TOP NEWS STORIES (nov 10, 11)

1. Alabama's Jefferson County filed for bankruptcy court protection on Wednesday in the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2. The lawyer for a U.S. Army sergeant charged with killing unarmed Afghan civilians and cutting fingers off corpses said his client failed to "look at the enemy as human" but his actions did not amount to murder.

3.  Italy moved closer to a national unity government on Thursday, following Greece's lead in seeking a respected veteran European technocrat to pilot painful economic reforms in an effort to avert a euro zone bond market meltdown.