5 reasons to be cautious about stocks
With the stock market up 25 percent from November lows, a lot of individual investors are asking: Is this rally for real?

Lovesick teen's boyfriend jailed over murders
A 20-year-old man who helped kill a lovesick girl's family because the two were forbidden to date has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Holiday shoppers stuck to spending pledge

When it comes to holiday shopping, Americans have been great at saying they were going to cut back — but not so good at actually doing it. This year appears to be an exception.

CBO sees record $1.2 trillion '09 deficit
The federal budget deficit will hit an unprecedented $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year, according to grim new Congressional Budget Office figures.

Israel welcomes cease-fire proposal

Israel tentatively welcomed a proposal for a Gaza cease-fire and briefly halted its offensive to allow aid to reach civilians, but also gave the military a green light to press ahead with its assault on Hamas.

'God' author faces plagiarism claim

Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said that he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post.

'Sno-maggedon' has Spokane on edge

More than 6 feet of snow in the past three weeks has left Spokane residents frustrated. Tempers are so frayed that a man was arrested for shooting at a snow plow operator.

Melamine found in more U.S. infant formula
The FDA says the industrial chemical melamine and a byproduct cyanuric acid have now been detected in four of 89 containers of infant formula made in the United States.

Obama pledges to curb spending

President-elect Obama says he'll have to juggle the competing interests of economic stimulus and deficit control, but that restoring general business health must come first.