A budget deal is reached that would avert about $63 billion in automatic spending cuts. It's expected to be approved by both houses. Obama's eulogy is the day's rhetorical highlight, with the crowd at the Johannesburg soccer stadium erupting in thunderous applause. General Motors picks products chief Mary Barra to take over the company, which has made $20 billion since emerging from bankruptcy. Shouting demonstrators fend off the advance, which comes just as two Western diplomats are visiting the country hoping to defuse tensions. A cell phone ping leads rescuers to a couple and four children stranded for 48 hours in subzero temperatures after their Jeep rolled over. The plan now awaits the signature of the country's president, who says he's convinced the global drug war is a failure. The Nasdaq - the biggest beneficiary of the late '90s Internet mania was also its biggest victim - remains 20 percent below its dot-com peak in March 2000. The European Space Agency is planning to land an unmanned spacecraft on a comet next year in an unprecedented mission. The district superintendent tells the AP the boy was punished because of a policy against unwanted touching. America's Evan Lysacek, the reigning Olympic figure skating champ, announces that a hip injury will keep him from competing.