AP - The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs, capping one of the worst years in modern history for American workers.

AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.

AP - Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on two cities as both sides defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.

AP - Lawmakers are under orders to finish action on President-elect Barack Obama's nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan by mid-February. But already it is plain that a set of serious fissures need to be bridged if the bill is to be completed within five weeks.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is completing his national security team by announcing his unusual choices for CIA director and a national intelligence director who may face tough Senate confirmation questioning over how he confronted the Indonesian military when civilian massacres were occurring in East Timor.

AP - Investors were showing some relief following a government report that the economy lost fewer jobs in December than feared.

AP - Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace.

AP - TV stations in 22 U.S. cities announced Thursday that they will start broadcasting their signals this year in a format designed to be received by mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players, GPS units and in-car entertainment systems.

AP - Tim Tebow gave Florida the jolt it needed, and the Gators toughed out a second BCS title in three years. Their 24-14 win over No. 2 Oklahoma in a choppy, sloppy affair Thursday night made them a national champion. But it likely did little to quiet fans of Southern California, Utah and Texas, all of whom already claimed the top spot.

AP - Russia's Gazprom said it could restart gas shipments to Europe on Friday if an agreement can be signed allowing an EU-led monitoring mission to track gas flows through Ukrainian pipelines.

AP - European stock markets recovered earlier losses Friday following the news that the U.S. economy did not shed as many jobs in December as many investors were predicting.

AP - Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on two cities as both sides defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.

AP - The United States says it supports a U.N. resolution that calls for a cease-fire in Gaza but abstained from the Security Council vote because it is awaiting the outcome of Egyptian-mediated talks with Hamas and Israel.

AFP - A mother who is the first woman in Britain to have a baby selected free of a gene which causes breast cancer has given birth succesfully, doctors said Friday.

AP - Iraqi police say a roadside bomb targeting worshippers on their way to pray at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad has killed three people.

AP - Emergency officials say at least 14 people were killed by a strong earthquake that rocked Costa Rica.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has requested a meeting with President Robert Mugabe in a last-ditch effort to salvage a power-sharing deal, an opposition spokesman said Friday.

AFP - The head of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and his lieutenant were killed last week in a suspected US drone strike in a tribal area on the Afghan border, local Pakistani officials confirmed on Friday.