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Reuters - U.S. stocks fell on Friday after a record drop in retail sales last month heightened fears that American consumers' reluctance to spend will push the economy into an even deeper downturn than currently expected.
AP - Space shuttle Endeavour stood poised with its crew at the launch pad Friday for an evening flight to the international space station and a home remodeling project by astronauts doubling as kitchen and bathroom installers.
AP - Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman's chances of holding onto his committee chairmanship suffered a blow Friday when a key New England Democrat came out against him. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Democrat-turned-independent Lieberman doesn't deserve to keep his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairmanship because of his campaign attacks on President-elect Barack Obama.
AP - The White House on Friday threw its support behind a plan to speed release of $25 billion in existing loans to the Big Three automakers but rejected a Democratic proposal to use money from a financial bailout to help the troubled industry.
AP - Nebraska officials geared up Friday for a special legislative session designed to deal with a unique "safe haven" law whose unintendend consequences have allowed parents to abandon nearly three dozen children as old as 17.
AP - Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers said Friday he doesn't know President-elect Barack Obama any better than "thousands of other Chicagoans" and the two never talked about Ayers' anti-war activities. In a television interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," the college professor disputed the contention that in the new afterword of a paperback edition of his 2001 memoir "Fugitive Days" he describes he and Obama as "family friends."
AP - President-elect Barack Obama will meet Monday with John McCain in talks that Obama's transition office said would focus on ways they can cooperate on an array of troublesome issues facing the country. The meeting will be the first since Obama, the Democratic Illinois senator, beat McCain, the Arizona Republican senator, by an Electoral College landslide in the Nov. 4 election.
AP - Wall Street retreated in a choppy session Friday as investors absorbed another wave of downbeat economic news and took little solace from hints that an additional interest rate cut might be possible. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 150 points.
Reuters - A top U.S. banking regulator unveiled a plan on Friday to prevent about 1.5 million foreclosures, breaking ranks with the Bush administration by demanding bailout funds be diverted from banks to consumers.
AP - Roger Federer was tired, his back was aching and he trailed 3-0 in the deciding set. Still, he wasn't about to end his pursuit of a fifth Masters Cup title.
AP - Joe Jonas is tired of hearing about how he's a bad boyfriend
AP - NASA fueled space shuttle Endeavour on Friday for an evening flight to the international space station and a home remodeling project by astronauts doubling as kitchen and bathroom installers. The weather was promising: Forecasters said there was just a 30 percent chance that rain or clouds would interfere with the 7:55 p.m. liftoff.
AP - Federal prosecutors have drafted an indictment against six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in last year's deadly Baghdad shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned. The draft is being reviewed by senior Justice Department officials but no charging decisions have been made. A decision is not expected until at least later this month, people close to the case said.
AFP - Iraq is likely to approve a military pact with a timetable for the withdrawal of all US troops by 2011 and British troops will leave by the end of next year, Iraq's national security adviser said Friday.
Reuters - The U.S. Senate plans to take up a $25 billion bailout bill for distressed domestic automakers on Monday, but it remains unclear if proponents can muster the support necessary to pass the legislation.
AP - Firefighters struggled to get control of a raging wildfire Friday that destroyed more than 100 homes and injured 13 people in this Mediterranean-style coastal town that has been home to celebrities from Charlie Chaplin to Oprah Winfrey.
AP - Consumers, taking a beating from the worst financial crisis in seven decades, cut back sharply on their spending in October, pushing retail sales down by a record amount.
AP - A bill to rescue the troubled auto industry with $25 billion in emergency loans inched forward Friday when Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will begin debate Monday and hold a test vote two days later. Supporters scrambled for votes to break an expected filibuster.
AP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy undercut the American rationale for a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe on Friday by saying that the system would do nothing to improve European security.
AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County, where a wildfire has destroyed more than 100 homes.
Reuters - Violence in Iraq has decreased sharply but al Qaeda, Iranian-backed fighters and other militants remain a serious threat, as this week's bomb attacks showed, Washington's U.N. envoy said on Friday.
Reuters - The Senate plans to take up a $25 billion bill on Monday to bail out distressed domestic auto companies, but it is unclear if proponents can muster the necessary support.
AP - Rapper Kanye West was arrested after a fracas outside a nightclub but released without charge, British media reported Friday.
AP - Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general.
AP - With economic damage expanding, the United States and global financial officials took steps Friday aimed at preventing a repeat of the financial meltdown that has imperiled the global economy.
AFP - Leaders from the world's biggest economic powers gathered in Washington on Friday for a crisis summit to recast the global financial order as recession spreads to a growing number of countries.
Reuters - Global central banks are ready to take further steps to ease market tensions and bolster faltering economic growth, top policymakers said on Friday, as world leaders gathered for talks on the economic crisis.
Reuters - Europe officially fell into recession on Friday and the U.S. economy suffered further blows as world leaders headed to Washington to address the worst financial crisis in 80 years.
AP - The career of Ann E. Dunwoody ascended Friday from humble beginnings 33 years ago at Fort Sill, Okla., to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general.
AP - Wall Street retreated Friday from the previous session's big gains as investors digested more downbeat economic news and took little comfort from hints from that another interest rate cut might be possible. The Dow Jones industrials fell nearly 250 points.
AP - A missile strike apparently by a U.S. drone hit a house in Pakistan's tribal region close to the Afghan border Friday, killing at least 12 people including several foreign militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
AP - Firefighters and a squadron of aircraft launched a desperate daylight attack Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed at least 100 homes and forced thousands to evacuate.
Reuters - Sen. Hillary Clinton emerged on Thursday as a candidate to be U.S. secretary of state for Barack Obama, months after he defeated her in an intense contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.
AP - A 5-year-old boy has been dropped off at an Omaha, Neb., hospital only a day before the state Legislature begins a meeting to change the state's safe-haven law.
AP - Investors digesting more downbeat economic news Friday cashed in some of their gains from the previous session's big rally, but the market showed some signs of stability in the early going.
AP - Consumers, taking a beating from the worst financial crisis in seven decades, cut back sharply on their spending in October, pushing retail sales down by a record amount.
Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will meet with his former rival, Republican Sen. John McCain, on Monday to talk about ways they can work together, an Obama spokeswoman said on Friday.
Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday central bankers around the world were ready to do more to ease severe credit market strains and support faltering economic growth.
AP - President-elect Barack Obama plans to meet with vanquished Republican rival John McCain on Monday in Chicago, his transition office announced Friday.
AP - Thousands of hungry and homeless lined up for food Friday deep in rebel-held territory in eastern Congo as the U.N. began its first large-scale delivery in the area since fighting broke out in late October.
AP - Firefighters were racing early Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed at least 100 homes and a college dormitory, injured four people and forced thousands to flee the longtime celebrity hideaway of Montecito.
Reuters - Militants shot and wounded two foreign journalists on the outskirts of Peshawar on Friday, and U.S. missiles killed 12 people in a strike on a Pakistani Taliban commander's stronghold in tribal lands bordering Afghanistan.
Reuters - Sales at retailers suffered a record decline in October, government data on Friday showed, as shoppers took fright over falling home prices and a widening credit crunch pushing the economy toward recession.
AP - Wall Street futures pulled back further after a sobering report on retail sales.
AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged Friday to work closely with other central banks to fix global financial problems and left open the door to a fresh interest rate cut to help brace the sinking U.S. economy.
AP - A Japanese journalist was shot Friday in the frontier city of Peshawar
AFP - The economy of the 15 nations sharing the euro has slumped into recession for the first time ever, EU data released Friday revealed, with GDP falling 0.2 percent in the second and third quarters.
AFP - Deepening recession and divisions over how to tackle the global financial turmoil increased pressure on world leaders Friday ahead of a summit of more than 20 of the richest nations and emerging countries.
Reuters - The United States wants to increase the number of countries enjoying visa-free entry after opening the door to citizens from six new European Union countries and South Korea, U.S. officials said Friday.
Reuters - World leaders headed to Washington on Friday to try to find ways to tackle a global economic crisis that has plunged much of Europe into its first recession since the euro currency was formed.
AP - Firefighters were racing early Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed about 80 homes and a college dormitory in the tony community of Montecito, injured four people and forced thousands to flee the longtime celebrity hideaway.
Reuters - Recession has hit much of Europe, data showed on Friday, confirming a widespread economic downturn that world leaders hope to tackle at a weekend summit in Washington.
AP - A Japanese journalist was wounded in an apparent kidnap attempt in the frontier city of Peshawar on Friday
AFP - The economy of the 15 nations sharing the euro has slumped into recession for the first time ever, EU data released Friday revealed, with GDP falling 0.2 percent in the second and third quarters.
AFP - The blast of recession hit Europe on Friday as leaders from more than 20 rich and emerging countries headed for a crisis summit in Washington and OPEC called a special meeting on slumping oil prices.
Reuters - Hamas Islamists fired their longest-range rockets at a southern Israeli city on Friday after an Israeli air force attack on their Gaza stronghold, in the 11th day of skirmishes threatening a five-month-old truce.
Reuters - A Chapter 11 restructuring bid by one of the three top U.S. automakers is unlikely to succeed due to the damaged economy and frozen credit markets, and may even result in the company folding, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg in an interview.
AP - Police say a Japanese journalist has been wounded in a kidnap attempt in northwestern Pakistan.
AFP - World leaders are heading to Washington on Friday to craft a joint strategy to tackle the worst financial crisis in decades and thwart a deep global recession.
Reuters - North Korea accused Seoul on Friday of intentionally dragging ties on the unstable peninsula to a new low, with a former South Korean leader saying relations may now stand on the brink of reconciliation or catastrophe.
Reuters - The Israeli air force attacked a Palestinian Hamas rocket crew in Gaza on Friday and Hamas rockets hit an Israeli city, in the 11th day of long-range skirmishes threatening to wreck a five-month-old truce.
Reuters - Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles into a Pakistani tribal region on Friday, killing 12 people, including five foreigners, in an area known as a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.
AP - On a night when the theme of change and cultural fusion echoed in lyrics, performances and acceptance speeches, a Colombian rocker who's become a voice for social issues walked away as king of the Latin Grammys.
AP - An explosive wildfire destroyed about 70 homes in the ritzy community of Montecito, injured four people and forced thousands to flee wind-whipped flames in the longtime hideaway for celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Rob Lowe.
AP - All aboard, there may be another bailout train leaving the station on Capitol Hill. Talk of a $25 billion emergency loan package for the Big Three carmakers that could see a vote in a postelection session of Congress next week has a wave of business lobbyists clamoring for action
Reuters - Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles into a Pakistani tribal region on Friday, killing 12 people, including five foreigners, in an area known as a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.
Reuters - World leaders headed to Washington on Friday to discuss ways to protect the global economy from a repeat of the worst financial crisis in 80 years.
AP - Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of alien planets outside our solar system, images captured by two teams of astronomers. The pictures show four likely planets that appear as specks of white, nearly indecipherable except to the most eagle-eyed experts. All are trillions of miles away
AFP - Osama bin Laden, deeply isolated and likely near the rugged Afghanistan-Pakistan border, has been forced to devote much of his energy to his own security while his Al-Qaeda terror network remains resilient, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Thursday.
AFP - A suspected US missile strike killed at least 10 Islamist militants in a Pakistani tribal region known as a hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels, security officials said Friday.