Selby and Murphy last met at the Crucible 2007, with Selby winning that semi-final encounter 17-16
Mark Selby delivered a vintage display as he came from behind to open up a three-frame lead against Shaun Murphy in the World Championship final.
Trailing 5-3 from the afternoon, Selby made breaks of 85, 67, 86 and 90 on the way to establishing a 10-7 advantage.
Fellow Englishman Murphy went closest to the first century of the match with a run of 98 but otherwise struggled to find his rhythm as Selby dominated.
The best-of-35 final continues on Monday at 13:00 BST – live on BBC TV.
“I felt a bit edgy at the start, it’s a world final and I was trying that extra bit harder and Shaun started off a lot better than me,” Selby told BBC Sport.
“Every final I have been to I have always felt really tired going into it but I have dug in today, grafted when I needed to and manged to get myself a lead.”
Murphy, aiming to win his second world crown 16 years after his 2005 triumph – which would become the largest ever gap between titles – had eked out a slender lead on Sunday afternoon, in front of a crowd of around 600, the highest of the tournament so far.
But as the match wore on, the energy and tempo which he carried over from his fine semi-final win against Kyren Wilson slowly appeared to drain away.
Six-time former champion Steve Davis had cast Selby as a Dementor from the Harry Potter films in the build-up to the match because of his ability to stifle and smother his opponents.
And at times the tag appeared perfectly apt, particularly during the tactical exchanges, which Selby generally enjoyed the better of.
However, Selby also made sizable breaks when given the opportunity to score and looks close to the form which took him to three world titles between 2014 and 2017.
Seeking a fourth world title that would place him behind only Stephen Hendry (seven), and Ronnie O’Sullivan and Steve Davis (both six) for Crucible crowns, he opened with a brilliant 85 and was unperturbed when Murphy responded with a 98.
And Selby then got on a roll, winning six of the next seven frames, including a composed 86 clearance after a re-rack in the 12th.
A foul and two breaks of 48 and 57 saw him level at 7-7 and after a 90 saw him move ahead for the first time, he used all the experience gained in four previous finals to pull clear.
While that concluded a disappointing evening for Murphy, he can take heart that his only previous world title arrived after he overcame an even bigger deficit when trailing Matthew Stevens 10-6 at the same stage in the match.
“He was fabulous tonight,” Murphy told BBC Sport. “From good safety shots I thought I had played he always seemed to have the answer and potted some outrageous long balls.
“It’s a frame easier than in 2005, but in all seriousness I think I have showed in the semi-final I can win when I am down. This match is a long way from being over.”
The Crucible roar returns
The event has been used part of a UK Government pilot scheme to allow crowds to return after an easing of Covid rules.
In contrast to the surreal atmosphere that accompanied the rearranged 2020 World Championship, both players were greeted by huge roars as they entered the auditorium.
Speaking to BBC Sport Hendry said: “I’ve got shivers and I’m not even playing. We wondered if this would ever happen again – it’s incredible to see.
“The tension that is thrown in by the crowd is something we’ve all missed. Every sport has missed it but here at the Crucible it is just special.”
While the final had been earmarked to host a capacity crowd of 980, there were about 600 fans present for both of Sunday’s sessions.
Sunday’s final saw the biggest crowd at a snooker event since March 2020
Organisers believe that the hesitation of some to return to an indoor event, plus limitations around travel and accommodation, had impacted the attendance.
Monday’s final sessions are expected to sell out.
Analysis – ‘Selby is like a snooker vampire’
Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on BBC Two:
The claws are in and they are in deep, Mark Selby is like a snooker vampire. He sucks all the life and adrenaline out of you. He’s just the most unbelievable competitor I’ve ever seen – I would have hated to play against him.I don’t know he does it – all of a sudden he can just make it the kind of game he wants to play.Shaun Murphy doesn’t know what’s happened to him.
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Two of the biggest “Harry Potter” fan websites have condemned author J.K. Rowling following her publication of a controversial essay on gender identity last month.
On Wednesday, US-based sites MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron released a joint statement rejecting Rowling’s beliefs on transgender rights and detailing their commitment to providing a safe community where all feel welcome.
The statement comes after Rowling published an essay she had written about gender identity on her website. She immediately faced criticism and condemnation from LGBTQ+ activists, who called it “devastating.”
The fan websites said they have implemented new policies to distance themselves from the author, stating that they will no longer cover her personal endeavors (excluding her charity) and won’t feature photos or quotes from the author.
They also said they won’t be posting purchase links or links to the author’s website.
Earlier in June, several leading stars of the “Harry Potter” movie franchise spoke out, with Emma Watson writing on Twitter that: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told that they aren’t who they say they are.”
The fan sites said it was “difficult” to speak out against someone whose work they have “so long admired,” but they said that it would be wrong to not use their platforms to counteract the harm that Rowling has caused.
“Our stance is firm: Transgender women are women. Transgender men are men. Non-binary people are non-binary. Intersex people exist and should not be forced to live in the binary,” they said in their statement.
Developed by Avalanche Software, previously of Disney Infinity fame, the game is being released under Warner Bros’ recently established Port Key games, which also plays home to Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, a magical Pokemon Go developed by Niantic.
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While little is known about the game officially, in 2018 footage of an early build of the game leaked, showing off the player learning spells, exploring iconic areas of the wizarding world and interacting with beasts. It’s rumoured that the game will begin with the player being transferred to Hogwarts in their 5th year, two years before students typically graduate from the school.
Leaks appeared to show players customising a character that looks significantly older than a first-year Hogwarts student.
The trailer begins with what looks to be an older student arriving at the school seems to confirm this, however with the sorting hat and the process of being sorted into Hogwarts’ four houses so prevalent in the original books, and subsequent media, it seems strange that this element would be omitted.
Although not part of the trailer, a screenshot released shows an older student in a wand shop testing out their new wand, something that’s traditionally done when a student joins Hogwarts at age 11, so there’s potential that the story could surround a wizard not uncovering the powers until slightly later in life. The appearance of the unnamed wand shop implies that players will be able to visit the magic world’s High Street: Diagon Alley.
Hogwarts Legacy takes place over 100 years before Harry Potter’s birth.
What’s also made clear by the trailer is that the world around Hogwarts is also a large part of the game. Hogsmeade village, the Forbidden Forest, and other locations from around the school grounds will be explorable. One part of the trailer even shows the player flying what looks to be a Hippogriff over a seaside setting, suggesting the open world may be much larger than expected.
Dementors, Inferi and Dragons all make an appearance in the trailer, as well as several of the creatures introduced in the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them spin-off films.
One of the biggest questions so far is due to the appearance of mysterious skull-faced figures at the end of the video. These appear to be the main threat to the player, although their motives and origins are unknown. Due to being set over 100 years before the rise of Voldemort and his death eaters, this will have to be a new threat further divorcing this game from the canon established by creator J.K. Rowling.
“In the Wizarding World cannon, September 1 is the day that students return to Hogwarts after the summer holidays, a day which would certainly fit thematically for a release.”
They wrote, “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World.
Regardless of the author’s creative involvement, she is certain to receive profits from the game as she still oversees all of the projects related to the Harry Potter IP.
Due to the game being set in the late 1800s, there are few established characters or events that could appear in the game. While ghosts such as Nearly-Headless Nick could appear due to having died in the 1400s, teachers, students and other notable figures are likely to be entirely the creation of Avalanche.
While a release date is currently unknown, the trailer confirms that the game is planned for 2021. While there’s no Wizarding World movie releasing next year as Fantastic Beasts 3 was delayed until 2022, an release early in the year seems unlikely due to no date being announced.
In the Wizarding World cannon, September 1 is the day that students return to Hogwarts after the summer holidays, a day which would certainly fit thematically for a release.
Tie in games for the immensely popular Harry Potter films were released for console and PC from 2001 until 2011. These were third-person action games, not dissimilar to the leaked footage of Hogwarts Legacy. While not critically loved, they have developed a beloved fanbase due to their strange voice acting and large explorable Hogwarts castle.
The last Harry Potter game for console was a collection of the LEGO games from TT Games which released on the PS4 and Xbox One.
Harry Potter has become synonymous with Hedwig’s Theme. (Few among us have not had it as our ringtones at some point or the other). As the series progressed, the movies saw different directors, different treatment and different moods of music. John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, Alexandre Desplat : the movies were brought to life by some of the best minds at work. And Hedwig’s Theme, as synonymous with the magical world as it is, is not the only one to evoke our collective emotions. As we approach Harry Potter’s birthday on July 31, let us look at what else makes the cut:
‘Buckbeak’s Flight’ by John Williams
Prisoner of Azkaban definitely had one of the series’ best soundtracks. Close your eyes to this music and replay the first time Harry flies with Buckbeak. Drums explode as Buckbeak begins running across the grounds; the music soars when she does, and the camera pans to show the great spires of Hogwarts. She flies across the Black Lake and cuts the water with a single talon. Harry looks at his shifting reflection in the water and raises both his arms to his sides as if to say, “Look, Hagrid, no hands.”
‘Double Trouble’ by John Williams
Do you think Shakespeare might have been a wizard too? Is that canon? ‘Double Trouble’, sung by the Hogwarts choir in Prisoner of Azkaban takes from Macbeth and adds its own magic. It’s the musical equivalent of grinning ghouls tippy toeing across the fireplace as the falling snow covers the grounds. “Something wicked this way comes.” What glee!
‘Death of Sirius (The Order fights back)’ by Nicholas Hooper
Cedric Diggory might have been Harry’s first true brush with death, but the series took a truly dark turn after he lost his godfather Sirius Black. The background score to the fight at the Ministry symbolises that. The tone shifts from that of impending danger, to a cry of hope and rallying of forces as Sirius and the rest of the Order join the fight, to a sudden muted murder of Sirius at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. It is in this song of grief that Harry goes from the Boy Who Lived to the Chosen One.
‘Dumbledore’s Farewell’ by Nicholas Hooper
In one of the most heartwarming scenes of the series, the school of Hogwarts gathers around the fallen Headmaster to bring to life the words he lived by: “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.” As solemn violins mourn Dumbledore’s death, each person on screen raises their lit wands — a sea of lights against the Dark Mark in the sky. It is at once a song of tragedy and resilience.
‘Lily’s Theme’ by Alexandre Desplat
May I just say that Desplat was a wonderful choice for the final two movies, bringing in the intensity they required. That said, ‘Lily’s Theme’ is a brief escape from the war, surrounding the listener with memories of childhood, just as the flutes in John William’s ‘A Window to the Past’ did. A woman’s voice can be heard along with the orchestra, reminding us of Lily Potter’s sacrifice and her childhood best friend, Severus Snape’s change of heart, a little too late.
‘Harry’s Wondrous World’ by John Williams
Despite how the handling of the movie changed, with its many directors and many tones, as the boy wizard grew up, this is the quintessential background score that reminds us of the magic we fell in love with. The rising orchestra brings to mind walking into the hustle bustle of Diagon Alley for the first time; looking at fresh parchment, quills, and wizard money from Gringotts; and candles floating in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. This is the wondrous world of Harry Potter.
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Dozens of Harry Potter fans who waited hours to catch a glimpse of the steam-powered train named after Hogwarts Express were left disappointed after a commuter train blocked their view.
People had gathered at the Drumry station in Clydebank, Scotland, to see the steam train named Jacobite, which featured in the Harry Potter films as Hogwarts Express, the train that takes the children to their school.
However, their view of the train was blocked by an untimely ScotRail commuter train.
A video shot at the station shows the train, which was headed to Edinburgh, entering the platform just as the steam train pulled in.
Watch the video here:
Harry Potter fans were left disappointed as a commuter train passed through the station at the same time as the steam train which served as the Hogwarts Express ??
The steam-powered locomotive was travelling through Scotland with many news reports documenting when and where people could see the train. However, there were complaints of people crowding on platforms to see the train despite the Covid-19pandemic.
It also prompted the rail network to tweet a warning to people not to overcrowd at stations given the vintage locomotive would be back in Scotland next summer.
? At a station between Helensburgh Westerton awaiting a special train passing through? Stand back from the platform edge – behind the yellow line. Don’t stray past it or use ramps at the end of our platforms. Trains travel at speed. @BTPWestScot@ScotRail@Glasgow_Livehttps://t.co/ksqcgt2UfF
In the famously traffic-choked streets of Brazilian megalopolis Sao Paulo, two men have invented a novel way of getting from point A to B – and they are raising a lot of eyebrows in the process.
On a recent Saturday, Vinícius Sanctus, 39, and Alessandro Russo, 28, could be seen coasting down the city’s main thoroughfares on a pair of broomsticks, each one attached to a single motorized wheel.
Alessandro Russo rides an electric monowheel called ‘nuvem’ (cloud), which he invented with his friend Vinicius Sanctus. (Picture credit: Reuters)
In motion, the contraptions look uncannily like the brooms used by witches and wizards in the Harry Potter universe, described in the famed books by British author J.K. Rowling and later depicted in a series of hit films.
To steer, the duo simply leans in the direction they wish to travel. While it takes a bit of practice at first, the broomsticks, which can reach top speeds of 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph), are useful for day-to-day urban living, they say.
Alessandro Russo while riding the electric monowheel called ‘nuvem’ (cloud) at Minhocao bridge in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Picture credit: Reuters)
“Actually, I tell my friends that now I only go to the bakery using my broom. But it’s not a joke. I actually do that,” said Russo, whose waistcoat and golden tie would not be out of place at Hogwarts, the school of magic attended by Potter. “I use my broom as a means of transportation nowadays. And it’s so fun.”
So far, the brooms for Muggles – non-magic people – are largely limited to personal use, but Russo and Sanctus have plans to market and sell the broomsticks, which cost about 4,000 reais ($740) each. Hopefully, they say, people will be able to play a game using the brooms that closely resembles Quidditch, the dominant sport in Rowling’s magical universe.
“Our final goal is to sell the brooms to the world and maybe create a new variation of Quidditch,” said Russo. “And it’ll look a lot like the one played in the Harry Potter movies.”
If you are a Harry Potter fan — films and/or books — this piece of news will give you great joy. Even if you have never received the letter inviting you to the magical wizarding world of Hogwarts, you can still ride the Hogwarts Express and pretend you are heading for the most magical experience of your life.
This real-life Hogwarts Express — officially known as the Jacobite — will have you ride through Scotland. Passengers can take this classic steam-train 84-mile long round-trip joyride, and sit comfortably inside, while staring out the window and watching actual Harry Potter film locations pass by!
According to a report published in Insider, the Jacobite is operated by West Coast Rail, and it promises to take you through some of “Scotland’s most idyllic and breathtaking scenery”.
In fact, the journey is believed to last four hours so fans can spot locations such as the iconic Harry Potter Bridge, also known as Glenfinnan Viaduct, Professor Dumbledore’s final resting place (Loch Sheil), and the location of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, along with Rannoch Moor, where the Death Eaters attacked the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One.
Passengers will have a lot of time to imagine themselves as significant Harry Potter characters, fighting the evil and waiting for the train to pull up at the station where Hagrid will be there to receive them, along with other students old and new.
The journey starts at Fort William and ends at Mallaig. The trip is so immensely popular it is considered as an addition to holiday itineraries for both Harry Potter fans and train travel enthusiasts. Should you be looking to explore Europe, this experience should feature on your list.
But, along with the popularity, there has also been some concern, since Pottermaniacs have seemed to throng stations to see the Jacobite. Scotland’s The National reports that as part of the Scottish Government coronavirus guidelines, people are advised to avoid busy places, with no more than six persons from two households permitted to gather with social distancing measures. As such, the West Coast Rail recently responded to concerns after images flooded social media, showing people crammed onto platforms hoping to see the locomotive.
ALSO READ | Harry Potter plays Quidditch in London’s Leicester Square; take a look
“As you are aware, the Jacobite is a very popular trip and brings over 1,50,000 visitors to the region each year. This year has been very difficult for all of us in the tourism industry with the virus, and we have done our utmost to ensure the safety of our passengers, staff and for the local community throughout our shortened season,” a spokesperson was quoted as telling The National.
“Our message to any member of the public wishing to view our trains in transit is to do so safely, follow all local guidance on COVID precautions, stay well clear of all railway lines and respect others by not blocking traffic by parking carelessly or not respecting local residents,” they said.
The more than 5,000 piece set features the iconic hidden wizard street with stores like Ollivander’s wand shop, Flourish Blotts bookstore and the colorful Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes joke shop. The set also includes 14 mini-figures including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Ginny and several others.
Exclusive to this set are Gilderoy Lockhart, Florean Fortescue, Lucius Malfoy and the Daily Prophet photographer.
“I love how faithful the final design is to the architectural details in the film. You can barely see some of these buildings zooming past your screen, but we tracked down different photographs from the sets – some of them from nearly 20 years ago – to make sure everything is spot on. Diagon Alley is the biggest set I’ve designed to-date and I am really proud of how it has come together” said Marcos Bessa, LEGO Harry Potter design lead.
Marcos Bessa, LEGO Harry Potter design lead (LEGO)
“On the inside of the model there is so much to discover. In the Ollivander’s shop, we know there are lots of shelves with wand boxes. Some are decorative, but there a few here, and there that you can actually pick up yourself and open and find a little wand inside” said Bessa.
Wolfram Hatz, president of the Bavarian Business Association, has a throat swab performed by a robot at a media event at the German automation company Franka Emika. The robot, which can perform coronavirus throat swabs, works almost completely automatically. The test person encloses their mouth around a mouthpiece, which is exchanged by the robot after each test, and the robot takes the throat swab with a stick. (Matthias Balk/Getty Images)
Montreal, site of recent curfew, sees a little daylight in pandemic fight
Several of Quebec’s regions saw a spike in cases earlier this month, putting pressure on hospitals and leading to tighter restrictions, but the province’s largest city has so far escaped the worst of the third wave.
Projections released Thursday by the province’s public health institute, the INSPQ, suggest that if the existing measures are maintained and followed, there will be a continued low stable case count in Montreal through May, which will then gradually taper off. Hospitalizations will also go down as the vaccination campaign expands, the INSPQ said.
In the COVID-19 fight, the words mitigation and elimination have been bandied about. Dr. Sarah-Amélie Mercure, who leads the team at Montreal’s public health department, characterized the city’s approach instead as suppression: that is, targeted, swift attacks on outbreaks, with a particular focus on variant cases.
“What you want to do is prevent as many cases as you can, because what you want is preventing deaths and hospital admissions, but just not for the sake of saving your health-care system,” she said.
Mercure gave credit to the public for general acceptance of these measures, even as vaccinations proceeded and offered cause for hope.
The decision to return to an earlier 8 p.m. curfew was met with protest, but on the whole, she said, “people are still with us. They still agree and adhere to all the public health measures.”
On the vaccine front, the province’s health minister heralded a revised vaccination schedule at a Thursday news conference, with the province expecting a supply of more than 2.5 million vaccine doses by the end of May.
“The sky is starting to clear and we’re seeing rays of sunshine,” said Christian Dubé, the health minister.
From The National
Alberta hospitals squeezed under pressure of COVID-19 3rd wave
The National
20 hours agoCOVID-19 cases are nearing record levels in Alberta and hospitals are already feeling the squeeze with some surgeries being delayed and doctors preparing to triage patients for ventilators. 1:56
IN BRIEF
Better sick leave could be coming, after painful delays for Canadians
The vast majority of workplaces in Canada are regulated by provincial labour laws. When the pandemic began, just Quebec and Prince Edward Island required employers to offer their employees some paid sick leave.
The federal government subsequently announced a “safe restart” agreement with the provinces that included the Canada recovery sickness benefit (CRSB), a federal program delivered through employment insurance that would pay people $500 per week for up to two weeks — later expanded to four weeks — if they needed to stay home. The deal helped mollify the NDP and prevent a fall 2020 election in a pandemic.
The federal benefit did help some people — it has so far paid out $435 million to 485,000 unique applicants — but the uptake was lower than expected and many Canadians found it complicated.
But too often during the pandemic, writes Aaron Wherry on CBC’s parliamentary bureau, provinces — which usually guard their authority and jurisdiction zealously — used what could be viewed as a half-measure by Ottawa as an excuse not to take further action.
“We aren’t going to duplicate and waste taxpayer’s money, double-dipping into their pockets,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in February.
The debate over sick leave has reached a boil in recent weeks in Ontario as COVID-19 hospitalizations have soared, with several doctors telling CBC News that a significant number of admissions were front-line employees who couldn’t afford to take time off or members of their social circle. Ford’s Conservatives on Thursday passed a sick leave bill in the legislature.
B.C. Premier John Horgan, discussing the CRSB, said on Tuesday: “[The federal government has] done a lot of great things over the past 14 months, but this is not one of them.”
Unfortunately, says Wherry, assertive action on the gaps in sick leave provisions could have come long before thousands of Canadians had died as a result of the coronavirus.
Sask. reaches 40% of adults with 1st dose, vaccine supply to increase next week
According to the independent COVID-19 Tracker Canada project, Saskatchewan has administered a higher percentage of vaccines than any other jurisdiction in Canada, leading to a per capita level of vaccination higher than any province save Quebec.
The numbers indicate that Saskatchewan has administered nearly 97 per cent of its vaccines, with more than 35,000 doses administered for every 100,000 people. A visual graphic of the province’s regions indicates that there have been few disparities in vaccine administration.
As of Wednesday, according to government data, 40 per cent of adults in the province had been vaccinated with one dose.
The steady flow should continue, according to Paul Merriman. The minister of health said an uptick in vaccines should flow into the province early next week.
Merriman said the province is receiving 63,000 Pfizer doses next week, which is double its weekly allotment. There is also the expectation of more shots of Moderna and a small amount of the Johnson Johnson vaccine with Janssen, which arrived in Canada this week.
That anticipated vaccine increase may allow a Regina drive-thru clinic utilized earlier this month to reopen in early May.
On Friday, Saskatchewan will move to making those 40 and over eligible to receive a vaccination, a welcome development given that Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone said earlier this week that patients in the Regina ICU were younger than have been seen earlier in the pandemic.
Patents for COVID-19 vaccines slow global supply, raise risk of new variants, advocates say
World Health Organization data released earlier this month suggests richer countries have so far received 87 per cent of COVID-19 vaccines, with low-income countries receiving just 0.2 per cent.
In addition, an analysis in the Guardian last week found only a fifth of AstraZeneca doses promised by the COVAX global alliance to developing countries by May have been delivered; some countries have received none at all.
Oxfam is among organizations supporting India and South Africa’s call for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily suspend patents and intellectual property (IP) rules on vaccines, for the course of the pandemic. That waiver would allow countries to “rapidly scale up vaccine manufacturing and production,” Siham Rayale told CBC’s The Current this week.
“It allows them to produce it without having to worry about being taken to court or having other kinds of financial or punitive measures lobbied at them for infringing patents,” said Rayale, Oxfam Canada’s policy and advocacy lead on humanitarian and refugee issues.
There is not unanimity on that view, or the degree to which it would help the flow of vaccines globally. Gian Gandhi of UNICEF, who acts as co-ordinator for COVAX, said removing patents and IP protections won’t solve the vaccine supply problem on its own.
“It’s not really a patent issue that’s stopping the scale of production, but actually forms of vaccine nationalism either to keep vaccines within borders, or to keep the components necessary for producing them within borders,” Gandhi told The Current host Matt Galloway.
Gandhi pointed out that it’s in the best interest of developed countries to prioritize closing the inoculation gap. Transmissible variants have first been spotted in Britain, Brazil and South Africa, meaning there’s little reason to suspect that couldn’t happen in a less technologically advanced society.
“Even a fully vaccinated population in a high-income country may be at risk from variants that evade the current vaccines,” he said.
Visitors take a turn earlier this month on a Harry Potter-themed ride at California’s Universal Studios theme park, which is reopened but with COVID-19 precautions in place. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)
The U.S. Commerce Department estimated on Thursday that the country’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — accelerated from the previous quarter to a 6.4 per cent annual rate in the first three months of 2021.
Growth in the current April-June period is expected to be faster still, potentially reaching a 10 per cent annual pace or more, led by an increase in people — spurred by government stimulus — willing and able to travel, shop, dine out and otherwise resume their spending habits.
The Federal Reserve has followed an ultra-low interest-rate policy intended to encourage borrowing and spending.
In fact, the economy is expected to expand so fast that some economists have raised concerns that it could ignite inflation.
In part, this is because stronger demand has caused supply bottlenecks and shortages of some goods and components. But at a news conference Wednesday after the Fed’s latest policy meeting, chair Jerome Powell reiterated his confidence that any surge in inflation would prove temporary.
“We’ve said we would let the public know when it was time to have that conversation [of raising interest rates], and we said we’d do that well in advance of any actual decision to taper our asset purchases,” said Powell.
“The Fed should seriously consider following the Bank of Canada’s example by initiating a gradual and careful retreat,” wrote Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief economic adviser at financial services giant Allianz, in a Bloomberg commentary before Powell spoke.
One comment Powell made might resonate with Canadians worried about the state of this country’s soaring property markets. Asked about housing in the U.S., he said that while a sharp rise in prices was not an “unalloyed good,” the bank would be watching carefully even if it was no immediate cause for concern.
“So many of the financial crackups in all … Western countries that have happened in the last 30 years have been around housing,” he said.
Alessandro Russo rides an electric monowheel called ‘nuvem’ (cloud), which he invented with his friend Vinicius Sanctus. (Picture credit: Reuters)
Alessandro Russo while riding the electric monowheel called ‘nuvem’ (cloud) at Minhocao bridge in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Picture credit: Reuters)
