Yahoo! News: Top Stories

AP - Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.

AP - News of a rapidly weakening job market put Wall Street on track for a sharply lower open Friday. The Labor Department's report that employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November had investors worrying about a long and deep recession.

AP - A security pact that sets a timetable for troops to leave Iraq requires a shift in how the U.S. carries out combat missions during its remaining time in the country, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said Friday.

AP - Dancers, drummers and apologetic tourism officials greeted travelers Friday at the official reopening of Thailand's main international airport, which was shut down for a week by anti-government protesters.

AP - Stock intended to eventually earn taxpayers a profit as part of the Bush administration's massive bank bailout has lost a third of its value — about $9 billion — in barely one month, according to an Associated Press analysis. Shares in virtually every bank that received federal money have remained below the prices the government negotiated.

AP - The government would order a major restructuring of Detroit's struggling Big Three auto companies in exchange for a multibillion-dollar bailout under a plan circulating in Congress.

AP - Preparing for her new role as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to surround herself with a cast of die-hard loyalists and veterans of her husband's administration to help her cope with world crises and backstage Washington power plays.

AP - O.J. Simpson is going to prison; the question is for how long.

AP - Oprah Winfrey tops The Hollywood Reporter's Power 100 list, an annual ranking of the most influential women in the entertainment industry.

AP - Antonio Pierce is finally going to talk to investigators about what he did on the night Plaxico Burress shot himself.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama has begun laying the groundwork for overhauling the troubled U.S. healthcare system, reaching out to interest groups and building grass-roots support for the huge undertaking.

Reuters - There is broad understanding of distress but no consensus yet in Congress to rescue U.S. automakers as industry chiefs hope on Friday to advance their case in a second appearance before lawmakers in two days.

Reuters - India acknowledged the Mumbai attacks had revealed security lapses but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday evidence showed the strike originated on the soil of a neighbor, a clear reference to Pakistan.

Reuters - China and the United States pledged on Friday to boost efforts to tackle the turmoil engulfing global markets and to continue high-level cooperation when President-elect Barack Obama takes office.