AP - With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush on Friday ensured that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting their unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.

AP - Thousands of followers of a radical Shiite cleric protested a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security deal Friday, burning an effigy of President George W. Bush in the same square where Iraqis beat a toppled Saddam Hussein statue five years ago.

AP - Attorney General Michael Mukasey was feeling better Friday after collapsing during a speech, a spokeswoman said, reporting that hospital medical tests showed no signs of a stroke or cardiac-related problem.

AP - Somali pirates have collected more than $150 million in ransoms over the past year, Kenya's foreign affairs minister said Friday, calling on ship owners not to pay when their vessels are hijacked.

AP - Nebraska lawmakers have given final approval to adding a 30-day age limit to the state's safe-haven law.

AP - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, unexpectedly announced Friday that its chief executive will retire in February and be replaced by the head of its international division.

AP - Wall Street took a break from two days of steep selling to show a moderate advance Friday as energy, technology and financial stocks mostly rose.

AP - The show-business marriage that began in a Scottish castle came to an end in a drab London courtroom Friday as Madonna and Guy Ritchie were granted a preliminary decree of divorce.

AP - When you gotta go, you gotta go. But for decades, when you had to go in the Roxbury Free Library, you really had to go — somewhere else, that is.

Reuters - Retired Marine Gen. James Jones emerged as a leading contender for White House national security adviser as President-elect Barack Obama worked on Thursday to assemble his foreign policy team.

Reuters - US stocks recovered some ground on opening on Friday, though Citigroup fell further, amid continued fear that central bank moves to stabilize financial markets might not be enough to prevent a prolonged global recession.

Reuters - U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey was doing well in hospital on Friday after an apparent "fainting spell" that caused his collapse during a speech the night before, a spokeswoman said.

Reuters - President George W. Bush on Friday signed into law an extension of unemployment benefits, the White House said.

Reuters - Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched on Friday against a pact letting U.S. forces stay in Iraq until 2011, toppling an effigy of President George W. Bush where U.S. troops once tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc shares fell sharply again on Friday as the second-largest U.S. bank by assets mulled a variety of options including a possible merger or asset sales to restore the bank's health and investor confidence, a source said.

Reuters - Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that some employees had gained unauthorized access and viewed a personal cell phone account held by President-elect Barack Obama that is now inactive.

Reuters - Dozens of Somali Islamist insurgents stormed a port on Friday hunting the pirates behind the seizure of a Saudi supertanker that was the world's biggest hijack, a local elder said.

AFP - The use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely by 2025, according to a bleak US intelligence report that warns that US global dominance is likely to weaken over the next two decades.

AFP - Thousands of Shiite followers of firebrand anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad on Friday to protest a security accord that would allow US troops to remain in Iraq until 2011.