NPR 2011-01-28

A familiar sound here in Washington, DC and other parts of the Northeastern US, where a lot of people have been shoveling out of as much as a foot of snow. As of this morning, many streets were littered with abandoned cars. Tens of thousands of people woke up to frigid 1 homes and lost electricity. In snow-weary New York, Mayor Michael Bloomburg said his city was better.

“When the snow stopped falling at about 4:00 AM, the official reading in Central Park was 19 inches.”

Now, the storms also cause widespread flight disruptions. Now, previous bad weather in the Southeastern US is blamed for a jump in unemployment claims in the last week. Danielle Karson reports applications spiked 3 to 454,000 after falling for several weeks.

Snowstorms in Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina forced many companies to shut down, keeping workers at home and preventing many people from applying for benefits. But jobless claims have been falling for months, and the steady drop suggests businesses are sacking fewer workers. Wells Fargo economist 4 Tim Quinlan thinks the trend is continuing and considers the latest spike 2 a blip.

“Even if you average these two weeks, you know, at a level of 425,000, this is the end of the world. That’s still a much lower level than we were for almost all of 2010.”

Last August, more than half a million people filed jobless claims, but economists 5 say they have to fall consistently below 400,000 to signal job growth. For NPR News, I’m Danielle Karson in Washington.

In Iraq, a curfew has been imposed in the capital, a neighborhood where 48 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide car bombing. NPR’s Kelly McEvers reports from the Iraqi capital that people in the area began rioting against police for failing to stop the attack.

Officials said the attacker targeted a funeral for a member of a prominent tribe. One police official speculated the real target was another funeral in the neighborhood for the mother of Bagdad’s mayor. As police rushed to the scene of the attack, witnesses said residents threw rocks at them and shot into the air. Now, the neighborhood is on lockdown; no one can enter or exit. The attack follows a new wave of violence here in Iraq after months of relative calm. The targets have been government officials, police, police recruits and Shiite pilgrims. Since last week, nearly 200 people have been killed. Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Bagdad.

The party of Egypt’s embattled President Hosni Mubarak says it is ready to have an open discussion with young anti-government protesters, who staged demonstrations 6 in recent days. The secretary general of the National Democratic Party is calling on both protesters and security forces to show restraint during a rally expected to take place again after Friday prayers.

The Dow was up five points. This is NPR.

Swiss federal prosecutors 7 are investigating an explosion at a luxury hotel in Davos, a plain village where more than 2,500 political, business and civic 8 leaders are attending the World Economic Forum 9. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports there were no injuries, and the blast caused minor 10 damage.

The source of the blast remains 11 confusing. Forum officials say a firework in the back of the hotel was to blame. Hotel management is not commenting. Local police say a bomb in the basement exploded. Swiss federal prosecutors say they are investigating, implying there might be a criminal motive 12. Meanwhile, an anti-capitalism group called “Revolutionary Perspective” has posted a statement on its website, claiming responsibility. It says it targeted the Posthotel because Swiss ministers and UBS Bank officials are staying there. The hotel has tightened 13 security; otherwise, business is going on as usual. For NPR News, I’m Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

A North Carolina judge is knocking more than 100 years off the sentence of a man convicted of illegally raising money for Hezbollah militants 14. Mohamad Hammoud will still serve additional 20 years behind bars.

Members of a congressionally appointed panel are divided over who’s mainly to blame for the US financial crisis. A report released today finds the six Democrats 15 on the panel believe Wall Street executives and federal regulators share the blame; however, the four Republicans on the commission point the finger at a global credit bubble fueled by low interest rates.