NPR News

Though "overall readings remain historically weak," consumer confidence went up sharply this month, the private research group known as The Conference Board just reported.

Home prices across the U.S. are still only "back to their first quarter of 2003 levels" and "drifted lower in September and the third quarter," according to the widely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which were just released.

As The Associated Press says, the news is "the latest evidence that the troubled housing market won't recover any time soon."

Anders Behring Breivik had been delusional for a long time and was insane on July 22 when he killed 77 people during two horrific attacks in Norway, two psychiatrists reported today. He should be put in a psychiatric ward, not a prison, they conclude.

Diagnostic errors account for as much as 40 percent of medical malpractice claims. And communication lapses, including failing to pass along test results, make up a growing proportion of those claims, according to a recent study.

The work, published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, shows that malpractice payouts due to communication failures more than quadrupled between 1991 and 2010, to $91 million annually.

Good morning.

Things have already been a bit busy, with some breaking news. Here are our early headlines:

-- American Airlines Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.