Top Stories

CHARLESTON, S.C. - South Carolina's first lady, a former Wall Street vice president who helped launch her husband's political career, announced Friday she is filing for divorce months after his tearful public confession of an affair with an Argentine woman. Full Story »

• Slideshow: Gov. Mark Sanford

BRUSSELS - EU leaders agreed Friday to commit euro2.4 billion ($3.6 billion) a year until 2012 to help poorer countries combat global warming, as they sought to rescue their image as climate change innovators and bolster the talks in Copenhagen. Full Story »

• Video: Britain, France unite on climate funds AFP

WASHINGTON - A loophole in the Senate health care bill would let insurers place annual dollar limits on medical care for people struggling with costly illnesses such as cancer, prompting a rebuke from patient advocates. Full Story »

• Video: Improving Jobs and Health Care ABC News

OSLO - With a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, President Barack Obama is returning to the grind of governing, refocusing on his top domestic priority as the Senate moves toward a pivotal moment on legislation to remake the nation's health care system. Full Story »

• Video: Obama acknowledges Nobel critics Reuters

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI is deeply disturbed by a child sex-abuse scandal in Ireland and will write a letter to Catholics there on the church's response to a report that found the church shielded more than 100 child-abusing priests from the law, the Vatican said Friday. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Nancy Falchuk will never forget the phone call. She was in Boston, it was raining and the news was bad. Hadassah, the century-old Jewish charity she had been elected to lead a year earlier, had just lost a big chunk of its endowment in a Ponzi scheme — maybe as much as $90 million. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES - The star may be Pee-wee, but his new live stage show is absolutely huge. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers stepped up their spending in November and grew more optimistic this month, data showed on Friday, raising hopes a self-sustaining economic recovery was starting to unfold. Full Story »

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The world should at least halve world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with rich nations taking the lead, according to a first draft text on Friday seeking to break deadlock on a new climate pact at U.N. talks. Full Story »

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday he expected the international community to impose significant additional sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Full Story »

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - The wife of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said on Friday that she was filing for divorce, six months after Sanford traveled secretly to Argentina for what he later confessed was an extramarital affair. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives was expected to approve the biggest changes in financial regulation since the Great Depression on Friday, marking a win for the Obama administration. Full Story »

SARGODHA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Five young Americans detained in Pakistan, which is fighting an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency, wanted to join a jihad, or holy war, a police official said on Thursday. Full Story »

• Video: Pakistan: Arrested Americans Were 'Here for Jihad' AP

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration plans to channel money from the government financial bailout fund to small businesses in an effort to stem the political and economic fallout of high unemployment, the Washington Post said in its Friday editions. Full Story »

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by the Irish people over a government report that said Church leaders covered up widespread sexual abuse of children for 30 years, the Vatican said on Friday. Full Story »

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - The European Union on Friday pledged 7.2 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars) to help poor nations battle global warming, upping the stakes at the UN climate summit. Full Story »

• Slideshow: Climate Change Issues