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DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI & DR. TODD GRAVORI – Two of the top doctors in the United States who are also brothers. Together, they help run ProMedSpine out of Beverly Hills and other locations around California. Dr. Peyman Gravori is a Interventional Pain Management doctor, while Dr. Todd Gravori is a board-certified Neurosurgeon and Spine Surgeon.

DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI: is an Interventional Pain Management Specialist. He was born in Tehran, Iran and later immigrated to the United States when he was 7 years old. He grew up in Encino, California and went to UCLA for his undergrad. Later, he went to Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine and then to Miami for residency. He returned back home in 2016. He says that it feels great to give back to his community from where he grew up and learnt everything.

DR. TODD GRAVORI: is a physician who specializes in Spinal and Brain Surgery. Growing up, Todd travelled and explored many places around the world. Naturally, those who explored the world and what is in it became his heroes; Astronomers, deep sea divers, physicists, philosophers and of course physicians. Dr. Todd Gravori views the human body with an explorer’s mind sight: An amazing world that we know little about ready to be explored with one big bonus… you can improve the life of every person you come across in your journey in a very meaningful way. Throughout his upbringing, Dr. Todd Gravori remained focused and persistent and was assisted by multiple wonderful human beings who contributed to his efforts in making it possible for him to become a Neurosurgeon.

5. Accomplishments:

DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI:
He considers himself very successful. He set his goals while growing up and feels fortunate enough to accomplish them, his first being to become a physician. However, Dr. Peyman Gravori is humbled and knows he did not accomplish this goal by himself, as he had incredibly smart, caring, and inspiring people supporting him throughout his journey. Sir Isaac Newton said it best, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”

He has earned many degrees, awards, “beautiful plaques” (as he puts it), and wonderful memories. However, Dr. Todd Gravori believes that one’s success is really measured by how he/she affects the world and the people in it. He is grateful that everyone around him is happy and proud of him. His mission is to leave a positive affect on people and their minds, while healing their medical issues the best he can. This is what his main goal is, and after that he will feel accomplished.

4. Uniqueness:

DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI AND DR. TODD GRAVORI:

Together, Dr. Peyman and Todd Gravori are unique in a way because they adore their profession and simply do what they love to do – and are the best at it! Their ProMedSpine offices are unique because they treat their guests like family, where even their patients have their personal cell phone number. When patients come in, they have a Guest Liaison assigned to each and every patient that is accepted. It is with this mindset that countless top athletes and celebrities have received treatment with the two brothers, and their offices have continued to expand to new regions.

3. Tragedies:

DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI:
During medical school he had to take high dose of Cortisone. It is not the type of steroids that makes you look like an athlete, but a strong anti-inflammatory. The side-effects made it very challenging for him to participate in medical school. Side effects of the Cortisone medicine consisted of insomnia, euphoria, water retention and hypertension. He overcame that challenge because he was committed to his goal of finishing medical school and also had incredible friends that tutored him during these challenging times. One friend in particular would tutor him overnight, regardless of how many hours he worked in the hospital.

DR. TODD GRAVORI:
Todd recall numerous challenges that he had to overcome since early childhood. “When you have seen war, injuries and disabilities, when you experience immigration, lack of money and support, when you are subject to cruelty, you become a much more compassionate person who can relate to others at their own levels. You realize what matters to people and what is important to them is what counts.” Dr. Todd Gravori has been fortunate enough to have all of these experiences in his life and every time he walks into the emergency room to help a patient, he uses his life experiences to connect to the family and friends of the person he is taking care of.

2. Goals:

DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI AND DR. TODD GRAVORI:

Together, Dr. Todd and Peyman Gravori’s goal is to expand their ProMedSpine practice and simply restore peoples’ lives. They want to help people to start living again without any pain.

1. Words of wisdom:

DR. PEYMAN GRAVORI:

He says that you are the cause in the matter that something happens or does not. Do not blame anyone and live an extraordinary life. Integrity is the first step. Integrity means to honor your word. That is, do what you said you would do, by when you said you would do it. And, if for some reason you don’t, just clean it up, make a new promise, and keep it. Two of his most favorite quotes are: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” – Sir Isaac Newton and “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure, that just ain’t so” – Mark Twain

DR. TODD GRAVORI:
He believes that every one should live life to the fullest and enjoy a quality of life. His advice to people is, “Make sure you don’t give up until you get to live a life that you love!”

Liked This? Read This: Not All Celebrity Children Love The Limelight! Here Are The Star Kids That You Probably Didn’t Even Know Existed

Article by Born Realist

The post These Two Brothers Are Making People Pain Free appeared first on Born Realist.

Source – bornrealist.com

Brett Ratner files defamation suit against accuser

WATCH Producer Brett Ratner accused of sexual misconduct by 6 women

Director and producer Brett Ratner has filed a defamation suit in Hawaii federal court in response to a woman calling him a "rapist" in a Facebook post.

The suit, filed by attorney Eric Seitz, is not tied to The Los Angeles Times report from earlier this week, where six women alleged that Ratner, 48, either sexually harassed or assaulted them. The defendant in this lawsuit, Melanie Kohler, was not named in the article. She has since taken down her Facebook post.

Read: Producer Brett Ratner accused of sexual misconduct by 6 women

"This is an action for defamation arising from the defendant's deliberately false and malicious accusations that plaintiff raped the defendant 'about 12 years ago,'" according to the suit, which was obtained by ABC News.

A request for comment from Kohler, who lives in Hawaii, was not immediately returned to ABC News.

"Commencing on or about Oct. 20, 2017, defendant recklessly and/or intentionally posted a statement on her Facebook page claiming that 'Brett Ratner raped [her]," the suit said.

Kohler said she had met the director at a Los Angeles club more than 12 years ago. She claimed Ratner took her to the home of fellow producer Robert Evans, where Ratner "forced her" to have sex, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, noting that Ratner wants a "jury trial" to clear his name.

This legal development comes on the heels of The LA Times piece, where six actresses, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, told the paper that Ratner was sexually inappropriate and/or abusive. Munn claims that as an aspiring actress she was forced to witness him pleasuring himself, while Henstridge claims he "physically forced himself" on her for oral sex.

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

Greg Doherty/Getty Images

In a statement to ABC News, Ratner's general counsel, not just specifically for this defamation suit, Martin Singer denied the allegations against his client.

"Brett Ratner vehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations that have been reported about him, and we are confident that his name will be cleared once the current media frenzy dies down and people can objectively evaluate the nature of these claims," Singer said in the statement. "He understands the seriousness of this issue and the importance of addressing the concerns of victims of sexual misconduct both in the entertainment industry and beyond."

While Warner Bros. now says it's reviewing the accusations against the filmmaker, putting on hold a long-in-development Hugh Hefner biopic Ratner was to produce and direct, Ratner released a statement to ABC News regarding his relationship with the studio, noting, "I am choosing to personally step away from all Warner Bros.-related activities. I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved."

ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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Scientists discover hidden chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid

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Scientists say they have found a hidden chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza, in what would be the first such discovery in the structure since the 19th century and one likely to spark a new surge of interest in the pharaohs.

In an article published in the journal Nature on Thursday, an international team said the 30-meter (yard) void deep within the pyramid is situated above the structure's Grand Gallery, and has a similar cross-section.

The purpose of the space is unclear, and it's not yet known whether it was built with a function in mind or if it's merely a gap in the pyramid's architecture. Some experts say such empty spaces have been known for years.

"This is a premier," said Mehdi Tayoubi, a co-founder of the ScanPyramids project and president of the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute. "It could be composed of one or several structures… maybe it could be another Grand Gallery. It could be a chamber, it could be a lot of things."

The scientists made the discovery using cosmic-ray imaging, recording the behavior of subatomic particles called muons that penetrate the rock similar to X-rays, only much deeper. Their paper was peer-reviewed before appearing in Nature, an international, interdisciplinary journal of science, and its results confirmed by other teams of scientists.

Chances of the space containing treasure or burial chambers are almost nil, said Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist at the University of Bristol, but the discovery helps shed light on building techniques.

"The pyramid's burial chamber and sarcophagus have already been discovered, so this new area was more likely kept empty above the Grand Gallery to reduce the weight of stone pressing down on its ceiling," he said, adding that similar designs have been found in other pyramids.

Egypt's former antiquities minister and famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who has been testing scanning methods and heads the government's oversight panel for the new techniques, said that the area in question has been known of for years and thus does not constitute a discovery. He has long downplayed the usefulness of scans of ancient sites.

"The Great Pyramid is full of voids. We have to be careful how results are presented to the public," he said, adding that one problem facing the international team is that it did not have an Egyptologist as a member. He said the chamber was likely empty space builders used to construct the rooms below.

"In order to construct the Grand Gallery, you had to have a hollow, or a big void in order to access it — you cannot build it without such a space," he said. "Large voids exist between the stones and may have been left as construction gaps."

The pyramid is also known as Khufu's Pyramid for its builder, a 4th Dynasty pharaoh who reigned from 2509 to 2483 B.C. Visitors to the pyramid, on the outskirts of Cairo, can walk, hunched over, up a long tunnel to reach the Grand Gallery. The space announced by the scanning team does not appear to be connected to any known internal passages.

Scientists involved in the scanning called the find a "breakthrough" that highlighted the usefulness of modern particle physics in archaeology.

"It was hidden, I think, since the construction of the pyramid," Tayoubi added.

The Great Pyramid, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world, has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. Experts are still divided over how it and other pyramids were constructed, so even relatively minor discoveries generate great interest.

Late last year, for example, thermal scanning identified a major anomaly in the Great Pyramid — three adjacent stones at its base which registered higher temperatures than others.

Speculation that King Tutankhamun's tomb contains additional antechambers stoked interest in recent years, before scans by ground-penetrating radar and other tools came up empty, raising doubts about the claim.

The muon scan is accomplished by planting special plates inside and around the pyramid to collect data on the particles, which rain down from the earth's atmosphere. They pass through empty spaces but can be absorbed or deflected by harder surfaces, allowing scientists to study their trajectories and discern what is stone and what is not. Several plates were used to triangulate the void discovered in the Great Pyramid.

While the technology can detect large open spaces, it cannot discern what is inside, so it's unclear if the empty space contains any objects. Tayoubi said the team plans now to work with others to come up with hypotheses about the area.

"The good news is that the void is there, and it's very big," he said.

———

Follow Brian Rohan on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/brian—rohan

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Trove of 'Russian troll' posts exposed by Congress

Further instances of social media posts and ads thought to be part of Russian propaganda efforts to influence the last US presidential election and divide its society have been shared with the public.

The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the imagery following a hearing at which Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were criticised for having underestimated the problem.

The examples are a fraction of the number of posts that have been flagged as being suspicious by the tech companies themselves.

Other cases had been displayed on Capitol Hill earlier in the week.

In addition, the senators released data about how much had been spent promoting the material and how many people had been shown it. They have also provided a long list of Russia-linked Twitter accounts that have now been suspended.

• Tech giants berated by senators on Russia
• Social-media images shown as evidence of 'Russian trolls'
• Can democracy survive Facebook?

Source – bbc.com

Rohingya crisis: Myanmar's Suu Kyi visits troubled Rakhine

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has visited Rakhine for the first time since violence erupted in the state in late August.

Her brief trip allowed her only short stops in areas affected by the military operation against Rohingya militants.

She has been criticised around the world for not stopping the military crackdown, amid allegations of ethnic cleansing.

About 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August.

Ms Suu Kyi visited the regional capital Sittwe and other towns during an unannounced one-day trip.

Most of the Rohingyas have now joined the massive exodus into Bangladesh, but Ms Suu Kyi did meet one of the remaining Muslim communities.

Her visit, accompanied by one of Myanmar's wealthiest businessmen, suggests the civilian government wants to be seen to be taking the lead now in dealing with Rakhine state, reports the BBC's Jonathan Head.

She argues the problems there can best be resolved through development and investment.

But she did not address the issue of the one million Rohingyas now living over the border. In the past she has said they will be allowed to come back – but fear of the Myanmar military and the widespread destruction of their homes and livelihoods make this an unappealing prospect without significant international aid and scrutiny, our correspondent says.

Rakhine Buddists, many of whom joined the attacks on the Rohingyas, have said they will not accept them back, even if the two governments manage to agree on a repatriation process.

• What sparked latest violence in Rakhine?
• Who are the Rohingya group behind attacks?

The unrest in troubled Rakhine began after deadly attacks on police stations across the state, blamed on a newly emerged militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa).

Scores of people were killed in the ensuing military crackdown, and there are widespread allegations of villages being burned and Rohingya being driven out.

The military in Myanmar (also called Burma) says its operations are aimed at rooting out militants, and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians. Survivors, witnesses, refugees and journalists have contested this.

Where did Ms Suu Kyi go?

On Thursday, government spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP that Ms Suu Kyi was "now in Sittwe and will go to Maungdaw and Buthiduang too".

A Reuters reporter saw Ms Suu Kyi board a military helicopter in Sittwe on Thursday morning local time, the news agency reports. She was accompanied by about 20 people.

What has Ms Suu Kyi said about the Rohingya?

In a major speech in September, Ms Suu Kyi condemned rights abuses – but did not blame the army or address allegations of ethnic cleansing.

• Reality Check: Are Suu Kyi's Rohingya claims correct?
• Myanmar conflict: The view from Yangon

Ms Suu Kyi recently outlined a new plan to end the conflict and bring more development to Rakhine. She said this would be done by the civilian government, in partnership with local business groups and foreign donors.

However, international aid agencies are still not being allowed full access to the affected areas. And there has been no agreement yet with the Bangladesh government over how to repatriate the Rohingya refugees.

The Rohingya, a stateless mostly Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Rakhine, have long experienced persecution in Myanmar, which says they are illegal immigrants.

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In September, Bangladesh announced it would limit the movement of the Rohingya, saying they must stay in fixed places allocated to them by the government and not travel elsewhere.

Bangladesh also said shelters would be built for up to 400,000 people near the city of Cox's Bazar.

Source – bbc.com

So it begins. The UK has finally embarked on the long road towards normal interest rates.

Or has it? While today's Bank of England decision to raise interest rates to 0.5% is certainly significant – the first such moment in a decade – it is worth remembering that we are still a long way from "normal".

Normally, the monetary policy committee (MPC) raises interest rates because the economy is growing strongly. It lifts them because inflation is on the rise and because higher borrowing costs are the main thing to bring that growth under control.

:: What an interest rate rise means for you

But the Bank's explanation today was a little less exuberant.

For one thing, it believes that inflation has already peaked (well, it thinks it peaked in October, but the figures won't confirm that until we see them in a couple of weeks). For another, it actually cut its growth forecast for next year ever so slightly – though it did raise the projection a bit for this year.

In fact, according to Bank insiders the changes in today's inflation forecast – the Bank's quarterly opportunity to examine the UK economy – were smaller than they usually are.

So what has changed? Why has the Bank actually raised rates?

The explanation is a little murky. Partly it's down to stronger growth worldwide, which would, all else equal, push up imported inflation and growth in the coming years.

Partly it's because it thinks the UK's ability to generate non-inflationary growth has diminished in recent years. It now believes the UK cannot grow at a rate of more than 1.5% without generating inflation. And it thinks domestic inflation, and wages, are about to pick up.

As you might have realised, those latter two judgements are very much more art than science. In short, while there are plenty of arguments to raise rates, there is nothing in the inflation report that would qualify as a slam dunk.

Then again, it's worth remembering where we are. For the entirety of modern history before 2009, the official Bank rate had never dropped beneath 2%.

Even after today's rise it will still be well below that, at a level which by almost every measure is extremely stimulatory for the economy. Even if the Bank went beyond what investors expected and raised rates another five times in the next few years, they would still remain below that previous historical low.

So we are still a long way from monetary normality – and we'll stay there for some time.

How much of this is down to Brexit? The Bank is a bit vague on that. My sense is that the majority of these trends – weakening productivity, low growth and the 21st century equivalent of stagflation – far pre-date the referendum. But the Bank thinks the uncertainty over our relationship with the EU has not helped matters.

Finally, what does this mean for the rest of us?

In short, that very much depends on your situation. If you have a large mortgage on a floating rate, then you will feel the strain pretty much instantly.

Your mortgage rate will be lifted in line with official rates, and your monthly payments will go up. If, on the other hand, you have a fixed rate mortgage, you won't notice the difference until the next time you come to renew your contract, when your monthly payments might be a touch more expensive.

If you have no debt and lots of savings, your interest rate may go up, so it's good news.

That being said, as I wrote in a preview piece ahead of the decision, while every household is different, step back and look across the country as a whole and there's a lot of evidence to suggest the immediate impact of a rate hike won't be as painful as it's been in the past.

A record number of people have fixed their mortgage. The overall stock of household debt is also far lower than in previous rate hike cycles. And crucially, according to the Bank's own analysis, "it would probably take a further rise of around 1.5 percentage points before (the proportion of households with a high debt servicing ratio) returned to its pre-crisis average".

In other words, while some households will undoubtedly struggle, the country as a whole is well prepared for higher interest rates.

And perhaps that's the most plausible argument for hiking rates. There is only so long you want to stay in the twilight zone of zero-percent borrowing costs.

If there is a crisis in the coming years, the Bank may well need room to cut them all over again.

So if not now, then when?

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'Big void' identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

The mysteries of the pyramids have deepened with the discovery of what appears to be a giant void within the Khufu, or Cheops, monument in Egypt.

It is not known why the cavity exists or indeed if it holds anything of value because it is not obviously accessible.

Japanese and French scientists made the announcement after two years of study at the famous pyramid complex.

They have been using a technique called muography, which can sense density changes inside large rock structures.

The Great Pyramid, or Khufu's Pyramid, was constructed during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu between 2509 and 2483 BC.

At 140m (460 feet) in height, it is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids located at Giza on the outskirts of Cairo.

• ScanPyramids has already detected a smaller void on the northern face
• The new cavity is perhaps 30m long and several metres in height
• All three muon technologies sense the same feature in the same place

Khufu famously contains three large interior chambers and a series of passageways, the most striking of which is the 47m-long, 8m-high Grand Gallery.

The newly identified feature is said to sit directly above this and have similar dimensions.

"We don't know whether this big void is horizontal or inclined; we don't know if this void is made by one structure or several successive structures," explained Mehdi Tayoubi from the HIP Institute, Paris.

"What we are sure about is that this big void is there; that it is impressive; and that it was not expected as far as I know by any sort of theory."

The ScanPyramids team is being very careful not to describe the cavity as a "chamber".

Khufu contains compartments that experts believe may have been incorporated by the builders to avoid collapse by relieving some of the stress of the overlying weight of stone.

The higher King's Chamber, for example, has five such spaces above it.

The renowned American archaeologist Mark Lehner sits on a panel reviewing ScanPyramids' work.

He says the muon science is sound but he is not yet convinced the discovery has significance.

"It could be a kind of space that the builders left to protect the very narrow roof of the grand gallery from the weight of the pyramid," he told the BBC's Science In Action programme.

"Right now it's just a big difference; it's an anomaly. But we need more of a focus on it especially in a day and age when we can no longer go blasting our way through the pyramid with gunpowder as [British] Egyptologist Howard Vyse did in the early 1800s."

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One of the team leaders, Hany Helal from Cairo University, believes the void is too big to have a pressure-relieving purpose, but concedes the experts will debate this.

"What we are doing is trying to understand the internal structure of the pyramids and how this pyramid has been built," he told reporters.

"Famous Egyptologists, archaeologists and architects – they have some hypotheses. And what we are doing is giving them data. It is they who have to tell us whether this is expected or not."

Much of the uncertainty comes down to the rather imprecise data gained from muography.

This non-invasive technique has been developed over the past 50 years to probe the interiors of phenomena as diverse as volcanoes and glaciers. It has even been used to investigate the failed nuclear reactors at Fukushima.

Muography makes use of the shower of high-energy particles that rain down on the Earth's surface from space.

When super-fast cosmic rays collide with air molecules, they produce a range of "daughter" particles, including muons.

These also move close to the speed of light and only weakly interact with matter. So when they reach the surface, they penetrate deeply into rock.

But some of the particles will be absorbed and deflected by the atoms in the rock's minerals, and if the muon detectors are placed under a region of interest then a picture of density anomalies can be obtained.

The ScanPyramids team used three different muography technologies and all three agreed on the position and scale of the void.

Sébastien Procureur, from CEA-IRFU, University of Paris-Saclay, emphasised that muography only sees large features, and that the team's scans were not just picking up a general porosity inside the pyramid.

"With muons you measure an integrated density," he explained. "So, if there are holes everywhere then the integrated density will be the same, more or less, in all directions, because everything will be averaged. But if you see some excess of muons, it means that you have a bigger void.

"You don't get that in a Swiss cheese."

The question now arises as to how the void should be investigated further.

Jean-Baptiste Mouret, from the French national institute for computer science and applied mathematics (Inria), said the team had an idea how to do it, but that the Egyptian authorities would first have to approve it.

"Our concept is to drill a very small hole to potentially explore monuments like this. We aim to have a robot that could fit in a 3cm hole. Basically, we're working on flying robots," he said.

The muography investigation at Khufu's Pyramid is reported in this week's edition of Nature magazine.

[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source – bbc.com

By James Sillars, Business Reporter

The Bank of England acts to curb inflation but what are the effects of an interest rate increase on day-to-day finances?

:: Who are the winners and losers?

First, this is not a big change. Interest rates are now back to their financial crisis level but the shift is likely to leave some worse off nonetheless, with borrowers set to feel the pinch most.

Savers, who have had the most to complain about in the low interest rate environment, will see their interest rates return to the admittedly poor but higher levels that were last seen before August 2016, when the Bank cut rates in reaction to the Brexit vote.

:: What will be the impact for my mortgage?

Consumer groups say almost half of the UK's 9.1 million mortgage holders have never experienced the effects of a Bank of England rate rise, so this is important.

If you are in the majority of 4.4 million with a fixed-rate mortgage (currently in high demand), you have nothing to worry about – yet. Your rate is guaranteed for the life of your current deal so there will be no extra cost.

That said, lenders could now raise the cost of new fixed-rate mortgages to reflect the Bank of England's decision – making remortgaging more expensive.

:: Interest rate: Latest updates

According to industry body UK Finance, there are 3.7 million households on variable-rate or tracker mortgages – so named because they track any movement in the Bank of England's base rate of interest.

Those borrowers will see their payments rise.

How much depends on the terms of the deal, but a 0.25% increase in monthly repayments over a year would represent an average increase of up to £200, according to Moneywise.

:: Why will savers benefit?

Interest on most savings products since the financial crisis has been woeful, with investors turning to more risky alternatives such as the stock market and other investment products for meaningful rates of return.

Here's why: average interest rates on easy access accounts have fallen below 0.5% this year so there will be some relief from a rate rise for a change.

Banks and other providers are expected to pass the 0.25% interest rate on in full though individuals with fixed rate savings are likely to be disappointed.

:: The effect on my credit card balance?

This is less clear.

The annual rate of growth in unsecured consumer credit is currently 9.9% with £200bn outstanding – a level last seen in 2008.

The amount held on credit cards is included in this sum and the good news for borrowers is that card providers are currently under regulatory pressure to prevent a credit bubble and surge in defaults.

It means that operators are less likely to pass on the rate rise by increasing APRs for fear of a backlash but never say never.

:: Will this bring down prices at the shops?

While the Bank of England has raised interest rates to tackle rising inflation, this move will not be reflected in everyday prices for some time to come.

It took six months for the effects of the Brexit-hit pound to raise prices as imports became more expensive.

Retailers fear rate rises as higher mortgage and other bills for consumers mean they will have less money to spend.

:: Are there likely to be further increases in interest rates?

This is the big question – but some think a series of rises next year is most unlikely.

That is because the Bank is forecasting inflation to fall back below 3% and it will be mindful that rate rises risk choking weak growth in an economy already beset with Brexit-related jitters, despite strong employment levels.

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Source – News.sky.com

Google and AutoNation partner on self-driving car program

Google is partnering with AutoNation, the country's largest auto dealership chain, in its push to produce self-driving cars for wide use.

AutoNation said Thursday that its dealerships will provide maintenance and repairs for Waymo's self-driving fleet of Chrysler Pacifica vehicles. Waymo is Google's automated vehicle technology wing. The agreement will include additional models of vehicles when Waymo brings them on line.

Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.

Google started off with a fleet of 100 autonomous Pacificas and has announced plans to add 500. Waymo is negotiating with other automakers, such as Honda, about autonomous vehicle systems, the company said.

The vehicles likely will be driven for several hundred thousand miles, and they'll need to be maintained to accomplish that, AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said Thursday in an interview. The dealership chain, he said, has maintained more than 40 million vehicles. "As Waymo moves to other markets and also puts other brands in service, we have expertise on any vehicle they want to put into service," Jackson said.

Waymo has been partnering with a number of car-centric companies like Avis, the ridesharing company Lyft, and Fiat Chrysler.

Since Google first began pursuing self-driving vehicle technology in 2009, a wave of major players have joined the chase. General Motors and Ford, along with other big technology companies, including Apple and ride-hailing service Uber, are developing their own technology.

Waymo is in a legal tussle with Uber, alleging that one of its former managers stole its trade secrets and took them along when he joined Uber in 2016. The trial is set to begin later this year.

AutoNation Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, runs about 360 dealerships in the U.S.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

By John-Paul Ford Rojas, Business Reporter

The Bank of England has increased interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 0.5% – the first rate rise since 2007.

Millions of mortgage borrowers face an increase in their monthly repayments after the decision by the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) but savers should see a boost.

The increase in the Bank rate was widely expected but marks a watershed moment after years of rock-bottom borrowing costs.

Governor Mark Carney said that with unemployment at a 42-year low and inflation above its 2% target, it was time "to ease our foot off the accelerator" of stimulus which has been supporting the economy.

Royal Bank of Scotland – which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank North – and TSB were among the first to confirm the hike was being passed on to some customers.

The Bank of England also signalled that it may increase rates further in the coming years.

:: What an interest rate rise means for you
:: Why the Bank of England has raised interest rates

But currency markets were unimpressed by the announcement, sending the pound more than one-and-a-half cents lower against the dollar to below $1.3050.

That was after the pace of future increases implied by the Bank's forecasts was lower than some economists were expecting.

They implied rates hitting 1% by 2020, with one increase of a quarter percentage point likely next year.

Economists saw this as "dovish" in tone.

Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said: "We do not expect the MPC to act again until at least the fourth quarter of 2018."

The weaker pound boosted dollar earners on the FTSE 100, which closed just one point shy of its record high at 7555.

Shares in UK-based banks RBS and Lloyds – which tend to benefit from higher interest rates – fell nearly 1% though.

The MPC was split on Thursday's decision, with seven members including governor Mark Carney voting for the increase but two – Sir Jon Cunliffe and Sir Dave Ramsden – voting to keep rates on hold.

Experts estimate eight million Britons have never seen an interest rate rise.

The Bank of England cut interest rates to a historically low 0.5% in 2009 to try to help nurse the economy back to health at the height of the global financial crisis.

They were then cut again last summer in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, to 0.25%.

The decision to hike comes in the face of sluggish growth and warnings from some experts that it should be delayed to avoid further risking the economy.

The change in Bank rate is likely to be reflected in instant increases in floating rate mortgages and by more gradual changes of other rates, including unsecured borrowing and savings rates.

UK Finance, the trade body for Britain's lenders, says there were 9.2 million outstanding mortgage loans outstanding in June this year.

Of these, 3.7 million were on a variable rate – including tracker mortgages directly linked to the Bank rate as well as those on standard variable rates set by individual banks and building societies.

But the immediate impact of the rate hike will be less widespread than it would have been in prior years as a growing number – currently 4.4 million – were on fixed rate deals.

The Bank of England said it expected inflation – already at a five-year high of 3% – to peak at 3.2% in the coming month and for economic growth to remain subdued in the coming years.

Mr Carney signalled that Brexit was at the heart of weaknesses in the economy – driving up inflation through the fall in the pound since the referendum and holding back growth just as expansion elsewhere in the world is accelerating.

He also argued that the impact of Brexit on the supply of workers, and investment, meant that the "speed limit" at which the economy can grow without pushing up inflation had fallen.

The Bank slightly cut back its forecast for GDP growth for this year from 1.7% to 1.6%, and left the outlook for 2018 and 2019 unchanged at 1.6% and 1.7%.

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Source – News.sky.com