“General Electric Co. and Comcast Corp have agreed on a valuation of around $30 billion for a joint venture between NBC Universal and Comcast, ironing out what has been a key obstacle in talks so far, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.” Link

“The storm has already wreaked havoc in El Salvador, where the government reported 42 people were killed in flooding and mudslides resulting from heavy rain. Ida also drenched Nicaragua after making landfall last week as a Category 1 hurricane, then weakening to a tropical storm. It regained hurricane strength overnight Saturday.” Link

“President Obama is calling on Representatives to pass the sweeping health care reform bill scheduled for a floor vote tonight. ‘This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people have put in us,’ he said in a public address on the grounds of the White House just now. ” Link

“A Washington, D.C., nonprofit group wants to know why Wall Street bankers are getting vaccines against the new H1N1 flu strain when many Americans are being told to wait.

The nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, is urging U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to begin an immediate investigation into the matter. In a letter Thursday to Sebelius, the group questioned why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control approved distribution of scarce vaccines to firms such as Citigroup Inc. (C), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and JPMorganChase & Co. (JPM).” Link

US unemployment hit over 10% Friday, with 16 million Americans out of work even as the recession is ending: “The Labor Department said Friday that jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September, but more than economists expected.”

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