AP - A slow-moving storm spreading snow, sleet and rain across the nation's midsection glazed roads and disrupted flights Thursday, making last-minute holiday travel treacherous but promising a white Christmas for some.
AP - A 9-year-old boy at the center of a five-year custody battle on two continents was finally turned over to his American father Thursday in a scene as tumultuous as the legal fight itself, with the youngster forced to squeeze though a jostling crowd of reporters and photographers.
AP - Thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Thursday, greeted by choruses, scout troops and rock bands for the most upbeat Christmas celebrations this Palestinian town has seen in years.
AP - The two chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could get paid as much as $6 million for 2009, despite the companies' dismal performances this year which cost taxpayers more than $100 billion.
AP - Bombs hit Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and a central Iraqi city Thursday, killing at least 27 people and wounding scores more, in the latest attack in the lead-up to Ashoura, the sect's most solemn annual rite.
AP - A man accused of taking three people hostage in a Virginia post office told them he was angry at the federal government because his son had died in Afghanistan and his beloved truck was about to repossessed, one of the hostages said Thursday.
AP - Backed by U.S. intelligence, Yemeni forces struck a series of suspected al-Qaida hideouts Thursday, including a meeting of senior leaders, killing at least 30 militants in the country's stepped-up campaign against the terror network, the government said.
AP - Actress Brittany Murphy will be laid to rest at a small, private funeral on Christmas Eve, while a larger memorial service may be held early next year.
AP - The season is over for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has been placed on injured reserve ahead of what the team calls minor right knee surgery.
Reuters - Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff is being treated for high blood pressure and dizziness, and was not hurt by another prisoner, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Reuters - Iranian security forces clashed with supporters of dead dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the northwestern city of Zanjan on Thursday, a reformist website said.
Reuters - The 9-year-old boy at the center of an international custody battle was reunited in Brazil with his American father on Thursday and boarded a plane to the United States, ending a five-year acrimonious dispute that tested bilateral ties.
Reuters - A suicide car bomber killed eight Afghan civilians on Thursday when he detonated his explosives outside a guest house frequented by foreigners in southern Kandahar city, a police official said.
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