Belafonte is to sell civil rights leader’s papers.  Three important documents written by or related to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., including notes for King’s last, undelivered speech, are slated for auction Thursday in New York, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who had a close relationship with the Rev. King and King’s wife, Coretta, put up for auction the papers, which experts at Sotheby’s auction house have estimated in value at between $720,000 and $1.14 million. Read more here.

Charges against Rangel put Dems in a pickle. With Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York the subject of an investigation by a House ethics panel over his ownership of several rent-controlled apartments in New York, his failure to pay taxes on an offshore rental property, and his use of office letterhead to solicit donations for a public-policy school that would bear his name, he could be in trouble with the Democratic Leadership that was critical of Republicans who behaved badly. Read the rest here.Fannie and Freddie were warned against the mortgage crash. Documents show that top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were warned years ago that the firms were offering mortgages that could pose a long-term danger to the nation’s largest mortgage brokers, borrowers and the industry, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. In documents obtained by the newspaper, Fannie and Freddie pushed into new, risky markets despite debates within the companies about whether the moves were the best way to go.

Fannie and Freddie hold off on foreclosures. Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have delivered an early holiday present to some struggling homeowners. They’re suspending foreclosures for about 16,000 households during the holidays, reports The Associated Press. The two companies said Thursday that they will halt foreclosure sales between Nov. 26 and Jan. 9, while they evaluate whether the borrowers qualify for a new loan program announced last week that could possibly reduce their payments. Fannie Mae said about 10,000 households would be affected, while Freddie Mac said the changes would affect about 6,000 borrowers who are facing foreclosure. The change only applies to owner-occupied homes. 

Unemployment reaches a 16-year high. As the number of people without a job reaches a 16-year high, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to extend unemployment benefits an additional 6 weeks. President George Bush’s spokesperson indicated Thursday that the president will sign the extended unemployment benefits bill. “Because of the tight job market the president believes it would be appropriate to further extend unemployment benefits, and he would sign legislation that is now in front of Congress,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Thursday. The news comes just as the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for the first time hit a 16-year high last week, pushing the number of jobless citizens receiving this type of government help to its highest level in 26 years. The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 15 went up by 27,000. That pushed the number of unemployment claims to 542,000, up from 515,000 the previous week. 

Mortgage giants propose a rescue plan. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance giants now controlled by the U.S. government, said Tuesday that they planned a broad new effort to reduce the loan burdens of homeowners facing foreclosure. The program will be offered to people who are at least 90 days behind on their payments and already have paid for the bulk of their mortgage, according to government officials. The plan is to change the mortgage by reducing the interest rate so that the monthly loan payment is no higher than 38 percent of the borrower’s monthly income. The government plan could help as many as 300,000 families that are delinquent in their mortgage payments at taxpayer expense, reports The Washington Post. But people with knowledge of the details said Tuesday that it was more limited than a program advocated by Sheila Bair, chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The plan may apply only to so-called conforming mortgages that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have guaranteed. While there are trillions of dollars worth of those loans, they are far less than, and generally separate from, the bulk of subprime loans that are at the heart of the nation’s foreclosure crisis. The foreclosure rate on loans owned by Fannie Mae is about 1.72 percent. By contrast, the foreclosure rate on adjustable-rate subprime loans is nearly 20 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Obama-Fannie Mae link is false, critics argue.

Claims by John McCain’s campaign that the former head of collapsed mortgage giant Fannie Mae is a top economic adviser to Sen. Barack Obama is “another flat-out lie from a dishonorable campaign that is increasingly incapable of telling the truth,” says an angry Obama campaign spokesman. Articles in The Washington Post and other publications have also called the connection misleading, but that hasn’t kept the McCain campaign from hammering home that claim in a slick, new television ad. Get more on what the ad says at BET.com/News.