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 - 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 - 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 - O.J. Simpson is going to prison; the question is for how long.

AP - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, who presided over a vast post-Soviet revival of faith but was accused of making the church a force for nationalism, died Friday at age 79, the church headquarters said.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that it is "well past time" for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to leave office as evidenced by the nation's calamitous cholera epidemic and health care crisis.

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 - The first NFL game broadcast to theaters live in 3-D fumbled, then recovered Thursday night.

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's new home minister said on Friday last week's Mumbai attacks had revealed security lapses and that evidence clearly showed longtime enemies from neighboring Pakistan were responsible.

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 - Thais marked their revered king's birthday on Friday in a solemn mood, concerned for the health of the aging monarch and worried as well over their country's debilitating political deadlock.

Reuters - Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said on Friday he expects difficult six-party talks next week on North Korea's nuclear disarmament and that more work needs to be done to iron out verification details.

AFP - A security scare at New Delhi's international airport on Thursday highlighted jitters after the Mumbai attacks, as Pakistan vowed "strong action" if anyone was shown to be involved from its territory.

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