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This week President Barack Obama made his first major speech to a joint session of Congress. He also laid out a $3.6 trillion budget proposal and a plan to withdraw most combat forces in Iraq by August 2010. Meanwhile, Pakistan's government offered a peace deal to Taliban militants in the country's Swat Valley, and Mexico is reeling from escalating drug violence.

The U.S. economy continues to spiral downward. A report released Friday by the Commerce Department shows that the economy contracted at the end of last year by the fastest pace since 1982. This puts even more pressure on President Barack Obama, who this week presented his $3.6 trillion budget proposal. Saturday morning, the president said he knows he faces an uphill battle.

More than two dozen libraries around the country are getting grants to train librarians and set up programs to teach people about investing. Libraries have the ability to reach large numbers of people who may need help with their finances.

All along Interstate 75, from Michigan to the south coast of Florida, people who are strangers are having a common experience: dealing with the economic downturn. A mail carrier in Bradenton, Fla., says the effects of that shared experience are obvious along his delivery route, where familiar faces are disappearing.

A federal magistrate has set bond at $300,000 for the chief investment officer of troubled Stanford Financial Group, accused of lying to investigators about the firm's activities. Laura Pendergest-Holt must post $30,000 cash and wear an ankle monitor as her case proceeds.

The secretary of state leaves this weekend for Egypt, Israel and the West Bank and is bringing with her a $900 million aid package to help rebuild Gaza. That goal is just one of the many challenges awaiting her.

An apology from a bishop who denied the Holocaust wasn't good enough, the Vatican said Friday, adding that he must repudiate his views if he wants to be a Roman Catholic clergyman. A Vatican spokesman said the statement by Bishop Richard Williamson "doesn't appear to respect the conditions" the Vatican set out for him.

President Obama says the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end by Aug. 31, 2010, and he'll honor a previous agreement to remove all forces by Dec. 31, 2011. But officials say both American interests and Iraqi security needs will require a much longer U.S. presence.

Denver's Rocky Mountain News published its last issue Friday. It is one of the first major newspapers to end publication because of financial troubles. Gil Rudawsky, who was deputy metro editor of the Rocky Mountain News, talks about the newspaper's demise.

The U.S. government has promised to buy up to 36 percent of Citigroup's common shares in its latest effort to help the troubled bank. But the government isn't calling it "nationalization." Under the terms of the deal, Citigroup has to find private investors who will convert their preferred stock to common shares.

The Rocky Mountain News closed its doors Friday after nearly 150 years in print. The paper's problems were similar to those faced by others in the media industry. With the paper's demise, Denver becomes a one-newspaper town.

The president tells Marines he'll withdraw roughly 100,000 troops by August 2010 but will leave 50,000 others to train Iraqi security forces and provide support.

A group of Republican governors say they may not accept federal funds from the federal stimulus packaged recently signed by President Obama, despite the current economic crisis. NPR's Ken Rudin explains the fallout.

Yesterday, President Obama proposed a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that exceeds $3.5 trillion. NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin explains why the budget is so expensive and how Congress is expected to react.

Last month's provincial election shifted the balance of power in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh province. The change could bring long-simmering tensions between the region's Arabs and Kurds to the boiling point.

Utility company Southern California Edison and solar startup BrightSource Energy announced a deal to build a solar-thermal plant that would generate 1,300 megawatts of power, slightly more than a modern nuclear plant, in the Mojave Desert. BrightSource CEO John Woolard discusses the project.

Companies that defrauded the United States and jeopardized American lives received new government work despite rulings designed to stop them from receiving federal contracts, government investigators report.

The controversial Bush administration policy allows health care workers to decline to provide or participate in any service that violates their conscience, such as abortion. But some worry that the language is written so broadly it could allow workers to refuse to provide everything from birth control to blood transfusions to end-of-life care.

Hamas and Fatah are pledging to continue negotiations toward an interim Palestinian government that would bring the rival movements together. The pledge came after two days of talks in Cairo. Little substance emerged from the discussions, but the pledge itself represents some measure of progress toward ending bitter disputes dividing Palestinians.

A scientific mission is planned for later this year that will test whether microbes could survive a long trip through outer space. But the experiment has raised concerns about interplanetary contamination.

The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008. The Commerce Department reports the economy sank much faster than the 3.8 percent annualized drop for the October-December quarter first estimated by the government last month.

As oil companies plan for the future, they are expecting higher prices and demand. Oil company executives were on Capitol Hill this week to discuss offshore drilling, which they say needs to be part of America's long-term energy policy. Shell Oil Co. President Marvin Odum says he expects global demand to double by 2050.

The banking giant and federal government reached an agreement in which the government will substantially increase its stake in the bank, from the current 8 percent to as much as 36 percent. In return, it will demand changes in the boardroom.

President Obama unveiled his budget for 2010 on Thursday. Democrats praised the president's commitment to expanding health care coverage, education funding and clean energy. Republicans were skeptical — especially about plans to raise taxes on businesses and wealthy households.

Drug-related violence in Mexico is escalating at an alarming rate and threatening the government of President Felipe Calderon. As the CIA and U.S. military planners envision a worst-case scenario, the American military is quietly stepping in with more training.

Raj Bhatia and Albert Behin are convinced they can make money buying up mortgages that no one else seems to want. The former hedge fund manager and mortgage broker want toxic assets — the stuff that's killing banks' balance sheets.

Twenty-two years ago, the Los Angeles police received a phone call from a man who may have seen a serial killer — one who has been preying on south L.A. for more than two decades. This week, detectives released a recording of that call, hoping if they find the caller, he may help them find the killer.

The F-22 Raptor is the most expensive fighter jet ever built. It was designed to fight advanced Soviet planes, but President Obama has said he wants to cut "Cold War weapons systems." Cutting the F-22 would save lots of money, but it would cost thousands of jobs. The Air Force is expected to ask the White House to sign off on 60 more planes over the next three years.

The president told lawmakers on Thursday that he plans to withdraw most American troops from Iraq by August 2010 but leave tens of thousands behind to advise Iraqi forces and protect U.S. interests, congressional officials said. Obama is expected to announce the new strategy Friday during a trip to Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Fox says it's renewing Bart, Homer, Marge et al for another two seasons, which will secure its place as TV's longest-running prime-time series. After 20 years on the air, it's now tied with Gunsmoke, which ended its own run in 1975.

Joining the Final Exit Network costs $50, and the privileges of membership include this: When you're ready to die, the organization will send two "exit guides" to show you how to suffocate yourself using helium tanks and a plastic hood. The Georgia-based organization says it is providing an invaluable and humane service. Authorities call what the group does a crime.

President Obama unveiled a multitrillion-dollar budget Thursday, an ambitious plan to boost clean energy development, access to education, and health care coverage. Some of those costs would be offset in part by allowing tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest households. Here, an overview of the spending plan.

In many places around the U.S., people hit by the recession are being forced to make sacrifices. Worried about the economy and their jobs, they're making tough choices. But some folks are also finding ways to hang on to what's normal — like the annual Swamp Cabbage Festival in LaBelle, Fla.

There may be few car buyers these days, but Consumer Reports' latest car issue is full of advice for the budget conscious. That includes a new section on the best new-car values and the magazine's largest section ever devoted to used cars.

President Barack Obama released his first budget Thursday, a 10-year spending plan that sets aside hundreds of billions of dollars for health care reform, partially paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy. The president also put energy and education atop his priority list.

The Obama administration will no longer pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from special add-on budgets. Instead, the cost of war will have to come from the regular Pentagon budget. The military will have to make some tough choices on where to cut.

Pentagon officials say that news photographers will now be allowed to take pictures of the caskets of servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, if the families of the dead grant approval. The ban on photographs was instituted before the First Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Roquefort cheese producers in France say they've been unfairly singled out in a global trade war that has nothing to do with them. In response to the European Union's refusal to accept hormone-treated U.S. beef, the outgoing Bush administration slapped a 300 percent tariff on the blue-veined cheese.

The main reason parents and their children cite for seeking out genetically linked half siblings is curiousity: They want to know about possible similarities in appearance and personality. Connected by genes, new kinds of families are taking shape.