The Day's (Other) News...

While news has been streaming out of Greece at a breakneck pace, we've been holding back one of our regular features, "The Day's News..." Have no fear, we'll return to Greek riot updates first thing in the morning. If you're new to this blog, we hope you'll enjoy this small taste of what we post when there aren't insurrections in Greece.

• In the past two months alone, Somali pirates have attacked more than 30 vessels, eluding beefed up naval patrols, going farther out to sea and seeking bigger, more lucrative game, including an American cruise ship and a 1,000-foot Saudi oil tanker. The pirates are recalibrating their tactics, attacking ships in beelike swarms of 20 to 30 skiffs, and threatening to choke off one of the busiest shipping arteries in the world, at the mouth of the Red Sea. UN officials recently estimated that Somali pirates had netted as much as $120 million this year in ransom payments. The UN recently authorized land and air attacks on pirates.
  

• U.S. foreclosure filings climbed 28 percent in November from a year earlier and a brewing “storm” of new defaults and job losses may force 1 million homeowners from their properties next year. Rising unemployment, expiring foreclosure moratoriums and state efforts that “run out of steam” will push monthly filings toward the record of more than 303,000 set in August. The number of homes that revert to lenders, the last stage of foreclosure and known as “real estate owned” or REO properties, will increase to 1 million from as many as 880,000 this year.

• Legions of Mexican immigrants have been exiting the U.S. because of the economic crisis. Municipal officials in Mexico City predict that 20,000 to 30,000 of the city's former residents will move back this Christmas alone.

• The world's first refrigerated beach is to be built at a luxury hotel in Dubai so vacationers don't burn their feet on the scalding hot sand. The beach will sit next to the new Palazzo Versace hotel and will include a system of heat-absorbing pipes built under the sand and giant wind blowers, designed to keep tourists cool in the searing 40-50C heat. The hotel, which is due to open late next year or early 2010, will be controlled by thermostats linked up to computers and feature a cooled swimming pool.

• C.S.A. Strategy Quote Of The Day: "If you find yourself in a fair fight, you failed to properly plan beforehand."--Anonymous (we've used this before, but it seems timely.)