Foreclosure activity was down 4.8 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter, according to RealtyTrac.
And foreclosure activity was down nearly 13 percent from a year ago.
But among the largest metro areas, New York, Tampa, Chicago and Seattle saw big increases in foreclosure activity.
We drew on RealtyTrac's latest report to highlight the 20 metros with the highest foreclosure activity. We also highlighted the change in foreclosure activity from the previous quarter and on a year-ago basis.
Ocala, Florida
1 in every 122 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012
Properties with foreclosure filings:
1,341
Change from Q2 2012:
+15.60 percent
Change from Q3 2011:
-6.81 percent
Lakeland, Florida
1 in every 116 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012
Properties with foreclosure filings:
2,426
Change from Q2 2012:
-2.65 percent
Change from Q3 2011:
+48.65 percent
Fresno, California
1 in every 114 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012
Properties with foreclosure filings:
2,759
Change from Q2 2012:
-13.67 percent
Change from Q3 2011:
-37.55 percent
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California
1 in every 114 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012
Properties with foreclosure filings:
2,465
Change from Q2 2012:
+4.85 percent
Change from Q3 2011:
-21.22 percent
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Arizona
1 in every 113 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012
Properties with foreclosure filings:
15,867
Change from Q2 2012:
-18.73 percent
Change from Q3 2011:
-27.30 percent
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, California
Bakersfield, California
Merced, California
Modesto, California
Vallejo-Fairfield, California
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California
Stockton, California
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/20-cities-with-high-foreclosure-rates-2012-11?op=1#ixzz2BSo4QR7G
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have asked to buy more than $7.6 billion in U.S. missile defense technology, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The orders for the Lockheed Martin-made equipment were detailed in documents posted online late Monday by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which said it had notified Congress of the request.
Qatar has requested two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) fire units, 12 launchers and 150 interceptors, as well as radar units, other equipment, spare parts and training, all worth an estimated $6.5 billion.
The UAE has asked for 48 THAAD missiles and nine launchers, as well as spare parts and training, for a total of $1.135 billion, according to a second filing.
The THAAD system is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles, including those carrying weapons of mass destruction.
The Pentagon recommended both proposed sales, saying the technology would strengthen regional security and reduce both states' dependence on US forces.
Qatar, the UAE and other petroleum-rich Gulf states have eyed nearby Iran with increasing concern in recent years amid mounting tensions over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
The United States maintains a large military presence in the Gulf and has sold billions of dollars worth of arms in recent years to Saudi Arabia and allied Gulf states.
In December 2011 the United States signed a nearly $30 billion deal to sell F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a move likely aimed at countering Iran.
Al Arabiya
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday night to put a stop to Iran’s nuclear program by whatever means necessary — even in outright defiance of American objections — if neither sanctions, nor other international action, achieves that goal.
“There is no doubt about Iran’s intention — to destroy us,” Netanyahu said. “I won’t be reconciled to that.”
Asked in an interview whether, if reelected in January, he would “pledge that Iran won’t have a nuclear program by the end of your next term,” Netanyahu said simply, “Yes.”
When it was put to him that the US has opposed a unilateral Israeli resort to force, Netanyahu said President Barack Obama had stated that Israel has the right to defend itself as it sees fit, and that Israel dare not entrust its future to others, even to the United States. Israel’s prime ministers had ignored US disapproval in establishing the country in 1948 and preempting the Arab attack in the 1967 war, he noted.
Netanyahu was interviewed as part of an investigative TV report that traced Israel’s efforts over the past decade to thwart Iran’s march toward the bomb. The documentary, which included interviews with several serving and former top politicians and security chiefs, detailed sabotage, assassinations of scientists and other measures used by Israel — as reported in foreign publications — to slow the Iranian program. It described the 2007 air strike that destroyed Syria’s nuclear reactor as “a general rehearsal for an attack” on Iran.
Asked whether he believed Netanyahu had the guts to order a strike on Iran, the prime minister’s former national security adviser, Uzi Arad, said he had “no doubt.”
When it was put to Netanyahu himself that others believed he lacked the guts to order a strike, he replied, “I hope I won’t have to.”
A central theme of the program was the assertion that Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak had ordered the defense establishment in 2010 to elevate its state of readiness so that it would be capable of attacking Iran within hours if so required — “the closest Israel has come to attacking Iran,” according to the program — but that two top security chiefs flatly refused to do as they were told.
The order to raise the IDF state of readiness to what was codenamed “P Plus” was given by Netanyahu and Barak to then-chief of the General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Mossad chief Meir Dagan at a meeting in Jerusalem two years ago, the program said.
But Dagan, the program claimed, rejected it as “illegal,” noting that a full cabinet decision was required for such an order. And Ashkenazi, the program said, vehemently opposed the step because he considered it “a strategic mistake” and feared that implementing the order might lead to an unintended war.
Asked about these dramatic exchanges, Netanyahu did not respond directly, but he indicated that they were inaccurate. And he stressed that “ultimately, the responsibility (for such decisions) is the prime minister’s.” The chief of staff “has the right to make recommendations,” he said. But as prime minister, he would overrule such recommendations if necessary, he indicated.
Barak did not deny seeking to order the raised state of readiness, but he said it had proved impossible because Ashkenazi had not prepared a viable military option. Sources close to Ashkenazi told the program this was untrue.
Vowing that Israel “is ready to act” against Iran, Netanyahu said he was watching the Islamist regime “advancing step by step… toward producing nuclear bombs.” When the Jews were being murdered by the Nazis, they were unable to save themselves, he said. But he, as Israel’s prime minister, did have the capacity to protect the Jewish nation. “When we didn’t have a state, we begged others” to defend the Jews, he said. “Today, we’re not begging, we are preparing.”
A second major theme of the hour-long program featured withering criticism by former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is considering making a political comeback ahead of January’s general elections, of the handling of the Iranian threat by Netanyahu and Barak. Olmert also blasted Netanyahu for damaging Israeli ties with the Obama administration.
Lambasting Netanyahu’s evident readiness to strike at Iran if all else fails, even in defiance of the United States, Olmert asked mockingly which planes, bombs and special technologies Israel would use — underlining the centrality of American military hardware to Israel’s military capacity. Without naming names, he wondered who Netanyahu would turn to “if something is missing” from the range of equipment needed for an attack or the re-supply needed to sustain one. “Would it be to the people in whose faces we’re spitting,” he wondered, “those who we’re trying to prevent being president of the United States?”
Olmert was reviving allegations that Netanyahu has sought to undermine the Obama presidency and encourage the challenge of Republican candidate Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s presidential elections.
Responding directly to Olmert’s comments, Netanyahu said such an approach could require Israel, unacceptably, to subcontract its destiny to others. “We’re supposed to say there’s nothing we can do?” he asked rhetorically, rejecting the notion. “If our backs are to the wall, we’ll do what’s necessary,” he said.
Earlier in the program, without relating to any specific incidents, Olmert had related to the dilemmas he had faced as prime minister when ordering operations designed to slow Iran’s march to the bomb. Implying but not stating that he had ordered assassinations of people involved in the Iranian nuclear program, he said “I asked myself questions” about such operations, but reminded himself of the imperative “to prevent Iran from developing the fuse that could end my children’s lives.”
The program, part of a documentary series called “Uvda” (Fact) on Israel’s Channel 2, traced Israel’s efforts to stop the Iranian bomb throughout the past decade.
In 2002, it said, then-prime minister Ariel Sharon had ordered Mossad chief Dagan to focus on the Iranian threat. A special Mossad unit was established and, via “dozens of intelligence operations,” information was gathered first on Iran’s reactor at Natanz and then on the clandestine facility at Qom.
Shown the proof, president George W. Bush assured Israel, “Don’t worry, they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” an aide to Sharon told the program.
But Israel, by 2007, had decided it needed to have its own “program for action,” Barak told the program. An Israeli document briefly shown on screen related to plans “to set the Iranians back by at least a few years” and noted, “Israel may have to strike…”
When the American National Intelligence Estimate in late 2007 asserted that Iran had frozen its nuclear weapons program, Israel was stunned, the program said. Its intelligence information conclusively proved that the NIE was wrong, former IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told the program. “There then followed” a series of assassinations, explosions and other setbacks in the Iranian program.
“A lot of things went wrong,” Olmert noted.
“Things blew up,” added Barak.
In 2008, when Bush visited Israel, Olmert said he showed the US president incontrovertible proof that Iran was seeking the bomb. From then on, Olmert said, the US and Israel agreed on open sharing of all relevant intelligence information, and to work together to thwart Iran.
There was one caveat, however, the program noted: Bush made it clear that he was “with you all the way,” so long as Israel did not resort to unilateral military action.
The program featured much sniping by Olmert at Barak, and vice versa, with each accusing the other of requiring more responsible supervision. Olmert said he would not want “the overall responsibility” for thwarting Iran to be in Barak’s hands. Barak said that “when it comes to using force,” Olmert “requires supervision.” Barak served as defense minister in the Olmert government until four years ago, continuing to hold the post in the current Netanyahu government.
The rebuffed call by Netanyahu and Barak for Ashkenazi and Dagan toget the military establishment ready for a possible strike within hours, the program said, brought Israel “closer than ever” to a strike. This section of the “Uvda” report was partially broadcast on Sunday night, prompting headlines in the Hebrew dailies on Monday.
Relating indirectly to the reported differences of opinion with his former security chiefs, Netanyahu said in his interview that he was “not eager for war” and hoped sanctions or other international action would thwart Iran.
The Times of Israel
War between North and South Korea could break out at any moment, an ambassador from Pyongyang told the UN. He accused Seoul of instigating conflict and ‘increased hostilities’ towards Pyongyang.
Ri Tong-il, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, said in an address that “no one knows when war will break out”between the two antagonistic nations.
“The situation on the peninsula is on the brink of explosion,” Ri said, adding that North Korea is a nuclear state not subject to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which he condemned as “blindly” supportive of the US.
He went on to say that the six-way talks that tried to persuade Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program had failed.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Association described Pyongyang’s stance as “deeply troubling.” The UN also condemned the country’s “military-first policy,” and called for communist ruler Kim Jong-Un to work to raise the country’s living standards.
"I continue to be concerned with both the human rights and humanitarian situation in the country," UN special rapporteur Marzuki Darusman said in a statement. “Slow economic growth coupled with what is known as a 'military-first policy' will of course be detrimental to the welfare of the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.”
Darusman stressed that Pyongyang was putting its nuclear ambitions over the wellbeing of North Koreans, 60 percent of who suffer from malnutrition and food shortages.
Washington cut off aid packages to North Korea earlier in April following Pyongyang’s failed attempt to test a long-range missile. The launch was widely perceived by the international community as a veiled attempt to see if a nuclear warhead could be carried on the missile.
The US has been steadily increasing its military presence in South Korea. Washington claims the buildup is purely defensive, and is not a sign of imminent military action against the North.
The most recent reinforcements were announced in July when the US said it would deliver more than 80 MRAPs (Mine resistant ambush proof vehicles). Currently, over 28,000 US soldiers are stationed in the South.
The reinforcements, according to Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Michael Sennett, are “part of the Army’s continuing rebalancing efforts in the Pacific region.”
The US has also increased its military footprint in neighboring Japan with its deal for a missile defense radar system to be built there in September. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that the measure was purely defensive, and aimed at cementing Japanese-US security ties.
The Institute for Science and International Security gave a stark warning over North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile in August. They predicted that Pyongyang could have over 48 nuclear weapons by 2015 if allowed to continue with its uranium enrichment.
RT
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine cruised within 200 miles of the East Coast recently in the latest sign Russia is continuing to flex its naval and aerial power against the United States, defense officials said.
The submarine was identified by its NATO designation as a Russian Seirra-2 class submarine believed to be based with Russia’s Northern Fleet. It was the first time that class of Russian submarine had been detected near a U.S. coast, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of anti-submarine warfare efforts.
One defense official said the submarine was believed to have been conducting anti-submarine warfare efforts against U.S. ballistic and cruise missile submarines based at Kings Bay, Georgia.
A second official said the submarine did not sail close to Kings Bay and also did not threaten a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group that was conducting exercises in the eastern Atlantic.
Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, north of Jacksonville, Fla., is homeport for two guided missile submarines and six nuclear missile submarines. The submarines are known to be a target of Russian attack submarines.
Meanwhile, the officials also said that a Russian electronic intelligence-gathering vessel was granted safe harbor in the commercial port of Jacksonville, Fla., within listening range of Kings Bay.
The Russian AGI ship, or Auxiliary-General Intelligence, was allowed to stay in the port to avoid the superstorm that battered the U.S. East Coast last week. A Jacksonville Port Authority spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the Russian AGI at the port.
“A Russian AGI and an SSN in the same geographic area as one of the largest U.S. ballistic missile submarine bases—Kings Bay—is reminiscent of Cold War activities of the Soviet navy tracking the movements of our SSBN’s,” said a third U.S. official, referring to the designation for ballistic missile submarines, SSBN.
“While I can’t talk about how we detected it, I can tell you that things worked the way they were supposed to,” the second official said, stating that the Russian submarine “poses no threat whatsoever.”
According to naval analysts, the Russian attack submarine is outfitted with SS-N-21 anti-submarine warfare missiles, as well as SS-N-16 anti-submarine warfare missiles. It also is equipped with torpedoes.
The U.S. Navy deploys a series of underwater sonar sensors set up at strategic locations near the United States that detected the submarine sometime late last month.
The submarine is currently believed to be in international waters several hundred miles from the United States.
The official said the deployment appeared to be part of efforts by the Russian navy to re-establish its blue-water naval power projection capabilities.
Naval analyst Miles Yu, writing in the newsletter Geostrategy Direct, stated that Russia announced in February it is stepping up submarine patrols in strategic waters around the world in a throwback to the Soviet period.
“On June 1 or a bit later we will resume constant patrolling of the world’s oceans by strategic nuclear submarines,” Russian Navy Commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky was quoted as saying Feb. 3.
During the Cold War, Moscow’s submarine forces carried out hundreds of submarine patrols annually to maintain its first- and second-strike nuclear capabilities. By 1984, the Soviet Union was declining but its naval forces conducted 230 submarine patrols. Today the number is fewer than 10 patrols.
Richard Fisher, a military analyst with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said Russian submarine patrols in the Atlantic have been reduced but remain “regular.”
“As was their primary mission during the Cold War, Russian SSNs [nuclear attack submarines] would likely be trying to track U.S. nuclear missile submarines deploying from Kings Bay, Ga., and to monitor U.S. naval deployments from Norfolk, Va.,” Fisher said in an email.
While the Sierra-2 is comparable to the U.S. Los Angeles-class attack submarine, Russia is building a new class of attack submarines that are said to be comparable to the latest U.S. Virginia-class submarines, Fisher said.
The submarine deployment followed stepped-up Russian nuclear bomber activity near U.S. borders last summer, including the transit of two Bear-H strategic bombers near the Alaska air defense zone during Russian strategic bomber war games in arctic in late June.
Then on July 4, in an apparent Fourth of July political message, a Russian Bear-H flew the closest to the U.S. West Coast that a Russian strategic bomber had flown since the Cold War when such flights were routine.
In both incidents, U.S. military spokesmen sought to downplay the threat posed by the air incursions, apparently in response to the Obama administration’s conciliatory “reset” policy of seeking closer ties with Moscow.
U.S. and Canadian interceptor jets were scrambled to meet the Russian bombers during the flights last summer.
The officials did not provide the name of the Russian submarine. However, the sole Sierra-2 submarine still deployed with Russia’s Northern Fleet is the nuclear powered attack submarine Pskov that was first deployed in 1993.
Confirmation of the recent Sierra-2 submarine deployment followed a report from U.S. national security officials who said a more advanced and harder-to-detect Russian Akula-class attack submarine had sailed undetected in the Gulf of Mexico in August.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, in response to thereport first published in the Free Beacon, stated in a letter to Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) that “based on all of the source information available to us, a Russian submarine did not enter the Gulf of Mexico.”
Navy spokesmen did not say whether an Akula had been detected elsewhere in the Atlantic around that time period.
A Navy spokesman said later that the last time an Akula was confirmed as present near the United States was 2009.
The U.S. is not the only country responding to increased Russian strategic bomber activity.
Norway’s military has detected an increase in Russian strategic bomber flights near its territory, the most recent being the flight of a Bear H bomber on Sept. 11 and 12 that was shadowed by NATO jet fighters.
Norwegian Lt. Col. John Espen Lien told the Free Beacon in an email that the number of Russian bomber flights this year was more than in the past, with 55 bombers detected.
According to Norwegian military data, Russian aircraft flights near Norwegian coasts began increasing in July 2007 and increased from 14 flights in 2006 to 88 in 2007. There were 87 in 2008 and 77 in 2009 and a decline to 37 in 2010 and 48 in 2011.
“Most of these strategic flights are … Tupolev TU-95 Bear [bombers],” he stated. “In 2007 (and partly 2008) we also identified some TU-160 Blackjack. Lately we have also identified some TU-22 Backfire.”
Washington Free Beacon
The number of people looking for work in Spain rose by 2.7% in October, marking the third month in a row that unemployment levels have risen.
A total of 4.8m people are now out of work in Spain, according to the Labour Ministry, which compiles the monthly figures.
Spain's quarterly unemployment rate, considered a more reliable gauge of employment levels, was 25% at the end of September.
The country remains in recession.
Spain, the fourth-biggest of the 17 nations that use the euro, has the highest unemployment rate in Europe.
It is struggling to reduce its high public debt levels and has imposed tough cost-cutting measures that have hampered economic growth.
On an annualised basis, the number of job seekers climbed by 10.84%, according to the Labour ministry data.
The overall jobless rate in the eurozone is 11.6%.
BBC
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron warned that an Iranian development of nuclear weapons might “trigger a nuclear arms race” across the Middle East.
Iran obtaining nuclear arms would not only be a “desperately bad development for our world,” it could make the region “a more unstable and more dangerous place,” Cameron told students at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi today at the start of a three-day visit to the Middle East.
Cameron has been discussing future cooperation with the United Arab Emirates on strategic defense issues as contingency plans are examined for any escalation of Iran’s nuclear ambitions -- including the possibility of blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil-supply route.
Three weeks ago, Cameron called on Israel to refrain from a military strike on Iran’s nuclear program, saying time was needed for sanctions to work. The U.S. and European nations say Iran’s program is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran says it’s intended for civilian purposes.
Cameron is seeking to boost defense sales in the region and to arrange the sale of more than 100 Typhoon jets in the coming year in a deal that would be worth more than 6 billion pounds ($9.5 billion) to British companies, the premier’s office said in an e-mailed statement. He moves on from the UAE to Saudi Arabia tomorrow.
Gulf Interest
The Saudi government has signaled it’s interested in adding to the 72 Typhoon jets the country has already, according to the statement, while the U.A.E. has shown interest in ordering as many as 60 jets. The Typhoon is built by Eurofighter GmbH, made up of BAE Systems Plc (BA/), Finmeccanica SpA (FNC) and European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EAD)
“Britain has important defense industries that employ over 300,000 and so that sort of business is completely legitimate and right,” Cameron said as he landed in Dubai, responding to media questions about the human-rights records of the countries he is visiting. “We have one of the strictest regimes anywhere in the world for sales of defense equipment, but we do believe that countries have a right to self-defense.”
Cameron has put trade at the heart of his administration’s foreign-policy objectives. President Francois Hollande also visited the region yesterday pressing French defense exports.
The prime minister said he wouldn’t hesitate to raise human-rights concerns on his trip.
“On human rights, there are no no-go areas in this relationship,” Cameron told reporters. “We discuss all of these things, but we also show respect and friendship to a very old ally and partner.”
The relationship between the U.K. and Saudi Arabia was strained recently when the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee announced it would be reviewing Britain’s relationship with the Gulf nation, citing human-rights concerns.
Saudi officials told the BBC Oct. 15 they were insulted by the inquiry. Cameron’s spokesman Steve Field told reporters in London today that it is up to Parliament to decide the subjects it looks at.
BusinessWeek
