Floodwaters have reached the northern edge of central Bangkok and are threatening the Thai capital’s subway system.
The water that has been creeping through northern Bangkok for more than week flooded Lad Phrao intersection on Friday. The area is home to office towers, condominiums and a major shopping mall and is not far from the famed Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Local media reported the water depth at 15 inches (40 centimeters).
Officials from Bangkok’s subway system say they are closely monitoring three stations in the area, though all remain open.
The government has asked residents to evacuate eight of the city’s 50 districts because of the flooding. It has killed more than 400 people in Thailand since late July.
DETROIT
Choosing a much-detested raccoon as its mascot made a clear statement: Porter Airlines was going to be a daring, different kind of airline.
And the upstart that some doubted could ever succeed given the volatility of the aviation industry is celebrating its fifth birthday on Sunday.
Robert Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines, uses the mascot, whom they call Mr. Porter, an alter-ego of sorts, to illustrate why they
Stronger retail sales and surging profits from Google are sending stocks higher.
The Dow Jones industrial average turned positive for the year Friday, and the S&P 500 index had its best week in more than two years.
Retail sales increased 1.1 percent in September, the biggest gain in seven months.
Google Inc. shot up nearly 6 percent after its quarterly income jumped 26 percent. Apple Inc. rose 3 percent as its new iPhone went on sale my credit score.
The Dow rose 166 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 11,644. The S&P 500 rose 21, or 1.7 percent, to 1,225.
The Nasdaq rose 48 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,668.
Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was below average, 3.6 billion shares.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Sun Security Bank in Ellington, Mo., after the troubled bank was shut down by Missouri bank regulators.
Sun Security has 27 branches, including two in St. Charles County. The bank held $355.9 million in assets and $290.4 million in deposits.
In a deal with the FDIC, Great Southern Bank of Springfield, Mo., has agreed to assume all the deposits of Sun Security.
The federal regulator said all Sun Security branches will open on Saturday, and after Columbus Day, the offices will become Great Southern branches. Columbus Day is a bank holiday.
Customers with questions about the seizure can call the FDIC at 1-866-806-6128 Payday Loan for Bad Credit.
The failure of Sun Security Bank is expected to cost the FDIC $118.3 million.
Sun Security, which has two branches in St. Charles County, was formerly led by Shaun Hayes as chief executive.
The FDIC’s seizure Friday of Sun Security and Wyoming, Minn.-based Riverbank increases to 76 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.
Two children and their parents were killed by machine-gun fire Saturday while trying to flee Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown along with hundreds of other residents, as forces loyal to the ousted regime engaged in heavy clashes with revolutionary fighters surrounding the city.
Their bodies were brought to a makeshift hospital outside Sirte, said a doctor there, Nuri Naari. They were hit by machine-gun fire as they drove toward the positions of revolutionary forces on the edges of the city, he said. It was unclear who killed them.
Sirte is one of the last cities to remain in loyalist hands. After months of stalemate in Libya’s civil war, anti-Gadhafi forces swept into the capital in August and their leaders set up a transitional government. But the continued fighting in holdout cities and the failure to find and capture Gadhafi has kept Libya’s new leaders from being able to declare victory.
Revolutionary forces had given families inside Sirte two days to leave the city starting Friday, said Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council that now runs the country. They tried to keep a safe corridor open for civilians fleeing the coastal city.
“This period will give a chance for families to leave the areas of fighting,” he said at a press conference Saturday.
Hundreds of cars carrying Sirte residents formed long lines at revolutionary forces’ checkpoints leading out of the city, calmly waiting to be checked by the fighters as explosions echoed in the distance.
After weeks of fighting Gadhafi’s loyalists inside Sirte, the fighters now hold positions about three miles (five kilometers) from the city center, said commander Mustafa al-Rubaie.
Last week, the Libyan Defense Ministry announced that Sirte’s port, airport and military base were all under their control.
Al-Rubaie told The Associated Press that fighters from the east seized control of Sirte’s first residential district and a hotel where Gadhafi’s snipers were based.
“There is heavy fighting going on in the streets of Sirte right now,” he said. “The enemy is besieged from the south, east and west but it’s still in possession of highly sophisticated weapons and a large amount of ammunition.”
Al-Rubaie said Gadhafi forces were also in control of strategic positions inside the city, including high-rise buildings where snipers are positioned, making the revolutionary forces’ advance slow and hard.
“The plan is that the eastern and western forces will meet in the middle of Sirte,” al-Rubaie said. “When we reach this point, we will celebrate the liberation of Sirte.”
Fighters on the western approaches to the city fired rockets and tank fire at loyalists’ positions, while NATO aircraft were heard circling overhead.
Gadhafi’s spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, meanwhile, denied reports that he had been captured, telling the Syrian-based TV station Al-Rai that he was traveling with 23 fighters in Sirte. There was no way to verify the identity of the man speaking in the audio recording, but it sounded like his voice and the TV station has become the mouthpiece for Gadhafi’s resistance.
Many of those fleeing Sirte said conditions in the city continue to deteriorate, with food in short supply and no water or electricity.
“We couldn’t leave our homes because of the shelling; we had to leave the city,” said Ahmed Hussein as his wife, mother-in-law and two children watched the fighters search their car.
Cars, buses and trucks loaded with families and heaped with household goods lined up at the first checkpoint about half a mile (kilometer) from the front lines. Volunteers gave the families food and water while fighters checked documents and cars.
A small contingent from the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders attempted to enter Sirte on Saturday to deliver medical supplies but turned back because of heavy shelling and no guarantees that the Gadhafi loyalist would hold their fire.
In between the bouts of shooting, Libyan fighters prayed.
The economic news is gloomy, and the stock market is down 4 percent this year.
So where are mutual fund managers finding real values, aside from bargain-hunting among stocks with depressed prices? Top fund manager Chuck Akre sees lasting value in the stocks of three discount retailers, each with a gain more than 20 percent this year.
They’re among the top holdings in the Akre Focus Fund. One of Akre’s largest stakes is in Dollar Tree Stores Inc. The other two are off-price apparel rivals: Ross Stores Inc., owner of Ross Dress for Less stores, and TJX Cos., which runs the T.J.Maxx and Marshalls chains.
The impressive rise of these stocks in a down market
British police say a sixth man has been charged with murder in the deaths of three men in a hit-and-run attack during riots in the English city of Birmingham.
West Midlands Police said Wednesday the 29-year-old man will appear at Birmingham Magistrates court on Thursday in connection with the murders of 20-year-old Haroon Jahan and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31.
The trio were killed after a car, allegedly containing several looters, struck them at high speed as they stood guard in front of a row of Pakistani-owned shops paydayloans.
Five other men ranging in age from 17 to 30 have already been charged with murder. All remain in custody.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended another turbulent week with a strong gain Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. was headed for long-term economic growth. It was the first winning week in a month.
Trading volume was light, a sign that many traders were leaving New York ahead of Hurricane Irene. The storm is expected to reach the region late Saturday night. A spokesman for the New York Stock Exchange said trading is expected to open as usual Monday.
Bernanke announced no new economic stimulus measures during his speech at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., as some investors had hoped. He did leave open the possibility of more action if another recession looks likely.
Indexes fell sharply as the speech was released at 10 a.m. and it became clear that Bernanke was not promising additional support of the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 78 points shortly before the speech started and slumped as many as 220 points shortly after Bernanke started speaking. It recovered within an hour and stayed higher the rest of the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 134.72 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 11,284.54. It was up 4.3 percent for the week after being down the past four.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 17.53, or 1.5 percent, to 1,176.80. It rose 4.7 percent for the week, its biggest gain since the week ended July 1. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 60.22, or 2.5 percent, to 2,479.85.
Boeing Co. rose 2.8 percent, the most of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow. Tiffany & Co. rose 9 percent, the most of any of the 500 stocks in the S&P index, after the luxury retailer raised its profit forecast for the year.
In his speech, Bernanke focused on the long-term strengths of the U.S. economy. He said the “do not appear to have been permanently altered by the shocks of the past four years.” That shot of optimism helped lift markets.
“In the American economy, the only thing that’s really lacking right now is confidence,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan funds. “People who understand the limits of monetary policy also understand that the economy has what it takes to grow.”
Other analysts said Bernanke’s speech helped lift investor sentiment. Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, said Bernanke’s speech was an “acknowledgement that the Fed is not out of tools and that they stand ready” to act if needed.
Underscoring how fragile the U.S. economic recovery is, early Friday the government said the nation’s economy grew at an annual rate of just 1 percent in the April-June quarter, weaker than the government’s first estimate of 1.3 percent. The report renewed concerns that the U.S. might be headed for another recession.
The Fed has said it plans to keep short-term interest rates low until mid-2013. Low rates on investments like bonds make higher-risk bets such as stocks more attractive. At last year’s conference in Jackson Hole, Bernanke signaled the central bank would buy more government bonds to lower long-term interest rates.
The government lowered its estimate for economic growth in the April-June quarter because of fewer exports and weaker growth in business stockpiles. That means the economy expanded at an annual rate of only 0.7 percent in the first six months of the year, the worst pace since the recession ended in June 2009.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note spiked in the hour after Bernanke’s speech. It was 2.13 percent just before the speech and rose to 2.22 percent in the hour after the text was released. The yield was 2.19 percent late Friday.
The last time the New York Stock Exchange was closed due to weather was Jan 8., 1996, when the opening was delayed until 11 a.m. due to a snowstorm. Hurricane Gloria caused a shutdown on Sept. 27, 1985.
Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was relatively light at 4.2 billion.
An Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. executive says the cleanup of a major oil spill in the Yellowstone River has proven to be more difficult than expected and could go on for several more months.
Company vice president Geoff Craft said Thursday that areas hit hardest by the July spill should be cleaned up by the first half of October. That includes a 20-mile stretch of the Yellowstone from Laurel to Billings.
But scattered sites would need to be dealt with, including contaminated river sections downstream of Billings. Craft says work in those areas could continue until Thanksgiving.
Exxon Mobil had been ordered to complete work on the 1,000-barrel spill by Sept 9. Removing crude from hundreds of debris piles created by spring flooding has slowed the company’s efforts.
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