Jobless Rate Rises to 6.7% as 533,000 Jobs Are Lost  —  With the economy deteriorating rapidly, the nation's employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the government reported Friday morning, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent.

McCain Campaign Spent $110,000 on Palin's Stylists  —  Gov. Sarah Palin's traveling makeup artist was paid $68,400 and her hair stylist received more than $42,000 for roughly two months of work, according to a new campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Milestone in Baghdad  —  The barbarism in Mumbai and the economic crisis at home have largely overshadowed an otherwise singular event: the ratification of military and strategic cooperation agreements between Iraq and the United States.  —  They must not pass unnoted.

SCOTUS considers Obama citizenship  —  The U.S. Supreme Court will decide Friday whether to take up a case over president-elect Barack Obama's citizenship — one of a few around the country seeking to nullify his election, but this one has an interesting lineage.

Who Will He Choose?  —  As in many other areas, the biggest education debates are happening within the Democratic Party.  On the one hand, there are the reformers like Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, who support merit pay for good teachers, charter schools and tough accountability standards.

Democrats: Obama Needs Hands-On Economic Approach  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country.  Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time.

New lending deals won't bring back 2006  —  THE GREAT housing cycle of the aughts - the 73 percent increase in housing prices between 2001 and 2006 and the 22 percent decline since then - was built on three illusions.  Too many homebuyers thought housing prices would go up forever.

Next on Obama's Dance Card, Mother Nature  —  The Obama transition team, moving along smartly to fill Cabinet posts, is planning to trot out nominees as early as next week for three jobs much watched by enviros: the secretaries of energy and the interior and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

US retail sales figures confirm bleak outlook for consumers  —  The US consumer is in full-scale retreat, retailers confirmed today, as dire sales figures confirmed a bleak outlook for the peak shopping season.  —  Major retailers such as Macy's, Abercrombie & Fitch and GAP reported sales declines of more than 10% in November.

Happiness Can Spread Among People Like a Contagion, Study Indicates  —  Happiness is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, siblings and spouses like the flu, according to a large study that for the first time shows how emotion can ripple through clusters of people who may not even know each other.

Team of Heavyweights  —  President-elect Barack Obama has appointed an extraordinary team for national security policy.  On its face, it violates certain maxims of conventional wisdom: that appointing to the Cabinet individuals with an autonomous constituency, and who therefore are difficult to fire …

Top Indian official admits ‘lapses’ in attacks  —  MUMBAI, India - India's top law enforcement official admitted Friday there were government “lapses” in last week's terror attack on Mumbai, amid a public uproar over security and intelligence failures in the deadly siege.  —  “There have been lapses.

Donor: Obama suggested Jakarta visit  —  Barack Obama told a group of donors in California early last year that his first international trip would be to Muslim Indonesia, a supporter who was present recalled today.  —  Obama promised during the campaign to convene a Muslim summit …

Cuba Tightens Restrictions on Bloggers  —  As Cuba approaches the 50th anniversary of its revolution this New Year's Day, the island's Communist government appears to be taking a harder line against a budding group of Cuban Internet bloggers pushing for greater freedoms.

Alito jabs at Biden over long-ago plagiarism  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — His Supreme Court confirmation hearings three years old, Justice Samuel Alito apparently still harbors some hard feelings toward one Democratic questioner at the time.  —  Alito made several joking references …