Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

WASHINGTON - The House and Senate are coming together in a centuries-old tradition to count the electoral votes from the November election and formally declare that Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States.

NEW YORK - Wall Street is headed for a lower open even after the government said initial jobless claims fell unexpectedly last week.

LAS VEGAS - Microsoft Corp.'s next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time. That's one message Chief Executive Steve Ballmer delivered on the eve of the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show.

LOS ANGELES - "The Dark Knight" soared away with every trophy it was nominated for Wednesday at the 35th annual fan-favorite CBS ceremony. The caped crusader flick won five awards, including favorite cast, superhero, action movie and on-screen matchup for Christian Bale's Batman and the late Heath Ledger's Joker.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators meet tonight for the BCS championship. It's a matchup that includes a pair of Heisman Trophy winners, an SEC vs. Big 12 debate and more than its share of trash talk.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama will seek Thursday to rally support for a massive fiscal stimulus package by warning that the United States could remain mired in recession for years without bold action.

NAHARIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Several rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Thursday, slightly wounding two people, police and medics said, in an attack seen as linked to Israel's war on Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc led U.S. retailers in posting disappointing December same-store sales on Thursday, and it cut its quarterly earnings forecast despite being the store of choice in a recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will name Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law School professor who pioneered efforts to design regulation around the ways people behave, as regulatory czar, the Wall Street Journal reported.

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc is leading other lenders in advanced talks with key U.S. senators on legislation that would allow judges to set new repayment terms for millions of mortgage holders who wind up in bankruptcy court, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people involved in the talks.

LONDON (Reuters) - Bleak economic data in Europe and a wave of profit warnings and job cuts worldwide renewed investors' fears on Thursday, strengthening the case for more government stimulus efforts and encouraging rate cuts.

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - India vowed to strengthen laws to prevent corporate fraud after Satyam Computer, the country's fourth-largest software company, shocked investors by revealing profits had been falsely inflated for years.

MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine failed to resolve a gas row at a meeting in Moscow but will continue talks to end the dispute which has choked off supplies to Europe, a senior Ukrainian gas official said on Thursday.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday sparked a new military alert as Israeli jets carried out mass strikes on smuggling tunnels in Gaza.

GAZA CITY, (AFP) - Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire in an offensive that has killed 700 Palestinians.

LONDON (AFP) - The Bank of England on Thursday cut its key lending rate by half a percentage point to an all-time low of 1.5 percent in a bid to stabilise inflation amid a deepening economic slowdown.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Key players in the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute held emergency talks in Brussels on Thursday amid signs of an easing in the tension which is putting many European countries into a winter energy crisis.

LAS VEGAS (AFP) - Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has announced that a test version of the US software titan's Windows 7 operating system will be available worldwide on Friday.

HONG KONG (AFP) - Global economic fears deepened on Thursday as Chinese computer giant Lenovo and Japanese component maker TDK Corp. axed thousands of jobs and South Korea warned it was on the brink of recession.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President-elect Barack Obama will on Thursday warn that only massive spending to jolt the economy could avert years-long recession and double-digit unemployment, according to an advance copy of his speech.