NEW YORK (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama called for urgent passage of a stimulus package to reinvigorate a faltering economy that saw unemployment hit a 14-year high on Friday while U.S. automakers reported billions in losses.

AP - Regulators shut down Houston-based Franklin Bank and Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles on Friday, bringing the number of failures of federally insured banks this year to 19.

AP - Late-season Hurricane Paloma strengthened slightly early Saturday as the Category 3 storm lashed the Cayman Islands with wind and rain, knocking down trees and signs.

AP - The nation's economic troubles play out one family at a time at the New Horizons Learning Center in this struggling city two hours northwest of Chicago.

AP - It popped out casually, a throwaway line as he talked to reporters about finding the right puppy for his young daughters.

AP - Rescue crews working under the glare of floodlights dug through the rubble of a collapsed school early Saturday in a frantic search for students who may still trapped in a disaster that has already killed at least 47 people.

AP - A fight within the Democratic Party over control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee could influence the outcome of President-elect Obama's efforts to limit the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming.

AP - Thousands of protesters angered by the passage of a state measure banning gay marriage took to the streets Friday in San Francisco and Long Beach, while thousands more protested outside the headquarters of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City.

AFP - A crisis summit on eastern DR Congo called for an immediate ceasefire and the creation of humanitarian corridors amid fresh fighting on the ground and a warning by UN chief Ban Ki-moon that the conflict could spread.

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin denounced anonymous criticisms leveled at her by former John McCain aides as lies, including allegations that Republican lawyers were traveling to Alaska to reclaim her high-priced wardrobe and that she didn't know Africa was a continent.

AP - Forecasters say Hurricane Paloma has strengthened into an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 storm with top sustained winds of 135 mph.

AP - The 2008 presidential election saw the biggest partisan shift in a generation — more of a rejection of Republicans than an embrace of Democrats — but voter surveys find no broad ideological realignment behind that shift.

AP - It takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did in Iraq. It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.

AP - Devin Harris scored a career-high 38 points Friday night to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 103-96 victory over Detroit, spoiling Allen Iverson's debut with the Pistons.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama said on Saturday that now with the long presidential election season behind the nation, it is time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

SANAA (Reuters) - A Yemeni court has halved the prison sentence of an al Qaeda suspect on the U.S. list of most wanted militants after he won an appeal, judicial sources said Saturday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea has slowed disablement work at its key nuclear reactor to a snail's pace, complaining of a delay in delivery of energy aid it is supposed to receive, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

GEORGE TOWN (Reuters) - Paloma strengthened into an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 hurricane on Saturday as it pounded the wealthy British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands and headed toward storm-battered Cuba.

LONDON (Reuters) - Hamas is ready to talk to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama but he must respect the Palestinian Islamist group's 'rights and options,' its leader Khaled Meshaal said in an interview Saturday.

AP - It wasn't religion that broke up his marriage to Jane Fonda, Ted Turner declares in a new memoir.

AP - The Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets finally got a look at the guards they added. The San Antonio Spurs have to wonder how much more they can lose.

Reuters - Barack Obama said on Saturday that now with the long presidential election season behind the nation, it is time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

Reuters - A Yemeni court has halved the prison sentence of an al Qaeda suspect on the U.S. list of most wanted militants after he won an appeal, judicial sources said Saturday.

Reuters - North Korea has slowed disablement work at its key nuclear reactor to a snail's pace, complaining of a delay in delivery of energy aid it is supposed to receive, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

Reuters - Paloma strengthened into an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 hurricane on Saturday as it pounded the wealthy British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands and headed toward storm-battered Cuba.

Reuters - Hamas is ready to talk to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama but he must respect the Palestinian Islamist group's 'rights and options,' its leader Khaled Meshaal said in an interview Saturday.

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama's administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea has slowed disablement work at its key nuclear reactor to a snail's pace, complaining of a delay in delivery of energy aid it is supposed to receive, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The death toll rose to at least 75 on Saturday in the collapse of a ramshackle church school in Haiti when rescue workers uncovered a room with 17 dead, many of them children, officials said.

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited on Saturday a West Bank city that was once a bastion of Palestinian militants but is now held up by Washington as a model for self-government.

AP - Haiti's president says the death toll now stands at 58 from the collapse of a three-story school.

Reuters - Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama's administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

Reuters - North Korea has slowed disablement work at its key nuclear reactor to a snail's pace, complaining of a delay in delivery of energy aid it is supposed to receive, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

Reuters - The death toll rose to at least 75 on Saturday in the collapse of a ramshackle church school in Haiti when rescue workers uncovered a room with 17 dead, many of them children, officials said.

Reuters - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited on Saturday a West Bank city that was once a bastion of Palestinian militants but is now held up by Washington as a model for self-government.

AFP - Government troops reinforced front-line positions Saturday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where calm prevailed a day after fighting broke out with rebel forces.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama said on Saturday that, with the long U.S. presidential election campaign over, now was the time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The original construction plans believed used for a major expansion of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in 1941 have been found in a Berlin flat, Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Saturday.

GEORGE TOWN (Reuters) - Hurricane Paloma strengthened into an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 storm on Saturday as it pounded the wealthy British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands and headed toward storm-battered Cuba.

SAO PAULO/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Brazil's president called on Saturday for an overhaul of the global finance system which 'collapsed like a house of cards' in the credit crisis and demanded a seat at the top table for emerging economies.

AP - Iraq's deputy prime minister said Saturday his country still needs the U.S. military to ensure security and warned that time is running out to approve a new security deal with Washington.

AP - With the economy in a downward spiral, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the nation under threat from terrorists, President Bush pledged Saturday to make a smooth transition to an Obama administration a top priority for the rest of his days in office.

AP - Rescuers digging through a collapsed school in Haiti pulled more bodies from sandwiched slabs of concrete, raising the death toll to 75 on Saturday as crews continued searching for survivors.

AP - A British pilot who was suddenly blinded by a stroke during a solo flight was talked safely down by a military pilot, the Royal Air Force said Friday.

Reuters - Barack Obama said on Saturday that, with the long U.S. presidential election campaign over, now was the time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

Reuters - Brazil's president called on Saturday for an overhaul of the global finance system which 'collapsed like a house of cards' in the credit crisis and demanded a seat at the top table for emerging economies.

Reuters - The original construction plans believed used for a major expansion of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in 1941 have been found in a Berlin flat, Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Saturday.

AFP - President-elect Barack Obama called early Saturday for urgent action to prop up the flagging US economy and stop the hemorrhage of jobs, arguing that there was not 'a moment to lose.'

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has executed three Muslim militants sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, the television network TvOne said on Sunday citing an unidentified source.

GEORGE TOWN (Reuters) - Hurricane Paloma grew into an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 storm on Saturday as it hammered the wealthy British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands and roared toward the south coast of storm-weary Cuba.

AP - With the economy in a downward spiral, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the nation under threat from terrorists, President Bush pledged Saturday to make a smooth transition to an Obama administration a top priority for the rest of his days in office.

AP - Shortly after leaving the voting booth, 70-year-old community activist Donald E. Robinson had a thought: 'Why do I have to be listed as African-American? Why can't I just be American?'

AP - Iraq's deputy prime minister said Saturday his country still needs the U.S. military to ensure security and warned that time is running out to approve a new security deal with Washington.

Reuters - Indonesia has executed three Muslim militants sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, the television network TvOne said on Sunday citing an unidentified source.

AFP - The head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday accused Laurent Nkunda's rebels and pro-government militia of committing war crimes earlier this week.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has executed three Muslim militants sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, the television network TvOne said on Sunday citing an unidentified source.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The death toll in the collapse of a ramshackle school in Haiti rose to at least 82 on Saturday when rescue workers uncovered a room with 21 dead, many of them children, officials said.

AP - Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century.

AP - Indonesia executed three Islamic militants Saturday for helping plan and carry out the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists, lawyers and relatives said.

AP - All presidents are tested. Few walk into the Oval Office when the nation is in the throes of multiple crises.

AP - A contractor who found $182,000 in Depression-era currency hidden in a bathroom wall has ended up with only a few thousand dollars, but he feels some vindication.

AP - Having staked out their familiar spot in the parking lot sandwiched between Tiger Stadium and the Mississippi River, a group of LSU fans was asked what sort of reception Nick Saban can expect Saturday from the purple-and-gold faithful.

Reuters - The death toll in the collapse of a ramshackle school in Haiti rose to at least 82 on Saturday when rescue workers uncovered a room with 21 dead, many of them children, officials said.

AFP - The family of two of the Indonesian Islamists sentenced to death for the Bali bombings which killed 202 people said Sunday they had been executed at midnight.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Ferociously powerful Hurricane Paloma began to give Cuba its third beating by a hurricane this year after caving in roofs and flooding roads in knee-high water in the wealthy Cayman Islands on Saturday.

AP - At Ford Motor Co. they called it 'Blue,' a team set up around the year 2000 to design an array of small, fuel-efficient cars to compete with the Japanese. It didn't get far because no one could figure out how to make money on low-priced compacts with Ford's high labor costs.

AP - Paloma bore down on Cuba as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane Saturday as farmers rushed to protect crops and livestock. Former President Fidel Castro warned of new challenges for an island still reeling from two other recent storms.

AP - International rescue teams joined the search for survivors Saturday in the rubble of a Haitian school that collapsed on classrooms filled with students and teachers, killing at least 75 people.

AP - Matthew Stafford threw for 376 yards and the go-ahead touchdown to A.J. Green with 1:54 remaining to lift No. 14 Georgia to a 42-38 win over Kentucky on Saturday.

Reuters - Indonesia executed three Muslim militants for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island, the attorney-general's office said on Sunday.

AFP - The United Nations accused rebels and pro-government militia Saturday of war crimes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as government troops reinforced their front-line positions.

AFP - Three Islamists sentenced to death for the Bali bombings which killed 202 people were executed by firing squad early Sunday morning, after five years of legal challenges.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The world's leading economies, including emerging powers like China, agreed on Saturday on the need to take measures to stimulate growth and fight off the threat of a global recession.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Dangerous Hurricane Paloma made landfall near Santa Cruz del Sur in southeastern Cuba on Saturday as a Category 3 storm with 125 mile-per-hour (200-kph) winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least 20 people have died and 21 been injured in an accident on board a Russian nuclear-powered submarine in the Pacific Ocean, a Russian naval spokesman said on Sunday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The death toll in the collapse of a ramshackle school in Haiti rose above 90 on Saturday after rescue workers uncovered a room full of dead, many of them children, officials said.

AP - Forecasters say Hurricane Paloma has been downgraded from an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 storm to a Category 3 storm after making landfall in Cuba.

AP - Rescuers pulled four children alive Saturday from the rubble of a three-story Haitian school that collapsed on classrooms filled with students and teachers, killing at least 84 people.

AP - Indonesia executed three Islamic militants Saturday for helping plan and carry out the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

AP - Police in this small eastern Arizona community are looking into the possibility that an 8-year-old boy who is charged with killing his father and another man with a rifle had been abused, the police chief said Saturday.

AP - With a heavy police escort, Nick Saban returned to Tiger Stadium wearing crimson. He barely got out of town with Alabama still unbeaten and No. 1.

AP - Penn State is perfect no more, its hopes for giving coach Joe Paterno another national title given a sharp and surprising kick by Iowa. Daniel Murray hit a 31-yard field goal with a second left and Iowa rallied to stun the third-ranked Nittany Lions 24-23, likely dashing Penn State's hopes for a spot in the BCS national title game.

Reuters - The world's leading economies, including emerging powers like China, agreed on Saturday on the need to take measures to stimulate growth and fight off the threat of a global recession.

Reuters - Dangerous Hurricane Paloma made landfall near Santa Cruz del Sur in southeastern Cuba on Saturday as a Category 3 storm with 125 mile-per-hour (200-kph) winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Reuters - At least 20 people have died and 21 been injured in an accident on board a Russian nuclear-powered submarine in the Pacific Ocean, a Russian naval spokesman said on Sunday.

Reuters - The death toll in the collapse of a ramshackle school in Haiti rose above 90 on Saturday after rescue workers uncovered a room full of dead, many of them children, officials said.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The world's leading economies, including emerging powers like China, agreed on Saturday on the need to take measures to stimulate growth and fight off the threat of a global recession.

TENGGULUN, Indonesia (Reuters) - Hundreds of hardline Muslims gathered under tight security for the funerals of three Indonesian militants executed on Sunday for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Hurricane Paloma battered southeastern Cuba with roaring winds, heavy rains and a surging sea when it crashed ashore on Saturday as the third major storm to hit the island this year.

AP - Powerful Hurricane Paloma slammed into southern Cuba on Saturday as authorities scrambled to move hundreds of thousands of people to safer ground and protect crops on an island still reeling from two other storms.

AP - An accident aboard a nuclear-powered Russian navy submarine doing a test run in the Pacific Ocean killed more than 20 people Sunday, the navy said.

AP - A man who police believe was shot and killed by his 8-year-old son had consulted a Roman Catholic priest about whether the boy should handle guns and had taught him how to use a rifle, the clergyman said Saturday.

Reuters - Hundreds of hardline Muslims gathered under tight security for the funerals of three Indonesian militants executed on Sunday for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

Reuters - Hurricane Paloma battered southeastern Cuba with roaring winds, heavy rains and a surging sea when it crashed ashore on Saturday as the third major storm to hit the island this year.

Reuters - Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama's administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Hurricane Paloma toppled trees, damaged homes and knocked over a communications tower as it ripped through Cuba on Saturday after striking the southern coast with 120-mile-per-hour (195-kph) winds as the island's third major storm of the year.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Several thousand people gathered in Los Angeles on Saturday evening to protest a voter-approved ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage in California.

AP - Rescuers pulled four children alive Saturday from the rubble of a three-story Haitian school that collapsed on classrooms filled with students and teachers, killing at least 88 people.

AP - Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century.

AP - So it wasn't simply the emotion of playing No. 1 at home that brought out the best in Texas Tech last week. The Red Raiders just might be that good.

Reuters - Hurricane Paloma toppled trees, damaged homes and knocked over a communications tower as it ripped through Cuba on Saturday after striking the southern coast with 120-mile-per-hour (195-kph) winds as the island's third major storm of the year.

Reuters - Several thousand people gathered in Los Angeles on Saturday evening to protest a voter-approved ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage in California.

AFP - Three Islamists sentenced to death for the Bali bombings which killed 202 people were executed by firing squad early Sunday, sparking clashes between police and their emotional supporters.

AFP - World finance chiefs aimed to forge a consensus Sunday on boosting the role of emerging nations and crafting a new system to help a struggling global economy.