As the outlook for those securities darkens, investors and rating agencies are starting to question whether the insurance companies have enough capital needed to make good on their bond guarantees. And that is starting to affect the price of insured municipal bonds.

Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings previously put out similar warnings on several insurers.

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The service pack already went out to testers; volume English-language customers will be receiving it before the end of the week, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers will receive it by the end of the month. One key question on Windows Vista users' minds is exactly how does Windows post SP1 measure up against the initial copy of Windows Vista in terms of performance. In initial testing at CNET Labs, the results are in, and they are rather mixed. Testers found that while SP1 improves performance under some condition, it actually decreases performance under others. For the most part, testers concluded, few will notice the difference between the base installation and an SP1 installed system. Vista does offer bundled updated third party drivers which do upgrade performance significantly, but most of these were already available. Customers who have kept current with Window's Updates and their third party driver updates will find little new here, and thus will see no real performance change. Microsoft definitely can take credit in a big picture sense for providing improved performance, though, as it has been devoting considerable resources to helping third party vendors make their products better compatible with Windows, gradually improving performance over the last year.

More US exhibitors sign up for Bahrain's first international holistic lifestyle expo

Following the positive press coverage in the United States of the visit of US President George W. Bush to the Kingdom of Bahrain in January 2008, more American retailers, manufacturers and leaders in the natural, organic and healthy products industries, have been encouraged to participate in the First Bahrain International Natural Health Products and Green Expo (BINHPGE). .

NY takes on smoking in kids' movies

The Health Department's new campaign calls for certifying in closing credits that people involved with a film weren't paid to promote tobacco products. Daines also wants anti-smoking ads to run before every film that shows tobacco use. And the campaign encourages the film industry to stop naming and prominently showing tobacco brands. In movies about historical figures who smoked, the 'R' rating could be suspended, Daines said.

A 2003 study published in the journal Lancet followed the movie-watching habits of thousands of children and teenagers who never smoked. Between 13 and 26 months after the initial contact, the study found that 17 percent of those who had the highest exposure to movies depicting tobacco use had started smoking. That's compared with 3 percent who saw the least.

Honours: Order of the British Empire, Civil - OBE Adams to Lennon

Adams, Mrs Pauline Ann, Chair, Crossroads Wales. For serv Carers. Adkin, Nicholas John, Tobacco Programme mgr, Dept of Health. Ahmad, Mushtaq, Lately Provost, South Lanarkshire Ccl. For serv Local Govt. Akomfrah, John, Dir. For serv the Film ind. Alagiah, George Maxwell, Broadcaster and Author. For serv Journalism. Ashmore, Graham, Head of European and Cluster Policy, UK Trade and Investment, West Midlands Region. For serv Internat Trade. Atkinson, Christopher John, JP, DL, For serv the Administration of Justice in Sheffield. Atkinson, Dr Michael Richard, For serv the commty in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. Azah, John, Vice-Chair, Independent Advisory Group, Met Pol Service. For serv commty Relations in London. Barnardo, Dr David Eric, Vice-pres and ltly Chair, Barnardo's. For serv Social Care for Children.