| Dow up 90 despite inflation, growth worries
Stocks climbed out of a hole Wednesday, closing higher despite conflicting worries about inflation and economic growth.
Advances by technology stocks, led by an 8 percent rally in the shares of Hewlett-Packard, and energy stocks, reflected in a nearly 2 percent gain by Chevron, helped lead the market higher.
In futures trading, crude oil continued its assault on triple-digit barrel prices. Oil for March delivery rose 73 cents a barrel, to $100.74, its second straight record-high close, after trading as high as $101.32 during the session.
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Exclusive Afghanistan
The arguments about the politics go on, despite the military. The reasons for this, of course, are access and danger: journalists have to be embedded, and for them to go to the front line in Afghanistan or Iraq without the protection of the military would be bonkers and, more important to most newspapers and television channels, far too expensive. Get too close to soldiers and you lose your even-handedness; you identify with them. So, military news on television is limited to shaky phone video taken by amateurs or junior reporters in flak jackets, paraphrasing military press releases from the roof of an international hotel, out of harm’s way. Then there are the reality shows that look at a regiment with an invariably adoring, sentimental eye; in truth, it’s difficult not to like soldiers when they’re on your side.
Strokes among middle-aged women triple
Strokes have tripled in recent years among middle-aged women in the U.S., an alarming trend doctors blame on the obesity epidemic. Nearly 2 percent of women ages 35 to 54 reported suffering a stroke in the most recent federal health survey, from 1999 to 2004. Only about half a percent did in the previous survey, from 1988 to 1994. The percentage is small because most strokes occur in older people. But the sudden spike in middle age and the reasons behind it are ominous, doctors said in research presented Wednesday at a medical conference. It happened even though more women in the recent survey were on medicines to control their cholesterol and blood pressure - steps that lower the risk of stroke. Women's waistlines are nearly two inches bigger than they were a decade earlier, and that bulge corresponds with the increase in strokes, researchers said.
Nearly 200 Pa. schools, districts received recalled beef
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are among nearly 200 Pennsylvania school districts and vocational and religious schools that are affected by the nation's largest beef recall. Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff on Tuesday urged the schools as a precaution to destroy any beef they received from a California slaughterhouse that is the subject of an animal-abuse investigation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which provided meat to school lunch programs. Wolff says the human health risk from the recalled beef is very low, but it's important for the affected products to be separated from other foods. He says other schools should also check their supplies for recalled beef.
CONN. REFUGE FOR VET'S PAL
No more roadside bombs, no more screaming wounded, no more rattle of an AK-47 or of a Marine unloading with an M-4. The Iraqi man is safe now, living in the Brookfield, Conn., home of retired Marine Lt. Col. Michael Zacchea, under whom he served as a civilian translator. The two warriors have been bonding since 2004, when Zacchea was given orders to form the 5th Iraqi Motorized Rifle Battalion and chose Abdullah as his main interpreter. The two couldn't have been happier the other day when Abdullah got off the plane in Newark - finally arriving in America. "We hadn't seen each other since Feb. 28, 2005," recalled Zacchea of the date when he shipped out of the war zone. "It was wonderful seeing that look on his face, that look of joy." The two have remained in touch by e-mail over the years since Zacchea returned home and went into the commodities business.
Platinum Hits Record on Supply Concerns
Other commodities traded broadly higher, with wheat futures rebounding after days of losses and energy futures also rising. Platinum has shot up 15 percent this month amid supply concerns fed by a South African energy shortage, which has slowed the vital mining industry and sent commodities prices spiking. The country's state-run power utility said Wednesday that the mines and other major customers will receive only 90 percent of their usual power supply until 2012 _ raising worries of significant setbacks in platinum production for years to come. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world's second-largest platinum producer, said Thursday it has already lost 10,000 ounces in output and could lose another 10,000 ounces under the energy restrictions, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Report: 2nd French bank trader queried
PARIS—French police were questioning a second trader Friday about whether he knew of trades that led to billions in losses at bank Societe Generale, according to a newspaper report. Police said they could not comment, and officials at the prosecutors' office were not immediately available for comment. The respected daily Le Monde reported that the trader was in custody for questioning about his relationship with Jerome Kerviel, a futures trader accused by Societe Generale of massive unauthorized bets on European markets that the bank said cost nearly 5 billion euros (more than $7 billion) to unwind. Societe Generale has said it believes that Kerviel had no accomplices. Officials at the bank, one of France's biggest, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Preliminary charges have been filed against Kerviel and he remains under police protection, but has been released.
Official warns Iran will respond to U.S. attack with 'more decisive ...
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, makes his way among Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Hasan Firouzabadi, center, Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, second left, and Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, left, in an army joint day-break ceremony in Tehran. .
Brown and Salmond ‘have not talked in months’
The lack of communication is very much a 10 Downing Street centred problem." Alex Salmond today issues his first Christmas message as First Minister, hailing a "remarkable year" in which people made the historic decision to elect the country's first SNP government. "In the past eight months I have led that government which has shown a willingness to get to grips with the key issues in order to move the nation forward," he states. "My government has been keen to work with other political parties to build parliamentary consensus around issues that matter to the people." Citing advances such as a slimmed-down cabinet, moves to scrap student fees, prescription charges and bridge tolls, striking a deal with local government and winning the 2014 Commonwealth Games for Glasgow, he said ministers were determined to do more.
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