Reuters - Asia-Pacific nations kept up efforts on Friday to shield the region from the fallout of Wall Street upheaval even as stock and currencies rallied in response to emergency action from the world's top financial authorities.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc is considering making a bid for Washington Mutual Inc , the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Reuters - A radical U.S. taxpayer-funded plan to restore confidence in battered financial markets by mopping up toxic mortgage-related debt triggered a rally in stocks, but raised questions over how long it would take and how it would work.

AP - Aric Goodman made a 25-yard field goal in overtime to give Colorado a 17-14 victory over No. 21 West Virginia on Thursday night.

AP - Katie Holmes made her Broadway debut in "All My Sons" Thursday night, and her husband Tom Cruise thought it was a knockout.

AP - Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content.

AP - After an exhaustive two-year investigation, former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley isn't expected to face charges for sending salacious messages to underage pages, two federal law enforcement officials have told The Associated Press.

AP - On his last day in office, disgraced Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick issued a statement urging Detroit residents to get behind his replacement.

AP - In the aftermath of Russia's brief war with Georgia, the United States and its NATO partners face questions about the very foundation of their alliance — the pledge enshrined in the 59-year-old North Atlantic Treaty that an unprovoked attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all.

AP - North Korea said Friday it was preparing to restart its nuclear reactor, accusing the United States of failing to fulfill its obligations under an international disarmament-for-aid agreement.

AP - It's been nearly a week since Hurricane Ike bulled ashore, and the images of once-bustling coastal Texas communities reduced to only a faint shadow of their old selves are no less staggering.

AP - Barack Obama turned to a team of advisers that shaped America's economy in happier days to fashion fresh ideas for calming the stomach-churning financial crisis that has thundered from Wall Street to Main Street.

AP - Congress promised quick action on a plan to buy up toxic assets, such as bad mortgages, held by troubled banks and other institutions, hoping to lift the nation out of its worst financial crisis in decades.

AFP - Zimbabwe's leaders failed Thursday to agree on who will get which key ministries in a new unity government and have referred the matter to negotiators, days after signing a historic power-sharing deal.

AFP - World central banks took unprecedented action Thursday to flood desperately tight money markets with dollars as investors worried who the next victim of the global financial turmoil could be.