INTERNATIONAL
Greeks: Multiple mail attacks target France’s Nicolas Sarkozy
 
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police foiled four attempted parcel bomb attacks Monday, allegedly targeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and three embassies in Athens, after one of the devices exploded at a delivery service, leaving a worker hospitalized with burns.
 
Indonesia volcano shoots new blasts, 21 others rumble
 
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP) — Deafening explosions of hot gas rattled evacuees miles (kilometers) from an Indonesian volcano Monday, the latest eruption in a deadly week. The country reported increased rumblings at 21 other active volcanoes, raising questions about what’s causing the uptick along some of the world’s most volatile fault lines.
 
No casualties were reported in Mount Merapi’s new blast, which came as Indonesia struggles to respond to an earthquake-generated tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands. The two disasters unfolding on opposite ends of the country have killed nearly 500 people and strained the government’s emergency response network. In both events, the military has been called in to help.
 
Merapi has killed 38 people since it started erupting a week ago.
 
Armed men steal plane from military base at Honduras airport
 
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Five armed men broke into a military base at the major international airport in northern Honduras early Monday and made off with a small airplane that authorities seized last year in an anti-drug operation.
 
The theft occurred at La Mesa International Airport in San Pedro Sula, about 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
 
 
NATIONAL
 
Number of residents denied BP oil spill money rising sharply
 
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) — Denied claims for Gulf of Mexico oil spill victims are rising dramatically because of a flood of new filings coming in without proper documentation or with no proof at all, the head of the $20 billion BP fund said Monday.
 
Some 20,000 people have been told they have no right to emergency compensation, compared to about 125 denials at the end of September.
 
Police: Man robs bank, offers strangers $1,000 for ride
 
CAPITOLA, Calif. (AP) — Police say a bank robber forgot to set up a getaway ride, so he offered $1,000 to people on the street for a lift after the heist. Capitola police said a man in his 40s or 50s entered a bank at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday and ordered $20 and $100 bills from the teller.
 
 
STATE/LOCAL
 
Cleco Corp. posts decline in third-quarter profit earnings
 
PINEVILLE, La. (AP) — Power provider Cleco Corp. posted a 17 percent third-quarter profit decline Monday that missed analysts’ forecasts.
 
The company also raised its 2011 earnings guidance, although the top range fell below current forecasts.
 
For the July-through-September period, Cleco earned $49.6 million, or 82 cents per share, on revenue of $343.9 million. During the third quarter of 2010, Cleco earned $59.8 million, or 99 cents per share, on revenue of $241.5 million.
 
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, had forecast per-share earnings of 88 cents per share for the latest quarter.
 
Overall revenue jumped to $343.9 million from $241.5 million a year ago, but the company recorded higher interest charges and higher operational costs.
 
La. attorney general sues drug companies over inflated costs
 
(AP) — Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is alleging that 18 drug companies inflated drug costs Louisiana paid through the Medicaid program by hundreds of millions of dollars.
 
Caldwell said Monday that he filed a lawsuit on Oct. 28 against the companies in state court in Baton Rouge.
 
Two killed in weekend shootings, stabbing in French Quarter
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Marine who had survived duty in Iraq was stabbed to death in the French Quarter while two other men were shot — one fatally — in violence that ended the Halloween weekend.
 
Police say a man was killed about 6:30 a.m. Monday and another was shot in the head hours earlier by gunshots in apparently unrelated incidents.
 
 
 
 
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