 AP - Humbled U.S. automakers pleaded with Congress Thursday for an expanded $34 billion rescue package, but heard fresh skepticism in a bumpy encore appearance. "We made mistakes, which we're learning from," General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee.
 AP - More evidence of consumers' weary state and the nation's deteriorating job market came Thursday with reports that people continuing to draw unemployment benefits climbed to a 26-year high, while retail sales and orders to U.S. factories sank.
 AP - Pakistan's leaders know what's at stake after the terror attack in Mumbai and have acknowledged their duty to evict terrorists and prevent future attacks, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.
 AP - Suicide bombers killed 17 people — including two American soldiers — and wounded more than 100 in a string of blasts in two Iraqi cities Thursday as a timetable for withdrawing all U.S. troops won final government approval.
 AP - Two teenage girls who worked at a nursing home have been charged with abuse, accused of taunting, spitting on and groping residents who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
AP - A police chief was among three men indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi at a gun show.
 AP - Knut the superstar polar bear turns two on Friday looking nothing like the button-eyed ball of white fluff who captured hearts around the world.
AP - Many of the thousands of troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are at risk of long-term health problems including depression and Alzheimer's-like dementia, but it's impossible to predict how high those risks are, researchers say.
AP - A New Jersey woman is suing a Pennsylvania sports bar and restaurant, saying she got stuck inside a toilet bowl for 20 minutes when the seat broke. Kathleen Hewko, of Delran Township, said she was in the bathroom at Starters Pub in an Allentown suburb when the handicapped toilet seat she was sitting on cracked and dumped her into the bowl.
AP - Baseball salaries started to slow this year even before the economy cooled. The average salary in Major League Baseball this season was $2.93 million, the players' association said Thursday in its annual report. The 3.6 percent increase was the smallest since 2004, when the average declined 2.5 percent from the previous season.
 Reuters - The chief executives of the major U.S. auto companies pledged to refocus on higher fuel efficiency and lower production costs as they asked Congress again on Thursday for billions of dollars in emergency cash.
 Reuters - Top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in traditional phone sales.
 Reuters - The European Central Bank, Britain and Sweden all made big cuts in interest rates on Thursday to shore up economies across Europe in the face of ever-bleaker financial news.
 Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Pakistan had given assurances of its commitment to root out terrorism and round up anyone connected to last week's attack in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Reuters - Iraq's Presidency Council has approved a security pact with the United States that paves the way for a complete U.S. troop pullout by the end of 2011, a spokesman for the council said on Thursday.
 Reuters - The United States will quickly feel a change in attitude from Moscow if President-elect Barack Obama transforms Washington's policies toward Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
 Reuters - Thailand's revered and influential king missed his traditional birthday eve address due to illness on Thursday, a speech many Thais had hoped would provide short-term relief to the country's intractable political crisis.
 Reuters - Hate crimes against Arab Americans have decreased steadily since the September 11 attacks but are still more common than they were before the hijackings, a civil rights group said on Thursday.
 AFP - Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.
 AFP - Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.
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