AP - India suspects two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group orchestrated the three-day siege of the country's financial capital that killed at least 171 people, Indian officials said Thursday.

AP - Thailand's battered political parties tried to find a replacement for the ousted prime minister as airport authorities hurried Thursday to restore international air links severed by protesters who occupied Bangkok's two airports for a week.

AP - Imperiled automakers and their union worked feverishly Wednesday to sell a skeptical Congress on a $34 billion aid plan, promising labor concessions and restructuring. The Senate's Democratic leader said there still weren't enough votes to tap the $700 billion federal bailout fund to prop up the foundering Big Three.

AP - Lil Wayne — the most prolific, ubiquitous and successful performer on today's music scene — was the most rewarded by the Recording Academy on Wednesday, receiving eight Grammy nominations including album of the year for "Tha Carter III."

AP - Barack Obama, soon to be the first black U.S. president, is on the road to making good his pledge to have a Cabinet and White House staff that are among most diverse ever, although some supporters are asking him to go even further. He added to the minority representation at the top of his administration Wednesday when he named New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Hispanic, as Commerce Secretary.

AP - After being held captive for about a year, an emaciated and shackled 17-year-old boy climbed out a window in the home of his captors and walked into a nearby gym in search of help, police said Wednesday.

AP - Theological conservatives upset by liberal views of U.S. Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans formed a rival North American province Wednesday, in a long-developing rift over the Bible that erupted when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop.

AP - Fidelity Investments is joining the rush to satisfy investors' growing appetite for news about financial market turmoil.

AP - More than 400 years after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe challenged established wisdom about the heavens by analyzing a strange new light in the sky, scientists say they've finally nailed down just what he saw.

AP - Top-ranked North Carolina was impressive in what it hopes will be the first of three games at Ford Field.

Reuters - Central banks in Europe were poised to cut interest rates on Thursday to try to contain a global economic slump that appears to be spreading faster than policymakers had anticipated.

Reuters - General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are considering accepting a pre-arranged bankruptcy as the last-resort price of getting a multi billion dollar government bailout, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with internal discussions.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama said on Wednesday struggling automakers have put forward a "more serious" restructuring proposal to Congress but withheld judgment on the plans until hearings are held.

Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan on Thursday to take a hard line on terrorism after last week's attacks in Mumbai during a hastily arranged visit to Islamabad.

Reuters - Senate Democrats will be able to do plenty over the next two years -- despite falling just short of their goal of winning a majority big enough to end Republican procedural roadblocks.

Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is weighing whether to ask Congress for the remaining $350 billion of the financial bailout fund, with White House aides approaching President-elect Barack Obama's transition team about the idea, an Obama aide said on Wednesday.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Pakistan on Thursday on a hastily arranged visit aimed at defusing tensions with India after the Mumbai militant attacks.

AFP - Zimbabwe has declared a cholera outbreak which has claimed 565 lives a national emergency and appealed for international aid to tackle the epidemic, according to the state-run Herald daily.