Washington, D.C., United States (4E) – First-time jobless claims dropped slightly last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Some 370,000 people filed their initial claims for unemployment compensation benefits during the week ending May 19. That number was 2,000 fewer claims than were filed the prior week after the Labor Department revised that figure higher.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 3,271,500, a decrease of 17,250 from the revised average of 3,288,750 for the previous week.

About 6,168,620 people claimed benefits in all jobless programs for the week ending May 5. That marked a decrease of 105,004 from the previous week.

May 5 is the latest week for which data on the total number of people collecting benefits is available. In addition, May 12 is the most current week for which the Department of Labor has data on the largest increases and decreases in new claims.

Labor Department officials said the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 12 were in:

• North Carolina (+1,956)
• Mississippi (+675)
• Tennessee (+474)
• Alabama (+428)
• Florida (+373)

The largest decreases were in:

• California (-3,478)
• New York (-3,094)
• Missouri (-2,111)
• Texas (-1,446)
• Illinois (-1,316).

Washington, D.C., United States (4E) – Taking a calcium supplement to prevent bones from thinning may up a person’s risk for heart attack, according to a report published Thursday.

Some 24,000 people between the ages of 35 and 64 participated in the study. Among findings, those who took regular calcium supplements were 86 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those who didn’t take supplements. Those who took only calcium supplements were twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as those who didn’t take any vitamin supplement.

Previous studies, the National Institutes of Health reports, have linked calcium supplements to kidney stones and bloating.

The study authors wrote in the journal Heart, “calcium supplements have been widely embraced by doctors and the public on the grounds that they are a natural and therefore safe way of preventing osteoporatic fractures. We should return to seeing calcium [in food sources] as an important component of a balanced diet.”

The main reason the study was conducted was to determine if calcium supplements modify cardiovascular risk factors.

The researchers, over the course of the 11-year study, found no direct link between supplements and heart attacks, nor did they identify brands of supplements.

The study did not look directly at what caused the heart attacks, but the researchers noted that “supplements cause calcium levels to soar above the normal range, and it is this flooding effect which might ultimately be harmful.”

Treatments used to prevent bone thinning in postmenopausal women have been hotly debated lately as several osteoporosis drugs have come under fire for some serious side effects.

Many healthcare experts recommend getting calcium from food sources such as milk, yogurt and fortified orange juice and cereals.

The findings have more doctors advising patients to get meet their calcium needs through diet alone.

Arlington, VA, United States (4E) – The mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed hit a record low again for the week ending May 24.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday the average rate on the 30-year dipped to 3.78 percent, a record low, from the previous week’s record low of 3.79 percent.

The current rate is the lowest dating back to 1971.

A year ago, the average rate stood at 4.6 percent.

The 15-year fixed rate remained unchanged in the latest week, staying at 3.04 percent, also a record low set last week.

The average rate on the five-year Treasury index hybrid adjustable rate mortgage held firm a 2.83 percent.

The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM inched down to 2.75 percent from 2.78 percent.

Unstable global markets, lackluster employment data and less than stellar housing reports have all helped push mortgage rates to historically low levels.

Washington, D.C., United States (4E) – A new study finds that commuting more than 15 miles to work each day is linked to obesity, belly fat, high blood pressure and less exercise.

The study also found that workers who drive more than 10 miles every day also tend to have high blood pressure.

All of these risk factors increase a person’s chances of developing heart disease and diabetes.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, included some 4,200 adults who commuted to work in two Texas cities.

Researchers used satellite tracking to map the shortest road routes between workers’ homes and offices.

All participants took a treadmill test to measure how long and how hard they could exercise. The researchers then checked myriad indicators for heart disease and diabetes.

The study found that long commutes can take away from exercise time and are “associated with higher weight, lower fitness levels, and higher blood pressure,” all precursors for heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

The study cannot prove that commutes directly cause those problems, and the researchers note that it could be that people who have long commutes are simply more apt to engage in other behaviors that put them at risk for weight gain and inactivity.

However, the researchers stress that of all the places we sit each day, for example in front of a computer, on the couch, or in bed, one of the most dangerous places in terms of health may just be the car. That is because there is really no easy way to interrupt it.

You cannot get up and stretch, walk around or take a break when driving.

A plethora of previous studies have shown that driving is stressful, which also taxes the heart and may result in other health ailments.

The study authors concluded that having a long commute is the “perfect storm” of things that are bad for the body.

Sunnyvale, CA, United States (4E) – Yahoo has had its shares of problems over the past several years. CEOs have come and gone, its share price has suffered, and onetime loyal users have abandoned the search giant for other sites.

But Yahoo aims to turn things around. On Wednesday night, Yahoo unveiled a new, souped up browser and desktop browser plug-in that lets users view visual search thumbnails of webpages without leaving the page they are on.

The new search browser is available as a free download in Apple’s App Store, and as a free plug-in for versions of Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and the Chrome web browsers. An Android version is expected later.

In addition, Yahoo lets a person customize a home page by logging in with your Yahoo ID or Facebook or Google credentials.

New York, N.Y., United States (4E) – United States markets opened higher Thursday following strong earnings from Hewlett Packard and as talks move forward regarding the Greek debit crisis.

Just after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 18 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 3 and the NASDAQ was up 4 points.

Giving stocks a boost were shares of Dow component Hewlett Packard.

The company reported better than expected earnings after the close Wednesday and upped its guidance for the full year. The computer company also announced it is cutting 27,000 jobs worldwide, which is expected to reap $3.5 billion in savings that the company plans to plow into research and development.

In overseas developments, European leaders met Wednesday evening to address the latest problems in the ongoing sovereign debt crisis facing the region and mounting concerns that Greece will exit the euro. Leaders expressed their desire to see Greece remain with the euro, but said the struggling country must be willing to abide by commitments it previously made.

In world markets, Europeans equities were higher in early trading, and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar rose against the euro and the British pound, and was unchanged versus the Japanese yen.

Gold futures for June delivery tacked on $10.60 to $1,558.60 a troy ounce.

Oil, which sank below $90 a barrel Wednesday for the first time in seven months, added 53 cents in early New York trading to $90.43 a barrel.

Volume should start to wind down Thursday and Friday as traders gear up for the long Memorial Day weekend.

Seattle, Wash., United States (4E) – More than 30 percent of all homeowners have negative equity, the term for a home that is underwater, with a mortgage amount that is more than the house is worth.

However, many of the 31.4 percent of homeowners with negative equity are not seriously underwater. About 90 percent of them are paying their mortgage on time, according to the first quarter Zillow Negative Equity Report released on Thursday.

For most homeowners, being under underwater is only a paper loss. It only becomes a real loss if they need to sell their home or are unable to make their payments and the bank forecloses or forces them into a short sale.

Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries pointed out that many homeowners would eventually be above water as they continue to pay down their principal and the value of their home rises.

Nevertheless, Humphries said he was not trying to make light of the situation and he detailed the risk inherent in the situation.

“That said, negative equity remains an issue for the housing market as a whole, and poses a risk to any recovery,” Humphries said. “Not only does negative equity tie many to their homes, by making homeowners unable to move when they may want to, but if economic growth slows and unemployment rises, more homeowners will be unable to make timely mortgage payments, increasing delinquency rates and eventually foreclosures.”

Key facts:

• Nearly 16 million homeowners were underwater on their mortgages in the first quarter of 2012, owing a collective $1.2 trillion more than their homes were worth.
• Foreclosure is not imminent for most underwater homeowners. Nine out of 10 continue to make their mortgage and home loan payments on time, with only 10.1 percent more than 90 days delinquent.
• Many homeowners in negative equity are not deeply underwater. Nearly 40 percent of underwater homeowners owe between 1 and 20 percent more than their home is worth. However, 15 percent of underwater homeowners – approximately 2.4 million – owe more.
• In some markets the magnitude of negative equity is much greater. In the Las Vegas metro area, more than one-quarter of all homeowners with mortgages owes more than double what their home is worth.

New York, N.Y., United States (4E) – After more than 30 years, a possible new lead has emerged in the case of the disappearance of Etan Patz.

The 6-year-old boy made headlines across the United States when he vanished as he walked to the school bus on May 25, 1979.

In a statement Thursday, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “An individual now in custody has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago.”

NYPD picked up the man late Wednesday and brought him to New York for questioning.

News reports say that some police officials are skeptical about the man’s story. The alleged suspect lived and worked in Patz’s Manhattan neighborhood when the boy disappeared, but he has not as yet provided any details that would lead them to Patz’s body.

The search for Etan garnered nationwide attention to the issue of missing children. His face was among the first to appear on milk cartons.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 National Missing Children’s Day.

New York, N.Y., United States (4E) – The price of oil fell below $90 in U.S. trading Wednesday for the first time in almost seven months as U.S. stores continue to swell.

Benchmark crude fell $2.14, or 2.3 percent, to $89.71 per barrel intraday Wednesday. By the close, oil had edged up to $90.06. The price had not been below the $90 level since Nov. 1.

Brent crude dipped to a new low for the year, but remained above $100 a barrel. It fell $2.64 to $105.77 per barrel in London trading.

A welcome sight for U.S. consumers is that pump prices have followed oil lower.

AAA reported Wednesday that retail U.S. gasoline prices were at $3.678 per gallon.

The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas has fallen by 26 cents since peaking in the first week of April, and gasoline is 16.5 cents per gallon cheaper than it was at the same period a year ago.

Oil, and other commodities, are falling in price on fears that Europe’s debt crisis may get worse, while at the same time, supplies of many of those commodities are rising.

A U.S. government report out this week showed that oil supplies grew last week by 900,000 barrels, more than the expected 750,000.

Consumers are delighted with the low price of heating oil this winter. Prices fell further Wednesday, slipping 4.14 cents to $2.82 per gallon. Meanwhile, natural gas, at a decades low, tacked on 0.7 cents to $2.714.

Thursday morning, oil was up 93 cents to $90.83 a barrel

Bangor, Maine, United States (4E) – United States authorities on Wednesday decided to free a Frenchwoman responsible for causing a security scare on a North Carolina-bound flight without any charge.

She will be sent back home, said a statement from the Department of Justice.

The department said that no criminal complaint had been filed against Lucie Zeeko Marigot, who claimed to have “a device in her body” that caused her flight to make an emergency landing earlier this week after being diverted to Maine.

According to investigators, 41-year-old Marigot told the flight attendant in a note that an object had been implanted on her body and she didn’t know whether it could hurt her or others as she had no control over it. She added that she was “a victim of a group of doctors.”

“An examination by two doctors on board determined that she had no visible scars indicating any kind of implant,” the department said.

Authorities searched the plane as well as its luggage in Bangor but did not find anything dangerous. The flight later continued on to Charlotte, N.C.