Reuters - Europe joined Asia's panic selling in stocks on Friday, knocking the benchmark world equity index to a 5-year trough, while the low-yielding yen jumped as fears grew that efforts by policymakers are insufficient to contain the global financial crisis.

Reuters - The U.S. government is weighing guaranteeing billions of dollars in bank debt and temporarily insuring al U.S. bank deposits, in a bid to unfreeze bank lending and staunch massive losses in equity markets, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Reuters - The world's economic powers faced huge pressure on Friday to devise drastic remedies to revive the banking system and end panic selling in global financial markets.

AP - A World War II-era air traffic network that often forces planes to take longer, zigzagging routes is costing U.S. airlines billions of dollars in wasted fuel while an upgrade to a satellite-based system has languished in the planning stages for more than a decade.

AP - A newspaper report Thursday said tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states. Election officials lined up to defend their registration procedures and said they had done nothing wrong.

AP - Pat Burrell and Chase Utley cleared the wall with room to spare. Manny Ramirez's drive fell just short and stayed in the park.

AP - We've already seen the baby pictures — now see the photo of Angelina Jolie apparently breastfeeding on the cover of W magazine.

AP - Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark.

AP - The Bush administration is nearing a decision to remove North Korea from a terrorism blacklist and may do so as early as Friday in a bid to salvage faltering nuclear disarmament talks, The Associated Press has learned.

AP - The steel mills and coal mines of western Pennsylvania helped fuel the nation's economic engine. Today, old factory shells and boarded-up storefronts stand as bleak reminders of those once-prosperous times.

AP - Sworn to secrecy, Alaska lawmakers have begun reviewing a lengthy and politically sensitive investigative report that, when released Friday, could prove embarrassing to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

AP - A massive sell-off on Wall Street and escalating fears of a global recession sent world stocks plunging Friday, with Japan's key index shedding nearly 10 percent to close out its worst week in history.

AP - A stampede of selling that began in the waning minutes of trading on Wall Street spread to Asia on Friday, deepening a financial crisis that has defied all efforts to stop it.

AFP - A Thai court dropped charges of insurrection Thursday against the main leaders of a protest movement bidding to topple the government, two days after the worst street unrest in Bangkok for years.

AFP - Central banks in Asia followed in the steps of the United States and Europe Thursday, cutting key interest rates in a bid to bring calm to panicked global markets and limiting massive losses.