Jade Goody Dies

Jade Goody has died in her sleep, her publicist Max Clifford said. The reality TV star, who suffered a public battle with cervical cancer, died at her home in Upshire, Essex, at 3.14am on Mother's Day. Goody's mother Jackiey Budden said: "My beautiful daughter is at peace." Mr Clifford said Goody's mother Jackiey and husband Jack Tweed were at her side. A family friend, Kevin Adams, was also there. "I think she's going to be remembered as a young girl who has, and who will, save an awful lot of lives," he said, referring to how her public battle with cancer has raised awareness of the disease. "She was a very, very brave girl," he said. "And she faced her death in the way she faced her whole life - full on, with a lot of courage." He said it was "ironic" that the 27-year-old - who had two young sons Bobby, five, and Freddie, four - had died on Mother's Day. Mr Clifford said he hoped Goody's family would be left in peace to grieve. Goody's body was taken out of her home shortly before 8am. Speaking outside the home, her mother Jackiey said: "Family and friends would like privacy at last." Mourners started arriving at the house to pay tribute to Goody within minutes of the news breaking. They left floral tributes at the gates of her home. Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, said: "We are very sad to hear of Jade's death and our thoughts are with her family and friends at this devastating time. Her brave battle with an aggressive form of cervical cancer has received widespread public attention and encouraged thousands of women to seek advice on how to prevent the disease." RIP

7 Killed In Pakistan Attack On Cricketers

Well-Armed Militants Ambush Sri Lankan Team's Bus; 7 Players Wounded, 6 Cops, 1 Civilian Killed CBS News Interactive: Assault On Al Qaeda LAHORE, Pakistan (CBS) ― Click to enlarge Pakistani policemen gather beside the wreckage of a police van after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3, 2009. Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images 1 of 1 Close numSlides of totalImages Related Stories Suspected U.S. Missiles Kill 7 In Pakistan (3/1/2009) Pakistan Says Taliban Beaten Back In Border Region (2/28/2009) Official: Taliban Have 10,000 To 15,000 Fighters (2/27/2009) Taliban Pledges Cease-Fire In 2nd Pakistani Region (2/23/2009) Pakistan To Arm Villagers With 30,000 Rifles (2/22/2009) Related Links CBS News Interactive: Assault On Al Qaeda A dozen men attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers Tuesday ahead of a match in Pakistan, wounding seven players and a coach from Britain in a brazen assault on South Asia's most beloved sport. Six policemen and a civilian were killed. An assistant coach was also wounded, but the players' and coach's injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. The assailants ambushed the convoy carrying the squad and match officials at a traffic circle close to the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gun battle with police guarding the vehicles. None of the attackers were killed or captured at the scene, city police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said. Authorities did not speculate on the identities of the attackers or their motives. The attack reinforced perceptions that nuclear-armed Pakistan is veering out of control and will end any hopes of international cricket teams - or any sports teams - playing in the country for months, if not years. Even before the incident, most cricket teams choose not to tour the country because of security concerns. CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reported that senior Western diplomats and Pakistani security officials investigating the attack said they were looking into the possibility of the attackers being linked to al Qaeda or the Taliban. A senior Western diplomat, who spoke to Bokhari on condition of anonymity from a European capital, said the attack may well have been the work of al Qaeda or the Taliban. Tuesday's attack came just days after Pakistani authorities claimed to have successfully beaten back the Taliban from the restive Bajaur region, near the country's western border with Afghanistan. "This is a classic example of these militants opening up new chapters every time the Pakistani government claims success somewhere. A question worth asking is, are these guys (militants) telling us, 'you attack us in one location, we'll surprise you in another,' this time Lahore," said the diplomat. Television video of the gunmen during the attack showed striking similarities to the siege on the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. "It was a terrorist attack and the terrorists used rocket launchers, hand grenades and other weapons," City police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said, adding that the police were hunting down the attackers, all of who managed to flee. "Our police sacrificed their lives to protect the Sri Lankan team." As in the three-day Mumbai siege, the attackers appeared to be well-organized, well-equipped, clean shaven and to have a clear plan. Pakistani officials admitted - after a stream of accusations from India and suspicions from other nations - that the Mumbai attacks were at least partly planned from inside their country. Analysts and officials who spoke to CBS News widely suspected the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of staging the siege in Mumbai. "Lashkar-e-Taiba's foot soldiers may be involved in this attack," a Pakistani intelligence official in Lahore told Bokhari on condition of anonymity. The official said there was little evidence to suggest that the group's "high command" was involved in planning the attack, but added, "this attack has some resemblance to Lashkar-e-Taiba's tactics." Western diplomats warned, however, that Pakistani officials would likely draw comparisons between the two attacks. The Indian government accused elements in Pakistan's intelligence services of having links to the Mumbai attackers - a charge repeatedly denied by Pakistan. "The Pakistanis have said since Mumbai that they are as much victims of terrorism as anybody else. If they now say, 'it's the Lashkar,' we have to verify that independently," said a Western diplomat in Islamabad, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Pakistan, but other nations have been reluctant in recent months to send their players into a nation where the government seems unable to keep Islamic militants at bay. India refused to send its cricket team to Pakistan for a recent planned championship, citing security concerns. Sri Lankan cricket officials decided to send their team in, after receiving promises of VIP treatment from Pakistani authorities. Indeed, the vehicle carrying the team on Tuesday was guarded by several police vehicles and its route to the stadium had been changed just a day before the attack, according to Sky News, due to a threat made against the team. Dominic Cork, a former England cricketer who was to work as an announcer at Tuesday's match in Lahore, witnessed the attack. He told Sky that he and the Sri Lankan team had been ill-advised to travel to Pakistan, and that he personally would not ever return to the country for any sporting event. Footage from the scene Tuesday showed the team's white van with its front window shattered as security officials tried to gain control of the scene in an intersection. Most of the violence in Pakistan occurs in its northwest regions bordering Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda militants have established strongholds. Lahore has not been immune from militant violence however, and at least one attack in recent months in the northwest has occurred next to a sports stadium.

Dow drops below 7,000 for first time since 1997

NEW YORK – A relentless sell-off in the stock market Monday blew through barriers that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago, and investors warned there was no reason to believe buyers will return anytime soon. The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted below 7,000 at the opening bell and kept driving lower all day, finishing at 6,763 — a loss of nearly 300 points. Each of the 30 stocks in the index lost value for the day. And the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, a much broader measure of the market's health, dipped below the psychologically important 700 level before closing just above it. It hadn't traded below 700 since October 1996. Investors were worried anew about the stability of the financial system after insurer American International Group posted a staggering $62 billion loss for the fourth quarter, the biggest in U.S. corporate history — and accepted an expanded bailout from the government. But beyond daily headlines, Wall Street seems to have given up the search for a reason to believe that the worst is over and the time is ripe to buy again. "As bad as things are, they can still get worse, and get a lot worse," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist for Bell Curve Trading, who said he believes the Dow might fall to 5,000 and the S&P to 500. The Dow's descent has been breathtaking. It took only 14 trading sessions for the average to fall from above 8,000 to below 7,000. For the year, the Dow has lost 23 percent of its value. Its last close below 7,000 was May 1, 1997 — a time when the market was barreling to one record high after another because of the boom in technology stocks, but often suffered big drops as investors worried about inflation and rising interest rates. This time around, Wall Street analysts seem to believe that a stock market recovery will first require signs of health among financial companies, and on Monday those signs seemed further away than ever. AIG, whose reach is so vast that the government warns letting it fail would cripple the very world financial system, will get another $30 billion in loans on top of the $150 billion already invested by the government. HSBC PLC, Europe's largest bank by market value, said it needs to raise about $18 billion, reported a 70 percent drop in earnings for last year, and announced plans to scale back U.S. lending and cut 6,100 jobs. The banking sector helped drive the market lower. Citigroup stock lost 20 percent of its value and fell to a paltry $1.20 per share. HSBC lost 19 percent. Bank of America lost 8 percent. While the root of the problem for the financial firms is the bad bets they made on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, now the recession is exacerbating their problems, forcing job cuts. "The economy definitely has deteriorated since November," said Sean Simko, head of fixed income management at SEI Investments. "It's just the fact that we haven't seen signs of improving or stabilizing, per se, which is adding to the morass of the market." Mixed economic readings provided little reason to expect a turnaround. Personal spending and incomes both rose for January, but construction spending fell 3.3 percent, more than twice what economists expected. And coming later this week is much bigger, and more unnerving, data. The government on Friday will report the national unemployment rate and job losses for February. Those figures have been worse month after month. So far, the economic readings and news coming out of financial companies are still so alarming that investors feel no alternative but to sell. "I don't think we find a bottom in the market until we see some sort of increased level of optimism and confidence among consumers and investors," said Jim Baird, chief investment strategist at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. Both the Dow and the S&P have lost more than half their value since the market peaked in October 2007. In that time, about $11 trillion in wealth has vanished, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which tracks nearly all stocks traded in America. Last week, the Dow and the S&P 500 fell below the levels they had reached Nov. 20 and 21 — to that point their lowest since Lehman Brothers imploded in September and set off the financial meltdown. Investors had hoped those levels might mark a market bottom, but it hasn't happened. Big-name investors are just as cautious. Billionaire Warren Buffett predicted in his annual letter to investors Saturday that "the economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 — and, for that matter, probably well beyond." He cautioned that did not determine whether the market would rise or fall. And even when the market finally reaches a bottom, it probably faces a long, long recovery. "We do feel that things can improve, but it is going to be years before we get back to levels we saw in the markets a year ago," said David Chalupnik, head of equities at First American Funds. ___ On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Dow Falls Below 6800

Stocks broadly sold off on Monday amid fears that a recovery for the global economy and the banking system may still be a long way off, sending market benchmarks past another set of milestones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 299.64 points, or 4.2%, to 6763.29, its lowest close since April 25, 1997. The stock measure has fallen four straight days and in 10 of the last 12 sessions, declining 14.8% in that span. The Dow is down 25% from its January 2 peak for this year and down 52.25% from its high of 14164.53 on Oct. 9, 2007. Markets on the Move [Markets Data Center] Track indexes and hot stocks, with roll over charting and headlines. Plus, comprehensive coverage of bonds, commodities and forex. Markets Data Center highlights: Most Actives, Gainers, Losers New Highs and Lows, Money Flows Intraday Futures and Currencies * Video: How Low Can We Go? All 30 Dow components dropped on Monday. Citigroup declined 20% to $1.20. General Electric sank 11% to fall under $8. Other big industrial companies like Boeing, Caterpillar and 3M swooned after a report from the Institute for Supply Management showed that the factory sector remains in dire condition. "Investors finally understand this recession will be deeper and longer, and the recovery will be shallow," said Joe Battipaglia, chief market strategist for the private client group at Stifel Nicolas. "And the government doesn't have a sense of any solution that might instill confidence." Mr. Battipaglia said that the market continues to take most of its clues from weakness in credit markets and the financial sector. While certain pockets of debt instruments have seen improvement since November, he notes it's only in the areas where the government has directly infused capital. The broad selloff pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 34.27 points, or 4.7%, to 700.82, its lowest close since Oct. 30, 1996. The index has fallen four days in a row and has shed 16.1% over the last 11 trading days. Its energy sector fell by 7.3% on Monday as crude-oil futures prices plunged 10%. Its basic-materials sector dropped 6.7% and its financial sector slid 6.3%. Doreen M. Mogavero, president and chief executive of the New York floor brokerage Mogavero, Lee & Co., said some participants are beginning to talk about a possible market bottom around 6000 for the Dow. In the meantime, many of her customers, including hedge funds, are holding off on sending her orders, waiting for greater detail on the new administration's economic policy and for key measures of economic activity to at least slow their long, painful slide. "This market will only stop when people run out of stock to sell," said Ms. Mogavero. [Dow Falls Below 6800] Bloomberg News Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March 2. Ms. Mogavero and other traders in recent days have said that they believe some participants have been forced to sell to raise cash. But it seems such activity has never reached the critical mass that it did on many days in late 2008, when the market would often undergo massive intraday swings as big blocks of stock were unloaded. At the same time, individual investors are increasingly limiting their exposure to stocks. Verlin Abbott, 55 years old, a retired member of the military in Carmel, Ind., said that his portfolio has been almost entirely in cash since August 2008. It will stay that way, he said, until he sees "a confirmed market bottom," which he expects around 680 on the S&P 500, based on his analysis of historical patterns and trends. Mr. Abbott began averaging out of stocks in October 2007, when he held just 15% to 20% of his assets in cash, he said. Bijon Mishra, 60 years old, a financial-services consultant in New York City, manages two thirds of his portfolio, leaving the other third of his assets in the hands a money manager. Since last October, he has kept 80% of the IRA account he controls in Treasurys and bond funds, 5% in cash, and just 15% in stock funds. "This month, I had wanted to start averaging into stock funds, but I'll have to wait and see," Mr. Mishra said. "I want to wait for a firm turnaround, and be as safe as possible." He had expected the Dow industrials to turn around at the mid-to-low 7000 level, but "it hasn't -- I really don't know how much lower it's going to go," he said. Other market benchmarks were also weaker Monday. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 54.99 points, or 4%, to 1322.85. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index surged 15% to about 53.09. For more than five months since the meltdown of Lehman Brothers Holdings, the financial industry's bellwethers haven't been able to right themselves, even after government bailouts in every major industrialized economy, layoffs, and dividend cuts. While many traders acknowledge that those steps will help over the long term, they aren't yet willing to declare an end to the industry's crisis. The latest effort to prop up insurer American International Group, which posted a $61.7 billion loss Monday, also weighed on the financial sector, even though AIG's shares ended flat. The government's retooled rescue for the troubled firm deepened the feeling that efforts to repair ailing companies aren't working. "People are just abandoning the financial sector," said strategist Marc Pado, of the brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald. In the oil market, floor trader Raymond Carbone said rising recession fears have led to demand worries that are behind Monday's sharp losses in crude futures. He said that Monday's session has also been a prime example of oil's increasing propensity to take its cues from the direction of the stock market, especially the S&P 500. He's maintained a bullish position in crude lately because he believes the commodity has become cheap and supply constrained during its steep decline from highs around $145 a barrel last summer. But he said its sometimes been hard to hang on on days when crude gets swept along by speculative unwinding in tandem with the stock market. "I went home the other day and thought to myself, I just don't feel too good being long, as bullish as all the signs seem to be," he said. Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell $4.61 to settle at $40.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Treasury prices rose as investors sought safe havens. The two-year note rose 8/32 to yield 0.899%. The 10-year note climbed 1-2/32 to yield 2.919%