Today's Top 3 News Stories- 12/15/11

War in Iraq officially over
A ceremony was held in Baghdad today.  Americans lowered the flag, ending close to 9 years of warfare.  4487 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the start of the war, 32,226 U.S. wounded.  150,000 Iraqi's have been killed since the start.  The cost for the U.S. was around $800 billion.  This has been America's costliest war in decades.  There are 4000 remaining troops in Iraq still waiting their departure.

Buyers Remorse
A dangerous sign for retailers and our economy- Retailers say the season got off to a record start.  They expect holiday sales of $469 billion which is up 4% from last year.  Consumers are experiencing buyers remorse and returning things that they purchased.  This season shoppers are expected to return a record $217 billion worth of merchandise.  That is 14% more than last year.  The bulk of the returns are electronics.  Companies that make and sell them will lose $17 billion alone this year which is up 20% since 2007.

Contagion
One of the deadliest viruses imaginable has been created by scientists.  Is the research too dangerous to share with the world?  A fight is about to erupt.  A government committee is deciding how much scientists can reveal when they publish this study.  Two scientists, one in Europe and the other at the University of Wisconsin genetically altered the wild bird flu so it could be easily transmitted from person to person.  They proved this using ferrets which transfer flu like humans.