CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward selecting retired Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, ABC News reported on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The global economy saw more signs of distress on Thursday with U.S. stocks plunging for a second consecutive day, oil prices falling, a surprise rate cut in Switzerland, export woes in Japan and rescue loans to Turkey and Iceland.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - People in a vast seismic zone in the southern and midwestern United States would face catastrophic damage if a major earthquake struck there and should ensure that builders keep that risk in mind, a government report said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. home loan finance companies, on Thursday said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied homes until early 2009, as the government moves to stem the tide of home losses plaguing the economy.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc lost more than one-quarter of its market value on growing worries over whether it has enough capital to withstand billions of dollars of potential losses and despite new support from its largest individual investor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exasperated U.S. lawmakers criticized Federal Reserve and Treasury Department efforts to shore up the faltering economy on Thursday, telling officials that their financial rescue efforts have not reached small businesses or homeowners.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five of six Algerians held nearly seven years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba must be released, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a setback for the Bush administration.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama is considering Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be U.S. Homeland Security secretary, heading a sprawling agency formed to bolster civil defense in the wake of the September 11 attacks, a senior Democrat said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of American workers on the unemployment rolls surged to the highest in a quarter century and a regional manufacturing gauge slumped as U.S. economic misery intensified.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Missouri woman established a fake identity online to torment a vulnerable teenage girl who later committed suicide, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday in a trial that is being closely watched by the burgeoning social networking industry.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks plunged yet again on Thursday, as a frantic flight from risk prompted by investors' deepening economic fears drove the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index to its lowest level since 1997 -- completing the erasure of more than a decade of stock market gains.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand until it ruled.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will loosen terms of its foreclosure-prevention effort so that the program, meant to backstop $300 billion in home loans, can be more effective, the agency said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has offered to allow ethics reviews of future business and charitable activities should his wife be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as secretary of state, Democrats familiar with the issue said on Wednesday.

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, convicted last month of political corruption, turned 85 on Tuesday with his re-election bid facing a mounting hurdle.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Sen. Hillary Clinton is to be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as his secretary of state, it may well depend on a review of the business activities of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Tuesday yielded to the wishes of President-elect Barack Obama and allowed Joe Lieberman to keep his committee chairmanship despite having backed Republican John McCain for the White House.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday said the unpredictable nature of the current financial crisis meant it was necessary to ensure that financial bailout money was not diverted to other uses.

IZHEVSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he saw new opportunities for improving strained relations with the United States once President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Producer prices fell a record 2.8 percent in October as energy prices slid, government data on Tuesday showed, but a measure of core inflation at the farm and factory gate rose more than forecast.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, was charged with insider trading in the shares of search engine company Mamma.com, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday opposed Senate Democrats' proposal for a $25 billion bailout for the U.S. auto industry and urged instead that aid be provided through government loans already appropriated for the industry by Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The global financial crisis may make it easier to restrict the money supply for terrorism, but there are also risks banks could skimp on monitoring suspicious cash flows, U.S. experts said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer on Monday gave a cautious welcome to the new U.S.-Iraqi pact that calls for U.S. forces to leave the country in three years, but he warned security conditions could change.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday on concerns of an accelerating global slowdown after Japan's surprise news it had fallen into recession and Citigroup Inc, the No. 2 U.S. bank, said it would cut 52,000 jobs, far more than had been expected.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A report released on Monday concluded that Gulf War syndrome is a legitimate illness suffered by more than 175,000 U.S. war veterans who were exposed to chemical toxins in the 1991 Gulf War.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke came to Capitol Hill on Monday to field questions from leading Democrats on how the $700 billion financial bailout bill is working.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The SEC says it has charged Mark Cuban with insider trading in shares of Mamma.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy fell into a recession last spring and will contract sharply this quarter as more than 200,000 workers per month are added to the rolls of the unemployed, a survey said on Monday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during talks on Monday to release 250 Palestinians prisoners next month, a spokesman for Olmert said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog urged Syria on Monday to be more transparent in dealing with inspectors looking into the country's alleged atomic activity.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - As Congress debates legislation to help struggling automakers on Monday, many Americans said they were uneasy with the plan, arguing that while it may save jobs, it would reward companies for pursuing bad business practices.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After the world's major governments agreed to urgently confront the worst global economic crisis in decades, investors waited anxiously to see the markets' judgment when the trading week begins in Asia.

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed four militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had commissioned a plan for military action in the Hamas-run territory if rocket attacks on Israel persist.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Space shuttle Endeavour eased into a dock on the International Space Station on Sunday to begin a series of missions to complete the 10-year-old orbital outpost.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is ready to discuss existing missile defense programs with the United States, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday, signaling an easing in Russia's outright opposition to U.S. plans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World leaders on Saturday backed a rapid action plan for the global economic crisis, agreeing on the need for measures to spur growth, better financial market rules and more say for emerging countries.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fires whipped up by hot hurricane force gusts ringed Los Angeles on Saturday, charring thousands of acres and hundreds of homes in California's largest city and threatening the city's power supply.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday after a record drop in retail sales last month heightened fears that American consumers' reluctance to spend will push the economy into an even deeper downturn than currently expected.

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to rule on a new challenge to the federal campaign finance law by a conservative group that wants to broadcast and promote a movie critical of Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. banking regulator unveiled a plan on Friday to prevent about 1.5 million foreclosures, breaking ranks with the Bush administration by demanding bailout funds be diverted from banks to consumers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate plans to take up a $25 billion bailout bill for distressed domestic automakers on Monday, but it remains unclear if proponents can muster the support necessary to pass the legislation.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Violence in Iraq has decreased sharply but al Qaeda, Iranian-backed fighters and other militants remain a serious threat, as this week's bomb attacks showed, Washington's U.N. envoy said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales at U.S. retailers suffered a record decline in October as fears of recession sapped spending, but part of the drop was due to slumping gasoline prices which helped buoy consumer confidence.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal agency that insures most U.S. bank deposits unveiled a plan to prevent about 1.5 million home mortgage foreclosures by promising to share any losses with mortgage companies that agree to refinance certain home loans.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Global central banks are ready to take further steps to ease market tensions and bolster faltering economic growth, top policymakers said on Friday, as world leaders gathered for talks on the economic crisis.

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas Islamists fired their longest-range rockets at a southern Israel city on Friday after an Israeli air force attack on their Gaza stronghold, in the 11th day of skirmishes threatening a five-month-old truce.

MONTECITO, California (Reuters) - A wind-driven brush fire in Southern California roared through exclusive estates in the seaside celebrity enclave of Montecito, injuring 13 people and gutting well over 100 homes, authorities said on Friday.

NICE, France (Reuters) - European and Russian leaders sought common ground on Friday on tackling the global financial crisis despite divisions over Georgia and European concerns about security and energy supplies from Russia.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama will have a chance to appoint dozens of sympathetic judges to U.S. federal courts over the next four years, reversing the judiciary's shift to the right under President George W. Bush.