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Markets were fairly flat-footed ahead of a keenly awaited policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The central bank wraps up a two-day policy meeting later Wednesday and investors are looking to see if policymakers are moving towards any change in its monetary policy stance. The Fed’s strategy of super-low interest rates and easy money over the past few years has been designed to shore up the U.S. economy. It has also helped drive sentiment in the markets.

Fears that the Fed might reduce the amount of financial assets it buys have been behind the recent volatility _ investors have become accustomed to seeing much of the money generated by the policy ending up in financial markets.

The uncertainty was caused by comments made by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke in May and investors will be hoping for a clearer picture at the end of this month’s meeting on Wednesday. Though no change is expected on Wednesday, investors will be looking for a clearer line in the accompanying Fed statement and in Bernanke’s post-meeting press conference.

“If Bernanke hints at tapering in the coming months again today, we could see further selling in the weeks and months ahead,” said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari.

Ahead of the statement, stocks were solid if unspectacular as fears of an imminent change have been reined in over recent days. U.S. economic data has not been as strong as when Bernanke made his comments of a possible change in May cash till payday advance.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 6,371 while Germany’s DAX rose 0.4 percent to 8,260. The CAC-40 in France was steady at 3,861.

Wall Street was poised for modest gains, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent. The dollar was also steady against the euro, which was trading at $1.3391.

Earlier in Asia, trading was mixed. While, the Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.8 percent to 13,245.22, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.1 percent to 20,986.89, and South Korea’s KOSPI index shed 0.7 percent to 1,888.31.

Worries that the Fed may scale back its bond purchase program have also had an impact on emerging markets in recent weeks. The super-easy monetary policies by central banks in advanced economies like the U.S. prompted money to flow into Asian markets, which could see a reversal when the global central banks unwind their aggressive stimulus programs.

As elsewhere, the focus in oil markets is on the Fed too and trading was fairly lackluster ahead of the central bank’s statement _ the benchmark New York rate was up 49 cents at $98.93 a barrel.

____

Youkyung Lee in Seoul, South Korea contributed to this report.

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At this year’s E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the only mention of motion control came in the form of a few concept demos and , Fortune 500) announcement of Kinect Sports Rivals. ) didn’t make a peep. And despite the fact that developers have had a year to make sense of Nintendo’s Wii U GamePad, which comes complete with motion sensors and a touchscreen, not a single game on display at Nintendo’s booth used those technologies in a manner resembling anything interesting.

Of course, not every game needs motion control. But considering the fat that Microsoft and Nintendo ship motion control technologies with every new console they sell, there’s no risk of developing a game that a select few have the capability to play.

Could Microsoft and Sony not tap a single developer in advance of E3 to conjure up an amazing idea for the Kinect 2 and Eye Camera? Could Nintendo not call upon its own army of in-house developers — which includes Mario and Zelda visionary Shigeru Miyamoto — to make us care about its clunky GamePad?

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all talk about how much they value this new way of controlling games, and they’re not putting their money where their mouths are no fax payday advances.

The good news for motion control fans is that all hope wasn’t entirely lost at this year’s E3 conference.

Oculus, known for its Rift virtual reality headset that can track your head movement in real time, showed off a high-definition prototype of its hardware that makes the entire experience significantly more immersive.

The company partnered up with game developer CCP, which is working on a space fighter game for the Oculus Rift called Eve-VR. The experience of playing Eve-VR was so jarringly realistic that it almost affirmed the last 30 years of virtual reality’s promises in one fell swoop. The scary part is that Eve-VR, which lets you pilot a space fighter thrown in the middle of a dogfight, was just a rudimentary demo that is hardly finished.

Occulus and CCP offered a glimpse of controller innovation that the Big Three console makers keep promising and not fully delivering.

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One mayor, one murder victim, one reputed crack house, one highly sought video, one possible tape-stashing apartment unit: Connect the dots.

Project Traveller — which was never about Rob Ford but tripped over him in its year-long investigative odyssey towards massive pre-dawn drug and gun raids Thursday — has turned up the glare on some very dark corners of the mayor’s helter-skelter life.

A mayor who insists he is not a crack addict — and there’s no indication of habitual use, nor much likelihood that DNA traces could be obtained from hair samples, given the buzz cut that Ford suddenly adopted a few weeks ago, after Crackgate exploded in the media.

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Here’s how the raids went down

A mayor who was photographed in the jolly company of a trio of men — Anthony Smith, slain in March; Muhammad Khattak, wounded in the same shooting and arrested in Thursday’s raids; Monir Kassam, also arrested in that operation.

A mayor who posed for that picture outside a Windsor Rd. home — Ford has never denied it, merely noted that he has his photo taken with loads of folks — that has been the subject of numerous complaints about drug activity from neighbours. What in the world was Ford doing there? He’s never said.

That Windsor Rd. address, the Star has learned, was included on search warrants sworn out by police before the multi-jurisdiction raids were launched in Toronto, Windsor (the city) and Edmonton. Police never went to the house on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean they hadn’t served the warrant earlier. At least one other address listed in the warrants was visited by police last Sunday — they simply knocked on the door rather than kicked in the door.

A mayor who, as the Star had earlier been told by sources, blurted out to some members of his inner circle staff that he knew where the videotape — of Ford seeming to be sucking on a crack pipe — could be located, the same videotape which Ford publicly claims does not exist. According to an individual privy to that discussion, Ford gave a specific address: 320 Dixon Rd, either unit 1703 or 1701.

The 320 Dixon Rd. address, unit 1703, was included on the police search warrants. Its front door is not damaged and residents on that floor say they saw no police activity on Thursday.

On Friday, the mayor had nothing to say about it, studiously ignoring questions flung in his direction by reporters after he spoke at a Toronto Real Estate Board luncheon. Understandable, actually, the mum-game. Not talking, except in the controlled environment of his Sunday afternoon radio show with ‘bro Doug, has been working for the mayor so far, at least by his apparent reckoning.

Chief Bill Blair did a lot of talking at his press conference, Thursday, though what he didn’t say left a pungent odour. While the media session was called to publicize successful culmination of the year-long Project Traveller operation — disrupting a sophisticated criminal enterprise that included robberies, murder and attempted murder, drug and gun trafficking — reporters hounded the chief with questions about where, how and if the investigation had transected with the crack video scandal, a tape that has been seen only by two Star reporters and the editor of U.S.-based website Gawker.

Blair did not pluck the mayor out of the muck, refusing to reveal whether police had scooped up the tape in their investigation or any other evidence linking Ford with drug dealers. But several media organizations, including the Star, have discovered that investigators became aware of the tape’s existence at some point before the news was broken by the Star and Gawker.

In the National Post Friday, columnist Christie Blatchford reported that when Ford’s name first surfaced in wiretapped conversations, Blair told senior commanders he would not lie about it. This comment has been independently confirmed by the Star.

Blair hasn’t lied. He steadfastly asserts any information collected by police will come out in court during the trials of those charged in Project Traveller. There has been no objection from the chief’s office over inferences drawn by the media in coverage of the press conference.

Ford was not briefed on the raids either before or after they occurred. Blair made it clear he reports to the police board, not the mayor. And the board has taken a hands-off approach to the Ford controversy because the mayor certainly doesn’t answer to them.

Board chair Alok Mukherjee told the Star Friday that Blair has yet to brief them about Project Traveller, nor could the board direct the chief to be more forthcoming about evidence obtained.

“Under the Police Services Act, the board is prevented from any involvement in what is called operational matters, including directing the chief or any member of the police service regarding any day-to-day investigation. By law, the board is prevented from directing the chief and the chief is prevented from seeking directions from the board. It’s a very water-tight separation.”

However, the chief has been summoned to meet with the police services board next week.

“I have asked him to provide the board with a briefing on Project Traveller as well as the comments he made during his press conference. I assume the chief will comply with that,” Mukherjee says.

Only after the operation has concluded can the board disclose any information that the chief has provided. But Blair has made it clear that Project Traveller is still ongoing with no wrap-up date in sight.

Mukherjee points to the accounting the board demanded of former police chief Julian Fantino (and, later, Blair) about an investigation of corruption against members of the Central Field Command’s drug squad. “After the fact, the board did ask pretty detailed questions. There was a fair bit that the board made public.”

Would the board be similarly divulgent if it learns that Ford was implicated — however peripherally — in Project Traveller?

“That would be the type of advice the board would seek from its legal counsel,” says Mukherjee.

What the board can’t do is call Ford to address the allegations. “No, we absolutely do not have that authority.”

Mukherjee adds: “As a resident of this city, I very much hope that these matters can be resolved soon because I do understand the public concern that’s been expressed.”

At their Friday follow-up Project Traveller press conference — 43 individuals arrested in the operation, more than 300 charges laid — police displayed a trove of nasty firearms that had been seized: military-style rifles, semi-automatics, handguns.

No cellphones.

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The International Monetary Fund sees the Federal Reserve maintaining large monthly bond purchases until at least the end of this year and urged the central bank to carefully manage its exit plan to avoid disrupting financial markets.

Unwinding a policy of record-low interest rates and $85 billion in monthly bond-buying known as quantitative easing will be challenging even though the Fed has

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To the chagrin of its chief executive officer, the Toronto Community Housing Corp. may be asked by council to inform the city

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, who has voted this year in favor of maintaining stimulus, said inflation below the central bank

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Adrian Beltre fouled off three consecutive 97 m.p.h. fastballs from Blue Jays reliever Neil Wagner before he sent the fourth over the right-field wall to give the Texas Rangers a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning on Sunday afternoon.

The Rangers added another homer off Dustin McGowan in the eighth to secure a 6-4 victory and stave off a sweep in front of an announced Rogers Centre crowd of 42,722.

The Jays had a 4-0 lead in the third inning when Edwin Encarnacion drove Melky Cabrera home on a two-out single and Adam Lind smacked a three-run homer to straightaway centre field.

Lind, hitting .340 on the year, has been the Jays’ hottest hitter of late, leading the majors with a .406 batting average since May 7.

But starting pitcher Josh Johnson couldn’t provide a shutdown inning when it was needed most and the Rangers began to rally back in the top of the fourth with a solo homer by Nelson Cruz. They added two more runs before Johnson exited after five innings.

Making his second start after coming off the disabled list with triceps soreness, Johnson battled his command all afternoon, issuing four walks to go along with five hits in his five frames.

The Rangers tied the game in the sixth when, with reliever Juan Perez on the mound, Jays backup catcher Josh Thole tried to throw out Craig Gentry at second base and sent the ball into centre field, allowing the Rangers to score an unearned run. Over their last three game the Jays’ exhausted bullpen has thrown 20 innings.

The Jays threatened in the bottom of the ninth when Jose Bautista came to the plate with one out and runners at second and third. Bautista struck out swinging and was then ejected for arguing with home-plate umpire Gary Darling. After he was ejected Bautista fired his bat, helmet and batting gloves back toward the field.

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In recent years, a network of law enforcement in the United States and abroad has shut down countless schemes that were hawking phony timeshare resale services, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday. Timeshares are jointly-owned vacation properties often located in tropical hotspots like Hawaii or Florida.

The scam typically works like this: timeshare resellers target timeshare owners who are desperate to sell with promises that they have eager buyers ready to pay top dollar for the property. Victims paid hundreds and even thousands of dollars in up-front fees to secure a quick sale, but the buyers never materialized.

“Truly we have an epidemic of fraud in this area,” Charles A. Harwood, acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at a Miami press conference on Thursday.

The timeshare scams became especially rampant in recent years as many consumers struggled to unload properties they’d purchased during better financial times.

Related: ‘Grandparent scams’ steal thousands from seniors

“These victims, many of them elderly or in financial distress, looked to sell their units to help make ends meet or pay other bills,” Wifredo Ferrer, U no fax pay day loans.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement.

In May, federal courts blocked the operations of three firms that the FTC claims tricked consumers out of more than $18 million. Meanwhile, 83 civil actions have been filed in 28 states, while more than 184 individuals are facing criminal prosecution in federal and local cases.

The scammers targeted consumers through unsolicited email and mail as well as radio, television and online ads. Some of them operated out of telemarketing boiler rooms, using aggressive marketing tactics.

Tips from the FTC to protect against timeshare scams

Don’t agree to anything over the phone or online. Check out the reseller with the Better Business Bureau or your state’s attorney general office. Ask the salesperson for all information in writing. Ask about fees and timing. It’s always best to use a reseller who takes fees only after a timeshare is sold.

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WASHINGTON • The National Security Agency has been collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order, according to a report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

The order was granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 and is good until July 19, the newspaper reported Wednesday. The order requires Verizon, one of the nation’s largest telecommunications companies, on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries.

The newspaper said the document, a copy of which it had obtained, shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens were being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether they were suspected of any wrongdoing.

The Associated Press could not authenticate the order because documents from the court are classified.

Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden said Wednesday the company had no comment. The White House declined comment and referred questions to the NSA. The NSA had no immediate comment.

Verizon Communications Inc. listed 121 million customers in its first-quarter earnings report this April — 98.9 million wireless customers, 11.7 million residential phone lines and about 10 million commercial lines. The court order didn’t specify which type of phone customers’ records were being tracked.

Under the terms of the order, the phone numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as are location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered, The Guardian said.

The broad, unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is unusual. FISA court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets. NSA warrantless wiretapping during the George W. Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks was very controversial.

The FISA court order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compelled Verizon to provide the NSA with electronic copies of “all call detail records or telephony metadata created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad” or “wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls,” The Guardian said.

The law on which the order explicitly relies is the “business records” provision of the USA Patriot Act.

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An Arch Coal subsidiary has opened an office in  Chaoyang District. 

Creve Coeur-based coal producer Arch Coal said its Arch Coal Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. subsidiary opened the Beijing office to  meet growing demand for metallurgical and thermal coals.

Arch Coal hired Zhang Shijie to lead the office, and he will report to Renato Paladino, president of Arch Coal Asia-Pacific.

“The opening of an office in China is a natural next step as we raise our stake in the seaborne coal trade,” Arch Coal’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Lang said in a statement faxless cash advances.

In April, Arch Coal reported a $70 million loss for its first quarter on weaker coal shipments and prices.

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