Slow holiday trading and fears that European leaders lack a unified response to the continent's debt crisis sent stocks tumbling the past few sessions to their worst week in two months. It's also the Dow's worst Thanksgiving week since traders began observing the holiday in 1942. Wall Street had early gains Friday, but a shortened holiday trading session and worries over a relatively unproductive European Union conference pared those advances. The Dow finished the week down 4.8 percent.

Syria seems to be ignoring the Arab League’s ultimatum. The 22-nation organization had given Syria 24 hours to agree to allow observers into the country or face possible economic sanctions, but a senior Arab League diplomat says that the deadline has passed with no word from Damascus. The Arab League said earlier it would consider freezing Syria’s financial assets if the deadline is missed. Meanwhile the BBC reports that a steady stream of Army defectors has been coming into the city of Homs as the demonstrations increasingly appear to be turning into an insurgency. At least 14 people have been reported killed in the latest violence on Friday.

An AA is good, but not as good as an AA+, as Belgium learned Friday. Standard & Poor's downgraded the European nation's credit rating in response to pressure from a risky market. The financial-services company explained: "We think the Belgian government's capacity to prevent an increase in general government debt, which we consider to be already at high levels, is being constrained by rapid private-sector deleveraging both in Belgium and among many of Belgium's key trading partners."

Egyptian protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for a “last-chance Friday" movement to demand the immediate removal of the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in favor of civilian rule. Dozens have died and even more have been wounded in clashes between demonstrators and police that have gone on since Saturday. Parliamentary elections have been scheduled for Monday in an attempt to quell protests. But the military appointed a new government head, a former prime minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak—a move that has angered the protesters. The White House urged Egypt's military rulers to hand over power. This is the Obama administration's first public move to push Egypt toward a democratic turn.

Let the Black Friday horror stories begin. Competitive shopping turned violent at a Los Angeles–area Walmart when a woman fired pepper spray to keep other shoppers at bay. Police say 20 people suffered minor injuries from the spray and subsequent “rapid crowd movement.” Witnesses say they heard screams coming from a crowd of shoppers rushing for discounted Xboxes and Wiis. In North Carolina police used pepper spray to break up a Walmart melee, and gunfire was reported at another mall where shoppers were gathered.

Eleven of Jerry Sandusky’s alleged victims plan to sue the former Penn State assistant football coach’s charity, the Second Mile, their attorneys said on Friday. At least one of those accusers wants to stop the organization from transferring its funds in preparation for what looks like an inevitable fold. Those representing the accusers say Second Mile officials were aware of the allegations against its founder and did not act appropriately in response. Meanwhile, Joe Paterno is still the king of Happy Valley. A Public Policy Poll finds that 51 percent of Pennsylvanians still view the recently terminated coach in a positive light. Though Paterno's popularity shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, the fact that even 3 percent of Pennsylvanians still view his disgraced assistant Jerry Sandusky positively should.

Mexican activists have sent a petition to the International Criminal Court requesting that President Felipe Calderón be investigated regarding his alleged involvement in torturing and killing civilians in the country's ongoing drug war. The petition's 18,000 signatories would also like the court to investigate Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. Despite the Mexican government's insistence that no crimes against humanity have been committed, human-rights lawyer Netzai Sandoval has implored that the ICC investigate the deaths and torture of civilians at the hands of security forces as well as gangs.

Salvatore Montagna jumped into a freezing river near Montreal to escape his killer, but he was too slow. The former head of the infamous Bonanno crime family was shot to death Thursday, two years after he was deported from the U.S. for refusing to testify in a gambling-related case. The 40-year-old mob boss was a dual citizen of Canada and Italy but had gotten in trouble in the U.S., where he lived and work, before he was able to receive his green card. Rumor had it Montagna was working on taking over Montreal's faction of the Italian mafia.

The birthing scene in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part I definitely appeared to be hazardous to Bella’s health, but who knew it could cause real medical problems? According to several reports, the graphic scene has caused some audience members to suffer seizures. Reportedly as a result of the flashing lights, one man was reportedly “convulsing, snorting and trying to breathe.” Another man said he “blacked out,” and his wife said he was “shaking and mumbling different noises.”

New York Times journalist Tom Wicker died Friday from an apparent heart attack. Wicker, who is known for his extensive coverage of John F. Kennedy's assassination, was a political columnist for 25 years as well as the Times's Washington bureau chief. Wicker was the only Times reporter on the president's trip to Texas in 1963 and was riding in the motorcade when Kennedy was shot. His columns, with his Southern liberal point of view, changed the tone of the Times's punditry out of Washington, and he was recognized for harsh criticisms of the presidents.

Don't mess with someone's Facebook page, even if you're, well, Facebook. The German drugmaking company Merck is suing the social networking site, alleging that it took over its Facebook page. Merck said it had entered into an agreement with Facebook for the exclusive rights to use www.facebook.com/merck, but the page is being used by the firm's U.S. rival Merck & Co. The company has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of New York.

Maggie Daley, the wife of longtime Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, died Thursday at the age of 68 after suffering for years from breast cancer. Daley was considered the driving force for Chicago’s arts and education during her husband’s 22 years in office. Born in the Pittsburgh suburbs, Daley moved to Chicago to work at Xerox, and she married the son of one of Chicago’s most powerful families in 1972. Their third child, Kevin, was diagnosed at birth with spina bifida, which he succumbed to three years later. Once her three surviving children were in school, Daley began playing a more active role in the city’s cultural and civil life and serving on the auxiliary board of the Art Institute of Chicago and later going against her husband’s efforts to tear down the former main branch of the Chicago Public Library.

Making one of the most popular movie and book franchises in the world doesn’t come without a price, apparently. Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling told the Leveson Inquiry that she was harassed by the paparazzi after the birth of her children. In her testimony at the phone-hacking hearings, Rowling said that she was unable to go outside without being photographed, had a note slipped in her 5-year-old’s backpack, had a manuscript stolen (which mysteriously ended up with The Sun newspaper, a News Corp. paper currently under investigation for phone hacking), and fought a Daily Express story that said she based an evil character on her ex-husband. The government inquiry is investigating ethics practices of the British press. Earlier, actress Sienna Miller said she was “terrified” by the press.

Moroccans are heading to the polls Friday to vote for the first time since protesters pushed for greater democracy last February. More than 300 international observers and 3,500 Moroccan observers will monitor the vote. Parliament has more power under Morocco's new Constitution, and the prime minister is elected rather than royally appointed. The moderate Islamist Justice and Development party is expected to do well in the election.

Egypt’s military rulers appointed a new prime minister on Friday as protests for civilian rule continued into the seventh day. Kamal el-Ganzouri, 78, a prime minister under former president Hosni Mubarak, was asked to form a new cabinet to replace the one whose members resigned earlier this week. The state news agency reported that Ganzouri would have “full powers to help him fulfill his duties with complete efficiency,” but it was still unclear what that means in the context of the military rule. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square for what they called “last-chance Friday” in an attempt to stall Monday’s elections. The brutal crackdown on this week’s protests has left 41 dead and 3,000 injured.

Italy’s borrowing costs skyrocketed Friday, with the country paying a record 6.5 percent to borrow over six months—double the cost of a month ago. The record-breaking price shows that the appointment of a new emergency government to implement an austerity program has done nothing to slow the country’s rising borrowing costs. Earlier this week, a third of the bonds Germany put up for sale failed to find buyers, showing that the crisis had spread to previously stable euro-zone countries.

Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday in San Francisco, Oakland, New York, and other encampments across the country. In San Francisco, 400 occupiers were served food by the Glide Memorial Church, and in New York 500 protesters distributed meals. There were confrontations with police in Oakland, however, when police stopped a truck driver who was trying to deliver a portable toilet. Protesters and police squared off, and one person was arrested. In New York there was a confrontation when police told the protesters to stop drumming.

Another gruesome scene in Mexico. Officials found at least 26 bodies dumped in the center of Guadalajara on Thursday, abandoned around the iconic Millennium Arches monument. A message from the drug cartels was attached, reportedly to be from the gang the Zetas directed at Sinaloa—the Zetas are seen as trying to muscle in on Sinaloa’s turf, as the turf war intensifies. It's already the fourth mass dumping of bodies in about two months.

Police have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a woman at a Chicago hospital Thursday night. The 47-year-old man was pulled over for a routine traffic stop this morning. The man, who worked at the hospital for 15 years, allegedly shot a woman in the hospital’s parking lot. The hospital was locked down until early this morning.

So much for peace on Thanksgiving. The Detroit Lions lost to the Green Bay Packers on an NFL Thanksgiving showdown Thursday, but the relatively close game was marred by a play in which the Lions’ Ndamukong Suh stepped on the Packers’ Dietrich-Smith’s arm after pushing his head into the ground. He was ejected immediately after the play. "What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way I felt, with me being held down," Suh said. Meanwhile, the Packers improved to an NFL-best 11-0.

The man suspected of killing Robyn Gardner in Aruba may go free Tuesday. A judge in Aruba ordered the release of Gary Giordano, who has been held since Aug. 5 while authorities search for more evidence relating to the disappearance of his traveling companion. Giordano says Gardner was swept out to sea while snorkeling on Aug. 2. Aruban authorities say they believe Giordano, who has a history of domestic violence, was involved in Gardner's death. Both Gardner and Giordano are from Maryland.