Great news from around the world

The number of foreclosures in Miami-Dade and Broward continued rising. Filings were up 15 percent over last year, but jumped 50 percent from February. In all, one in every 182 homes in the county were in some state of the foreclosure process.

China Eastern Airlines Ltd., one of China's three major state-owned carriers, said it suffered a 15.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) loss for 2008 due to high fuel costs, fewer passengers and a wrong-way bet on fuel hedging contracts.

General Growth Properties Inc., owner of some of the nation's most prominent malls, including the Glendale Galleria, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors Thursday, marking the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Southwest Airlines Co. reported a surprisingly large loss in the first quarter as traffic fell in what the CEO called the carrier's toughest revenue environment ever.

The number of people in US receiving jobless benefits exceeded 6 million for the first time, the government reported today, and housing construction unexpectedly plunged to its second-lowest level on record -- fresh evidence that the recession is far from over.

Sales in the US is down 1.1 last month.

China’s economy grew more slowly than usual in the first quarter, and joblessness increased, but fairly strong investment and consumer spending helped prevent falling exports from dragging down economic output even further,

AbitibiBowater Inc., the largest North American newsprint maker, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday after failing to secure support for its proposed restructuring plan.

UK annual public borrowing is set to rocket to almost £175bn over the next two years, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, is expected to announce in next week’s Budget. At more than 12 per cent of expected national income in the next financial year, this would be the worst deficit since the Second World War.

But the really good news is that the US stock exchange have risen 24% the last four weeks which is the fastest and highest climbs in decades. You will understand why this is so great news in a couple of months from now.