WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp was rescued by the U.S. government on Friday through a $20 billion bailout and a guarantee for almost $100 billion of potential losses on toxic assets to cushion the blow from a deteriorating balance sheet at Merrill Lynch & Co, its recently acquired brokerage.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama's inauguration as the first U.S. black president will take place on Tuesday amid unprecedented security aimed at protecting him as well as the record crowds expected to attend.

AP - Bank of America reached an agreement early Friday for an additional $20 billion in support from the government's emergency bailout fund, plus guarantees against losses on up to $118 billion in troubled assets.

Reuters - Bank of America Corp was rescued by the U.S. government on Friday through a $20 billion bailout and a guarantee for almost $100 billion of potential losses on toxic assets to cushion the blow from a deteriorating balance sheet at Merrill Lynch & Co, its recently acquired brokerage.

Reuters - Barack Obama's inauguration as the first U.S. black president will take place on Tuesday amid unprecedented security aimed at protecting him as well as the record crowds expected to attend.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel said its Gaza offensive could be 'in the final act' on Friday as it dispatched envoys to discuss truce terms after Hamas made a ceasefire offer to end three weeks of fighting that has killed more than 1,100 people.

AP - Conan O'Brien said he doesn't want to shave the edges off his comedy when he steps in as 'Tonight Show' host and doesn't see the need for it.

Reuters - Israel said its Gaza offensive could be 'in the final act' on Friday as it dispatched envoys to discuss truce terms after Hamas made a ceasefire offer to end three weeks of fighting that has killed more than 1,100 people.

AFP - Israeli troops again pounded Gaza on Friday after killing a top Hamas leader, as the Islamists offered a conditional truce amid a diplomatic push to end the war that has killed more than 1,100 people.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A US Airways jet with 155 people on board ditched in the frigid Hudson River off Manhattan after apparently hitting a flock of geese on Thursday and officials said everyone was rescued.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's top two automakers, Toyota and Honda, will slash output further to counter swelling inventories as auto sales slump, while third-ranked Nissan is seen shifting some output abroad to cut costs.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel said its Gaza offensive could be 'in the final act' on Friday and sent envoys to discuss truce terms after Hamas made a ceasefire offer to end three weeks of fighting that has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians.

LONDON (Reuters) - World oil demand will contract sharply in 2009 as the global economic slowdown further erodes consumption, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

AP - Everything about the fate of US Airways Flight 1549 seemed like a million-to-1 shot — a flock of birds crossing a jetliner's path and taking out both engines, a safe landing in the Hudson River.

AP - Top Israeli diplomats headed for Egypt and the United States on Friday in what appeared to be a final push toward a cease-fire to end Israel's punishing Gaza offensive against Hamas militants.

AP - Seeking an early victory on a top priority, President-elect Barack Obama is pitching workers in the ailing Midwest on his plan for some $825 billion in new spending and tax cuts to spur the troubled economy.

AP - The government has extended a new multibillion-dollar lifeline to one of the country's biggest banks as officials continue to struggle with a serious crisis in the financial system.

AP - As Americans get ready to turn the page on George W. Bush, the president offered his own first draft of history, saying that while his policies have been unpopular there can be little debate about the results: 'America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.'

AP - Ellen Engleman Conners lost her shot at a second term as President George W. Bush's choice to lead the National Transportation Safety Board after others at the agency accused the political appointee of poor management. But that didn't stop her from winning another government job.

AP - The survival of everyone aboard the plane that landed in the Hudson River might seem like a miracle.

Reuters - A US Airways jet with 155 people on board ditched in the frigid Hudson River off Manhattan after apparently hitting a flock of geese on Thursday and officials said everyone was rescued.

Reuters - Japan's top two automakers, Toyota and Honda, will slash output further to counter swelling inventories as auto sales slump, while third-ranked Nissan is seen shifting some output abroad to cut costs.

Reuters - Israel said its Gaza offensive could be 'in the final act' on Friday and sent envoys to discuss truce terms after Hamas made a ceasefire offer to end three weeks of fighting that has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians.

Reuters - World oil demand will contract sharply in 2009 as the global economic slowdown further erodes consumption, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hours after taking $20 billion in new state cash, Bank of America and recent addition Merrill Lynch revealed they had lost almost as much last quarter, while Citigroup also made thumping losses.

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - The European Union piled pressure on Russia and Ukraine on Friday to resolve a dispute cutting gas supplies to Europe in mid-winter and Germany said Russia must honor energy contracts.

LONDON (Reuters) - World oil demand will contract sharply in 2009 as global economic slowdown further erodes consumption, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) - American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend went on trial in Italy on Friday for the murder of a fellow British student killed in what prosecutors are calling a bungled sex game.

AP - Citigroup said Friday it is splitting up into two businesses as it reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $8.29 billion — its fifth straight quarterly loss.

AP - Forecasters say temperatures in the upper Midwest could be the coldest in years Friday as chilly Arctic air keeps spilling south from Canada.

AP - Escalating credit losses drove Bank of America Corp. to report a fourth-quarter loss and slash its quarterly dividend to a penny on Friday, hours after receiving a multibillion-dollar lifeline from the federal government.

Reuters - Hours after taking $20 billion in new state cash, Bank of America and recent addition Merrill Lynch revealed they had lost almost as much last quarter, while Citigroup also made thumping losses.

Reuters - The European Union piled pressure on Russia and Ukraine on Friday to resolve a dispute cutting gas supplies to Europe in mid-winter and Germany said Russia must honor energy contracts.

Reuters - World oil demand will contract sharply in 2009 as global economic slowdown further erodes consumption, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer prices fell by a slightly smaller-than-expected margin in December, according to government data on Friday that showed a sagging economy was exerting downward pressure on prices and raising the specter of deflation.

AP - Citigroup said Friday it is splitting into two businesses as it reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $8.29 billion — its fifth straight quarterly loss.

AP - A record plunge in gasoline prices pushed overall consumer prices down for the third straight month in December, closing out a year in which the change in inflation was the smallest in more than a half-century.

AP - An Israeli government spokesman says he is hopeful that Israel is 'entering the end game' in its Gaza offensive.

AP - Escalating credit costs forced Bank of America Corp. to report a $2.39 billion fourth-quarter loss, hours after it convinced the federal government it needed a multibillion-dollar lifeline to survive the absorption of Merrill Lynch's hefty losses.

AP - A British judge has sentenced former Culture Club frontman Boy George to 15 months in jail after he was convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort.

AP - Artist Andrew Wyeth, who portrayed the hidden melancholy of the people and landscapes of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine in works such as 'Christina's World,' died early Friday. He was 91.

Reuters - Consumer prices fell by a slightly smaller-than-expected margin in December, according to government data on Friday that showed a sagging economy was exerting downward pressure on prices and raising the specter of deflation.

AFP - Israel again pounded Gaza on Friday, seeking to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to bow to truce efforts gathering pace in Egypt to end the deadliest assault the Jewish state has ever launched on the enclave.

AFP - They called it the 'Miracle on the Hudson' and Chesley Sullenberger III on Friday became the patron saint of passengers everywhere for guiding his crippled jet to an injury-free landing in the freezing waters off New York.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York feted its latest hero, the reclusive pilot who landed a distressed US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River, saving all 155 on board in what experts called a masterful job under life-or-death pressure.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama's inauguration as the first U.S. black president will take place on Tuesday amid unprecedented security aimed at protecting him as well as the record crowds expected to attend.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Inflation slowed to a half-century low last year and industrial output dropped for the first time since 2002 as the recession deepened toward year-end, raising the specter of deflation.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday he believed a deal could be reached soon with European firms to restart gas supplies to Europe cut off in mid-winter over a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Andrew Wyeth, one of America's best-known painters famous for landscapes of his native Pennsylvania and Maine, died on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the Brandywine River Museum near his home.

AP - Israel said Friday it was close to winding up its offensive against Hamas, and the U.S. said it will provide assurances on ending weapons smuggling into Gaza as part of a cease-fire.

AP - Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second-biggest consumer electronics retailer, said Friday it had run out of options and will be forced to liquidate its 567 U.S. stores. The closures could send another 30,000 people into the ranks of the unemployed.

AP - The Budapest Zoo says a 32-year-old female gorilla has undergone gynecological surgery, the first such operation in Hungary and rare even worldwide.

AP - Roger Clemens' former personal trainer Brian McNamee was meeting Friday with federal prosecutors building a perjury case against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

Reuters - New York feted its latest hero, the reclusive pilot who landed a distressed US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River, saving all 155 on board in what experts called a masterful job under life-or-death pressure.

Reuters - Barack Obama's inauguration as the first U.S. black president will take place on Tuesday amid unprecedented security aimed at protecting him as well as the record crowds expected to attend.

Reuters - Inflation slowed to a half-century low last year and industrial output dropped for the first time since 2002 as the recession deepened toward year-end, raising the specter of deflation.

Reuters - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday he believed a deal could be reached soon with European firms to restart gas supplies to Europe cut off in mid-winter over a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

AFP - Israel pressed on with its assault of the Gaza Strip on Friday, seeking to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to bow to truce efforts gathering pace in Egypt.

AFP - US investigators on Friday scrutinized the wreckage of the Airbus that crashed in the Hudson River and were to interview the pilot hailed as a hero for saving all 155 passengers and crew.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The current and former No. 1 U.S. banks reported multibillion-dollar losses on Friday hours after the U.S. government unveiled $20 billion of new aid for Bank of America Corp as the credit crisis continues to rage.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York feted its latest hero, the pilot who landed a distressed US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River, saving all 155 on board in what experts called a masterful job under life-or-death pressure.

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and shutter hundreds of stores after failing to reach a deal to sell the company.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel said its Gaza offensive could be 'in the final act' on Friday amid other signs that a ceasefire could be in the offing to end three weeks of fighting in which more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co's GE Capital unit will cut between 7,000 and 11,000 jobs, the CNBC television channel reported on Friday, citing sources.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Renowned American artist Andrew Wyeth, famous for landscapes of his native Pennsylvania and Maine, died on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the Brandywine River Museum near his home.

AP - Taking his economic pitch on the road Friday, President-elect Barack Obama promoted his plans to create long-lasting, well-paying jobs in cutting-edge industries like alternative energy as part of his mammoth plan to pull the country out of recession.

AP - The government says it will provide a $1.5 billion loan to the auto financing arm of Chrysler LLC.

AP - Artist Andrew Wyeth, who portrayed the hidden melancholy of the people and landscapes of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine in works such as 'Christina's World,' died early Friday. He was 91.

AP - The Budapest Zoo says a 32-year-old female gorilla has undergone gynecological surgery, the first such operation in Hungary and rare even worldwide.

Reuters - The current and former No. 1 U.S. banks reported multibillion-dollar losses on Friday hours after the U.S. government unveiled $20 billion of new aid for Bank of America Corp as the credit crisis continues to rage.

Reuters - New York feted its latest hero, the pilot who landed a distressed US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River, saving all 155 on board in what experts called a masterful job under life-or-death pressure.

Reuters - Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and shutter hundreds of stores after failing to reach a deal to sell the company.

Reuters - Israel said its Gaza offensive could be 'in the final act' on Friday amid other signs that a ceasefire could be in the offing to end three weeks of fighting in which more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed.

Reuters - General Electric Co's GE Capital unit will cut between 7,000 and 11,000 jobs, the CNBC television channel reported on Friday, citing sources.

AFP - US investigators on Friday scrutinized the wreckage of the Airbus that crashed in the Hudson River and were to interview the pilot hailed as a hero for saving all 155 passengers and crew.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two of the biggest U.S. banks reported multibillion-dollar losses on Friday hours after the U.S. government unveiled $20 billion of additional aid for Bank of America in the latest toll of a raging credit crisis.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Pancreatic cancer experts say they are puzzled by what is ailing Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs, because it is not clear how serious his health problems are or how directly they relate to his bout with cancer.

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell the company.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel might halt its Gaza war unilaterally to deprive Hamas of any political gains from an Egyptian-brokered truce deal, political sources said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co said on Friday its GE Capital unit is cutting jobs as part of an effort to save about $2 billion this year, but declined comment on a report that as many as 11,000 positions would be eliminated.

AP - Federal investigators said the left engine of the US Airways jetliner that ditched into the Hudson River was missing Friday as reports emerged that the pilot who safely landed the aircraft had considered an emergency landing at two airports. Police divers were using sonar to find the engine, which was believed to be in the water.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to prohibit the use of waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques by ordering the CIA to follow military rules for questioning prisoners, according to two U.S. officials familiar with drafts of the plans.

AP - Israel's Security Cabinet will vote Saturday night on an Egyptian proposal for a truce to end the 3-week-old offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, a senior government official said.

AP - Bankrupt Circuit City Stores Inc., unable to work out a sale of the company, said Friday it will go out of business — closing its 567 U.S. stores and cutting 30,000 jobs.

AP - Miserable, lung-burning, face-numbing temperatures are one thing in the Midwest and Northeast. But the Deep South? Temperatures plummeted Friday across the Midwest and eastern U.S., and delivered a stinging slap to Southerners unaccustomed to the frigid weather. Schools were closed in a dozen states and homeless shelters were overcrowded. Those that did venture outside bundled up and made quick trips.

AP - Anne Hathaway is a fan of 'Slumdog Millionaire' — and the young star of the film, Dev Patel. A starstruck Hathaway expressed her love for the actor's performance in 'Slumdog' on the red carpet at the National Board of Review Awards gala in Manhattan.

AP - After missing a playoff game with an injured hamstring, Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin said he expects to play in the NFC championship against Philadelphia on Sunday. 'I'm feeling good,' Boldin said after practice Friday. 'I've been able to practice all week, so if nothing else happens at this point, I'll be out on the field.'

Reuters - Two of the biggest U.S. banks reported multibillion-dollar losses on Friday hours after the U.S. government unveiled $20 billion of additional aid for Bank of America in the latest toll of a raging credit crisis.

Reuters - Pancreatic cancer experts say they are puzzled by what is ailing Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs, because it is not clear how serious his health problems are or how directly they relate to his bout with cancer.

Reuters - Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell the company.

Reuters - Israel might halt its Gaza war unilaterally to deprive Hamas of any political gains from an Egyptian-brokered truce deal, political sources said on Friday.

Reuters - General Electric Co said on Friday its GE Capital unit is cutting jobs as part of an effort to save about $2 billion this year, but declined comment on a report that as many as 11,000 positions would be eliminated.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government extended $20 billion of new aid to Bank of America Corp hours before both the largest U.S. bank, and the country's third largest, Citigroup, reported multibillion-dollar losses from the ongoing global credit crisis.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York feted its latest hero, the pilot who landed a distressed US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River, saving all 155 on board in what experts called a masterful job under life-or-death pressure.

AP - Federal investigators said both engines of the US Airways jetliner that ditched into the Hudson River were missing Friday as reports emerged that the pilot who safely landed the aircraft had considered an emergency landing at two airports. Police divers were using sonar to find the engines. Kitty Higgins of the National Transportation Safety Board said both apparently came off after hitting the water Thursday.

AP - Eighty-three of the nation's 100 largest corporations, including Citigroup, Bank of America and News Corp., had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2007, and some of the companies received federal bailout funding, a government watchdog said Friday.

AP - Chesley Sullenberger spent practically his whole life preparing for the five-minute crucible that was US Airways Flight 1549. He got his pilot's license at 14, was named best aviator in his class at the Air Force Academy, flew fighter jets, investigated air disasters, mastered glider flying and even studied the psychology of how cockpit crews behave in a crisis.

AP - Johnny Knoxville jokes that he was worried airport security brought out a bomb-sniffing dog because he was carrying one of his movies. It was a prop grenade, not 'Daltry Calhoun' or 'Walking Tall,' that caused the concern and could lead to a misdemeanor charge.

AP - Authorities are looking for a shoplifter who was run over twice by her getaway car after stealing $1,200 worth of designer purses from a Cape Coral store. A T.J. Maxx security guard told police she saw a woman stuff six designer Dooney & Bourke purses into her pants Tuesday morning and walk out of the store. The guard said she was confronting the woman when a car pulled up.

Reuters - The U.S. government extended $20 billion of new aid to Bank of America Corp hours before both the largest U.S. bank, and the country's third largest, Citigroup, reported multibillion-dollar losses from the ongoing global credit crisis.

Reuters - New York feted its latest hero, the pilot who landed a distressed US Airways jetliner on the Hudson River, saving all 155 on board in what experts called a masterful job under life-or-death pressure.

AFP - Israel looks poised to call a unilateral halt to its three-week offensive on Gaza after winning pledges on Friday from the United States and Egypt to help prevent arms smuggling into the Hamas-run enclave.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five deaths have now been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning linked to peanut butter, but the strain involved is not particularly virulent, health officials said on Friday.

AP - Thick mud, menacing currents and bone-chilling temperatures stymied investigators Friday as they scoured the Hudson River for the two missing engines from a US Airways jetliner that crash landed in the water after colliding with birds.

AP - Israel said it was approaching the 'endgame' of its three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt. Under the cease-fire plan, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days, but Israeli forces would initially remain in Gaza and the border crossings into the territory would remain closed until security arrangements are made to ensure Hamas militants do not rearm.

AP - The latest national food safety investigation took on new urgency Friday as federal officials confirmed salmonella contamination at a Georgia facility that ships peanut products to 85 food companies.

AP - The Florida mother charged in the killing of her toddler daughter described herself as a victim when talking to her parents during a jailhouse visit last August. Casey Anthony, 22, told her parents she was just as much a victim as anyone else in the case during the recorded visit at the Orange County Jail in Orlando. Copies of the visit were released this week.

AP - Police said an elderly woman in Palm Beach County crashed into a man on a scooter and then kept driving to make her hair appointment. Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said a 77-year-old woman was arrested Thursday for leaving the scene of an injury crash.

AP - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen on Friday after the team collapsed following a 9-3 start and failed to make the playoffs.

Reuters - Five deaths have now been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning linked to peanut butter, but the strain involved is not particularly virulent, health officials said on Friday.

AP - Thick mud, menacing currents and bone-chilling temperatures stymied investigators Friday as they scoured the Hudson River for the two missing engines from a US Airways jetliner that crash-landed in the water after colliding with birds.

AP - Israel said it was approaching the 'endgame' of its three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt. Under the cease-fire plan, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days, but Israeli forces would initially remain in Gaza and the border crossings into the territory would remain closed until security arrangements are made to ensure Hamas militants do not rearm.

AP - The latest national food safety investigation took on new urgency Friday as federal officials confirmed salmonella contamination at a Georgia facility that ships peanut products to 85 food companies. On Capitol Hill, the House Energy and Commerce Committee requested records as it opened its own inquiry.

AFP - Israel was poised on Saturday to call a unilateral halt to its three-week-old offensive on Gaza after winning pledges from the United States and Egypt to help prevent arms smuggling into the Hamas-run enclave.

AFP - Divers battled vicious currents in the Hudson River to find the engines from a US Airways Airbus that crashed with no loss of life thanks to what is being called the pilot's heroism.

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida money manager is missing and police have opened an investigation into the possible disappearance of 'hundreds of millions' of dollars, authorities said on Friday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's state media said on Saturday it would not give up its nuclear ambitions as long as a U.S. nuclear threat persists, staking out the communist state's position days before Barack Obama takes office as president.

AP - Patrick Swayze has been released from the hospital one week after checking himself in with pneumonia, his publicist said Friday.

Reuters - A Florida money manager is missing and police have opened an investigation into the possible disappearance of 'hundreds of millions' of dollars, authorities said on Friday.

Reuters - North Korea's state media said on Saturday it would not give up its nuclear ambitions as long as a U.S. nuclear threat persists, staking out the communist state's position days before Barack Obama takes office as president.