Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

NEW YORK - A Wall Street powerbroker for nearly 50 years who built an influential firm has confessed to a massive fraud scheme that will cost investors at least $50 billion, federal authorities say.

WASHINGTON - Drivers clocked 9 billion fewer miles on the nation's roads in October even while gas prices were dropping, suggesting a downturn in driving that began a year ago is attributable to more than just energy costs.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Capt. Kyle Walton remembers pressing himself into the jagged stones that covered the cliff in northeast Afghanistan.

NEW YORK - The accolades keep coming for Chris Brown — this time, he's been named Billboard's top artist of 2008.

Pennsylvania produced a pair of big-time early leads — only one held up.

TOKYO/HAMBURG (Reuters) - Share prices of carmakers and associated industries fell sharply on Friday as fallout spread from the U.S. Senate's rejection of a bailout for an auto sector at risk of collapse.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department maintains that a $700-billion bailout fund approved by Congress is best used in trying to stabilize the nation's troubled financial sector and a spokeswoman indicated on Thursday night that was unlikely to change.

LONDON (Reuters) - Japan and Europe sought on Friday to prop up their faltering economies after a $14 billion rescue package for America's top auto makers collapsed, deepening the worst financial crisis in 80 years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp said on Thursday it plans to eliminate 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over three years, reflecting its pending purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co and weaker business activity stemming from the economic recession.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff, a quiet force on Wall Street for decades, was arrested and charged on Thursday with allegedly running a $50 billion "Ponzi scheme" in what may rank among the biggest fraud cases ever.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian cleric described President-elect Barack Obama on Friday as a novice who was adopting old U.S. tactics of "deception and fraud," underscoring Iran's skepticism about prospects for change in U.S. policy.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan shut offices and arrested scores of activists of an Islamic charity, officials said on Friday, as international pressure mounted for firm action against militants blamed for the Mumbai attacks.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday chose former Sen. Tom Daschle to spearhead healthcare reform -- putting a Washington veteran in charge of one of the most ambitious and expensive gambles of his administration.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A plan worth billions to rescue ailing US automakers collapsed in the US Senate, raising the prospect Friday of imminent bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler with millions of jobs at stake.

ATHENS (AFP) - Youths threw firebombs and stones at police who fired back tear gas moments before the start of a Friday demonstration in Athens over the death of a 15-year-old boy by a police bullet.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that new measures to stimulate Asia's largest economy would total 23 trillion yen (255 billion dollars).

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan on Friday tightened the screw on an Islamic charity linked to militants behind the Mumbai massacre, arresting dozens of members and placing a local leader under house arrest.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Union leaders reached a unanimous agreement on an ambitious climate change package at the end of a two-day summit in Brussels on Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan on Friday unveiled a giant 255 billion-dollar stimulus package, vowing that Asia's largest economy would be the first nation to beat a once-in-a-century financial "tsunami."

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The collapse of a US bailout of the three American car giants sparked a new global share battering Friday but Japan announced a new 255 billion dollar economic stimulus.