WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression showed signs of easing in the second quarter, buttressing hopes for a second-half recovery though it may be anemic as consumers remain under spending stress.

Gross domestic product, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, fell at a 1.0 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said on Friday, after tumbling 6.4 percent in the January-March quarter, the biggest decline since early 1982.

Analysts who had expected a decline in second-quarter GDP of around 1.5 percent said the report, which showed a moderating pace of decline in key areas such as business investment and exports, provided the clearest evidence yet that the recession was almost over.

"The recession is entering its final hours. Today's report shows those green shoots are starting to grow again, and the economy is finally moving down the road to recovery," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo/Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.

It will be a recovery from a low point. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its annual report on the U.S. economy said the recession, about to enter its 20th month, seemed to be ending, but cautioned recovery would be slow.

On a year-over-year basis, second quarter GDP declined a record 3.9 percent. Previously, the government said GDP had fallen at a 5.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter but it revised that to a steeper fall.

Including the second-quarter contraction, GDP has fallen for four straight quarters -- the first time that has happened since records were started in 1947.

A steep drop in consumption spending, the main engine of the economy, fanned fears of a sluggish growth pace when the economy does recover as anticipated in the second half.

Consumer spending, which accounts for over two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, fell at a 1.2 percent rate in the second quarter after rising 0.6 percent in the previous quarter. That sliced 0.88 percentage points from second quarter GDP, the department said.

"The increase in growth over the second half of 2009 is likely to be uneven, and the economy won't be firing on all cylinders again until three-quarters of GDP, consumer expenditures and business capital spending, start to pull their own weight," said Rupkey.

U.S. stocks pushed higher as investors set aside initial worries over the drop in consumer spending. Sentiment was also lifted by a report showing business activity in the country's Midwest in July rose to its highest level since last September.

POSITIVE GDP GROWTH SEEN

President Barack Obama, whose poll numbers have been dropping because of concern about the costs of health-care reform and the ailing economy, said the GDP data was a sign the economy was headed in the right direction.

But he also said unemployment remained an obstacle.

"As far as I am concerned we won't have a recovery as long as we continue losing jobs. Today's GDP is an important sign the economy is headed in the right direction," Obama said.

In contrast to the weak consumer reading, business investment improved significantly in the second quarter.

The advance report showed business investment decreased at an 8.9 percent rate in the second quarter after diving 39.2 percent in the previous quarter. Investment in nonresidential structures fell at an 8.9 percent rate compared to a 43.6 percent drop in the first quarter.

Residential investment, which is at the core of the economic downturn, dropped at a 29.3 percent rate in the April-June period after plummeting by 38.2 percent in the first quarter.

Business inventories continued to be a drag on overall GDP, declining by a record $141.1 billion in the second quarter as firms aggressively cut back on new production to reduce stockpiles of unsold goods.

The drop in inventories shaved 0.83 percentage points from second-quarter GDP, but was seen providing a springboard for the much anticipated economic recovery in the second half.

"It really sets the stage for a positive third-quarter growth number and maybe now a pretty decent pop to the third quarter given the size of the inventory drawdown," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.

Excluding inventories, GDP fell 0.2 percent in the second quarter compared to a 4.1 percent drop in the first quarter.

The free-fall in exports braked sharply in the second quarter. Exports fell at a 7.0 percent rate after plunging 29.9 percent in the first quarter. There were positive contributions from the federal, state and local governments during the second quarter.

Annual benchmark revisions issued by the department showed the economy barely grew in 2008, expanding at an annual rate of 0.4 percent, the smallest since 1991, instead of the 1.1 percent previously estimated.

They also showed the decline since the recession began in 2007 was steeper than previously thought. From the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2009, real GDP fell at an average annual rate of 2.8 percent instead of a 1.8 percent decline.

(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Jeff Mason in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

LONDON (Reuters) –
Singer Peter Andre accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages on Friday over a newspaper claim that he was unfaithful to his now estranged wife, model Katie Price.

The 36-year-old was at London's High Court for the settlement of his action over a story saying he had been unfaithful with a Price lookalike, which appeared in The Sunday People newspaper in May.

"These allegations were very upsetting and offensive to Mr Andre, as they are untrue," his lawyer Mike Brookes told the court.

He added that the paper's publisher MGN Ltd had apologized and had agreed to pay Andre's damages and legal costs, the Press Association reported.

Speaking outside court, the singer said he was "pleased" that the paper had accepted that the story was "untrue and hurtful to myself."

"I have never been unfaithful to my wife, not with this girl or with anyone else," he said.

"I also need to add that if anyone slanders my name, I will not hesitate in taking action against them."

Last year, Andre and Price accepted damages over a News of the World article portraying them as bad parents.

Andre split from Price, 30, who found early modeling fame under the name Jordan, in May after four-hand-a-half years of marriage. The couple had met while filming the jungle reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!."

They have two children together, Junior Savva, 3, and Princess Tiaamii.

"This story has led to a lot of speculation about whether I was faithful to my estranged wife, which even led her to mention it on a breakfast television show last week," Andre said.

"Now hopefully this will bring these rumors and lies to an end and let me move on with my life."

Andre, who was born in England but brought up in Australia, had two number one hits in the mid 1990s with "Flava" and "I Feel You."

(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by Michael Holden)

Wood Fence Dallas

In the United States, the earliest settlers claimed land by simply fencing it in. Later, as the American government formed, unsettled land became technically owned by the government and programs to register land ownership developed, usually making raw land available for low prices or for free, if the owner improved the property, including the construction of fences.

Ownership of the fence varies. In some parts of the country all boundaries are shared; in other parts of the country you may own the boundary on the left-hand or right-hand side, however, only the title deeds can be depended on to tell you which side is yours. (A 'T' symbol indicates who is the owner). It used to be normal for the cladding to be on the non-owners side (enabling access to the posts for the owner when repairs need doing), but increasingly this cannot be depended on.

UNITED NATIONS – The United States on Thursday signed a U.N. treaty enshrining the rights of the world's 650 million disabled people, saying it symbolized President Barack Obama's commitment to upholding human rights through international agreements.
The signing by U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice marked a dramatic shift from the Bush administration, which refused to take part in negotiations on the treaty, arguing that it would dilute protections for U.S. citizens under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.
Obama marked last week's 19th anniversary of the U.S. law barring discrimination against the disabled with the announcement that the U.S. would become the 141st signatory to the convention. "Disability rights aren't just civil rights to be enforced here at home. They are universal rights to be recognized and promoted around the world," the president said.
Rice said Obama will soon submit the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification. Once it is ratified, the United States will be bound by its provisions.
"It symbolizes that the United States is recommitting itself to upholding human rights through multilateral institutions," Rice said. "It is symbolic of the president's determination to adhere universally to those principles that he has championed and that the United States stands for domestically."
The treaty is the first new human rights convention of the 21st century. It was approved by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2006 and came into force in May 2008 after 20 countries ratified it.
The 32-page convention is a blueprint aimed at ending discrimination and exclusion of the physically and mentally impaired in education, jobs, and everyday life. It requires countries to guarantee freedom from exploitation and abuse for the disabled, while protecting rights they already have — such as ensuring voting rights for the blind and providing wheelchair-accessible buildings.
It says disabled persons must also enjoy the same right to life, to inherit, to control their financial affairs, and to privacy as the able-bodied. It also advocates keeping the disabled in their communities rather than removing them and educating them separately as many countries do.
According to the U.N., about 10 percent of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability and the number is increasing with population growth. The disabled constitute the world's largest minority, and 80 percent live in developing countries, many in poverty.
"We all still have a great deal more to do at home and abroad," Rice said. "As president Obama has noted, people with disabilities far too often lack the choice to live in communities of their own choosing; their unemployment rate is much higher than those without disabilities; they are much more likely to live in poverty; health care is out of reach for far too many; and too many children with disabilities are denied a world class education."
White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, who also attended the signing ceremony, announced the creation of a new senior-level post in the State Department to promote the rights of people with disabilities internationally and coordinate government efforts to ratify the treaty.
Several U.S. campaigners for the disabled — two in wheelchairs — attended the signing ceremony in a conference room on the 38th floor of U.N. headquarters and applauded loudly after Rice wrote her name in the treaty book.
Marca Bristo, president and CEO of Access Living, who chairs the U.S. International Council on Disabilities, said the council would be coordinating civil society efforts to ratify the treaty.
William Kennedy Smith, president and founder of the Center for International Rehabilitation, who helped organize activists from around the world to work on drafting the convention, recalled how disappointed U.S. campaigners for the disabled were that the Bush administration refused to participate.
"With the signing today, the U.S. rejoins the arena where they have traditionally set the benchmark in disability rights internationally and I think it's a huge step for people with disabilities and a huge step for our country," he said.
"I think that it represents a profound difference in how the two administrations view international cooperation, international engagement," Smith said.