping while keeping warm by the fireplace. One of the presses holds Mary Gregory cranberry glass. All the mantles in the home are original, as are the built in presses on each side of the fireplace on both floors, and the front stairway. The dining room's wallpaper is also a replica of an 1860's pattern found on the walls of Belle Meade Mansion in Virginia. Furnishings include a c. 1700 server, sideboard with biscuit turnings, side tables, a knife box, and a tea caddy with lock (as tea was very valuable and they did not want the servants to get into it). The kitchen originally was a separate building because they caught on fire so often. Today's kitchen features 1840 cabinets taken from the butler's pantry from a home in downtown Maysville, Maysville bricks under and in back of the stove, a dry sink, pewter cupboard, several Shaker items, pewter and canton (which was taken to the White House by George Washington). On one side of the kitchen is the Shaker bathroom. All the Shaker items are hung on pegs for easier cleaning of floors. To the other side of the kitchen is what would have been the maid's room. It too is furnished in Shaker. The cherry back stairway was saved when the home Judge Fleming, the founder of Fleming County, was torn down. The upstairs hall has an original painting of the Pillsbury by local artist, Steve White.


Located in the Manor, completely refurnished in 2016, those spacious rooms of 20 m2) are the perfect mixed between ancient and modernism. View on mountains and pine tree forest give them a quiet atmosphere.
King Size bed (twin beds are possible) with private bathroom with italian shower and seperate WC.


text:
bookscopyrightCOVID-19e-booksfirst sale doctrineLLMpublishersresearchresources
Copyright Law Impacts How Libraries Provide Access to E-Books: During a Pandemic, Should It?
Today's Read:
Congressional Research Service (CRS), COVID-19 and Libraries: E-Books and Intellectual Property Issues (Apr. 28, 2020), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10453
This topic has been on my mind a lot since we all went on lockdown and couldn't access physical books anymore. The pandemic has not stopped research, of course. There are still deadlines to be met.
My focus, as always, is on supporting our LLM students. They cannot graduate without submitting a research paper, and some of them were still doing research as late as April (the original deadline for LLM papers this year was April 25, although many students got extensions). To have their access to our print collection blocked by circumstances of fate was very unfair, and I felt so badly for them.
Not to make light of what is a very serious global health pandemic, but there are, of course, a few not-negative ways to spin this. It wasn't as if only some of the students could not access print books — the restriction affected everyone equally. Furthermore, LLM theses are not graded on a curve, at least not as far as I know. The students do not compete against each other. When you are writing an LLM thesis, the goal is to do the best and most thoroughly-researched paper you can possibly do under the circumstances you find yourself.
When I was writing my own LLM thesis, I had about 6 weeks to do the bulk of the work because, in Germany, you are not permitted to begin work on your thesis until you finish your LLM coursework. My leave of absence was nearly over by then, and I really needed to get back to my job in the library (where I had a quick look at some relevant resources in Harvard's library collection, in addition to wrapping up the writing and editing). I made it work the best I could. Could my thesis have been better? Absolutely, if I hadn't felt so rushed to gather and process sources, and then pound it out. But it got done, and it got a decent grade, and I was able to finish my LLM.
I tell that story to show that I really feel for the students, in whatever circumstances they find themselves. And where they were finding themselves during the final few months of this academic year was locked out of the library, with no access to print books unless they'd checked them out beforehand.
Duplicating print and electronic resources in a sustainably cost-effective way is a conversation that we have been having in our library for a very long time, and restrictions on lending e-books is always a primary element of the discussion. So I was glad to find the CRS report that I am discussing today, which frames this conversation against the backdrop of the current situation.
There is a delicate balance, of course, between wanting to protect the rights of the copyright holder and ensuring that your researchers have access to the sources that they need. The last thing that people who work in libraries want to do is infringe copyright.
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17 of the U.S. Code, beginning with section 101) protects libraries from committing what would otherwise be copyright infringement. In general, the copyright holder of a work has exclusive rights over the distribution and reproduction of copyrighted works. How, then, are libraries able to check out a print book without violating this law? Section 109 permits "the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord." This codifies what is known as the "first sale doctrine," which "protects libraries from liability for lending physical books, so long as the library purchased a lawfully made copy of the book." (CRS Report, at 2)
What happens when the item at issue is not a physical book that the library purchased? When it comes to e-books, lending restrictions can be put into place by the copyright holder, which can create difficulties for libraries that want to lend these materials to their users. These restrictions can include "limit(ing) the length of time during which the library may lend the e-book, the number of times an e-book may be checked out, or both." (CRS Report, at 1)
What gives the publisher the right to do this? Unlike print books, the library generally does not own an e-book; instead, it purchases a license that allows its users to "download and read (it) for personal use." (CRS Report, at 2) It is the "ease of access" to e-books that compels publishers to implement these lending restrictions, because it "concerns publishers as unrestricted library lending could lead to lost sales of e-books, unreasonably low compensation for authors and artists, and thus less of an incentive for writers to produce books." Therefore, if a library wants to offer an e-book for its users to borrow, it "they must pay for a special license that permits subsequent distribution, and then follow the publisher's licensing terms." (CRS report, at 3)
While this practice definitely furthers the interests of copyright holders, it doesn't do a lot, especially when libraries are locked down and their print collections are not available, to serve the needs of researchers. In fact, it could be argued that authors and publishers are shooting themselves in the foot by doing this. One way that people discover a book is by reading a scholarly work in which that book is cited, right? This happens when I am, and the researchers I teach and support are, doing research all the time. However, if people who are producing the scholarship can't access your books, either in print or electronically, how are they supposed to analyze their content and cite them?
Of course, I completely get that authors and publishers need to make make money, and that this is done by selling books. Anything that undermines those sales should be called into question. But do these restrictions on e-books go too far?
What about making an exception for libraries in this situation? You might not want people to be able to freely pass around the e-books that they buy and download on their phones or Kindles without regard to the copyright owner's rights. However, could there be some form of the first sale doctrine for e-books that would lessen the restrictions for libraries, especially in times when print collections are unavailable? Congress actually considered amending the federal copyright law to allow this, according to the CRS report. When it enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, it "order(ed) the Register of Copyrights to to report on 'the relationship between existing and emergent technology and the operation' of § 109." This report, however, declined to endorse amending the law to ease these restrictions. (CRS Report, at 4)
As the CRS report suggests, it may be time to re-examine such an amendment — one that could create additional protections for libraries in situations where expanding e-book lending is necessary due to the exact type of emergency that COVID-19 presents. These protections would not even have to be permanent: "Congress could render any legal changes temporary by, for example, having them expire on a particular date or when the current national emergency ends." (CRS Report, at 4)
I am not sure what I think about all of this at the moment. I know that I have a list of about 15 e-book platforms that I need to try before declaring, in response to an inquiry from a library user, that a requested work is not available electronically. This is stressful and I hate to get it wrong (which I have at least once), because it can cause the researcher to lose a lot of valuable time. If we had a broader, more permissive e-book access and lending regime in place in our library before all this started, one that included regular updates of catalog records to accurately reflect e-book access, I feel that I would have been a lot better prepared to answer those inquiries.
And yet, in the grand scheme of problems created by COVID-19, this is way, way down on the list. To me, the most important takeaway from this experience is that we may want to re-think how we do research and what should be more widely available in electronic format. As a librarian, this is a conversation that I welcome.
May 20, 2020 May 20, 2020 jenellen1214
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text:
Chip in today
Patrick Schmidt is a former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer running to represent Kansas' 2nd District. Chip in to elect a fighter for Kansas' working families.
$25 $50 $100 $250 $500 Other amount
Patrick Schmidt for Kansas' 2nd District – Patrick Schmidt is a former U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer running to represent Kansas' 2nd District in Congress.
Dear Kansans
Filing Press Release
Naval Veteran Patrick Schmidt Files to Run For Congress
Naval Reservist and sixth-generation Kansan, Patrick Schmidt officially filed for Kansas' 2nd Congressional district today.
"For the past year, I've traveled around the 2nd district meeting with my fellow Kansans and one thing has become clear, Jake LaTurner is woefully out of touch with their needs," Schmidt said Rep. LaTurner's life-long political career consists of raising taxes on working families, voting against critical infrastructure investments, and refusing to help hungry infants get the formula they desperately need.
"Instead of helping Kansas families he votes against every measure that would help them," Schmidt said. "That's why I'm running Congress: to help Kansas families achieve the American dream."
Caroline Stillian
Patrick Schmidt's Campaign Sues to End Partisan Gerrymandering
Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Endorses Patrick Schmidt
Join our campaign
Patrick Schmidt is a former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer running to represent Kansas' 2nd District. Join our campaign to elect a fighter for Kansas' working families.
This will be a competitive race. We can't do it without your help. Can you chip in today?
Patrick for Kansas
Paid for by Patrick Schmidt for Kansas


Four big banks have increased their posted rates on fixed mortgages, signaling the start of an upward move on record-low interest rates.
Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust and Laurentian all moved their posted rates on five-year fixed mortgages by 0.6 per cent yesterday, a move followed by CIBC today. Many non-banks have already followed, prompting a surge in requests from variable-rate clients to lock into fixed rates.
The interest rate increase will also mean higher qualifying criteria for new clients, who must meet the five-year posted fixed rate when the new mortgage insurance rules kick in on April 19.
CIBC economist Benjamin Tal told the Globe and Mail the rise in rates along with other factors means the booming housing market will slow down significantly after spring.
OTTAWA – Canadians could be facing higher interest rates sooner than previously thought as a result of stubborn inflation and stronger economic growth, Bank of Canada Mark Carney said Wednesday.
Carney did not declare higher rates were on the way, but issued his clearest signal to date that his year-old commitment to keep the policy rate at the record 0.25 per cent until July was "expressly conditional" on inflation remaining tame.
In a speech to a business audience, the bank governor noted that both underlying core inflation and economic growth have grown slightly stronger, although broadly proceeding as expected.
The tip-off to economists was that he changed his language on his conditional commitment on interest rates, which has led to historically low rates for both consumers and businesses in Canada and helped the country recover from recession.
"This commitment is expressly conditional on the outlook for inflation," he told the Ottawa Economic Association.
It was the first time Carney has undercut the commitment in such pointed language.
Later, Carney downplayed the significance, joking with reporters that he needed to used different words to keep the media's attention.
But economists said the distinction was significant.
"They still have considerable latitude, but the changes that would be required to their forecast are consistent with hiking rates sooner than markets are anticipating," said Derek Holt, Scotiabank's vice-president of economics. He said Carney may move as early as June 1.
But Holt stressed that Carney's overall message to Canadians is that rates will remain low by historical standards for some time.
Core inflation – which excludes volatile items like energy – has been stubbornly sticky the past few months, with the index rising to 2.1 per cent in February. That's the first time it has been above the central bank's target of two per cent in more than a year.
And Carney pointed out that the economy has performed better than he thought when the bank issued its last forecast in January, predicting growth of 2.9 per cent this year. Since then, several private sector economists have increased their projections and Carney is expected to do the same at the next scheduled forecast date on April 22.
At a news conference following his speech, Carney warned against reading in too much optimism in his assessment.
"It wasn't that rosy a message," he said.
He cautioned that low U.S. demand and the high Canadian dollar, which was trading below 98 cents US on Wednesday but still high by recent standards, were acting as "significant drags" on the economy.
On a longer term basis, Carney's message to Canadians was positively dark, warning that the country needs to address its "abysmal" productivity record and that the world needs to follow through with reforms to address global imbalances, particularly China's undervalued currency.
Carney calculated that unless the country improves its productivity or output per unit of work, Canadians can expect to lose a total of $30,000 in real income over the next decade.
Canada's productivity has advanced a meagre 0.7 per cent annually over the last decade, he noted, less than half the rate in the U.S. and half the rate Canada managed between 1980 and 2000.
He placed the blame on the doorstep of Canadian business, which he said needs to make much bigger investments in equipment and machinery and in information technologies.
Carney also said a key to future prospects for the Canadian and global economies is adoption of the G20 framework for economic sustainability. That will require addressing global imbalances which, in part, are caused by fixed currencies like China's yuan which are kept artificially low to boost exports and discourage imports.
He produced a chart showing that unless the G20 measures are adopted, global growth will be about one percentage point lower in the next five years than it might otherwise be. The worse case scenario is a prolonged global recession that triggers protectionism, deepening the crisis. The irony, he said, is that China loses out in the long run as well.
Carney is the second Canadian policy-maker in as many days to warn about the devalued yuan. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Canada will push the issue at the upcoming G20 meetings in Toronto in June. A revaluation of the yuan would likely lead to adjustments in other fixed currencies in Asia, economists said.
The U.S. has taken the lead in pressuring China on the yuan, but so far the emerging economic superpower has dismissed such calls and said it would move on its own schedule.
TORONTO — Potential homebuyers spurred into action by fears of an imminent interest rate hike may be better off to wait and avoid bidding wars that can prove even more costly, according to consumer credit experts.
Laurie Campbell, executive director of Credit Counselling Canada, says Canadians already feeling societal pressure to be homeowners are more likely to engage in bidding wars and overspend when they hear that their ability to fulfil that "North American dream" could soon erode.
"We're not only enticed by agents and those who market mortgages and the whole concept but … society as a whole," she said.
The hot housing market is being driven, in part, by an influx of consumers willing to pay a premium for home ownership before interest rates rise.
Two bank surveys released Wednesday found that potential homebuyers are feeling pressure to buy homes sooner, but are worried about their ability to pay for their homes when mortgage rates rise.
The Bank of Montreal said as many as one-third of respondents in a homebuyers survey believe their expectation that housing prices would increase, and interest rates would soar, left an impression on their decision to make a purchase in the short term.
About 15 per cent of potential homebuyers said they have been in bidding wars, and for those who had their housing bids rejected, 14 per cent believe it caused them to overspend on their next offer.
"There's definitely a sense of urgency among home buyers," said Lynne Kilpatrick, senior vice-president of personal banking at BMO.
Meanwhile, Royal Bank's annual home ownership survey found about 64 per cent of mortgage holders are concerned about higher rates over the next year. Almost three-quarters of homeowners, 73 per cent, felt strongly that homebuyers needed to think ahead to ensure they will still be able to make their mortgage payment if rates rise.
The bank said six in 10 mortgage holders said they had taken advantage of current low interest rates to pay more principal on their loans.
Most economists say low interest rates are behind the continued strength in the housing market and expect the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates in late spring or early summer.
The cost of servicing a mortgage fell 5.8 per cent in February as a result of record-low interest rates, but with many Canadians taking on ever larger mortgages in expensive markets across the country, higher rates could create problems for some.
Despite 2010's strong start, Scotiabank expects the "twenty-tens" Canadian housing market to pale in comparison to the previous decade.
A report titled "Global Real Estate Trends", released by the bank yesterday, speculated the volume of home sales transactions will increase by 10 per cent compared to last year while average prices are expected to break $340,000, a record high. Housing starts are also expected to increase.
But this hearty activity is expected to drop off later this year when new qualifying criteria for insured mortgages take effect in April and the HST is introduced in July. Scotiabank expects lower sales volumes, lower prices, and a decrease in new construction in 2011.
"It is time for Canadians to reset their housing market expectations. We expect 2010 will mark a transition year as the boom of the 'aughts' gives way to a sustained period of more subdued housing activity over the coming decade," the report said.
The millennium decade, in comparison, was, for the most part, consistently booming. Between 2000 and 2009, real home prices increased an average of 5.2 per cant annually, the strongest decade of real price appreciation in at least 50 years. Housing starts during the decade averaged over 200,000 units a year, the highest they'd been since the 1970s.
Strong, economic growth, low unemployment, innovative mortgage products and an increase of real per capita disposable income all contributed to the demand seen last decade, Scotiabank said. The bank anticipates much slower growth for the Canadian economy through at least 2015.
TORONTO – Home prices will continue to rise this spring as buyers scramble to close deals ahead of expected higher interest rates, new mortgage rules and new taxes in two key markets.
A report by RBC Economics issued Monday found that the cost of owning a home in Canada increased slightly across all housing segments in the closing months of 2009.
Strong demand, fuelled by exceptionally low mortgage rates, has increased competition for the limited supply of homes for sale, which continues to drive prices up, the report said.
RBC senior economist Robert Hogue said the problem is likely to get worse with an anticipated rise in interest rates in the second half of the year.
The Bank of Canada has pledged to keep its key overnight rate at 0.25 per cent, where it has been since last spring, until the end of the second quarter. But economists anticipate it will begin rising as early as July.
Historically low interest rates have been cited among reasons for the strong housing market, with sales of existing homes moving higher again in February and setting monthly records in both Ontario and Quebec.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said 36,275 homes were sold across the country in February, up 44 per cent from the same month in 2009, when the recession was still impacting both consumer optimism and loan activity.
But February's year-over-year gain was much smaller than in the previous three months, CREA said. Part of the reason was that February home sales were down in Vancouver as the Olympics impacted activity there even as sales in Toronto logged an equally large gain.
Overall, seasonally adjusted home sales were down 1.5 per cent in February compared with January.
Economists predict that real estate markets in B.C. and Ontario will remain hot in the months prior to the introduction of the harmonized sales tax in those provinces on July 1, which will increase the transaction costs associated with a home purchase.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said some buyers in Ontario and B.C., which combined account for over half of national sales, are advancing their purchases to avoid paying the HST.
"It's no coincidence that Ontario and B.C. have seen the biggest gain in sales in the country," he said.
CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said buyers in those provinces are driving national sales activity higher in the first part of the year.
"It should remain a tight market with negotiations favouring the seller in a number of major markets in the first half of this year," he said.
Klump said that strong resale housing demand continues to draw down inventories, but softer sales activity and an increase in new listings in recent months has helped slow the depletion of available properties.
Porter said the increase in supply from ultra-low levels helps bring the market closer to balance, but that the still-tight market means prices will remain high.
"We're going to get a very hot market in the next few months but it won't overheat," he said.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced new mortgage qualification rules last month to discourage homeowners from taking out mortgages on homes they might not be able to afford down the road when rates return to more normal levels.
In order to qualify for an insured mortgage, borrowers will have to meet the standards for a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage even if the period they choose is shorter and the interest rate they pay is lower.
Porter said the changes will prompt those affected – primarily first-time buyers and investors – to buy in advance of the new rules, and bump up sales in March.
Still, other buyers could be hesitant to enter the frenzied market this spring and may tolerate a small spike in interest rates and wait for conditions to cool off, he said.
Many of us have been enjoying supremely attractive interest rates on mortgages. However, with rates having been at historic lows for quite some time and with the economy heating up, the only direction rates will go from here is up. The finance minister wants to ensure borrowers are in good financial shape to withstand rate hikes, which are expected to hit this summer.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that by April 19 new mortgage criteria will apply. Lenders will now be testing whether buyers can afford a mortgage using a higher interest rate. The new rules apply to mortgages backed by government insurance, a requirement when there is less than a 20% deposit.
The higher rate will be used just for the qualifying process – it does not mean your mortgage rate will be higher – at least not right now.
So, if there's an April 19 deadline, won't that make it more tempting to try to get a mortgage now?
Mr. Alexander says about one-quarter of those looking to purchase a home will likely be affected by the new rules and may have to settle for a smaller home, but he estimates only 4% or 5% will not buy because of the tighter qualification process.
Under the new rules, existing homeowners will only be able to withdraw 90% of the value of their homes when refinancing, down from 95%.
"People who would be looking for [high refinancing] are probably in some sort of financial strife already, so it's probably something they shouldn't be doing," Mr. Rawson says.
The third set of property owners in Mr. Flaherty's sights are those looking to invest in rather than live in a home.
The new requirement may affect the Toronto condo market, Mr. Alexander says.
Seventy-five years ago Thursday the newly constituted Bank of Canada took over responsibility for Canada's currency. It was supposed to have done so 10 days earlier but British American Bank Note Co. was late with its initial delivery of cash.
Since 1935, when the Bank came into being, prices in Canada have risen 16-fold. What costs $100 now would have cost just $6.25 then. It makes you wish the banknotes had been delayed a lot longer.
Those numbers, by the way, are from the very handy inflation calculator on the Bank of Canada's website. You don't really want your central bank to be good at tracking inflation. You want it to be good at crushing it. The bank took about 50 years to catch on, but it's now reasonably good at what it's supposed to do.
To be fair, in evaluating its performance the important question is "compared to what?" Until 1935, money matters were handled by the currency branch of the Department of Finance, which handed out "Dominion notes" in exchange for gold, and vice versa, and occasionally encouraged the private banks to take on more liquidity by lending them notes against financial securities, though charging them interest of 5% for the privilege. Many banks also issued their own notes, which caused problems when the public lost confidence in a given bank.
During the Depression, elite opinion became convinced that Finance should give responsibility for money and monetary policy over to a more expert and independent central bank of the sort most other countries now had, the United States since 1913.
Just a year and two days after the commission's appointment Parliament approved the Bank of Canada Act. There was no national productivity problem then: things got done. Two months later Prime Minister Bennett named the first Governor, Graham Towers, assistant to the general manager of the Royal Bank and a Montrealer trained in economics at McGill by none other than Stephen Leacock and seven months after that the Bank made its first transactions.
In the crisis of the last two years the Bank has ventured into what it sees as unorthodox areas of lending and investment. But it began in unorthodoxy. In 1936 it bailed out Alberta and Saskatchewan when they threatened to (and in Alberta's case eventually did) default on their bonds. In 1938 Governor Towers took charge of the newly-created Central Mortgage Bank, which was designed to help struggling mortgage-holders. During the war the Bank supervised exchange controls and Towers did secret planning for how to keep finance going if the Nazis over-ran Britain. (Make the Canadian dollar the Empire's new reserve currency was one possibility).
The worst inflations of our central bank era occurred in the late 1940s and the 1970s. In both cases it's easy to sympathize with the governor of the day. During the war, Canadians lent their government hundreds of millions of dollars in Victory Bonds. Most such bonds paid 3% or less. Had the Bank done what it probably should have and raised interest rates to stem the postwar boom, the value of all those bonds would have crashed: If new bonds pay 6% what are old bonds that pay 3%? Half their original value. Towers, who had run several Victory Bond campaigns, felt a moral obligation not to destroy bond-holders' savings. Ironically, the inflation that resulted may have induced him to leave the Bank. In 1935 his salary had been a majestic $30,000 a year. By 1955, when he quit, it was $50,000 but only $25,641 in inflation-adjusted 1935 dollars. And taxes were a lot higher.
The inflation of the 1970s is also understandable. Keynesian textbooks didn't say what a central bank was supposed to do when a cartel jacked up the price of oil by several hundred percent. The stagflation that followed stumped policymakers. Milton Friedman's monetarism did have a theoretical answer: keep the growth of money low and constant and inflation will be low and constant. Send a steady flow of liquidity into one end of the hose that is the economy and you'll get a steady flow of real economic activity out the other end. It's certainly plausible. But when Bank Governor Gerald Bouey tried it in the late 1970s it didn't work. The hose turned out to be unpredictably elastic. Sometimes it sucked up liquidity and produced no growth. Other times just a little liquidity brought gushing growth.
Not until the late 1980s and the governorship of the, at the time, much disliked Governor John Crow, did the Bank start directly targeting inflation with a clearly defined "reaction function" (if inflation does X, we do Y: everybody got it?).
That strategy worked pretty well for two decades. Between 1990 and 2010 prices increased by only 50%. That's not fantastic but no 20 years since 1935 have been better.
After three score years and 15 the Bank seems finally to have figured things out. Let's all tip our hats to R. B. Bennett.
TORONTO – Buying a home is probably the most expensive purchase you will ever make and if you're like the vast majority of Canadians, you used a lot of borrowed money to experience the joys of home ownership.
Because you have to pay interest on a loan over years and decades, that means you will end up paying a lot more money for your house or condo than what you paid the seller.
You have to take advantage of every break to reduce your mortgage balance and the amount of time it will take to pay off your home. And that means it's a good idea to take a good hard look at that loan at least once a year.
"There's a lot of things that people don't actually think about," said Jim Rawson, regional manager for mortgage broker Invis in Toronto. For starters, he thinks it is a good idea to keep a mortgage table handy just to remind you how much you're actually paying for that house.
"And you should take a look at it every year and take a look at where you are on it and how much you paid down," he said.
One of the most obvious things you can do – and will shave years off your mortgage term – is make sure you are not paying in monthly installments."You can switch to weekly or bi-weekly and generally most institutions will allow you to do that." Doing so amounts to an extra monthly payment every year. Also, most mortgages are built with an annual pre-payment feature.
"And if you can make a portion of that, any portion of it, you're obviously going to be saving some interest," said Rawson.
You may not be able to come up with a huge amount of money every year. But even nibbling away at the balance can carve years off the payment term.
"Ten dollars (a week) is not going to make a huge difference (to you) – but $10 a payment can make a difference," said Rawson.
You may also be thinking of embarking on a major renovation for your kitchen or bathroom or slapping on a new roof.
Many would go the home equity loan route but instead, you could just add the cost to your mortgage for a lower interest rate.
"Absolutely, if you have enough equity built in to your home right now and you're looking at a major renovation, certainly refinancing and adding, increasing your mortgage amount can certainly be a very cost-effective way of borrowing for that renovation," said Charles Lambert, Managing Director, Mortgages, at Bank of Nova Scotia.
Instead, he said, a line of credit could be the appropriate way to do a smaller project. And here again, you can use your home as security for a line of credit.
"You can borrow up to 80 per cent of the value of your home," said Lambert.
Secured lines of credit generally charge a point or two above the prime rate.
You could also think about consolidating debt like a credit card balance to a lower rate by tacking it onto your mortgage. But don't use it as an excuse to rack up more debt.
"One of the key things that I always advise clients about is if they're going to pay off credit cards by refinancing your mortgage, you better be cutting up those credit cards," said Rawson.
Finally, mortgage interest rates are at extremely low levels now – but they won't stay that way and economists expect the Bank of Canada to start hiking rates later this year.
So for peace of mind, homeowners on a variable rate might want to opt for something fixed right about now.
"If you're looking for long-term stability, then you're probably taking a look at trying to do something fixed for five years or so," said Rawson.
But, historically, rates fluctuate and at some time in the future, you may find that it makes sense to break your mortgage so you can take advantage of a lower rate, despite a high penalty.
For example, Scotiabank would charge you the greater of three months' interest on the mortgage balance or the interest rate differential.
"Sit down with a mortgage pro, they can work out for you whether it makes sense or not," added Rawson, adding if you can save yourself two percentage points over the next five years, you're way ahead.
OTTAWA — The Conservative government sketched out on Thursday its initial plans to return to budget balance, by targeting cuts in the public service, a freeze on foreign aid, limited growth in military spending and higher EI premiums.
The spending restraint, outlined in its 2010 budget, would net $17.6-billion in savings over five years and bring the deficit down from a high of $53.8-billion this fiscal year, ending March 31, to a low of $1.8-billion by 2015.
Before the cuts kick in, however, the Conservative government said it was committed to spend $19-billion as part of year two of the two-year $47-billion stimulus package aimed at resuscitating the economy after the global financial crisis.
The 451-page budget sets out how the Conservatives plan to meet all its goals — of creating jobs and bolstering Canada's long-term competitiveness, while at the same time returning to surplus without tax increases, nor cuts to transfers to provinces and individuals. The government also said it would go through with cuts to corporate income taxes, from 19% to 15% by 2012, despite calls from opposition politicians to cancel them and use the money to help seniors and the poor.
All the opposition parties vowed to vote against the budget — although Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said his party would not bring down the government and force an election by withholding the number of Liberal MPs who show up to vote.
Even though Canada's economy is recovering at a rather robust clip of late — 5% growth was recorded in the final quarter of 2009 — Mr. Flaherty said following through with more stimuli is the right thing to do as the global recovery is in its nascent stages.
Measures linked with the stimulus plan will expire as of March next year, and with it comes a plan to return to budget balance.
Overall, analysts said the budget struck a fair balance between adding momentum to the recovery from a deep recession, and preparing the economy for fiscal restraint.
"It is not a dramatic change of course, and in uncertain economic times you want a steady hand. And we are getting a steady hand," said Craig Wright, chief economist with Royal Bank of Canada.
For some, such as the NDP, there wasn't enough money to help the unemployed or the poor. Others said there wasn't enough on the spending-cut side.
There were some new spending measures, although minor, such as extending a work-sharing program at a cost of over $100-million, and eliminating all tariffs on imported industrial inputs at cost of $1.2-billion over five years.
According to the government's plan, the $53.8-billion deficit will be cut in half in two years time, and by two-thirds in three years. Much of that will be due to allowing the stimulus plan, and its associated measures, expire in March 2011.
The government envisages robust growth in revenue, starting in the 2010-11 fiscal year, and will grow thereafter based on, among other things, four consecutive years of higher Employment Insurance premiums, which business leaders describe as a payroll tax.
Economists at Toronto-Dominion Bank have calculated that EI premiums will rise from the present $1.73 level to $2.33 by 2015, in an effort to return the EI account to balance. As a result, that will contribute nearly one quarter to the overall improvement to federal revenue over the next half decade, they said in a note.
On spending, the government will introduce legislation to freeze the salaries of all MPs and Senators for the next three fiscal years.
Also, Ottawa is eyeing $6.8-billion in savings through containing the operating costs of federal departments. Departments' operating budgets will be frozen in 2011 and 2012 at 2010 levels. Further, a 1.5% wage increase owed to unionized workers in 2010, at a cost of $300-million, has to be funded through cuts within departments.
The government also plans to cap growth in defence spending, which doubled to $20-billion in the previous decade. Restraint doesn't begin until 2012, and the efforts aim to achieve savings of $2.5-billion by 2015. Meanwhile, foreign aid will reach $5-billion this coming fiscal year, and increase no further, and be subject to review on a year-by-year basis.
Overall, after the stimulus package expires, program spending is set to increase at on an annual basis of between 1.5% and 2.5%. This could be quite the feat, as prior to the recession program spending grew at roughly 6% to 7% a year.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the government's plan is banking on a well-entrenched U.S. and global economic recovery as of next year to smooth the way toward stimulus removal.
The budget's underlying forecast envisages economic growth of 2.6% this year (below the Bank of Canada's forecast), 3.2% in 2011 and 3% in 2012.
OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada is keeping interest rates at historic lows for a few more months, while sending out signals that the economy is rebounding strongly and could trigger inflationary pressures.
The central bank's more positive take on the economy followed a Statistics Canada report Monday of a surprising five per cent growth spurt in the fourth quarter of 2009 and sent a strong loonie even higher.
"The level of economic activity in Canada has been slightly higher than the bank had projected in January," the bank said Tuesday morning before markets opened.
"Slightly higher" may be an understatement, as the bank had projected growth of only 3.3 per cent for the last three months of 2009.
The bank also noted that "core inflation" has been slightly firmer than projected, although it added that some of the price increases were due to transitory factors.
The governing council continued to reiterate that despite the improved conditions, they would likely leave the overnight rate where it has been since last spring – at 0.25 per cent – until at least July.
But some economists weren't buying it and the reaction of money markets suggested that there may be some pressure on governor Mark Carney to move on interest rates ahead of schedule.
"They are getting ready to take away the punch bowl," said Derek Holt, vice-president of economics with Scotia Capital.
OTTAWA — Pressure on the Bank of Canada to move early on raising interest rates mounted Monday after data on fourth-quarter gross domestic product suggested the economy is roaring its way out of recession after recording the fastest pace of growth in nearly a decade.
The central bank could provide hints of a change Tuesday morning when it releases its latest statement on interest rates. Its plan for almost a year has been to conditionally keep its benchmark rate at 0.25% until July in an effort to pump up economic growth after the great recession.
Data from Statistics Canada suggest the emergency-level rates have worked their magic, perhaps faster and better than anticipated.
The economy expanded 5% in the final three months of 2009, blasting past market expectations for a 4% gain – and the bank's own 3.3% forecast – and setting the stage for robust growth this quarter. It is also the fastest pace of quarterly economic growth since late 2000. Further, the data were solid across the board, with personal consumption and net trade contributing to the performance.
Third-quarter data were also revised upward, with growth of 0.9% as opposed to the original 0.4% reading.
This comes on top of January inflation data that indicated price increases have moved closer to the central bank's 2% target earlier than envisaged.
"With growth being stronger than expected and inflation sticky … we remain of the view that the Bank of Canada has the full green light to hike as emergency conditions have passed and with it justification for sticking to the zero lower bound on rates," said economists Derek Holt and Karen Cordes from Scotia Capital.
Yanick Desnoyers, assistant chief economist at National Bank Financial, said a rate hike could come as early as next month, when data might show the output gap – or the amount of slack in the economy – is narrowing faster than the central bank expected.
He added the headline GDP data might be underestimating how quickly economic slack is being absorbed. For instance, gross domestic income – or the sum of all wages, corporate profits and tax revenue – climbed by 8.5% in the quarter, the best showing since 2005. And that follows a 4.5% gain in the third quarter.
Sheryl King, chief economist and strategist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Canada, said she expects a rate hike in June, based on a belief the central bank will want to see through its conditional pledge for as long as possible.
Among the data points she said she found most encouraging was a 4% gain in real wage growth – defined as gains in household income excluding transfers from governments. The last time there was growth in this category was prior to the recession.
"This signals that risk taking and organic growth is coming back in Canada," she said.
Of course, not all analysts believe the data will push Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to veer off course. Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the data surely raises the odds of a July rate rise but anything earlier than that remained remote. Analysts at TD Securities also shared a similar view.
Also, the data contained one key blemish – a 9.2% drop in machinery and equipment investment by Canadian companies, which does not bode well for efforts to boost abysmal productivity levels.
The GDP data attracted investors, as the Canadian dollar gained a full US1¢, to US96.01¢, on the possibility of an early rate hike.
Canadian growth should remain robust as the global recovery takes hold. Business surveys released Monday indicated manufacturers continue to lead the recovery, with factory activity expanding last month across Asia, the United States and Europe.


What is a defective drug lawsuit?
Closely related to a medical malpractice claim is a personal injury claim for injuries sustained while taking a defective drug. It seems as though every day there is a new pharmaceutical recall, often because it is learned that a particular drug may have serious side effects, potentially leading to dangerous health complications. These dangers are usually preventable and are often the result of a drug manufacturer attempting to rush a drug to market, without the proper screening in place, in order to maximize profit.
It is somewhat unsettling that, since 1993, an estimated 1000 deaths have been directly linked to the use of certain defective pharmaceutical drugs. In addition, it is estimated that more than 20 million people in this country may have taken a drug that has since been recalled. A drug may be recalled because it has been linked to serious, previously unknown, side effects.
There are currently a number of high profile defective drug allegations being investigated across the country. For example, there are heightened concerns about the possible severe side effects of the contraceptive pill Yasmin, which is manufactured by the German drug maker Bayer. Another well-known drug, the anti-depressant Prozac, has recently been linked to an increase in autism in the children born to women who took the drug during pregnancy. This follows on the heels of news that another anti-depressant, Zoloft, had been linked to an increase in birth defects among children born to women who used Zoloft during pregnancy.
What is an FDA recall?
According to the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a recall will lead a firm to remove one of its products from the market. Recalls may be conducted by a firm's own initiative, or on the request or order of the FDA. The FDA will order a recall of a drug if it is defective and/or potentially harmful.
Discuss your case with an experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney today in order to determine your legal rights. If you believe that you or a loved one may have taken a defective and / or recalled drug, contact your doctor immediately. It is critical that you seek medical treatment as soon as possible for what may be a very serious defective drug related side effect.
It is also important to understand that you or your loved one may be entitled to financial compensation for the injuries sustained as a result of taking a defective drug. Please contact the Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Pavich Law Group, P.C. today for a free consultation.


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