Australia: Holidays help economy
As Australia fights to head off recession, the national government on Thursday urged workers to take a holiday to help stimulate the economy.
Paris robbers in drag net $100 million
Armed robbers — some dressed in drag — made off with $100 million in loot from a lightning-fast jewelry store theft in central Paris, in what police Friday called one of France's costliest jewel heists.
Honda quits F1 amid slowdown
Honda has pulled out of Formula One racing, the Japanese automaker saying Friday it needs to focus on its core business amid the slowdown in the global economy.
Stocks slump after dismal jobs data
News of a rapidly weakening job market put Wall Street on track for a sharply lower open Friday.
Economy shed 533,000 jobs in Nov.
U.S. employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent, the government said Friday in a worse-than-expected report.
Rice: 'Well past time' for Mugabe to leave
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that it is "well past time" for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to leave office, as shown by the nation's cholera epidemic and health care crisis.
O.J. Simpson faces prison sentencing
Ex-NFL star O.J. Simpson was to learn Friday how much time he'll spend in a Nevada state prison for a botched attempt to recover sports mementos and personal items from two collectibles peddlers.
Record 1-in-10 Americans in mortgage trouble
An industry group says a record one in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage were either at least a month behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of September.
'Koobface' virus turns up on Facebook
Facebook's 120 million users are being targeted by a virus dubbed "Koobface" that uses the social network's messaging system to infect PCs, then tries to gather information such as credit-card numbers.
Al-Sadr movement seeks reinvention
The followers of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr once were powerful enough to battle the U.S. military and play kingmaker in Iraq but lately their influence has been on the wane.
