IN BRIEF (Page 17)

No regrets

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (above) has lashed out again at his critics, saying he was being blamed unfairly for the credit crisis and that he had no regrets about decisions he took while at the helm.

In an interview in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Greenspan, who left the Fed in early 2006, says critics are ignoring evidence in his favour and failing to give credit to the thinking behind the Fed's decision to lower rates when he was in charge.

House prices slump

British house prices fell in March at their sharpest pace since the recession of the early 1990s, the country's largest mortgage lender said yesterday, raising expectations that interest rates will be cut this week.

House prices fell 2.5 percent during last month, more than six times as much as analysts had forecast and the largest monthly decline since Sept 1992.

Shares fall

Stocks dropped in Europe and Asia, and US index futures declined yesterday. The MSCI World Index lost 0.5 percent to 1,490.48 at 10:45 am in London, decreasing for the first time in seven days.

Europe's Stoxx 600 sank 1.3 percent, with all 18 industry groups retreating. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 1.1 percent, declining from a five-week high.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/09/2008 page17)