AP - The San Diego Chargers finally looked like world-beaters.

Reuters - Top U.S. nuclear diplomat Christopher Hill said on Friday he believed North Korea understood what was required to reach a deal on verifying Pyongyang's earlier declaration about its atomic activities.

AP - Oil prices were steady near four-year lows below $44 a barrel Friday in Asia as more bad U.S. economic news soured the outlook for global growth and demand for crude.

Reuters - Central banks in Europe slashed their benchmark interest rates by record amounts on Thursday to fight the global economic crisis, while U.S. automakers pleaded for a bailout to avoid collapse.

AP - A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India's financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.

Reuters - Iraq's Presidency Council has approved a security pact with the United States that paves the way for a complete U.S. troop pullout by the end of 2011, a spokesman for the council said on Thursday.

AFP - Pakistan on Thursday promised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it would take "strong action" against anyone on its territory found to have been involved in the Mumbai attacks.

AP - Jennifer Hudson says she's honored to be a Grammy nominee. The Oscar-winning actress and singer, who has been in seclusion since the killings of her mother, brother and nephew, was nominated Wednesday for four Grammy awards for her self-titled debut album.

Reuters - Top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in traditional phone sales.

AP - Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said.

Reuters - Short of gift ideas for that person who really does have everything? Then how about an underwear repair kit or maybe a Barack Obama "Yes, We Can" can opener?

AP - The one that didn't get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.

Reuters - Sales of mobile phones are shrinking faster than expected as consumers are cutting spending, the world's top mobile phone maker Nokia said on Thursday in its second warning in three weeks.

AP - Electronic books are the persistent wallflowers of the gadget world. Consumers have snubbed them again and again in favor of a 500-year-old technology: ink printed on paper.