Top News

• Father convicted after hoax leads to killing
  
  
• Snowstorm across Plains turns deadly
  
  
• Illegal immigrants packing up, leaving Arizona
  
  
• Mission: Get holiday greetings to ailing troops
  Amid concerns about terrorism and mail threats in a post-September 11 world, two organizations and hundreds of volunteers have stepped in to make sure wounded U.S. troops receive some much-needed holiday cheer.
  
• Tony Blair converts to Catholicism
  
  
• Giuliani assures: 'I'm in very good health'
  As he returned to the campaign trail this weekend, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani was still facing questions about his brief hospital stay several days ago, but assured reporters he was fine.
  
• Polls open in Thailand's first post-coup election
  Polls opened Sunday in Thailand's first national election after a military coup, with loyalists of deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expected to capture the most votes, The Associated Press reported
  
• Couple win $151 million Powerball
  
  
• 'Boy Meets World' actor arrested on DUI charge
  
  
• CNN captures holiday spirit across U.S.
  
  

Business

• FedEx hit with $319 million tax hit
  FedEx was ordered to pay $319 million in back taxes by the IRS over a disagreement on how the company classified workers for its ground-delivery business, it said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.
  
• Stocks go out with a bang
  Stocks rallied Friday, ending a volatile week, thanks to stellar earnings from Research In Motion and a report that Merrill Lynch could receive an investment from Singapore's state-owned investment fund.
  
• Goldman's Blankfein collects $68M bonus
  Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein will take home nearly $68 million in restricted stock, options and cash, making it the largest bonus ever given to a Wall Street CEO.
  
• Court upholds Cerberus' right to walk away
  
  
• Wall Street's happy holiday
  Stocks went out with a bang Friday, finishing of a volatile week with a session that saw record volume, thanks to stellar earnings by Research In Motion and a report that Merrill Lynch could receive an investment from Singapore's state-owned investment fund.
  
• Startup's holiday wish: Al Gore
  At the top of Chris Deutsch and Robert Foster's Christmas lists is one thing: a meeting with Al Gore.
  
• Court upholds Cerberus' right to walk away
  United Rentals lost its suit against Cerberus Capital Management over an aborted $4 billion buyout, according to a report Friday afternoon.
  
• Liz Claiborne courting designers for overhaul
  Liz Claiborne is in advanced discussions with the fashion designer John Bartlett, part of a broader push to revitalize its namesake brand, Fortune has learned.
  
• Stocks rally before holiday
  Stocks rallied Friday afternoon, at the end of a volatile week, in a session that saw record volume early on and stayed firmly in positive territory thanks to strong earnings by Research In Motion and the possibility that Merrill Lynch will receive an infusion of foreign investment capital.
  
• Banks to abandon 'Super-SIV' fund
  The Wall Street consortium seeking to establish a bailout fund for troubled mortgage securities announced it would abandon efforts to establish the so-called "Super-SIV" fund, adding that it could revisit the solution if credit market conditions worsened.
  
• SEC site reveals executive pay
  The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an Internet tool Friday that makes it easier for investors to research and compare executive compensation.
  
• Markets cheer for RIM, Merrill
  Stocks flirted with session highs in a high volume session Friday afternoon, thanks to strong earnings by Research In Motion and speculation that troubled banking giant Merrill Lynch will receive an infusion of foreign investment capital.
  
• Pharma looks strong, biotechs mixed in 2008
  Big Pharma, fueled by promising pipelines and cost-cutting, is poised for a strong 2008, analysts say, while projections are mixed for the biotech sector.
  
• Dollar falls on news from Singapore
  
  
• Wall St. bulls stay in control
  Stocks held near session highs Friday afternoon, helped by blowout quarterly results from Research in Motion and news that Merrill Lynch may sell a stake in the brokerage to foreign investors.
  
• FairPoint's Verizon land line buyout rejected
  
  
• Toy safety plan to debut Feb. 1
  The Toy Industry Association said Friday that it expects to release a draft of tough new safety rules, which include a plan to require manufacturers to test toys for hazardous chemicals and defective designs, on Feb 1.
  
• Ambac needs $1B to avoid downgrade
  
  
• Freezing and rebuilding bad credit
  E-mail questions, holiday edition.
  
• Freezing and rebuilding bad credit
  E-mail questions, holiday edition.
  

Entertainment

• Fun 'Wilson's' at war -- with itself
  Mike Nichols' undercover history of the liberation of Afghanistan, "Charlie Wilson's War," is so witty and light on its feet, it's a pity it pulls its punches.
  
• 'Daily Show,' 'Colbert Report' returning
  
  
• Report: Mel Gibson got special treatment
  
  
• Star Trek fans make own 'Webisodes'
  Capt. Kirk was wrong: Space is not "Star Trek's" "final frontier." It's the Internet. Two seasoned Web producers are rolling out an unofficial audio podcast based on the Trek universe two years after Paramount canceled its remaining "Star Trek" TV series and a year before producer J.J. Abrams' much-anticipated "Star Trek" film.
  
• 'Into the Wild' leads SAG nominations
  
  
• Spears' network may air teen pregnancy show
  Nickelodeon is considering a special for its young audience about sex and love following the news that 16-year-old "Zoey 101" star Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant.
  
• Rock 'n' roll tales of excess
  
  
• Police arrest singer Amy Winehouse
  Singer Amy Winehouse was free on bail Wednesday after London police briefly arrested and questioned her in a case involving her husband, police said.
  
• Jimmy Kimmel returning to air
  
  
• How Johnny Depp was protected
  
  

Sports

• FSU will be short 36 players for Music City Bowl
  
  
• Panthers' Peppers misses first game since 2002
  
  
• ATP suspends 2 players for betting on matches
  
  
• Byrne, longtime Yankees left-hander, dies at 87
  
  
• Coles put on IR with ankle injury
  
  
• Is Nellie's innovation sabotaging his title hopes?
  The coaching equivalent of "MacGyver" might be too clever for his own good.
  
• Jon Weisman: Angels, Red Sox lead AL rotation rankings
  Ranking all the starting rotations for the 14 teams in the American League.
  
• Justin Gimelstob: Living out my childhood dream, playing with my idol
  It's not every day John McEnroe asks you to partner up for a doubles event.
  
• How a film about the NFL Draft got stuck in red zone
  The story of how a documentary about the NFL Draft is left sitting on the shelf.
  

Health

• Are you a 'cyberchondriac'?
  The Internet is a great place to get health advice, but how do you know when all that surfing is making you a little crazy? How do you know when you've become a "cyberchondriac"? In this week's "Empowered Patient" column, CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen lets you know when it's time to stop the surfing.
  
• Teen dies hours after liver transplant approved
  
  
• Foster care better than orphanages for kids' IQs
  
  
• Lack of insurance boosts cancer death risk
  
  
• Youssif smiles again
  Youssif squats at the edge of the lake at Balboa Park near Los Angeles, tentatively holding out bread for the ducks, his large dark eyes widening in delight and fear as it's snatched from his hands.
  
• A killer cold?
  A high school varsity athlete, a sturdy guy with a health history blissfully free of blips, 18-year-old Joseph Spencer had little reason to think anything was seriously wrong when he got sick last April. Within hours, his fever was 104 degrees. Within days, he was in the intensive care unit at Providence Portland Medical Center in Oregon with full-blown pneumonia. Spencer's doctor was afraid this sturdy teenage boy was going to die.
  
• Respiratory virus life-threatening for some kids
  Born prematurely, Kamryn Campbell spent nearly a month in a neonatal intensive care unit to help her lungs develop. After going home, she was rushed back to the hospital struggling to breathe. The cause: respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. "For you and me it's a really bad head cold," says pulmonologist Burt Lesnick. "But for those children at risk it can be life threatening."
  
• Flu shots mandatory for N.J. preschoolers
  
  

Technology

• Asteroid could hit Mars in January
  
  
• Web site devoted to finding lost gloves
  
  
• Astronaut mourns his mom from orbit
  
  
• Review: Adventures creep their way to PSP
  Traveling over the holidays? A portable gaming system can help keep you entertained while waiting for a flight, riding on a train or passing time in the back seat of the family minivan.
  
• 'Trek' fans make their own 'Webisodes'
  Capt. Kirk was wrong: Space is not "Star Trek's" "final frontier." It's the Internet. Television seems to have abandoned the 40-year-old franchise for now, leaving fans to create adventures using the Web, high technology and their imaginations.
  
• Nation's first carbon-neutral campus is...
  
  
• Are you a 'cyberchondriac'?
  The Internet is a great place to get health advice, but how do you know when all that surfing is making you a little crazy? How do you know when you've become a "cyberchondriac"? In this week's "Empowered Patient" column, CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen lets you know when it's time to stop the surfing.
  
• Facebook users given grammatical freedom
  
  
• Future cars will help seniors drive
  
  

Science

• Shuttle problem linked to bad connector
  
  
• 'Bully' black hole blasts galaxy with radiation
  
  
• Spacewalkers inspect defective hardware
  
  
• E-mails hint at astronaut love triangle
  
  
• NASA to fill shuttle fuel tank
  
  
• Voyager 2 discovers solar system is bent
  
  
• On-the-fritz sensor grounds Atlantis again
  NASA scrubbed space shuttle Atlantis's planned Sunday launch after a cut-off sensor designed to gauge the fuel level of the external liquid hydrogen tank failed another test, a space agency spokeman said
  
• Universe puts on a show for stargazers
  Geoff Chester was just 7 years old when he picked up his dad's binoculars and aimed them at that familiar luminous object casting its glow over the night sky of Fairfield County, Connecticut. Ever since, he's been hooked on stargazing.
  
• Three rookies, little experience on Atlantis
  
  
• China probe captures lunar image