AP - The $25 billion rescue plan for the auto industry, desperately sought by Detroit's beleaguered Big Three, collapsed Thursday as Congress drew the line at one more bailout and Democrats said they wouldn't even consider it until the companies produced a convincing plan for rebuilding their once-mighty industry.

AP - Jarred by new jobless alarms, Congress raced to approve legislation Thursday to keep unemployment checks flowing through the December holidays and into the new year for a million or more laid-off Americans whose benefits are running out.

AP - What Robert Gates once called "inconceivable to me" — his remaining as defense secretary beyond Inauguration Day — is looking a bit more conceivable to the rest of Washington.

AP - "Uncle Ted" Stevens, an old-style Senate giant and the chamber's longest-serving Republican, delivered his swan song address and yielded the floor for the final time Thursday. He was saluted by his colleagues as a staunch friend and teacher.

AP - A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of five Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the continued detention of a sixth in a major blow to the Bush administration's strategy to keep terror suspects locked up without charges.

AP - An agency director improperly used state computers to find personal information on "Joe the Plumber," a government watchdog said in a report released Thursday. There was no legitimate business purpose for the head of Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services to order staff to look up the records, Inspector General Tom Charles said.

AP - Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books. The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the universe.

AP - Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality. The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

AP - Ryan Fitzpatrick's 10-yard touchdown pass to Glenn Holt gave the Cincinnati Bengals a 7-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers after one quarter Thursday night.

Reuters - The global economy saw more signs of distress on Thursday with U.S. stocks plunging for a second consecutive day, oil prices falling, a surprise rate cut in Switzerland, export woes in Japan and rescue loans to Turkey and Iceland.

Reuters - Stocks plunged yet again on Thursday, as a frantic flight from risk prompted by investors' deepening economic fears drove the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index to its lowest level since 1997 -- completing the erasure of more than a decade of stock market gains.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc lost more than one-quarter of its market value on growing worries over whether it has enough capital to withstand billions of dollars of potential losses and despite new support from its largest individual investor.

Reuters - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. home loan finance companies, on Thursday said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied homes until early 2009, as the government moves to stem the tide of home losses plaguing the economy.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama moved closer to assembling his Cabinet on Thursday with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano emerging as the top contender to head the Homeland Security Department, created to protect Americans after the September 11 attacks.

Reuters - Exasperated U.S. lawmakers criticized Federal Reserve and Treasury Department efforts to shore up the faltering economy on Thursday, telling officials that their financial rescue efforts have not reached small businesses or homeowners.

Reuters - The number of American workers on the unemployment rolls surged to the highest in a quarter century and a regional manufacturing gauge slumped as U.S. economic misery intensified.

Reuters - Five of six Algerians held nearly seven years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba must be released, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a setback for the Bush administration.

AFP - News of fresh job cuts worldwide and a strong jump in US unemployment Thursday darkened the global economic outlook and sent financial markets into convulsions.

AFP - Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi oil super-tanker demanded a 25 million dollar ransom Thursday amid calls for tougher action to end threats to one of the world's key maritime routes.