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Stocks end worst week mixed after wild session (AP)

AP - Wall Street capped its worst week ever with a wild session Friday that saw the Dow Jones industrials rocket within a 1,000 point range before closing with a relatively mild loss and the Nasdaq composite index actually end with a modest advance. Investors were still agonizing over frozen credit markets, but seven days of massive losses made many stocks tempting for traders looking for bargains.

Bush says financial rescue plan big enough to work (AP)

AP - President Bush said Friday that the government's financial rescue plan was aggressive enough and big enough to work, but would take time to fully kick in. "We can solve this crisis and we will," he said in brief remarks from the White House Rose Garden.

McCain, Obama offer dueling ideas to save economy (AP)

AP - John McCain and Barack Obama outlined modest steps to counter the faltering economy and plummeting stock market on Friday, fresh evidence of the dominant role of pocketbook issues in their race for the White House.

Conn. high court rules gay couples can marry (AP)

AP - Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions. The ruling comes just weeks before Californians go to the polls on a historic gay-marriage ballot question, the first time the issue will be put before voters in a state where same-sex couples are legally wed.

Colin Powell calls Sen. Stevens' word 'sterling' (AP)

AP - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday praised Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' sense of honor at his trial on corruption charges, calling his reputation for honesty and integrity "sterling" in the quarter-century they've known each other. "As we say in the infantry, this is a guy you take on a long patrol," said the retired four-star Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Leading in polls, Obama decides to play it safe (AP)

AP - Leading in polls with 25 days to the election, Democrat Barack Obama is playing it safe, offering careful proposals to address the economic crisis while letting allies respond to John McCain's sharpest charges.

Mom of missing Fla. girl can access evidence (AP)

AP - The mother of a missing 3-year-old Florida girl will have access to her car and forensic tests completed by authorities trying to figure out what happened to the child, a judge ruled Friday. But she'll have to wait to find out whether she can leave her home while on house arrest to help explain her version of events to her attorneys, because Ninth Circuit Judge Stan Strickland delayed ruling on that request.

Jolie says Pitt changed her mind about pregnancy (AP)

AP - Angelina Jolie, an advocate of adoption, credits partner Brad Pitt with her decision to have biological children. In an interview with W magazine, Jolie says: "One of the life-changing things that he did, one of many, is that I was absolutely never going to get pregnant. I never felt that it was the right thing to do."

Woman, 72, moves after finding snakes in apartment (AP)
AP - When 72-year-old Gladys Dressner first saw two snakes last in her new apartment last month, she froze. Days later, when an eight-inch snake crawled across her bed, she screamed. Finally, after stepping on a baby black rat snake, she moved.

Station regrets remarks on Magic Johnson, AIDS (AP)

AP - A Minneapolis radio station said Friday it would air public service announcements on HIV/AIDS after a pair of talk hosts accused Magic Johnson of faking AIDS. KTLK's Chris Baker and Langdon Perry made the remarks during Baker's conservative talk show on Wednesday. After Johnson condemned the statements, the station said on Friday it regretted "some off-hand remarks" by the pair.

Wall St crawls back as G7 meets to tackle crisis (Reuters)

Reuters - Wall Street titans buckled under the weight of a global stock market panic on Friday as the finance chiefs of the world's major economies gathered in Washington to confront the inescapable financial crisis.

G7 pledges united crisis response but rifts emerge (Reuters)

Reuters - Finance leaders from the world's rich nations struggled on Friday to agree on a unified approach to cure a credit crisis that threatens to trigger a deep global recession.

Obama focuses on economy, rejects McCain attacks (Reuters)

Reuters - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said on Friday a mounting financial crisis required coordinated global steps as he focused on the U.S. economy and rejected Republican John McCain's personal attacks.

Wall St. woes spur new patterns on Main St. (Reuters)

Reuters - At one intersection of Wall Street and Main Street, retailers and shoppers say America's economic woes are spurring new patterns in consumer behavior.

Connecticut court allows gay marriage (Reuters)

Reuters - Connecticut's highest court on Friday unexpectedly struck down a ban on gay and lesbian marriage, making the New England state the third in the nation to allow full-fledged marriage for same-sex couples.