From CBS…..

Several officials say the White House and congressional Democrats have agreed on $15 billion in loans, which is less than half of what the car chiefs were seeking.

They say the breakthrough came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bowed to a demand by President Bush that any aid come from a fund that had been intended to help Detroit produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Pelosi said the House would consider legislation next week to provide “short-term and limited assistance” to the U.S. auto industry.

Talk about an empty measure. If the big three are telling the truth, they will burn through that money before two months are out.

From the New York Times…

Fresh evidence unearthed Thursday by investigators in India indicated that the Mumbai attacks were stage-managed from at least two Pakistani cities by top leaders of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Indian and American intelligence officials have already identified a Lashkar operative, who goes by the name Yusuf Muzammil, as a mastermind of the attacks. On Thursday, Indian investigators named one of the most well-known senior figures in Lashkar, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Does this mean that the Lashkar-e-Taiba have lost legitimacy or do we need the UN to certify this?

From Bloomberg….

Russia weakened its defense of the ruble for a fourth time in a month, pushing the currency near a three-year low against the dollar, as the price of the nation’s crude oil fell by a record this week to less than $40 a barrel.

The currency slid as much as 1.2 percent to 28.1344 per dollar and dropped 1 percent to 31.5971 against the central bank’s target basket of euros and dollars. “The corridor has been widened,” a Bank Rossii official who declined to be identified said in a phone interview from Moscow today.

Russia, the world’s largest energy producer, raised interest rates twice last month and drained $143 billion from its foreign-currency reserves to arrest a 17 percent drop in the ruble since August as oil plunged. Urals crude, Russia’s main export blend, slumped 20 percent this week to the lowest in almost three years at $39.82 a barrel, below the $70 average needed for Russia to balance its budget next year.

They have problems.

From the Economist….

AMERICA’S recession is likely to be long and deep if the latest employment numbers are anything to go by. America shed more jobs in November than in any month in the past 34 years, according to figures released on Friday December 5th by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The fall in employment of 533,000 is far worse even the most pessimistic of forecasters had counted on. Not only are the job losses deeper than expected, workers have been shed across almost the whole of the economy. Health care and government employment were the only remaining bright spots.

With news like that, the stock market’s reaction should be obvious. But just in case you are one of those thick people who have yet to figure out the stock market we point you to this report from Yahoo….

Despite some of the worst jobs data in decades, stocks managed to finish the session with impressive gains after reversing early losses.

From its session low to its session high, the stock market moved from a loss of 3.2% to a gain of 4.1%. It closed with a gain of 3.7%.

From CNN….

Oil prices continued falling on Tuesday, tumbling to 3-1/2 year low, as concern about the floundering global economy and falling demand again took center stage.

U.S. crude for January delivery fell $2.32 to settle at $46.96 a barrel. It was the lowest closing price since May 20, 2005, when oil settled at $46.80 a barrel.

Some people are worried.