Two suicide bombers — including one impersonating a police officer — killed 12 people Wednesday in southern Russia. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the blasts may have been organized by the same militants who attacked the Moscow subway.

The second record storm that socked the Northeast this month was reduced to drizzle as it was winding down Wednesday, but the worst of widespread flooding was yet to come, forecasters said.

Companies in the U.S. unexpectedly cut payrolls in March, according to data from a private report based on payrolls. The 23,000 decline was the smallest in two years and followed a revised 24,000 drop the prior month, data from ADP Employer Services showed today. Over the previous six months, ADP’s initial figures have overstated the Labor Department’s first estimate of private payroll losses by as little as 2,000 in February to as much as 151,000 in November. loadposition in-article Companies are still hesitant to add workers until they see sustained sales gains and are convinced the economic recovery has taken hold. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News anticipate the government’s report April 2 will show payrolls increased by 184,000, in part due to temporary hiring by the federal government to conduct the 2010 census and because of better weather compared with February. “The economic recovery has not been long enough or strong enough along the way …

Stock futures are falling Wednesday after a payroll company’s report provided a sobering reminder that the jobs market remains weak. ADP said employers slashed 23,000 jobs in March. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast the report would show employers added 40,000 jobs during the month. loadposition in-article Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 45, or 0.4 percent, to 10,809. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 5.90, or 0.5 percent, to 1,163.50, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 9.75, or 0.5 percent, to 1,955.75. The ADP report is seen as an early indicator of the Labor Department’s employment report due out Friday. However, there can be wide variations because ADP only accounts for private-sector jobs. Economists expect the Labor Department’s report to show employers added 190,000 jobs in March. It would be only the second monthly increase in jobs since the recession began in late 2007. The number could be somewhat inflated because the government hired temporary …