A small bipartisan group of senators reached agreement on legislation to extend financial aid to Detroit's troubled auto makers, but the bill faces an uncertain future on Capitol Hill.

Stocks swung between gains and losses as investors weighed conflicting reports on the potential for a new round of federal aid to the ailing auto industry.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits soared again last week to its highest level in 16 years.

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said he will increase his holdings in Citigroup back to 5%, adding that he supports the bank's management. But the stock continued to fall.

In industries at the center of the financial crisis, plenty of top officials have emerged with big fortunes. Fifteen CEOs of large home-building and financial-services firms each reaped more than $100 million during the past five years.

GE is discussing possible joint investments with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. The conglomerate said it isn't seeking a direct infusion from sovereign-wealth funds like GIC.

Nonunion workers and more-advanced technology are helping Detroit's rivals weather the downturn better.

Citigroup will buy the last $17.4 billion in assets held by its structured investment vehicles, resulting in a $1.1 billion write-down.

Ireland's economy faces three years of declining output

The Irish economy is already in a deep recession and it now appears almost certain that activity will continue to contract over the next two years. Unemployment is rising sharply and is forecast to increase even more rapidly in the early months of 2009. The severe downturn is mainly attributable to declining domestic demand, led by a collapse in construction activity and falling consumer spending, but is being compounded by the unprecedented developments in international financial markets. The two-party coalition government is also grappling with a self-inflicted fiscal crisis, and evidence to date does not suggest that it is rising to the challenge either politically or from a policy-making perspective.

Ireland's economy is moving more deeply into recession, and recent data point to a widening of the slump. Retail sales figures have shown a deteriorating trend since the start of 2008, with sales volumes declining by 0.2% in the first quarter, by 4.5% in the second and by 5.7% in the third—data for August and September were the weakest in 25 years. Unsurprisingly, housing-related retail subsectors have been worst hit. In the year to August, sales volumes in the furniture and lighting category were down by 20%, while those of hardware, paint and glass were down by 14.2%. The most recent month for which comparable EU-wide retail sales data are available is July, when Ireland's decline of 5% compared with an average fall of 0.5% across the EU and of 1.8% across the euro area. ...

Peace brought Romanticism to 19th-century Holland

THE stolid, clog-wearing, cheese-making Dutch are not your obvious Romantics. But when Holland gained independence in 1813, after decades spent fighting the French, a resolute high-mindedness that was thrifty, intimate, idealistic and in its way peculiarly Dutch, finally settled on the Low Countries.

These good people had no time for the high Romanticism of the Germans, who hankered after the lances and legends of the Middle Ages, or the leafy ideals of the English with their love of daffodils and the bucolic greenery of the Lake District. ...

A jump in mentions of “deflation” in news stories

ONLY a few months ago, inflation was the main concern of central banks as the price of oil and other commodities soared. Deflation was not only unthinkable but rarely mentioned in the press. Back in August, only six stories in the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune and the Times mentioned “deflation”. In November, there have already been 50, and new figures released this week will mean many more. America's consumer-price index fell by 1% in October from September as oil prices plunged, the largest monthly fall since the series began in 1947. Britain's inflation rate has also fallen from its record high of 5.2% in September to 4.5% in October, the biggest drop in 16 years.

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Asian markets fell sharply after a late-day slump on Wall Street, with the health of the banking and auto sectors still cause for much concern. Japan's Nikkei dropped 6.9%, while Korea's Kospi Composite lost 6.7%.

It’s official (nearly): Iraq’s government wants America’s army out by the end of 2011

WHEN General David Petraeus, now America’s most celebrated military commander, arrived in Iraq in 2003 at the head of an airborne division, he asked a journalist: “Tell me how this ends?” For years nobody had a good answer. But now, thanks to a military pact between America and Iraq, a conclusion is in sight: America’s war in Iraq will end in three years’ time, with American troops being shown the door and Iraqi politicians competing to claim credit for getting rid of the foreigners.

A “withdrawal agreement” approved by the Iraqi cabinet on November 16th requires American troops to pull out of Iraqi towns and cities by the end of June next year, and to leave Iraq altogether by December 31st 2011. Those deadlines, said Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, in a televised address, would not be extended. The deal was not perfect, but marked “a solid start for Iraq to regain its full sovereignty in three years.” ...

Stock and bond markets fell to their lowest levels since the outbreak of the economic crisis, as worries about rising defaults by borrowers drove a new wave of concern about the financial system's health.

Microsoft is modifying its approach to offering music to consumers over the Internet, after slow consumer uptake of its Zune Pass subscription service.

As the economy sours, the nation's food banks are struggling to feed a surge of Americans who are worried about finding their next meal.

U.S. consumer prices fell 1% in October from September, their largest monthly decline since World War II. The drop adds to deflation concerns.

The SEC adopted a rule that mutual-fund companies provide short summaries of key data about their funds.

BASF said it will temporarily shut down 80 plants world-wide and cut production at another 100, as the German chemical giant warned that its profits are sliding.

The deterioration of the world economy is hurting the shipping and aviation sectors, with Neptune Orient Lines and Air New Zealand announcing a total of 1,200 job cuts.