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.

AP - AT&T Inc. joined the recession's parade of layoffs Thursday by announcing plans to cut 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its work force.

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 - Retailers — with Wal-Mart the notable exception — limped through a miserable November that even a surge of shopping after Thanksgiving couldn't save, marking the weakest month since at least 1969 and deepening fears that the critical holiday period could be the most dismal in decades.

AP - Iraq's presidential council on Thursday approved a security pact that sets out a three-year timeframe for U.S. troops to leave, a spokesman said, the final step for the agreement to replace a U.N. mandate that expires Dec. 31.

AP - President Bush and first lady Laura Bush have bought a home in an affluent neighborhood of north Dallas where they will live after the president leaves office in January.

AP - The first solar-powered car to travel around the world ended its journey at the U.N. climate talks Thursday, arriving with the message that clean technologies are available now to stop global warming.

AP - On the eve of superstar polar Bear Knut's second birthday, fans are worried that he will have to leave his home in the Berlin Zoo, despite pleas he stay, because he is getting too big for his enclosure as he reaches maturity.

AP - The latest magical tome by J.K. Rowling has started to fly off bookstore shelves.

AP - The NFL Players Association filed a lawsuit Thursday to block five of the six player suspensions for violating the league's anti-doping policy.

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 would eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, 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 - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hinted on Thursday that he may return to his old job in the Kremlin, but not before his ally President Dmitry Medvedev's term expires in 2012.

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.