AP - President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named longtime spokesman Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary and reached outside his inner circle for the post of White House communications director.

AP - Since the Nov. 4 election, investors have been abandoning stocks in a kind of slow-motion crash that experts say underlines just how anxious they are about what is likely to be a long and deep recession.

AP - Leaders who oversee half the world's economy pledged Saturday to avoid protectionism but shied away from any new proposals on the financial crisis because of somebody who wasn't there: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

AP - The flowers have wilted and the candles are burned out at a makeshift memorial where an immigrant from Ecuador was stabbed to death in what police say was a hate crime carried out by marauding teenagers.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama promoted an economic plan Saturday he said would create 2.5 million jobs by rebuilding roads and bridges and modernizing schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.

AP - A Nepalese teenager revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha has returned to the jungle to meditate after emerging for less than two weeks, officials said Saturday.

AP - Astronauts stepped out for the longest and hardest spacewalk of their mission Saturday to wrap up greasy repair work on a gummed-up joint at the international space station.

AP - The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.

AP - It took five big plays to give Ohio State an unprecedented fifth straight win over rival Michigan. Noted Wolverines nemesis Chris "Beanie" Wells had two of those, including a 59-yard touchdown run and 134 yards rushing to help the 10th-ranked Buckeyes beat their archrivals 42-7 Saturday, the first time in 105 meetings that they've strung together five wins.

Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Saturday he was crafting a two-year plan to fight an economic crisis of "historic proportions" and Chinese leader Hu Jintao said his country was ready to play a big role in the global effort.

Reuters - Zimbabwe has barred former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and other prominent figures from visiting the country to assess the humanitarian crisis, the group said on Saturday.

Reuters - Iraq's defense minister on Saturday warned of the dangers of withdrawing U.S. forces before the end of 2011, a date set with Washington in a security pact opposed by some lawmakers.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush preached a message of "free markets, free trade and free people" on Saturday at his last international summit, pledging to use his remaining time in office to work toward a successful conclusion of a global trade deal.

Reuters - MOGADISHU (Reuters) Islamist militants in Somalia took steps on Saturday to attack pirates behind the world's biggest hijack and rescue the captured Saudi Arabian supertanker, an Islamist spokesman said.

Reuters - The board of directors of embattled U.S. automaker General Motors Corp is considering "all options" including bankruptcy, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal's website late on Friday.

Reuters - The Pentagon is considering a plan to send more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months to help safeguard elections and quell rising Taliban violence, officials said on Friday.

Reuters - The Vatican's newspaper has finally forgiven John Lennon for declaring that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, calling the remark a "boast" by a young man grappling with sudden fame.

AFP - US President George W. Bush, bidding farewell to the international stage, on Saturday offered a sweeping defense of free markets as leaders from across the Pacific rim vowed to resist protectionism.

AFP - Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on Saturday slammed the planned deployment of extra UN troops in Democratic Republic of Congo saying they could not usher in peace as he held his first rally in an eastern town he seized last month.