A man delivered bombs wrapped as Christmas presents to two banks Wednesday along with notes threatening “mass death” if they did not turn over tens of thousands of dollars, Aspen, Colorado, police said Thursday. He was later found dead after apparently shooting himself.

A statue worth more than ,000 that was stolen from the Palm Beach, Florida, estate of Wall Street investment adviser Bernard Madoff has been recovered, police said Thursday.

The number of homicides in New York City rose about four percent in 2008 compared with the previous year, preliminary figures from the city’s police department showed.