WASHINGTON Federal regulators on Friday shut down two big thrifts based in Southern California, saying they fell victim to the acute distress in the housing market in that state.

WASHINGTON Democratic leaders ordered Detroit's Big Three automakers Friday to submit what amounts to a detailed loan application to Congress so lawmakers can decide whether to give the beleaguered industry an emergency $25 billion lifeline.

NEW YORK Pressure intensified on Citigroup to sell part or all of itself as its stock fell below $4 a share on Friday and fears escalated about future loan losses.

MEXICO CITY Mexico says its yearly growth rate dropped to 1.6 percent in the third quarter, its slowest rate since 2003, as the U.S. economy stalls.

LIMA, Peru Leaders of Asia and the Americas faced mounting pressure Friday to stop the spread of the financial crisis and resuscitate moribund free-trade talks as they flew into Lima for a weekend summit.

BANGKOK, Thailand A grenade attack on anti-government protesters occupying the Thai prime minister's office wounded eight people early Saturday, officials said.

WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama intends to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his treasury secretary to confront the nation's intense economic turmoil, senior Democratic officials said Friday. The stock market soared on the news. Word of Geithner's likely selection emerged as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in line to become secretary of state, said through a spokesman that discussions were on track for her appointment but no final arrangement had been made.

DETROIT When Chrysler was near death and awaiting a government bailout in 1979, then-CEO Lee Iacocca ordered drastic spending cuts and required all checks above $1,000 to be approved by a senior vice president.

CARACAS, Venezuela Prices for Venezuelan oil reached their lowest level in 22 months Friday as fears of a global recession stalled demand, slashing the main source of cash for President Hugo Chavez's hefty state spending.

NEW YORK Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, unexpectedly announced Friday that its chief executive will retire in February and be replaced by the head of its international division.

NEW YORK Wall Street put a stop to a terrifying decline and stormed higher Friday as President-elect Barack Obama appeared ready to tap the chief of the New York Federal Reserve as the next treasury secretary and hand him the herculean task of righting the U.S. financial system. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had broken even for the day until news of the nomination leaked about an hour before the close, raced upward and finished 494 points higher, a rally of more than 6 1/2 percent.

WASHINGTON Georgia regulators on Friday shut down The Community Bank, the 20th failure this year of a federally insured institution.

NEW YORK In all the finger-pointing about the credit crisis, there's one unusual suspect: an accounting standard.

WASHINGTON The economy appears headed toward the deepest recession in modern times, consumer confidence is at record lows and personal wealth is being destroyed daily on Wall Street. Against that backdrop, retailers must convince weary Americans to pull out their wallets and shop this holiday season.

WASHINGTON Federal regulators will guarantee as much as $1.4 trillion in U.S. banks' debt in a bid to get the distressed financial system pumping again. They also took steps Friday to make it easier for private investors to buy banks seized by the government.

WASHINGTON The FDIC will guarantee up to $1.4 trillion in U.S. banks' debt for more than three years as part of the government's financial rescue plan.

ALBANY, N.Y. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin isn't the only government official hawking goods online. With the economy continuing to tumble, more state and local governments are using the Web to clear out inventory and bolster deflated budgets.

A look at economic developments and stock market activity around the world Friday:

DETROIT General Motors Corp. will extend its holiday shutdown or make other production cuts at five factories at as it deals with a continued U.S. auto sales slump and fights to stay solvent.

PORTLAND, Ore. Forget the wish list. Shoppers may be giving the gift of necessity this holiday season, buying up cards for gas, groceries and even utilities to help friends and family through lean times.

MILWAUKEE With consumers looking for comfort foods and ways to save money, foodmakers H.J. Heinz Co. and J.M. Smucker Co. posted higher earnings Friday and said they're benefiting from price increases and the trend of more people eating at home.

OHRID, Macedonia Croatia's president urged Balkan leaders on Friday to boost economic cooperation as a means of limiting regional fallout from the global economic crisis.

NEW YORK President-elect Barack Obama and his likely choice for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, should have a lot to talk about. Like Obama, Geithner spent time abroad as a child and he hates to miss a pickup basketball game.

QUITO, Ecuador Former Ecuadorean leaders said Friday that President Rafael Correa was playing politics when he accused them of taking bribes during $3.9 billion in debt renegotiations.

NEW YORK The dollar mostly fell Friday as stocks surged nearly 500 points on reports that President-elect Barack Obama plans to name New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary.

QUITO, Ecuador Former Ecuadorean leaders said Friday that President Rafael Correa was playing politics when he accused them of taking bribes during $3.9 billion in debt renegotiations.

KINGSTON, Jamaica A developer is suing two Spanish-owned hotel groups for allegedly stealing nearly 100 truckloads of sand from a beachfront property in Jamaica.

LOS ANGELES Word of mouth is one of the most common ways homebuyers and sellers find a real estate agent. Now, there are several Web sites that tout a more scientific approach: ranking agents based on criteria such as years of experience, how many sales they've closed, and the number of positive testimonials from past clients.

Here's a look at how foodmakers H.J. Heinz Co. and J.M. Smucker Co. fared in the most recent quarter:

HOUSTON Only four months after peaking at an unheard of $4.11 a gallon, the national average price for gasoline tumbled below $2 Friday, its lowest point in more than three years. Yet the global economic contrast between then and now could not be more stark.

WASHINGTON Federal regulators on Friday issued their first approval of a new kind of bank charter intended to increase the "pool of potential buyers" of failed banks.

MEXICO CITY America's third-largest oil supplier has exported 17 percent less crude this year.

ANKARA, Turkey Officials say an explosion has shut down a pipeline in southeastern Turkey that carries oil from Iraq to the Mediterranean.

SANTIAGO, Chile The presidents of Chile and Mexico say protectionism won't solve this global financial crisis.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky A U.S. amusement park has reached a settlement with the family of a Louisville teen whose feet were severed after an accident on a ride last year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. A Kentucky amusement park says it has reached a settlement with the family of a Louisville teen whose feet were severed after an accident on a ride last year.

American farmers have long worried about the declining population of honeybees, a key crop pollinator. But honeybees originally came from Europe, so can't U.S. farms get by without them - with a little help from good old American bugs whose ancestors were here before Columbus?

BERLIN Germany has banned Hezbollah's television station on grounds that it violates the country's constitution, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Friday.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil Stocks were down across Latin America Friday as investor concerns over a global recession took a toll on emerging markets.

WASHINGTON The U.S. economy's weakness will stretch well into next year, a Federal Reserve official warned Friday.

NEW YORK With a solid retail background and experience wrangling costs in Wal-Mart's international division, analysts say Mike Duke has the chops to take on the top post at the world's largest retailer as it increasingly focuses on emerging markets.

LONDON British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday he is not planning to call an early national election to capitalize on his widely praised handling of the financial crisis.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Argentine officials on Friday praised the nationalization of $23 billion in private pensions as good news for workers, while opposition leaders called it more of a looting than a reform.

BRASILIA, Brazil Brazil called its ambassador to Ecuador back home for consultations on Friday after Ecuador said it won't pay the debt it owes to a Brazilian bank.

LONDON Woolworths Group PLC shares plunged nearly 32 percent Friday on rising market concerns the company might not be able to sell its debt-ridden retail business because of a lack of support from investors.

WASHINGTON The Interior Department has taken disciplinary action against more than a half dozen workers who accepted lavish gifts, partied and in some cases had sex with employees from the energy companies they regulated.

HELSINKI, Finland Finnish shipbuilders say the world's largest cruise liner has been launched into water for the first time.

ORRVILLE, Ohio J.M. Smucker Co., the nation's top maker of jams and jellies and now into the coffee market, said Friday that its earnings rose 3 percent in its second fiscal quarter, due to price increases and families choosing to have meals at home in hard times.

LONDON Shares in DSG International PLC rose 21 percent Friday from a 20-year low after Credit Suisse raised its rating of the stock to "outperform" on the basis that market concern over the economic slowdown had left the stock too cheap.

MOGADISHU, Somalia A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.