Economy Going Back Down?

"Think of it as a giant hand holding down the economy," chief economist Tim Hopper at TIAA-CREF says about the economy in the late months of 2012. Since October, the economy's drive has basically stopped improving. The G.D.P. has gone down to 0.1% which is the worst it has been in almost four years. Lawmakers were trying to deside on tax increases and the Government had to limit their spending. The economy is expected to go back up in 2013 because the Congress and White House agreed on taxes and spending for the Government.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324156204578273611039517142.html

House Prices Decreasing

December brought worries to the National Association of Realtors because there was an unusually low amount of houses sold in that month in 2012, even though the year as a whole brought 4.65 million homes sold. For the last five years, realitors were having a hard time selling homes, so with 2012's large amount sold, that will hopefully bring the market back up. There has been low morgage rates and low amounts of supplies to build houses due to expences. Houses already built and on the market keep decreasing in price which makes people buy faster.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-22/sales-of-u-s-existing-homes-drop-on-lowest-supply-in-a-decade.html

Syria explosion

In Aleppo, Syria, two explosions went off in a university while students were taking finals. The blasts blew out windows, blew down walls, and set fire to cars all over Aleppo University. 82 people died from the explosions with many more injured. The University was open even though there were battles between the rebels and the government. There are no leads about how the explosions happened but the rebels are blaming the government and the government is blaming the rebels.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-university-20130116,0,7552746.story

Worst flu outbreak since swine flu

Boston has declared this flu season a public health emergency and is trying to give as many free flu vaccines as they can to people who haven't had them yet. They have had at least 700 cases of the flu compared to last year's which was only about 70. Hospitals have actually been limiting visiters and trying to get them out of the waiting rooms as soon as possible. Even nursing homes are requesting no visiters so they senior citizens don't have the risk of getting the flu. They have higher risks of getting pneumonia and staff don't want to risk it. almost anywhere you go now there is hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes because of the outbreaks.
http://www.boston.com/dailydose/2013/01/09/boston-hospitals-and-nursing-homes-implement-stricter-measures-against-the-flu/RK4iOR0EWN84klun02uc7H/story.html

No more truce?

Taliban commander, Mullah Nazir, was killed by American missiles Wednesday, December 2nd in South Waziristan. Officials are saying that this ally could turn even worse than it already is because Nazir was looking to make a truce with Islamabad. Because of the peace treaty between Pakistan and Islamabad, they were going to focus on mainly attacking Afghanistan, but hte U.S. who is allied with Islamabad, nearly destroyed that. "They will be furious. This shows they are no longer on the same page with the Americans," says Saifullah Khan Mehsud, an executive director for Fata. (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9778839/Senior-Taliban-commander-killed-in-US-drone-strike-despite-truce-with-Pakistani-military.html