A medium sized-bomb exploded Tuesday at a building housing offices of J.P. Morgan, the financial services firm, Greek police said.

A warning was phoned to a Greek newspaper 30 minutes before the explosion, and police evacuated the building, police spokesman Takis Papapetropoulos told CNN.

No one was hurt. The callers did not identify themselves, he said.

The warning call “means they don’t want to have victims,” he said. “They never say who it is when they call. They claim it after.”

The call came about 7:15 p.m. (12:15 p.m. ET), he said.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

As bad as the government’s jobs readings numbers have been during the Great Recession, we’ll soon find out the real situation likely was worse.

Much worse.

Job losses during the recession may have been underestimated by close to a million jobs. So instead of employers cutting just over 7 million jobs from their payrolls since the economic downturn began in December 2007, it’s expected that the Labor Department’s new estimate will be a loss of 8 million jobs.

“It’s an enormous understatement of the severity of the crisis,” said Heidi Shierholz, labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a union-supported think tank. “It confirms that things were actually worse on the ground than what the reports suggested.”

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

Colombian tailor Miguel Caballero specializes in making garments that enable the wearer to get shot at point-blank range with nary an injury besides, maybe, a bruised ego. At-high-risk-of-catching-a-bullet demographics, such as rappers and politicians all over the world, rely on Miguel’s handiwork. And, lucky me, when I was recently in Bogota for VBS.TV covering a few stories, I had the chance to visit Miguel’s shop, learn about his protective clothing, and get shot in the gut by him. Seriously.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

Cities in the so-called Sand States dominated the foreclosure rankings in 2009, with the 20 worst-hit metro areas residing in Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona.

Las Vegas had the largest number of foreclosure filings of any city last year, with 12% of its households receiving at least one during the year, according to RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed homes. That was more than five times the national average.

Cape Coral, Fla., was a close second with 11.9% of its households; Merced, Calif., was third with 10.1%.

The good news is that all top 20 cities recorded declines in foreclosure filings in the last three months of the year.

The
bad news is that the foreclosure plague is spreading beyond these usual
trouble spots, according to RealtyTrac’s CEO, James Saccacio. And,
nationwide, foreclosures grew 21.2% during the year.

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

Less than two years after the housing market collapsed, the U.S. economy is threatened by a new bubble in asset prices. This time, four billowing balloons are hovering: two commodities — gold and oil — stocks, and government bonds.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that last week’s 5% drop in the S&P, and the recent sell-off in oil, remotely makes them fairly valued, let alone bargains. Equities and commodities, as well as Treasuries, which actually rallied as stocks dropped, still have a long way to fall. The reason: They’ve already seen huge run-ups that put their prices far above their historic averages, and far above the levels justified by fundamentals.

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

The federal stimulus program is funding roadway construction in many Massachusetts towns. But more than half of the companies that have received taxpayer dollars to perform the work have a history of breaking the law.

According to an investigation by Boston University’s New England Center for Investigative Reporting, more than half the companies given stimulus contracts have histories of defrauding taxpayers.

Using funds from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Massachusetts Highway Division has awarded nearly $54 million in contracts for highway improvements. One company, Aggregate Industries Northeast Inc., based in Saugus, Massachusetts, was awarded two stimulus contracts totaling $8.9 million for roadwork in the state.

Aggregate Industries is one of the largest producers of aggregate, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete in New England. But Aggregate Industries has a record of misconduct, and six of its former managers pleaded guilty or were convicted of defrauding the government.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

Prices at the pump have jumped 14 cents over the past few weeks, working their way closer to the $3 mark, according to a survey published Sunday.

The average price nationwide of a gallon of self-serve regular is $2.74, the Lundberg Survey found.

That’s the highest price since October 2008.

“It’s very possible” prices will keep jumping in the coming weeks,” said publisher Trilby Lundberg.

But the average is unlikely to hit the $3 mark soon, Lundberg said. “It is certainly possible” that prices will go that high, “but not quickly,” she said.

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

Last month was open-enrollment season, and my wife and I got an unpleasant surprise. For 2010 we’re looking at an annual health-insurance premium that’s $1,600 higher than it is now, plus higher deductibles. Instead of flat co-pays, we’ll pay co-insurance, a share of the total costs. And this is with a plan provided by a Fortune 500 company that still spends big bucks on relatively generous benefits.

You may well be in the same boat. According to human-resources consultant Hewitt Associates, the average large-company employee will pay $4,023 in premiums and out-of-pocket costs next year — 10% more than in 2009 and more than three times the level in 2001.

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

We absolutely need to do something constructive to get the animal trash off the streets, asap.

Salvation Army Major Philip Wise

Authorities on Monday reported scant new information about the Christmas Eve shooting death of a Salvation Army supervisor.

Private
donations pushed a reward fund to $10,000 in the slaying of Maj. Philip
Wise, 40, who was gunned down in the parking lot of Salvation Army
headquarters here Thursday afternoon as he dropped off the day’s
donations.

Wise’s three children, age 4, 6 and 8, were with him when the shooting
occurred and told police two black men approached them before the
shooting.

At a news conference Monday, Police Chief Danny
Bradley said detectives had worked through the weekend but had not
identified any suspects in the homicide that police said occurred
during an apparent robbery.

Police have not given a description
of the suspects other than both were in their late teens or early 20s.
Police also have declined to say how much, if any, money was stolen.

Bradley
announced that a crimestoppers reward for information leading to the
arrest and conviction of those responsible for the killing had grown
from the original $1,000 to $10,000 through private donations.

Source/Full Story: News : Police: No New Information In Killing

A Salvation Army major was shot dead in front of his three children on Christmas Eve in North Little Rock, Arkansas, authorities said.

Maj. Philip Wise, 40, was gunned down Thursday. He was found lying by the back entrance of a Salvation Army facility, said police spokesman Sgt. Terry Kuykendall.

Wise apparently dropped two bell ringers off at home and returned to the Salvation Army building with his three children, ages 4, 6 and 8. Two men carrying handguns approached them and demanded money before shooting Wise, Kuykendall said.

The suspects fled on foot.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

Update:

As police in North Little Rock, Ark., continue to search for two suspects who shot and killed a Salvation Army major in front of his three young children on Christmas Eve, the reward money has been increased to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case.
…
As North Little Rock police follow up on leads, they are asking the public to help by calling (501) 758-1234 with any information connected to the crime.

Source/Full Story: $10K reward offered in Salvation Army major Philip Wise’s murder; Shot in front of kids on Christmas

I’m strongly tempted to infer causality from sentence two rather than sentence four.

Twenty-two people, mainly children below the age of 5, have died of measles in Zimbabwe, the country’s state media reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said two weeks ago it was “deeply frustrated” by the measles outbreak, which came after it sponsored a vaccination program in the African nation.

WHO’s head in Zimbabwe, Dr. Custodia Mandlhate, told journalists in Harare the outbreak has totaled more than 340 suspected cases this year, and “this is not acceptable.” She said the outbreak came about “mainly because of people who have denied their children vaccination.”

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

The House passed legislation Friday aimed at preventing the next big financial crisis, ushering in the most sweeping set of changes to the banking regulatory system since the New Deal.

The bill, which passed 223-202, imposes more oversight and stronger capital cushions for the largest banks and Wall Street firms. It forces them to pay a total of as much as $150 billion into an emergency fund that could be tapped when a troubled company needs to be taken over and broken up.

The legislation also calls for the regulation of some derivatives and creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate products such as credit cards and mortgages.

“We are sending a clear message to Wall Street, the party is over. Never again will reckless behavior on the part of the few threaten the fiscal stability of our people,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a press conference after the bill passed. “The legislation will finally protect Main Street from the worst of Wall Street.”

On the Senate side of Capitol Hill, the bill is moving much more slowly and final passage is likely months away.

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

In the rare cases when the H1N1 virus kills, scientists have found, it penetrates deep into the lungs, creating widespread damage — a pattern similar to what killed millions during previous flu pandemics in 1918 and 1957.

The New York Office of Chief Medical Examiner examined medical records, autopsy reports and microscopic slides of 34 people with H1N1 who died between May 15 and July 9, 2009, during the early days of the pandemic.

The report found that among those deaths, inflammation and damage in the lungs extended all the way to the alveoli, tiny sacs at the farthest end of the lungs’ airways.

“Generally, flu stays in the upper airways,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the national Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “What this shows is clearly this virus has capability of infecting and causing inflammation and destruction of cells from the trachea, all the way down into smaller cells of the lungs.

“The cells of the lung get directly attacked by the virus,” said Fauci.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com
Technorati Tags: H1N1

Hayli Murphy hears her mother’s cell phone ring, and she bounces off the couch to get it. Watching her run around, it’s hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, the 9-year-old was heavily sedated in a pediatric intensive care unit, a ventilator doing the job her lungs — ravaged by H1N1 flu — could no longer do.

“She was right there. She was at death’s door,” remembered her mother, Julie Murphy.

Hayli spent 43 days in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.

Looking back at her daughter’s illness, one of the things that strikes her mother is that in the days before Hayli was admitted to the hospital, a test showed that she did not have the flu — twice.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

In a sign that more foreclosures could be on the horizon, 23% of people with mortgages owe more than their home is worth, according to a report released Tuesday.

Almost 10.7 million U.S. mortgages were “underwater” as of September, said research firm First American CoreLogic.

Another 2.3 million homeowners are within 5% of negative territory, the report said. The two figures combined comprise almost 28% of all residential properties with mortgages.

Negative equity, also called an “underwater” or “upside down” mortgage, has become more common as home values plummet. The report is closely watched because borrowers who are underwater are more likely to be foreclosed.

Source/Full Story: money.cnn.com

The number of Americans that have trouble putting food on the table shot up last year in an unprecedented spike to a record 17 million households, the government reported on Monday.

The Department of Agriculture report, which has been released annually since 1995, said the number of Americans that were hungry rose to 14.6%. In 2007, 13 million households or 11.1% of Americans had trouble getting enough food.

The one-year jump is all the more significant, given the number of hungry Americans had never been higher than 11.9% since these surveys began.

Of the near-15% of the nation that couldn’t secure enough food last year, the USDA said one-third of them had “very low food security,” meaning they reduced the amount that they ate or disrupted their eating patterns during the year. That group made up 5.7% of all U.S. households, which was also a record high.

More than 500,000 households that scaled back the amount that they ate were households with children, making up 1.3% of all U.S. homes with children.

The USDA said the main cause of hunger and food insecurity in the country is poverty.

Source/Full Story: CNN