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Money woes forces cancellation of some events, keeps revelers thrifty.

Israel makes preparations for a possible ground assault against Hamas.

Freezing temps, wind and snow blow through Northeast to close out 2008.

Revelers around the world welcome the new year with fireworks and parties.

U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris has asked a court to force Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment to President-elect Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

Americans may ring in 2009 Wednesday with toned down celebrations and less crowded festivities as the struggling economy has slowed party reservations and dampened plans for New Year’s revelry.

Israel’s bruising war on the Islamic militants who control Gaza has moved online, where sites like YouTube and Facebook are the new battlegrounds.

Case against Blagojevich grows more complicated as events show he can’t be cowed as easily as some would like
• Senate Appointee Asks State Court to Force Issue
• Blagojevich Being Prematurely Judged, Legal Experts Say
• U.S. Rep. Backing Blago Pick Earlier Cited ‘No Moral Basis’

A big-rig and nine other vehicles have crashed on Interstate 5 in the mountains north of Los Angeles.

A San Antonio teacher plans to sue her former employer, a downtown Catholic high school, saying she was fired for marrying a man who had been divorced, a proceeding not recognized by the Catholic Church, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.

A bus ran off a road and fell into a ravine in southeastern Brazil, killing at least 10 people, officials said Wednesday.

Black and white twins Hayleigh and Lauren Durrant proudly hold their new sisters Leah and Miya — who incredibly are also twins with different colored skin.

U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, a reflection of the improving security following the U.S. military’s counterinsurgency campaign and Al Qaeda’s slow retreat from the battlefield.

An attorney for Bernard Madoff said the disgraced Wall Street money manager would give the Securities and Exchange Commission a list of his personal assets by 5 p.m. EST Wednesday to comply with a court order.

Thousands of Microsoft’s 30GB music players froze up early Wednesday; turns out Microsoft forgot about leap year.

Americans may ring in 2009 Wednesday with toned down celebrations and less crowded festivities as the struggling economy has slowed party reservations and dampened plans for New Year’s revelry.

The Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps says its “high time” his troops leave Iraq and take their battle skills to Afghanistan. “We are a fighting machine,” Gen. James Conway tells CBS News, and the fight has relocated.

As the world prepared to ring in 2009, many European revelers said belt-tightening was their top New Year’s resolution. The vow followed the most volatile financial year in decades.

Wall Street saw a merciful end to a dreadful year Wednesday as stocks closed the last session of 2008 with a sizable advance.

The image of the three Illinois politicians standing together Tuesday in front of flashing cameras served as a reminder of the political environment in which Obama developed, writes The Washington Post.

Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers.

Barack Obama probably cannot fix every leaky roof and busted boiler in the nation’s schools. But educators say his sweeping school modernization program – if he spends enough – could jump-start student achievement.

At least 59 people, including a number of foreigners, died when a fire swept through a high-class nightclub jammed with as many as 1,000 New Year’s revelers in the Thai capital, police at the scene said.

Hard-line Iranian student groups have appealed to the government to authorize volunteer suicide bombers to leave Iran and fight against Israel in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.

He draws smaller crowds than the ball in Times Square does, but Mr. Pickle is a New Year’s Eve star in his own right.

A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations, according to a new study that is considered the best and longest-term research to show such a link.

Blagojevich pick of Roland Burris to fill Obama seat takes on racial edge.

Livni says a cease-fire would only put Hamas in a “better position” to strike.

The new year starts in tragedy for revelers in Bangkok.

AP – Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers. Israel rebuffed calls by world leaders for a truce, and Hamas also was cold to a cease-fire.

AP – Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers. Israel rebuffed calls by world leaders for a truce, and Hamas also was cold to a cease-fire.

AP – A fire swept through a high-class nightclub jammed with several hundred New Year’s revelers early Thursday, killing at least 59 people and injuring about 130, officials said. A number of foreigners were among the casualties from the blaze that erupted shortly after midnight at the Santika Club in Bangkok’s entertainment district.

AP – Americans had no problem saying goodbye to 2008 Wednesday, but the nation’s economic troubles made many of them less interested in giving it an expensive send-off.

AP – U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, a reflection of the improving security following the U.S. military’s counterinsurgency campaign and al-Qaida’s slow retreat from the battlefield. By comparison, the war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shift their focus to a new front with the West.

AP – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s choice of a veteran black politician to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat could be a shrewd move, potentially helping win over black lawmakers eyeballing his impeachment and perhaps even jurors in his corruption case. But is the appointment enough to save the embattled two-term Democrat in the face of nearly universal opposition?

AP – The last trading day of 2008 on Wall Street provided a merciful end to an abysmal year — the worst since the Great Depression, wiping out $6.9 trillion in stock market wealth. Six years of stock gains disappeared as the economy crumbled and markets crashed around the globe, shaking the confidence of professional and individual investors alike.

AP – Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers. Israel rebuffed calls by world leaders for a truce, and Hamas also was cold to a cease-fire.

AP – A fire swept through a high-class nightclub jammed with several hundred New Year’s revelers early Thursday, killing at least 59 people and injuring about 130, officials said. A number of foreigners were among the casualties from the blaze that erupted shortly after midnight at the Santika Club in Bangkok’s entertainment district.

AP – Americans had no problem saying goodbye to 2008 Wednesday, but the nation’s economic troubles made many of them less interested in giving it an expensive send-off. Hundreds of thousands of revelers packed a frigid Times Square for the dropping of the famous Waterford crystal ball, and many other New Year’s Eve traditions around the country were in place, but some festivities fell victim to hard times.

AP – U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, a reflection of the improving security following the U.S. military’s counterinsurgency campaign and al-Qaida’s slow retreat from the battlefield. By comparison, the war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shift their focus to a new front with the West.

AP – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s choice of a veteran black politician to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat could be a shrewd move, potentially helping win over black lawmakers eyeballing his impeachment and perhaps even jurors in his corruption case. But is the appointment enough to save the embattled two-term Democrat in the face of nearly universal opposition?

AP – Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday that Congress should be as generous to judges as it already has been to itself, by approving an inflation-related increase in their pay. “I must renew the judiciary’s modest petition: Simply provide cost-of-living increases that have been unfairly denied,” Roberts said in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary.

AP – Sen. Bill Clinton? Sen. Mario Cuomo? Don’t completely rule it out. The former president and the former New York governor are among several boldface names being touted as possible “caretakers” for New York’s Senate seat — people who would serve until the 2010 elections but wouldn’t be interested in running to keep the job.

AP – A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday.

AP – You can call it a case of creative drug-dealing. Athens police have a 38-year-old man in custody for allegedly accepting gift cards for payment for crack cocaine and prescription drugs. Police Captain Marty Bruce, a spokesman, said the man was arrested Monday night. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance.

AP – After some debate and a trade, the Cleveland Indians have decided not to shift their infield.

AP – At least 54 New Year’s revelers died when a fire swept through a packed nightclub in the Thai capital, police at the scene said. Workers counting the bodies told Associated Press photographer Sakchai Lalitkanjankul that about 100 others were injured when the blaze broke out in a building with two stories and a basement.

AP – At least 54 New Year’s revelers died when a fire swept through a packed nightclub in the Thai capital, police at the scene said. Workers counting the bodies told Associated Press photographer Sakchai Lalitkanjankul that about 100 others were injured when the blaze broke out in a building with two stories and a basement.

At least 53 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in a fire which broke out in a Bangkok nightclub where revelers were celebrating the New Year, police said.