Washington -- Senate Republicans held strong in opposition to a $14 billion bailout for U.S. automakers Thursday after Sen. Mitch McConnell spoke out against the bill.

The nation's senators did not vote on the bill after Sen. McConnell, R-Ky., questioned where the federal government should draw the line, The New York Times reported.

"A lot of struggling Americans are wondering where their bailout is," he said.

Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., challenged the Republicans to put an alternative bill up for a vote, suggesting the Senate could vote on their bill and the bill approved by the House, perhaps Friday.

But time may be running out for a bill this year. "If there is no agreement that can be reached ... we have danced this tune long enough," Reid said.

London -- Lloyds syndicates agreed in London to pay 95 percent of a multi-million claim to North Korea's state-owned insurance company, despite fraud charges.

The settlement comes after a series of setbacks for Lloyds in the Commercial Court in London, The Times of London reported Thursday.

Lloyds syndicates have also agreed to withdraw charges that the Korean National Insurance Corp. was using fraudulent claims to shore up the country's economy.

The companies from Germany, Italy, Egypt and India agreed to pay $52.4 million in claims stemming from an April 2005 helicopter accident, which began as a rescue attempt of a woman in labor with triplets.

That flight ended with a crash into a warehouse. The Korean National Insurance Corp. paid the claims, but could not, in turn, collect from Lloyd's firms, The Times said.

New York -- An up and down day on Wall Street ended with U.S. markets down Thursday after the Labor Department said jobless claims jumped by 58,000 last week.

Financial firms Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America suffered losses, by 8.19 percent and 9.17 percent, respectively. Ford Motor Co., although helped by its position in the proposed $14 billion auto industry bailout debate in Washington, fell 8.57 percent.

By close Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 196.33 points, or 2.24 percent, to 8,565.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 2.85 percent, 25.65 points, to 873.59. The Nasdaq composite index was lost 57.60 points to 1,507.88, off 3.68 percent.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 709 stocks advanced and 2,420 declined on a volume of 6.09 billion shares traded.

Washington -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it will add a "Boxed Warning" to prescription oral sodium phosphate products Visicol and OsmoPrep.

The FDA said the action is being taken to warn consumers about the risk of acute phosphate nephropathy -- a type of serious kidney injury. Patients routinely take sodium phosphate products to cleanse their bowels before a colonoscopy or other medical procedures.

The FDA also voiced concern about risks associated with the use of similar over-the-count products, such as Fleet Phospho-soda, when they are used at higher doses for bowel cleansing. But officials said data does not indicate a risk of kidney injury when those OTC products are used at lower doses for laxative use.

"Though rare, (there are) serious adverse events associated with the use of oral sodium phosphates -- both prescription and over-the-counter products," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "In some cases, these serious adverse events occurred in patients with no pre-existing health factors that would have put them at risk for developing kidney injury.

Washington -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it will add a "Boxed Warning" to prescription oral sodium phosphate products Visicol and OsmoPrep.

The FDA said the action is being taken to warn consumers about the risk of acute phosphate nephropathy -- a type of serious kidney injury. Patients routinely take sodium phosphate products to cleanse their bowels before a colonoscopy or other medical procedures.

The FDA also voiced concern about risks associated with the use of similar over-the-count products, such as Fleet Phospho-soda, when they are used at higher doses for bowel cleansing. But officials said data does not indicate a risk of kidney injury when those OTC products are used at lower doses for laxative use.

"Though rare, (there are) serious adverse events associated with the use of oral sodium phosphates -- both prescription and over-the-counter products," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "In some cases, these serious adverse events occurred in patients with no pre-existing health factors that would have put them at risk for developing kidney injury.

Beijing -- China said Thursday its annual inflation rate slowed to 2.4 percent in November, the seventh straight month of decline.

The National Bureau of Statistics said the November consumer price index compared with 4 percent in October and February's 12-year-high of 8.7 percent.

November's 2.4 percent also was the lowest since January 2007.

The agency said food prices, which account for more than a third of China's CPI, rose 5.9 percent from year-ago levels, down from 8.5 percent in October and 9.7 percent in September, Xinhua reported.

The easing of inflation also was the result of the decline in world commodity prices and sluggish global demand, the report said.

In the first 11 months of this year, the inflation indicator rose 6.3 percent year-on-year. China has come around from the start of the year when the concern was overheating of the economy.

Washington, December 11: The economy slump is dragging everything along. Following grim reports from various sectors of entertainment, it is now the U.S. radio network National Public Radio, which has announced a reduction in work force along with abolition of two weekday programs.

Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. -- Saturn vehicle fans say they are pleading with General Motors not to abandon the brand as the U.S. auto giant struggles to regain profitability.

"I just can't stand the thought of them doing away with Saturn," said Dianne Pollard of Hixson, Tenn., founder of a local Saturn fan club, CNN reported Wednesday.

Two decades after founding the Saturn brand, GM is considering eliminating the Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer brands in favor of concentrating resources on its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands, CNN reported.

Pollard and other Saturn fans say the reliability of their cars, pleasant buying experience and great service have kept them loyal to the Saturn, CNN reported, noting Saturn was conceived as a separate stand-alone division of GM with a highly personalized consumer experience.

London -- Conservatives in Britain's Parliament had a good laugh at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's slip when he said his financial rescue plan had saved the world.

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday Brown quickly corrected himself and said the program had merely saved the banking system, but his explanation was as effective as trying to unring a bell.

"We not only worked with other countries to save the world's banking system but not one depositor actually lost any money in Britain," Brown declared at Tuesday's session, although the Daily Mail said the howls from the Tories made it difficult to be heard.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

Fort Worth, Texas -- A portion of the next U.S. economic stimulus bill should be directed to upgrades for aviation infrastructure, American Airlines top executive said.

American Airlines Chief Executive Officer Gerard Arpey said "the airline industry should certainly be at the top of the list of the industries that are deserving of economic stimulus as it relates to infrastructure," the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram reported Wednesday.

"I would like to think that the airline industry would merit a great deal of attention," he said. Airlines, rocked by skyrocketing fuel costs through the summer, were subsequently faced with an economic slowdown that has curtailed demand.

The International Air Transport Association reported the global airline industry could lose $2.5 billion in 2009, the newspaper said.