GENERAL NEWS: For Mar. 9th, 2010:

Jobless Benefits Bill Clears Hurdle as Senate Moves Closer to a Final Vote A $138 billion plan to extend unemployment benefits through the rest of this year cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate as lawmakers moved closer to putting the measure to a final vote.

`Jihad Jane' Indicted in Pennsylvania for Plot to Recruit Terror Fighters A Pennsylvania woman who used the alias Jihad Jane plotted to recruit jihadist fighters and conspired to commit murders overseas, according to an indictment unsealed in Philadelphia.

Body of Sequent President Schantz Found in Mississippi River, Police Say The body of Douglas Schantz, president of AGL Resources Inc.’s Sequent Energy Management LLP, was found in the Mississippi River, the New Orleans Police Department said

FINANCIAL NEWS : For Mar. 9th, 2010:

AIG Leads Gains in Rescued Firms on Speculation It Will Divest More Assets American International Group Inc. surged, leading gains by financial companies bailed out by the U.S. government, on speculation the insurer will sell more assets after raising $51 billion through deals.

U.S. Stocks Resume Gains, Led by Shares of Telephone, Industrial Companies U.S. stocks resumed their advance as shares of telephone and industrial companies posted the biggest gains among 10 groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Derivatives Regulation Urged by EU, Merkel as Greece Takes Plea to Obama The European Union’s top regulatory official said the bloc will consider banning “purely speculative” credit-default swaps as German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a crackdown on derivatives trading to prevent a rerun of the Greek financial crisis.

Greek Tax Increases to Cut Budget Deficit May Fall Short, EU Draft Warns Greek tax increases designed to curb the European Union’s biggest budget deficit may fail to generate as much additional revenue as the government in Athens estimates, a draft EU report said.

Eaton Vance Dumps Dirt Bonds Worth 30 Cents on Dollar as Districts Default Thomas Metzold, Eaton Vance Corp.’s co-head of municipals, sold all his defaulted bonds of Tison’s Landing, an unfinished housing development in Jacksonville, Florida, as the debt fell to a third of face value last year.

Cisco Introduces $90,000 Router That Accelerates Video Downloads From Web Cisco Systems Inc., seeking to boost sales to phone carriers, will start selling an Internet router that lets Web users download video, songs and other data faster.

Dollar Bond Sales Surge 35% in Asia as Evergrande, KDB Tap New Investors The lowest relative borrowing costs in more than two years and demand from international investors is driving Asian companies to sell record amounts of dollar- denominated bonds.