WASHINGTON (AP) - 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. Obama plans to announce Geithner's appointment in Chicago on Monday, barring an unforeseen snag in a background check that is nearly complete, said one of the senior officials, both of whom were familiar with the deliberations.
NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street staged a comeback Friday, with the major indexes jumping more than 5 percent and the Dow Jones industrials surging nearly 500 points. The late afternoon rally ended another volatile week that saw stocks reach six-year lows. Stocks erased about half of the steep losses from Wednesday and Thursday, as investors got an unexpected jolt of confidence following an NBC News report that President-elect Barack Obama plans to name New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary. Investors have been looking for a clear message from Obama on who will lead his economic brain trust at a time when the country is facing its biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. In addition, some on Wall Street have grown frustrated with outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson over his handling of the government's effort to rescue the banking system.
WASHINGTON (AP) - While President-elect Barack Obama publicly sidelined himself during congressional debate over an auto industry bailout this week, he and his top aides quietly prodded congressional leaders to find a solution to rescue struggling automakers. Obama personally talked to congressional leaders, while his new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and congressional liaison, Phil Schiliro, were routinely dialed into conference calls to discuss the status of negotiations. "They basically were encouraging us to stay at the table and get something done," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., one of the senators involved in the talks.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law Friday a bill adding a 30-day age limit to a safe-haven law that allowed 35 children - including teenagers as old as 17 - to be abandoned at state hospitals. The law, approved hours earlier by the Legislature in a 45-3 vote, goes into effect Saturday, and makes Nebraska the 14th state with a 30-day age cap. It had been the only state with a safe-haven law without an age limit. "I think this solves the immediate problem of adolescents being abandoned," said state Sen. Kent Rogert. "These kids are old enough to know they're being dropped off, and that's not good."
POTSDAM, Germany (AP) - Germany is dropping its pursuit of a ban on Scientology after finding insufficient evidence of illegal activity, security officials said Friday. Domestic intelligence services will continue to monitor the group, officials said. The German branch of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology has been under observation by domestic intelligence services for more than a decade. Top security officials asked state governments in December to begin gathering information on whether they had sufficient grounds to seek a ban. The Church of Scientology welcomed the ministers' decision to stop seeking a ban as the "only one possible."
Fla. teen commits suicide with live Web audience MIAMI (AP) - A college student committed suicide by taking a drug overdose in front of a live webcam as some computer users egged him on, others tried to talk him out of it, and another messaged OMG in horror when it became clear it was no joke. Some watchers contacted the Web site to notify police, but by the time officers entered Abraham Biggs' home - a scene also captured on the Internet - it was too late.
RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (AP) - A county prosecutor who brought indictments this week against Vice President Dick Cheney and others pounded his fist and shouted at the judge Friday during a routine hearing. Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra asked Presiding Judge Manuel Banales to recuse himself from the case, which alleges abuse at federally run prisons. Attorneys for the vice president and other defendants leapt to their feet in objection as Guerra pounded the table and accused Banales of giving the defendants special treatment.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Archaeologists have unearthed an elaborately decorated 1,800-year-old chariot sheathed in bronze at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Friday. "The lavishly ornamented four-wheel chariot dates back to the end of the second century A.D.," Veselin Ignatov told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the site, near the southeastern village of Karanovo. But he said archaeologists were struggling to keep up with looters, who often ransack ancient sites before the experts can get to them.
Suspect arrested for greasy imprints in Neb. town OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Police have arrested a man suspected of leaving greasy, graphic imprints on the windows of stores, churches and schools in a small Nebraska town. A 35-year-old man was caught in the act by police early Wednesday morning, Cherry County Attorney Eric Scott said Friday. The man hasn't been charged yet, but authorities believe he is the vandal some townsfolk have dubbed the "Butt Bandit." Beginning in spring of 2007, a mystery vandal visited businesses at night, pressing his naked behind - sometimes his groin, sometimes both - on windows. The marks were made with lotion or petroleum jelly, and while police had earlier worried copycat criminals were getting involved, Scott said they now believe it's "the act of a lone deviant."
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The New York Knicks have completed their second big deal of the day, trading leading scorer Zach Randolph and guard Mardy Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. The deal was announced shortly after the Knicks sent guard Jamal Crawford to the Golden State Warriors for Al Harrington on Friday.
