Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama is nearly finished choosing his Cabinet as he prepares to leave Saturday on a holiday vacation in his native Hawaii.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference was beaten afterward and had bruises on his face and around his eyes, a judge said Friday.

BOSTON - His repeated warnings that Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff was running a giant Ponzi scheme have cast Harry Markopolos as an unheeded prophet.

LOS ANGELES - Ed McMahon can stay put. Publicist Howard Bragman confirmed Thursday that the TV icon and his wife have no plans to move from their home, which has been facing foreclosure for nine months. Bragman said he doesn't have details about the deal that's allowing the 85-year-old McMahon to stay, but added: "They ain't leaving."

The Vancouver Canucks secured the biggest win on a very busy NHL day without even lacing up a skate.

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Corp and Chrysler are close to securing emergency loans as part of a U.S. government aid package that would demand sweeping restructuring at the troubled automakers, according to sources familiar with the talks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will make an announcement about a rescue plan for the ailing U.S. automakers at 9 a.m. EST on Friday, the White House said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic congressional leaders were negotiating details Thursday of a huge plan to jolt the American economy, including $85 billion for road, water and other construction projects in a bill that could total at least $600 billion.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities said on Thursday a former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc salesman tipped friends and relatives with inside information about 13 impending mergers by divulging confidential information he got from his wife, a public relations executive.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama promised on Thursday to strengthen financial regulatory agencies and crack down on runaway "greed and scheming" in an effort to restore stability to a reeling U.S. economic system.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mark Felt, the mysterious "Deep Throat" source who helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein crack the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, has died at age 95.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will stop developing some strategic weapons if the United States drops plans for a missile shield in Europe, Interfax news agency quoted the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces as saying on Friday.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday he would ask for power-sharing talks with President Robert Mugabe to be suspended if the government did not stop persecuting political opponents.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Tension surged in and around Gaza on Friday as the Islamist rulers of the besieged Palestinian enclave declared an end to the troubled truce with Israel and warned they would respond to any attack.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan slashed interest rates to almost zero Friday as it tries to stave off a long recession while a major banking group warned the global economy would sink into a "severe" contraction next year.

BINDURA, Zimbabwe (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe on Friday told his ruling ZANU-PF party that "Zimbabwe is mine", adding he would never surrender and that he was not intimidated by calls to step down.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The man known as Deep Throat, the secret informant in the Watergate scandal that led to the downfall of president Richard Nixon in 1974, has died, his family said Friday. He was 95.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President-elect Barack Obama was set to round out his cabinet picks Friday after moving with his promised "deliberate haste" to get the faces in place to confront a dizzying array of menaces.

LONDON (AFP) - The price of New York oil sank under 34 dollars per barrel on Friday for the first time for more than four and a half years, as weak global demand overshadowed a record OPEC output cut, traders said.

PARIS, (AFP) - France will fall into recession next year for the first time since 1993 and faces a steep rise in unemployment, the state statistics agency said Friday in its official economic forecast.