Personal Finance News Oct 2008

Gov't launches mortgage aid program
AP - The government kicked off a program Wednesday that aims to prevent foreclosures by letting an estimated 400,000 troubled homeowners swap their mortgages for more affordable loans. (Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:26:07 GMT)

Banks want to suspend accounting rule in bailout
AP - Congress has embraced an idea to help prop up the financial system: Give banks a break by letting them value their bad mortgage assets at a price they could fetch later, not now. (Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:13:54 GMT)

Once 3 pages, bailout bill now length of novel
AP - Two Saturdays ago, it totaled just three pages — the White House's request for $700 billion to rescue tottering financial institutions by buying their devalued mortgage-related assets. (Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:44:56 GMT)

UBS predicts battered profits to recover
AFP - Switzerland's biggest bank UBS on Thursday said it would swing into profit in the third quarter, recovering from successive quarters of losses when it was forced to write down billions in bad assets. (Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:03:17 GMT)

30-year mortgages rise to 6.10 percent
AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages have risen for a second straight week, climbing to the highest level in a month. (Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:18:24 GMT)

Toyota announces zero-percent financing
AP - Toyota Motor Corp. has announced zero-percent financing on 11 models as it tries to woo would-be buyers sidelined by the consumer credit crunch. (Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:59:42 GMT)

AIG to focus on property, casualty insurance
Reuters - American International Group Inc , the insurer crippled by losses on bad mortgage bets, said on Friday it will focus on its property, casualty and foreign general insurance businesses. (Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:30:15 GMT)

2 firms selected for mortgage securities program
AP - The Treasury Department has picked two financial institutions to manage a program it unveiled last month to provide support for beleaguered mortgage-backed securities. (Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:57:03 GMT)

AIG to sell Japanese life insurance units
Reuters - American International Group Inc, plans to sell its three Japanese life insurance businesses, an AIG spokesman said on Saturday, in sale Japanese media estimated could top $9.5 billion. (Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:14:39 GMT)

Allianz, others consider buying AIG's Japan units: reports
AFP - Germany's Allianz Group and other major insurers are considering buying American International Group's three life insurance units in Japan, news reports said Saturday. (Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:52:04 GMT)

Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself
AP - Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff's deputies attempted to evict her. (Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:23:04 GMT)

Regulator says Fannie, Freddie might sell bad assets
Reuters - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may sell some bad assets to the Treasury Department but a decision has not yet been made, the regulator of the two mortgage finance companies said on Sunday. (Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:43:47 GMT)

AIG to sell Thai bank, consumer finance units
Reuters - American International Group Inc (AIG) is to sell its Thai consumer finance businesses, including AIG Retail Bank and AIG Card, the head of the bank said on Monday. (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:36:54 GMT)

Bank of America says to spend up to $8.4 bln on Countrywide
AFP - Bank of America said Monday it was ready to spend up to 8.4 billion dollars to restructure the troubled mortgage loan portfolio of the recently-acquired mortgage lender Countrywide. (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:08:07 GMT)

The Bailout: What Does Paulson Do Now?
BusinessWeek Online - With the House of Representatives' Oct. 3 passage of the Treasury's $700 billion plan to stabilize the financial markets by buying up troubled mortgage-related assets, you could almost hear the sigh of relief spreading throughout Washington and Wall Street. After two weeks of nearly nonstop negotiations in which the bill repeatedly appeared to flounder, it was quickly passed on to President George W. Bush, who signed it into law within hours. (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:08:43 GMT)

Bank of America settles suits over bad mortgages
AP - Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, Bank of America Corp. is agreeing to pay more than $8 billion to modify hundreds of thousands of loans to keep people from losing their homes. (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:13:41 GMT)

Credit still tight as Europe governments scramble
AP - The jammed credit markets barely budged Monday as European governments scrambled to prop up their failing banks and investors waited for details on how, exactly, the Treasury will go about buying $700 billion of U.S. banks' mortgage assets. (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:23:37 GMT)

Global recession can be avoided, says former IMF chief
AFP - A global recession can be avoided with a coordinated plan to restore market confidence shattered by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, the former International Monetary Fund chief said Tuesday. (Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:06:46 GMT)

Tax rules on borrowing from subsidiaries eased
Reuters - Regulators last week relaxed a rule allowing U.S. companies to borrow from their foreign subsidiaries, without triggering a 35 percent corporate income tax, in a move ease access to capital. (Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:04:19 GMT)

August borrowing drops at 3.7 percent rate
AP - Consumer borrowing fell in August for the first time in more than a decade as households, battered by rising job layoffs and the decaying economy, cut back sharply on their use of credit. (Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:11:31 GMT)

Consumer credit marks first fall since January 1998
Reuters - U.S. consumer borrowing fell for the first time in more than a decade in August amid tighter credit markets, tougher lending standards and declining consumer spending, a Federal Reserve report showed on Tuesday. (Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:02:33 GMT)

McCain says he would buy up bad home mortgages
Reuters - Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday said that if elected president he would order the Treasury Department to buy bad home mortgages and renegotiate them to help homeowners in trouble. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:28:55 GMT)

MetLife releases third-quarter expected results
Reuters - U.S. life insurance company MetLife Inc on Tuesday said it expects to report income from continuing operations of $1.38 to $1.58 per share and premiums, fees and other revenues of $8.6 billion in the third quarter. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:20:34 GMT)

IndyMac's Fast-Track Mortgage Modification Program
BusinessWeek Online - When Mark Akers got an offer from his mortgage lender in September to slash his monthly payments down to $2,500, from $4,200, he jumped at the chance. The Norco (Calif.) resident ran into trouble earlier this year after his wife got sick and he lost his job managing a factory that made doors for houses. The 53-year-old Akers could have become another foreclosure statistic if his bank, IndyMac, had not stepped forward to halve the interest rate on his fixed-rate loan to 3%, for a period of five years. ... (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:08:43 GMT)

August pending home sales jump 7.4 percent: NAR
Reuters - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly jumped in August to the highest in over a year, data from a real estate trade group showed on Wednesday. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:23:19 GMT)

Spanish bank fund will acquire only top-rated mortages: official
AFP - Spain's new 30-billion-euro bank rescue fund is aimed at acquiring top-rated mortgages in exchange for injecting essential liquidity into the credit market, a government spokesman said Wednesday. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:32:57 GMT)

UBS pulls plug on Mortgage Strategist, ABS trading
Reuters - UBS AG is halting its widely read weekly mortgage strategy report after more than 15 years of publication as the bank broadly scales down in the home loan business, including the closure of its asset-backed securities group, sources said. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:25:58 GMT)

Citi shrinks U.S. mortgage broker business
Reuters - Citigroup Inc will cut 500 mortgage-related jobs and slash by 90 percent the number of independent mortgage brokers it works with, the company said, as the U.S. mortgage industry broadly shrinks amid the housing crisis. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:32:58 GMT)

McCain housing proposal: Easier said than done
AP - Ordering the government to buy up bad mortgages to cut homeowners' monthly payments might sound good, but experts are skeptical. They say the plan John McCain is promoting is unlikely to solve the housing crisis that's pushing the economy toward recession. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:43:03 GMT)

AIG getting fresh billions from Fed, defends event
Reuters - American International Group Inc could get nearly $38 billion in fresh cash under a program announced by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, as the insurer tried to fend off criticism of a lavish event held days after getting an initial $85 billion government loan. (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:47:49 GMT)

BlackRock, Pimco bid to manage bailout assets: report
Reuters - BlackRock Inc and Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco) are bidding to manage mortgage-backed assets in the U.S.'s $700 billion financial bailout, Bloomberg news agency said, citing people familiar with the matter. (Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:09:09 GMT)

The Fed, the Crisis, and Your Portfolio
BusinessWeek Online - Financial advisers are usually an unflappable bunch. When the markets are wild, investors turn to their financial planners for calm, consistent advice: Stick to the plan, think long term, don't do anything rash. Advisers have studied their history and know that markets go up, down, and sideways; proper investing requires patience. (Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:08:42 GMT)

Obama slams 'risky' McCain mortgage plan
AFP - Barack Obama slammed John McCain's plan to buy up 300 billion dollars in bad mortgages as "risky" on Thursday, and warned his White House rival was offering "erratic" leadership at a time of crisis. (Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:06:53 GMT)

McCain again raises Obama's ties with 1970s radical
Reuters - Down in opinion polls, Republican presidential nominee John McCain pressed his effort to raise doubts about Barack Obama's character on Thursday with a fresh attack on his Democratic rival's contacts with a former left-wing radical who became a college professor. (Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:18:07 GMT)

Japan's Yamato Life Insurance files for protection: report
AFP - Japan's Yamato Life Insurance is in the process of filing for bankruptcy protection, Jiji Press reported Friday. (Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:46:15 GMT)

They Warned Us About the Mortgage Crisis
BusinessWeek Online - More than five years ago, in April 2003, the attorneys general of two small states traveled to Washington with a stern warning for the nation's top bank regulator. Sitting in the spacious Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, with its panoramic view of the capital, the AGs from North Carolina and Iowa said lenders were pushing increasingly risky mortgages. Their host, John D. Hawke Jr., expressed skepticism. (Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:08:42 GMT)

China's communists set to approve key land reforms
AFP - China's ruling Communist Party was expected Sunday to approve a major economic reform plan that would let farmers trade and mortgage their right to land and bolster the nation's food security. (Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:37:09 GMT)

HBOS says takeover by Lloyds TSB still on
Reuters - Britain's biggest mortgage provider HBOS Plc said the takeover of the bank by Lloyds TSB remained on, rejecting a report on Sunday that the deal had collapsed. (Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:28:09 GMT)

They Warned Us About the Mortgage Crisis
BusinessWeek Online - More than five years ago, in April 2003, the attorneys general of two small states traveled to Washington with a stern warning for the nation's top bank regulator. Sitting in the spacious Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, with its panoramic view of the capital, the AGs from North Carolina and Iowa said lenders were pushing increasingly risky mortgages. Their host, John D. Hawke Jr., expressed skepticism. (Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:08:42 GMT)

Spain's Banco Santander buying rest of Sovereign
AP - Spain's Banco Santander SA is taking its New World expansion northward. Already with a major presence in Latin America, the Madrid-based bank on Monday said it is buying the three-quarters stake in Philadelphia-based thrift Sovereign Bancorp Inc. that it doesn't already own for $1.9 billion. (Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:38:24 GMT)

Bush, Paulson take new approach to economic crisis
AP - The Bush administration's latest effort to resolve the financial crisis embraces an approach it had resisted just a few weeks ago. (Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:02:53 GMT)

Survey: Blacks save much less in retirement plans
AP - In the midst of historic volatility on Wall Street there is a continuing trend of blacks saving and investing less than whites, according to a survey released Wednesday. The difference is attributed to various social and cultural reasons such as getting less exposure to personal finance concepts and advice. (Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:27:35 GMT)

JPMorgan profit plummets on loan losses
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co's quarterly profit fell 84 percent, due to mark-downs on underperforming loans, but the results still beat analysts' forecasts. (Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:50:55 GMT)

JPMorgan profit sinks as credit deteriorates
AP - JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s profit tumbled 84 percent in the third quarter after it took big hits from souring mortgage investments, leveraged loans and home loans. (Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:42:36 GMT)

AIG lobbying to relax oversight rules: report
Reuters - Insurance giant American International Group Inc is spending money to lobby states to soften new controls on the mortgage industry, the Wall Street Journal said. (Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:57:38 GMT)

Merrill 3Q loss widens on mortgage-related charges
AP - Merrill Lynch says it third-quarter loss widened as it took more than $12 billion in charges from the sale of mortgage-related investments and fallout from the continued credit crisis. (Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:58:32 GMT)

McCain, Obama begin final sprint after last debate
Reuters - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama opened a 19-day sprint to Election Day on Thursday after a contentious final debate that featured aggressive attacks by McCain on Obama's campaign tone and tax plans. (Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:45:43 GMT)

September housing starts fall to new 17-1/2 year low
Reuters - Construction starts on new homes fell to a new 17-1/2 year low in September as builders scaled back amid a worsening housing slump and growing turmoil in financial markets that helped pushed permits for new homes to a nearly 27-year low. (Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:39:58 GMT)

Wall Street cuts losses amid bargain-hunting
Reuters - Stocks cut losses on Friday and the Nasdaq briefly turned positive as a search for bargains by investors tempered recession worries. (Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:28:23 GMT)

AP IMPACT: Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign
AP - Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse. (Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:46:04 GMT)

ING sells Taiwan ops after Dutch government injection
Reuters - Dutch financial group ING said on Monday it will sell its Taiwan life insurance unit to Fubon Financial for $600 million, a day after securing a 10 billion euro ($13.5 billion) government cash injection. (Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:06:16 GMT)

AP IMPACT: Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign
AP - Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse. (Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:26:25 GMT)

Financial Planning: What Higher Taxes Could Mean
BusinessWeek Online - It's not something that makes good campaign politics. But given the crumbling economy and the federal government's budgetary needs, some Americans are likely to be hit with a tax increase regardless of who wins the Presidential election. (Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:08:43 GMT)

National City to cut 4,000 jobs
Reuters - National City Corp, a U.S. Midwest regional bank hard hit by the credit crisis, on Tuesday announced plans to slash 4,000 jobs and said rising reserves for soured mortgage and real estate construction loans led to its fifth straight quarterly loss. (Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:24:47 GMT)

Fannie, Freddie regulator said U.S. backs debt: report
Reuters - The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said the federal government is trying to help the two housing finance providers sell debt on better terms, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. (Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:33:21 GMT)

National City's 3Q loss widens, job cuts planned
AP - National City Corp. on Tuesday reported a third-quarter loss and said it will cut 4,000 jobs, as the regional bank continues to struggle amid the ongoing downturn in the mortgage and credit markets. (Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:42:04 GMT)

House Republicans seek new Fannie-Freddie probe
Reuters - Top Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate "fraud and mismanagement" at troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:01:48 GMT)

E*Trade reports loss, expects higher loan losses
Reuters - E*Trade Financial Corp , the U.S. discount brokerage hardest hit by the mortgage market meltdown, reported a steep loss from continuing operations in the third quarter as it boosted by nearly $200 million the amount set aside to cover loan losses. (Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:47:30 GMT)

Financial crisis has culled worst US institutions: Bank of NY CEO
AFP - The financial crisis has provided a needed culling of weak US financial institutions and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should bow out in turn, a top New York banker said Tuesday. (Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:58:50 GMT)

Mortgage applications fall 16.6 pct
Reuters - Demand for applications to buy homes and refinance mortgages sank 16.6 percent last week, a trade group said on Wednesday, in the heart of a financial crisis that has sapped consumer confidence. (Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:11:48 GMT)

Credit raters get grilled on Capitol Hill
AP - Executives and employees at the major credit ratings agencies were often aware of problems in the AAA grades awarded to thousands of mortgage-related securities whose downgrades helped plunge the nation into a financial meltdown. (Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:51:03 GMT)

The Trouble with Credit Cards
BusinessWeek Online - It was the 31% interest rate that forced James and Heather Hills to rethink their approach to startup capital. The couple had tried to get a bank loan to launch their Elgin (Ill.) company, MHN Internet Marketing & Public Relations, in early 2006. But three loan officers told them that without equipment to use as collateral, they wouldn't get a loan. So the Hills team took out a $50,000 home equity line of credit and signed up for two personally guaranteed small business credit cards. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:08:43 GMT)

GM suspends payments into 401K plans
Reuters - General Motors Corp is suspending matching payments to employee 401K plans as of November 1 and continues to assess its staffing needs as part of efforts to conserve cash amid a deep downturn in sales, the automaker said on Thursday. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:07:37 GMT)

FDIC chief suggests guarantees for loans
AP - The head of the FDIC said Thursday the government can use its new emergency authority from Congress to help struggling homeowners overhaul mortgages by giving banks an incentive to modify the loans. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:25:06 GMT)

Freddie Mac seeks Lehman probe of missing $1.2 bln
Reuters - Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac has asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge for the ability to conduct an investigation into $1.2 billion it claims it is owed by bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc . (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:27:34 GMT)

Meltdown 101: Who owns my mortgage?
AP - When you sit at your kitchen table and write your monthly mortgage check, your signature may be the first stop on a journey that takes your money to the other side of the world. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:45:45 GMT)

30-year mortgage rates drop to five-week low
AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped sharply this week, falling to the lowest level in five weeks. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:53:58 GMT)

U.S. weighing troubled mortgage loan guarantees
Reuters - U.S. officials said on Thursday they were weighing the possibility of government guarantees for troubled mortgage loans to try to induce lenders to modify terms and slow a rising tide of home foreclosures. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:13:05 GMT)

Bear Stearns $30 billion mortgage portfolio falls 9 percent
Reuters - A Bear Stearns mortgage portfolio backed by the U.S. government racked up $2.7 billion of losses in the third quarter, amounting to a 9 percent decline on about $30 billion of assets, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. (Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:56:37 GMT)

Freddie Mac seeks Lehman probe of missing $1.2 billion
Reuters - Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac has asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge for the ability to conduct an investigation into $1.2 billion it claims it is owed by bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc . (Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:43:37 GMT)

Treasury mulls insurer aid program: sources
Reuters - The U.S. Treasury Department is studying how it could give relief to insurance companies under a $700 billion financial services rescue package, two sources familiar with the deliberations said on Friday. (Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:41:18 GMT)

Uses for $700 billion bailout money ever shifting
AP - First, the $700 billion rescue for the economy was about buying devalued mortgage-backed securities from tottering banks to unclog frozen credit markets. (Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:53:19 GMT)

Election 2008: Obama on the Economic Issues
BusinessWeek Online - -- Income Taxes: Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would hold most income tax rates steady, making permanent the Bush tax cuts for the vast majority of individual taxpayers. With those cuts scheduled to expire in 2011, he would allow rates for households making more than $250,000 (or individuals making more than roughly $200,000) to return to earlier levels. Earners who now pay today's maximum 35% rate would see their top marginal rate go back to the 36.9% in effect in the Clinton years, for example. (Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:08:43 GMT)

O'Neill: No more mortgages without down payment
AP - President Bush's first treasury secretary says Congress should scrap plans for a new economic stimulus package and instead require that no future home mortgage be awarded without a 20 percent down payment. (Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:39:07 GMT)

Car dealers hit by sales decline, weak economy
Reuters - Auto retailers swung to quarterly losses in the third quarter, beaten down by the decline in U.S. car sales, tight consumer credit, and a weakening U.S. economy as well as hurricane-related damages. (Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:09:37 GMT)

GMAC cleared to join Fed commercial paper plan
Reuters - GMAC LLC, the auto and mortgage finance company, on Tuesday said it had been approved to use the commercial paper funding facility created earlier this month by the U.S. Federal Reserve with the aim of easing pressure on the corporate credit market. (Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:49:42 GMT)

GMAC seeks bank status for rescue funding: report
Reuters - GMAC, the auto finance and mortgage company, is seeking to become a bank holding company in order to access the government's $700 billion financial rescue plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. (Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:52:02 GMT)

Estate Planning: Trusts
The Motley Fool - Trusts were first used in medieval England, and they have evolved to serve many purposes in modern law. The essential attribute of a trust is that it divides ownership of property into two pieces. One person, the trustee, holds the legal aspects of ownership and may control and take responsibility for the property. Another person, the beneficiary, holds the sole right to enjoyment of the property. (Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:14:54 GMT)

Estate Planning: Wills
The Motley Fool - Since at least the time of the Roman Empire, wills have been used to ensure the orderly transfer of property from generation to generation. While the popular image of making a will often involves someone in a grave situation -- on the eve of battle, perhaps, or suffering from a terminal illness -- wills can be drawn up at any time, and they do provide a good way for people to state their wishes regarding who should receive their property after their death. (Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:15:27 GMT)

Life Insurance Trusts and You
The Motley Fool - Trusts are impressively flexible, offering many ways for people to use them. Revocable trusts can encompass many people's entire estate-planning needs in a single document. On the other hand, professionals have tailored some types of trusts to fit very specific situations and types of assets. The life insurance trust, primarily designed to hold life insurance policies, is a prime example. (Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:08:13 GMT)

Ex-Fannie Mae chief wishes he said "no" more often: report
Reuters - Former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Daniel Mudd wished he said "no" to more of the things the company was asked to do, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. (Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:29:05 GMT)

Bank of China books 3.8 billion dollars in investment losses
AFP - Bank of China said it had posted 26.3 billion yuan (3.8 billion dollars) in potential losses on assets at the end of September, partially related to US subprime mortgage-backed securities. (Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:06:13 GMT)