AP - Democratic leaders in Congress sidetracked legislation to bail out the auto industry Thursday and demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable.

AP - New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to a 16-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market expected to get even worse next year.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is likely to choose Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be secretary of homeland security, top Obama advisers and several Democrats said Thursday as the shape of Obama's Cabinet begins to emerge.

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 - With weekly jobless claims benefits at a 16-year high, the White House said Thursday that President George W. Bush would quickly sign legislation pending in Congress to provide further unemployment benefits.

AP - Flip-flopping sentiment about the prospects for U.S. automakers battered stocks again Thursday as hopes rose then fell that lawmakers would soon put together an aid package for the companies. Stocks declined after a brief advance that came on hopes that Washington would agree to help Detroit's Big Three.

AP - Jennifer Garner has won a restraining order from a man she says has been stalking her for years. An attorney for Garner appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday morning and won three years of protection for Garner, husband Ben Affleck and their daughter, Violet.

AP - George Steinbrenner's 35-year reign as boss of the New York Yankees ended Thursday when he passed control of baseball's most famous team to his youngest son, Hal.

AP - A judge will likely grant Madonna and Guy Ritchie an initial divorce decree on Friday, according to the schedule for London's High Court.

Reuters - Senate and House Democratic leaders at a news conference:

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 - President-elect Barack Obama is considering Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be U.S. Homeland Security secretary, heading a sprawling agency formed to bolster civil defense in the wake of the September 11 attacks, a senior Democrat said.

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

Reuters - Conservatives who have abandoned the U.S. Episcopal Church by the thousands in recent years are trying to form a separate-but-equal church, a move that could leave two branches of Anglicanism on American soil.

Reuters - President George W. Bush will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday to review Middle East peace efforts that the U.S. leader had once hoped would produce an agreement before he left office.

AFP - Governments scrambled to cushion the impact of the financial crisis Thursday as lawmakers announced a deal to prop up the US car industry and France launched a sovereign fund to support ailing firms.

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.