Reuters - Franklin Bank Corp , the lender founded by mortgage securities pioneer Lewis Ranieri, filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to liquidate, after federal regulators seized its banking unit.

--- Reuters ...

AP - Applications for unemployment benefits soared to the highest level since just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while the trade deficit shrank more than expected as demand for imports plunged, further evidence of the struggling U.S. economy.

--- AP ...

BusinessWeek Online - Listening to Hank Paulson's Nov. 12 speech, one is impressed both by his flexibility and a barely controlled underlying sense of panic. In a few short weeks, the Treasury Secretary has gone from a bailout plan focused solely on using $700 billion to buy up mortgage-backed securities to one that may not spend any money at all on mortgage-backed securities. Instead, as he announced Wednesday, much of the remaining money will be used to support consumer loan markets that have frozen up -- credit-card debt, student loans, and auto loans. ...

--- BusinessWeek Online ...

AFP - Germany, Europe's biggest economy, entered recession Thursday amid more heavy falls on stock markets after the US scrapped plans to buy up toxic mortgage assets at the heart of the financial crisis.

--- AFP ...

AP - While the Bush administration shifts course on its $700 billion rescue plan, Congress is examining whether even bigger changes should be made in the program in light of the deteriorating economy and soaring mortgage foreclosures.

--- AP ...