Indianapolis, IN, United States (AHN) – The amount of food that will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday rivals the biggest Thanksgiving Day feasts.

Americans will down 1.25 billion, or 100 million pounds, of chicken wings, enough to circle the Earth more than twice, the National Chicken Council reports. Game watchers will nosh on 13.2 million pounds of pretzels, 43.2 million pounds of tortilla chips and 45.8 million pounds of potato chips, according to Nielsen. The Beer Council says 111 million gallons of beer will be consumed. And, according to stats from Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Papa John’s, 4.4 million pizza pies will be eaten.

Also edging their way into Super Bowl feasts are more healthier fare. There is a 25 percent increase in carrot eating on Super Bowl Sunday compared to other Sundays. And, 71.4 million pounds of heart-healthy avocados (used for guacamole dip) will also be eaten.

According to a Harris Interactive Survey, 54 percent of fans eat throughout the game instead of snacking at specific times; 12 percent start snacking before the game as a warm-up; and 9 percent start feasting after kickoff.

Thirty-two percent will snacks on dips and spreads; 23 percent will chew on chicken wings; 14 percent will dine on pizza and 14 percent will down salty snacks such as chips, peanuts, pretzels or popcorn, the survey found.

The number one player (past or present) fans would most like top have at their Super Bowl party is Joe Montana, Harris said. Tim Tebow takes the second spot, followed by Tom Brady.

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Mountain View, CA, United States (AHN) – Teens as young as 13 can now log into Google’s social network site Google +, with some enhanced safety features. The move is a bid to attract more users.

The service has until now only been open only to adults. The announcement on Thursday comes just after the internet search giant announced changes to its users privacy policy.

Beginning March 1, the company will follow the activities of users as they move across the firm’s web sites, including its highly popular YouTube, Gmail and main search sites. The company said the changes would apply only to users who are signed into the Google accounts.

Under the new tracking policy, Google said it could track the activities of teens as they surf across the company’s Web site and when using Google +.

The enhanced safety features include warnings when teens are about to make public posts and rigid default privacy settings.

Currently, Google has 90 million users on Google+ compared with Facebook’s 800 million.

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Davos, Switzerland (AHN) – The International Monetary Fund joined 10 other economic bodies in warning of a threat to global economies posed by the austerity drives adopted by many governments around the world.

In an expression of concern over the weakness of global economic activity and rising unemployment, the head of the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization on Friday issued a statement warning about the economic and social risks of government austerity programs.

The leaders said they were issuing a “call to action” aimed at boosting economic growth and fighting protectionism. They said that governments needed to formulate policies to create jobs, reduce inequality and help to green the global economy to protect the Earth’s environments.

Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, in a joint statement said that world economies faced “significant and urgent challenges.”

The statement was published ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland next week.

There are increasing concerns that the global economy is headed for another severe recession, in part because of the ongoing eurozone crisis.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan reported a steep plunge in its quarterly earnings Friday morning caused by large losses in its investment banking and trading divisions.

JPMorgan is the nation’s largest bank by assets.

Bank officials reported that it earned $3.7 billion, or 90 cents per share, in the final quarter of 2011, down by 23 percent from $4.8 billion, or $1.12 per share, during the same quarter a year earlier.

The news caused shares of JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) stock to fall by 3 percent in early trading.

Nevertheless, for the entire year of 2011, profit rose by 9 percent to $18.98 billion, compared with $17.37 billion for 2010.

Net income from investment banking fell by 52 percent to $726 million during the quarter. That drop includes a $567 million loss caused by a narrowing of the spreads between interest rates on certain assets.

However, JPMorgan said that without those debit valuation adjustments the investment banking division would have earned $1.1 billion.

Net income from its asset management business fell by 40 percent to $302 million in the fourth quarter.

However, there was brighter news in JPMorgan’s real estate division portfolio. That lost only $11 million in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $823 million a year earlier.

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Wolfsburg, Germany (AHN) – Volkswagen AG announced it had record sales of 5.1 million cars and sport-utility vehicles worldwide in 2011.

Sales were up worldwide by 13.1 percent in 2011 from 2010, company officials said.

Volkswagen is Europe’s largest carmaker.

Although much of its growth came from gains in China, India, Russia and the United States, its two largest markets were Europe and China. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker sold 1.72 million vehicles in each of those markets.

However, company officials said they expected challenges in the market environment for 2012.

VW officials credited new versions of some models, such as the Passat, Jetta and Beetle for helping to boost sales in “difficult market conditions.”

The only region that didn’t record strong growth was South America, where sales increased by only 2.2 percent.

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Hoffman Estates, IL, United States (AHN) – Sears Holdings has released a list of 79 Sears and Kmart stores it will close nationwide because of the company’s poor sales over the critical holiday period.

The company did not give an estimate of job losses because it said that employment numbers varied by store.

The first list of stores to close are located in every region of the country. But Florida in the Southeast led the list with 11 stores closing followed by Midwest states Michigan and Ohio with six each.

Alabama, California, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia are losing three stores each, while Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Washington and Wisconsin will lose two each, and Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina will each lose one store. In North Carolina, four stores will close.

Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) is one of the nation’s largest retailers. The company did not announce the closing dates for the stores.

Chief Executive Officer Lou D’Ambrosio announced the store closings and outlined other actions in a statement.

“Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model. These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail – at the store, online and in the home,” D’Ambrosio said.

He said the company would also reduce its peak inventory and fixed costs as well as focus on improving profit margins.

Same-store sales were down by 5.2 percent in the eight weeks leading to Christmas Day compared to a year earlier.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – It’s the economy that keeps Americans up at night, on edge and worried, revealed a new CNN/ORC International poll released Friday.

Some 70 percent said that things are not going well in the United States, with just three out of 10 saying things are okay, putting the state of the economy as the top worry and the most pressing issue heading into the new year.

More than half of those surveyed, or 57 percent, said the economy is the most important issue facing the country at present, and half named unemployment as the most important issue facing the economy. The deficit came in a very distant second with 16 percent.

Even as the payroll tax extension bill looms, only 7 percent of Americans named taxes as the most important economic issue in the United States.

The CNN poll of 1.085 American adults was conducted by ORC International via phone between Dec. 16 and Dec. 18.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Fixed mortgage rates in the United States fell back to historic lows over the past week, with the 30-year loan dropping back to the record 3.94 percent.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported in its weekly survey of mortgage rates for the week ending Dec. 15 that the average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell below its all-time low of 3.26 percent in October, and the average rate on a 30-year fixed matched its all-time low of 3.94 percent.

Helping mortgage rates continue their run of historic low rates was the announcement from the Federal Reserve this week that the housing market is still ailing. The Fed also left rates unchanged and hinted they would remain low for an extended period.

The 30-year fixed mortgage was down from 3.99 percent from the prior week, and 4.83 percent from the same period a year ago. Rates on the 15-year fixed averaged 3.21 percent, down from 3.27 percent a week earlier and 4.17 percent a year ago.

Despite the record low mortgage rates, 2011 is shaping up to be the worst for home sales in 14 years. Sales of previously owned homes are just a hair above last year, which were the worst in 13 years. New home sales are likely to close out 2011 as the worst year on record dating back some 50 years.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage stayed near its record low for the sixth consecutive week. But, the historically low rates have done little to goose the ailing housing market.

On Thursday, mortgage giant Freddie Mac said the rate on the 30-year home loan edged down to 3.99 percent from 4 percent the previous week. It dropped to a record low of 3.94 nine weeks ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.27 percent from 3.30 percent. It also hit a record low nine weeks earlier when it fell to 3.26 percent.

For all of but two weeks in 2011, rates have been below 5 percent. Yet this year may turn out to be the worst for home sales in 14 years.

The record low rates have not helped homes sales. Sales of previously owned homes are just a hair ahead on last year’s figures, which were the worst in 13 years. In addition, new homes sales appear to be headed for their worst year on records dating back 50 years.

High unemployment and tight bank lending standards have made it much harder for potential home owners to qualify for loans. Also, many Americans are reluctant to pour money into homes that could lose value over the next several years.

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Torrence, CA, United States (AHN) – Japanese automaker Honda has expanded its previously announced recall of vehicles with dangerous air bags to include almost 900,000 vehicles.

The recall affects only vehicles sold in the United States and includes model years 2001 to 2003 of the affected cars.

The recalled vehicles now include certain 2001 and 2002 Accord, 2001 to 2003 Civic, 2001 to 2003 Odyssey, 2002 and 2003 CR-V, 2003 Pilot, 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL models, Honda officials said in a statement.

Honda first said the driver’s airbag inflator needed to be replaced because it had a risk of deploying with too much pressure and could rupture, which might result in injuries or death.

The company will begin sending out official notices to owners. However, owners can find more information online and also take an affected vehicle to their dealer for inspection and repairs.

“When Honda identifies concerns of this nature, nothing is more important to the company than fulfilling our obligation and responsibility to alert our customers,” Honda officials said in a statement posted on the company website. “To this end, in addition to contacting customers by mail, in late December, owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicles require repair by going on-line or calling. Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009 and select option 4; Acura owners can go to www.recalls.acura.com or call (800) 382-2238 and select option 4.”

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