The nation's weather

By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press Weather Underground, For The Associated Press – Sun Aug 1, 5:44 am ET

Relatively inactive weather will continue throughout the country Sunday as no major storms are expected.

A weak cold front will move through the Plains and Upper Midwest, providing rain and a few thunderstorms from the Southern Rockies through the Upper Midwest.

The afternoon sun will warm the surface and provide typical scattered showers and thunderstorms in the Southeast. Monsoon moisture will continue to produce scattered showers and thunderstorms in the Southwest as well.

In addition, a low pressure system in the Northwest will instigate areas of moderate precipitation along the Canadian border from eastern Washington through Montana.

The Southeast will rise into the 90s and 100s, while the Southern Plains will see similar temperatures. The Northern Plains will rise into the 90s, while the Northwest will see temperatures in the 70s and 80s. The Southwest will rise into the 90s and 100s.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Saturday ranged from a low of 35 degrees at Mineral, Calif., to a high of 118 degrees at Death Valley, Calif.

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NY trial' for key 9/11 suspects

Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be sent from Guantanamo Bay to New York for trial in a civilian court, reports say.

Citing unnamed government officials, the reports said he would be transferred from the US prison camp in Cuba with four other suspects.

US Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the decision later, the officials say.

Mr Mohammed has admitted planning the 9/11 attacks, the US military says.

The five men have until now been facing prosecution at US military commissions in Guantanamo.

But US President Barack Obama has made closing the detention camp a top priority.

Asked about the reports during a visit to Tokyo, he said that Mr Mohammed would face "most exacting demands of justice".

According to the reports, Mr Holder will also announce that a suspect in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen will be tried at a military tribunal.

Deadline looming

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been described by US investigators as "one of history's most infamous terrorists".

They say he has admitted being responsible "from A to Z" for the 9/11 attacks.

Believed to be the number three al-Qaeda leader, he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.

He told a pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo in December 2008 that he wanted to plead guilty to all charges against him.

The other four men - thought to be the two Yemenis, a Saudi and a Pakistani-born Kuwaiti who have shared hearings with him at Guantanamo Bay - are also accused of helping plan and finance the attacks.

A new photo of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed recently surfaced

The decision to try them in a New York court appears to be part of Mr Obama's efforts to close Guantanamo by 22 January 2010.

His administration says it will try some detainees in US courts and repatriate or resettle others who are not perceived as a threat.

However, questions remain over the fate of those assessed as dangerous but who for legal reasons could not be prosecuted in a US court - prompting suggestions that the deadline will slip.

The BBC

China 'boosts East Asian growth'

The World Bank has upped its 2009 growth forecast for China from 7.2% to 8.4%, but says the nation needs to encourage more consumer spending.

Manufacturing accounts for about 40% of China's economy

The Washington-based body also raised its projection of 2009 GDP growth in East Asia as a whole to 6.7% from 5.3%, thanks to China's strong growth.

But it said growth in the region could be just 1% if China was excluded.

And it said China, boosted by a recent stimulus plan, must move away from an industry and investment-based economy.

"The economic rebound in East Asia and the Pacific has been surprisingly swift and very welcome, but take China out of the equation and the regional picture is less rosy," the bank said in a report.

"The rebound has yet to become a recovery."

Stimulus package

At the end of 2008, the Chinese government announced a 4 trillion yuan ($586bn; £355bn) stimulus plan involving increased spending on infrastructure to boost the domestic economy.

In China stimulus spending has gone mostly to building roads and other public works projects.

It's a good time to concentrate and focus effort on rebalancing the economy and getting more growth out of the domestic economy Louis Kuijs, World Bank China economist

Earlier this week, data showed China's manufacturing sector had grown in October at its fastest rate in 18 months.

But the World Bank warned that manufacturing industries would be under pressure next year as the impact of the stimulus faded away.

It also said China could no longer rely on exports and investment to drive growth and had to encourage its own consumers to increase spending.

"We think that now that the government has basically succeeded in dampening the impact of the global crisis, it's a good time to concentrate and focus effort on rebalancing the economy and getting more growth out of the domestic economy," said Louis Kuijs, the bank's chief China economist.

"This calls for more emphasis on consumption and services and less emphasis on investment and industry."

Losing momentum

China's rebound has helped other Asian economies as its consumers and factories buy imports.

But the bank said that growth in the region outside of China would be slower on average this year than in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Indonesia and Vietnam were doing well but output was shrinking in Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand and static in Mongolia, the bank said.

And it added that in Singapore and Taiwan industrial production was 15% below the pre-crisis levels of 18 months ago.

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US interest rates left unchanged

The Federal Reserve has kept US interest rates on hold at between 0% and 0.25%, as had been widely expected.

The Fed has kept rates on hold to help the continuing recovery

Despite the US economy growing 3.5% in July to September - its first expansion since June 2008 - rates were left unchanged to further aid the recovery.

The Fed reiterated its view that rates would need to stay at the historic low for an "extended period".

While economic activity had "continued to pick up", it said high unemployment remained a concern.

The most recent official jobless rate totalled 9.8% in September, a 26-year high.

Recovering car sales

Analysts have also cautioned that the economic expansion between July and September was greatly helped by President Obama's $787bn (£480bn) stimulus package, with some fearing that growth will slow markedly when this impetus comes to an end.

One of the most successful parts of the stimulus spending was the $3bn "cash for clunkers" car scrappage scheme, which gave people who traded in old cars $3,500 towards the cost of a new vehicle.

This initiative operated in July and August, giving US car sales a major boost in both months.

Car sales subsequently fell sharply in September after the scheme had concluded.

However, both General Motors and Ford reported earlier this week that their domestic sales rose again in October, suggesting that the recovery in the US car market has now resumed.

US interest rates were cut to the current level of between 0% and 0.25% in December last year, where they have remained ever since.

Before then rates had fallen steadily from a high of 5.25% in September 2007.

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G20 'to call for economy balance'

This week's G20 summit in the US will call for major reforms to promote a more balanced global economy, according to a document seen by the BBC.

A draft paper hints at significant policy changes from G20 countries, including the UK, the US and China.

And while stimulus packages should continue for now, the document called for the creation of "transparent and credible" means to unwind that support.

Leaders will meet in Pittsburgh with the economy high on the agenda.

No enforcement

The document says huge imbalances in the global economy must be ironed out.

If this does not happen, the world will "face anaemic growth" at levels that are "unacceptably low", it says.

However the paper does not suggest any mechanism for enforcing its plans - other than countries coming under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

And while no countries are mentioned by name, BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam says the document is suggesting that rich indebted countries, such as Britain and the US, should save more while cautious and savings-oriented nations such as Germany and China increase spending.

The document is ambitious, our business correspondent adds, and is aimed at removing some of the wild economic swings that have marked the opening decade of the 21st Century.

There have long been calls for China to allow its currency, the yuan, to rise, encouraging Chinese consumers to spend more on foreign goods.

But others argue that in the longer term, China should work on improving pensions, healthcare and other policies, to reduce the incentive people have to save so much.

Stimulus withdrawal

Nations such as China need to spend more, the G20 is set to say

The document appears to back comments made by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that there will be no early end to the international stimulus package aimed at taking the world out of recession.

But it calls on the IMF and the G20's Financial Stability Board to draw up, by November, "transparent and credible" ways of withdrawing that financial support.

The document also acknowledges that each country will have to find its own way of winding back its support in terms of the scale and timing of the pullback of support.

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