Mid-day Update

MID-DAY UPDATE: Welcome to the wonderful world of expanded domains, It’s all about Greece

Katharine Crnko Jun 20, 2011

Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.

Big companies are no longer limited to .com. Internet minders voted today to allow an onslaught of new domain names on themes as varied as company brands, entertainment and political causes. Here is our coverage.

An update now on the negotiations over raising the federal debt ceiling. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told CBS yesterday that lawmakers may not be able to tackle entitlement reform just yet.

It’s all about Greece, yet again. This morning’s news: No agreement yet on a new round of European bailout money for Athens. European Union Inspectors will visit Athens tomorrow.

The European Union will continue to push for a global financial transaction tax at the G-20 leaders’ meeting in November, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday.

Mexican officials say they expect a boost in tourism. They say new flights from Europe and South America will help bring more people in.

In St. Ansgar, Iowa, over the weekend residents gathered to taste what could be the world’s largest bowl of oatmeal. It took more than 300 pounds of oatmeal and more than 700 pounds of water to make it. And I’m guessing they had to put it in the microwave for more than 90 seconds.

To Norway where about a quarter of the country’s population has tuned into a new TV show that is chronicling the minute-by-minute goings on aboard a cruise ship in the Norwegian Fjords. The show uses 11 cameras and features scenic views as well as shots of passengers relaxing on the deck of the ship. It’s supposed to last for about 8,000 minutes. The project manager for the cruise show said of the program: “It is slow. It is very slow”.

People who are creeped out by clowns have a real condition called coulrophobia. One guy who plays a clown in a British circus has an idea: He’ll show people how he gradually transforms into a clown. Applying makeup and the big nose easing people into the fun. Call it clown-therapy.

You can read the rest of today’s stories from the Marketplace Morning Report here.

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