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 - 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 - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, an early Barack Obama supporter from the southwestern part of the country, is the likely choice for the job of secretary of homeland security, a top Obama adviser said Thursday.

AP - Fresh worries about widening unemployment added to investors' list of concerns about the economy Thursday and extended Wall Street's sell-off to a second day. The major indexes each fell more than 1.5 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost 110 points.

AP - A plan to give troubled U.S. automakers billions of dollars in government-backed loans is stalled on Capitol Hill, leaving the fate of hundreds of thousands of workers and Detroit's once-venerable car companies hanging in the balance.

AP - In a painfully poignant moment reminiscent of the fall of yesteryear's Senate giants, Republican Ted Stevens has spoken and yielded the floor for the last time.

AP - Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check all their tethers to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week.

AP - Rapper 50 Cent is facing a challenge to his street cred — from Taco Bell.

AP - Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn broke his right index finger in Monday night's win over Buffalo but will try to play Sunday against the Houston Texans.

Reuters - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits surged last week to their highest level in 16 years, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, as a harsh economic environment forces employers to cut back on hiring.

Reuters - Fears of a deep, long global recession intensified on Thursday as markets hit new lows in alarm at reports of record U.S. job losses, oil prices plunging below $50 a barrel and worry that U.S. automakers would not get a bailout from Washington.

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 - Chances dimmed that a last-minute plan being crafted by Republican senators, with White House support, to provide $25 billion to bail out U.S. automakers would receive enough backing from Democrats to pass before the end of this week.

Reuters - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand in the meantime.

AFP - Governments scrambled to cushion the impact of the financial crisis Thursday with France launching a 20-billion-euro sovereign wealth fund and China unveiling a jobs protection plan as the car industry made huge new cuts.

AFP - Russia announced Thursday it would send more warships to combat piracy in the waters around Somalia, as the Saudi owners of the Sirius Star negotiated with the pirates holding their oil tanker.