AP - With the economy sinking faster, employers are giving more Americans dreaded pink slips right before the holidays.

AP - Stock intended to eventually earn taxpayers a profit as part of the Bush administration's massive bank bailout has lost a third of its value — about $9 billion — in barely one month, according to an Associated Press analysis. Shares in virtually every bank that received federal money have remained below the prices the government negotiated.

AP - A security pact that sets a timetable for troops to leave Iraq requires a shift in how the U.S. carries out combat missions during its remaining time in the country, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said Friday.

AP - The government would order a major restructuring of Detroit's struggling Big Three auto companies in exchange for a multibillion-dollar bailout under a plan circulating in Congress.

AP - Wall Street was on edge Friday as investors waited to learn how many jobs were lost as employers slashed their payrolls in November. Stock index futures were trading moderately lower.

AP - Preparing for her new role as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to surround herself with a cast of die-hard loyalists and veterans of her husband's administration to help her cope with world crises and backstage Washington power plays.

AP - India's top law enforcement official admitted Friday there were government "lapses" in last week's terror attack on Mumbai, amid a public uproar over security and intelligence failures in the deadly siege.

AP - A jury convicted pop singer Boy George Friday of falsely imprisoning a male escort.

AP - Antonio Pierce is finally going to talk to investigators about what he did on the night Plaxico Burress shot himself.

Reuters - China and the United States sparred on Friday over how to handle an economic crisis that has forced central banks around the globe into a series of dramatic interest rate cuts.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama has begun laying the groundwork for overhauling the troubled U.S. healthcare system, reaching out to interest groups and building grass-roots support for the huge undertaking.

Reuters - China and the United States pledged on Friday to boost efforts to tackle the turmoil engulfing global markets and to continue high-level cooperation when President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

Reuters - There is broad understanding of distress but no consensus yet in Congress to rescue U.S. automakers as industry chiefs hope on Friday to advance their case in a second appearance before lawmakers in two days.

Reuters - India acknowledged the Mumbai attacks had revealed security lapses but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday evidence showed the strike originated on the soil of a neighbor, a clear reference to Pakistan.

Reuters - The United States has made clear progress in steadying its financial system, thanks in part to a $700 billion bailout fund authorized by Congress, but the rehabilitation process still faces many challenges, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday.

Reuters - Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro said on Thursday his country could talk to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, in Havana's latest overture to the incoming Democratic administration in Washington.

Reuters - Thais marked King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 81st birthday on Friday in a solemn mood, concerned for the health of the aging monarch and worried as well over Thailand's debilitating political deadlock.

AFP - India has been angered "as never before" by the attacks in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday, as his new home minister hinted at growing evidence of Pakistani involvement.

AFP - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, has died, a church spokesman told AFP on Friday. He was 79.