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according to people familiar with the White House thinking.
• However, White House officials say a final decision has not been made.
• In tapping McDonough, Obama would be relying on an inner circle ally for the key West Wing post. McDonough, 43, currently serves as the president's deputy national security adviser and is highly regarded by Obama and White House staffers.
• McDonough would replace current White House chief of staff Jack Lew, the president's nominee for treasury secretary.
• The people familiar with the White House thinking spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no announcement an appointment.
• ___

• ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Algeria's government searched desperately Thursday for a way to end a desert standoff with Islamic militants who have taken dozens of foreigners hostage at a natural gas complex, turning to tribal leaders among Algerian Tuaregs and contemplating an international force.
• The government was in talks throughout the night with the U.S. and France over whether international forces could help against the militants, who have said 41 foreigners, including seven Americans, were being held after the assault on one of oil-rich Algeria's energy facilities, 800 miles from the capital of Algiers. Two foreigners, one of them a Briton, were killed.
• The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack, said Algerian officials also contacted tribal elders among Algerian Tuaregs, who are believed to have close ties with Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida. The official said the government hoped the Tuaregs might help negotiate an end to the standoff.
• The group claiming responsibility -- called Katibat Moulathamine or the Masked Brigade -- said the attack Wednesday was in revenge for Algeria's support of France's military operation against al-Qaida-linked rebels in neighboring Mali. Militants phoned a Mauritanian news outlet to say one of its affiliates had carried out the operation at the Ain Amenas gas field, and that France should end its intervention in Mali to ensure the safety of the hostages.
• But the militants themselves appeared to have no escape, cut off by surrounding troops and army helicopters overhead. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said it seemed the militants were hoping to negotiate their departure from the area -- a notion he rejected. He also dismissed theories that the militants had come from Libya, a mere 60 miles (100 kilometers) away, or from Mali, more than 600

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