CNN news 2011-11-09
First up, Greece is forming a new government. Its current leader is not expected to be a part of it. Greece has a political system made up of a lot of different political parties. And members of several of those parties are putting together a coalition, a kind of political team.
It`s only going to last for a few months before next year`s elections. And during that time, the coalition will try to keep Greece from going bankrupt.
AZUZ (voice-over): We`ve reported on Greece`s massive debt problem, also on concerns about how Greece`s struggling economy could send shock waves around Europe. Greece is likely to get financial help from other European nations. But that help comes with conditions. Greece will have to raise taxes and make even deeper cuts in government spending. Greek citizens have been protecting against doing that.
AZUZ (voice-over): Late last week, Prime Minister George Papandreou barely survived a vote of confidence by members of the Greek parliament. Now he`s helping put together this coalition, and officials say he has agreed to step down after that`s done. So there are still questions about who might lead this coalition.
AZUZ: The U.S. unemployment rate: 9 percent. It dropped one-tenth of a percent in October. It`s been at or above 9 percent since April.
AZUZ (voice-over): But this is why we talk about this so often. The rate is one measure of how the U.S. economy is doing. A lower rate generally signals better times, because more Americans who want jobs have them.
Now take a look at this. Before the great recession started in December of 2007, the U.S. unemployment rate had been hovering around 4 to 5 percent. Anything above that was considered a relatively high unemployment rate. So the fact that it`s been around 9 percent since 2009 gives you an idea of how different the U.S. economy is now than it was before the recession hit.
AZUZ (voice-over): If you`re in California, news of a 5.6 magnitude earthquake might not rattle you. It`s a different story in Oklahoma. This was the strongest earthquake on record in Oklahoma. It happened late Saturday night. No major injuries reported, but there was some structural damage like you see right here.
Some parts of this road just buckled during the quake, and this was actually the second earthquake that hit Oklahoma on Saturday. One with a magnitude of 4.7 struck early in the morning.