The first female deans of the Harvard and Stanford law schools are the top candidates to serve as Barack Obama's voice at the U.S. Supreme Court, according to people familiar with the selection process.

Congressional leaders and Illinois officials maneuvered to block embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich's appointment of a veteran state politician to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

President-elect Barack Obama will probably tear down long-standing barriers between the U.S.'s civilian and military space programs to speed up a mission to the moon amid the prospect of a new space race with China.

Bill Clinton's disclosure that his foundation collected at least $41 million from foreign nations such as Saudi Arabia may complicate Hillary Clinton's ability to serve as the U.S.'s top diplomat.

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC will get $13.4 billion in emergency government loans in exchange for substantially restructuring their businesses, President George W. Bush announced.

Pension funds at Pfizer Inc., International Business Machines Corp., United Parcel Service Inc. and dozens of other companies have joined the parade of businesses seeking relief from Congress amid this year's economic meltdown.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said a large U.S. fiscal stimulus is "appropriate" yet "sobering," given the "significant stress" facing the federal balance sheet.

The decline in U.S. manufacturing deepened in December as demand for such products as cars, appliances and furniture reached the lowest level since at least 1948, signaling further cutbacks in factory jobs and production this year.

Asian governments are preparing more measures to boost growth as a slump in global demand hurts exports, deepening the region's economic slowdown.

European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos said an economic recovery may not begin until next year and that policy makers have the scope to cut interest rates if inflation slows further.

The euro area has so far defied Milton Friedman's forecast that it would splinter as soon as the global economy hits a real bump. As the euro marks its 10th birthday, the monetary union is hitting the biggest bump yet.

European Central Bank council member Ewald Nowotny said the bank is in a wait-and-see mode, signaling it won't necessarily cut interest rates again next month.