First-time buyers seized on a tax credit, combined with low mortgage rates and falling prices, to boost home sales in October to their highest level in 2 1/2 years.

Investors halted stocks' three-day losing streak Monday, sending prices higher across the market on a lower dollar and better-than-expected home sales numbers.

A lot more Americans are feeling stressed out by debt this holiday season, raising the glum likelihood they'll behave like Scrooge rather than Santa.

Tyson Foods Inc. said it made strides in the meat business this year and predicts more improvements next year, but analysts worry the company's all-important chicken business is lagging others in the industry.

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation's economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.

The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.

Retail gasoline prices headed downward to begin one of the country's busiest travel weeks, with more than 33 million people expected to hit the road for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Price-conscious grocery shoppers are being choosy about what they buy to cook at home, even from the value-oriented Campbell Soup Co.

Consumers got more serious about paying down their credit card debt this summer, a time when deliquencies usually to go up.

Shares in British chocolate maker Cadbury PLC hit their highest level in at least five years Monday on reports that another rival, Switzerland's Nestle SA, may make a takeover bid.

Entertainment  (top)

ABC says more than 1,500 people have called to complain about Adam Lambert's sexually charged performance at the American Music Awards.

Jon Gosselin offered his estranged wife a bouquet of red roses at their divorce arbitration hearing over the weekend. She evidently turned them down. Despite the snub, the marathon session went so well that the feuding stars of "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" could be divorced by the end of the year, his attorney said Monday.

During rehearsals for his outlandish American Music Awards performance, amid a thundercloud of throbbing theater lights and special-effects fog, Adam Lambert effortlessly governs the sprawling stage while gripping a microphone in his gloved hands and donning a tight T-shirt slathered with an image of David Bowie's face.

Michael Jackson's doctor returned to work at his Houston medical clinic on Monday for the first time since the pop star's death.

It won't be just the balloons, marching bands and floats on display in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The laws of physics will also be on parade.

Like any wife who knows her husband well, Nancy Martus knows what will annoy her man. Like when she utters the phrase, "Oprah says..."

The King of Pop is still winning awards and setting records doing it.

Artist Nate Giorgio recalls the last time he saw Michael Jackson, just days before the singer's death.

Another interview coup for Oprah Winfrey: Vicki Kennedy, wife of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Television retailer QVC has made aggressive plans to keep shoppers watching _ instead of mall-hopping _ on Black Friday, an event it has traditionally ignored.

Headlines  (top)

A leading Senate Democrat said Monday his party is determined to push through a health care overhaul bill with or without Republican support because the "system is broken." "We prefer to go at it with Republicans if we can reach compromises in some areas," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "But we're not going to not pass a bill."

A lot more Americans are feeling stressed out by debt this holiday season, raising the glum likelihood they'll behave like Scrooge rather than Santa.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, whose tryst with an Argentine lover blossomed into a wide-ranging scandal, is accused of breaking ethics laws by using taxpayer money for pricey airline seats, taking state planes for personal and political trips and occasionally tapping his campaign chest to reimburse himself for travel.

Two Senate leaders trying to steer a pair of President Barack Obama's high-stakes initiatives through Congress are being dogged by re-election worries, and it's not clear whether their legislative prominence will help or hurt them.

First-time buyers seized on a tax credit, combined with low mortgage rates and falling prices, to boost home sales in October to their highest level in 2 1/2 years.

A man who emerged from what doctors thought was a vegetative state says he was fully conscious for 23 years but could not respond because he was paralyzed, his mother said Monday.

The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said.

ABC says more than 1,500 people have called to complain about Adam Lambert's sexually charged performance at the American Music Awards.

A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs. The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat.

Joe Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing first in a near-unanimous vote Monday. The Minnesota Twins star received 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Health  (top)

A man who emerged from what doctors thought was a vegetative state says he was fully conscious for 23 years but could not respond because he was paralyzed, his mother said Monday.

A technology originally developed for premature babies may be helping to save some of the sickest swine flu patients by rerouting their blood so their lungs can rest.

A leading Senate Democrat said Monday his party is determined to push through a health care overhaul bill with or without Republican support because the "system is broken." "We prefer to go at it with Republicans if we can reach compromises in some areas," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "But we're not going to not pass a bill."

Schoolteacher Kinzi Blair makes only $46,000 a year, but she has what many would consider a "Cadillac" health plan, now targeted for a big tax increase by health reformers.

Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday.

The former director of the National Institutes of Health is advising women to ignore new guidelines that delay the start of routine mammogram testing for breast cancer.

Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care _ and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.

A Canadian woman on sick leave for depression said Monday she would fight an insurance company's decision to cut her benefits after her agent found photos on Facebook of her vacationing, at a bar and at a party.

Marines treated at Camp Lejeune for post-traumatic stress had to undergo therapy for months in temporary trailers where they could hear bomb blasts, machine-gun fire and war cries through the thin walls, according to servicemen and their former psychiatrist.

Hitech  (top)

Laura Fitton's ascent has been staggering: In less than a year, she's become mayor of nine different places in several different states, all without giving any speeches or kissing any babies.

Google Inc. has snapped up another startup in its quest to sell more visual advertising on the Web.

Apple Inc's iPhone is coming to South Korea this week, a local carrier announced Sunday, bringing the iconic communications device to one of the world's most sophisticated mobile phone markets.

A Canadian woman on sick leave for depression said Monday she would fight an insurance company's decision to cut her benefits after her agent found photos on Facebook of her vacationing, at a bar and at a party.

While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies.

The chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment said Monday the U.S. should join France in cutting off the Internet connection of users who repeatedly download copyright-protected films.

Sony's new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday.

A leading climate change scientist whose private e-mails are included in thousands of documents that were stolen by hackers and posted online said Sunday the leaks may have been aimed at undermining next month's global climate summit in Denmark.

Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading al-Qaida's message to Muslims in the West. They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings.

International  (top)

A man who emerged from what doctors thought was a vegetative state says he was fully conscious for 23 years but could not respond because he was paralyzed, his mother said Monday.

A Japanese engineer seized by Yemeni tribesmen seeking to swap him for a prisoner with al-Qaida links was released Monday after a week in captivity, his embassy said.

Hamas leaders raced to Egypt on Monday amid signs of progress on a deal to swap hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a captive Israeli soldier held by the Islamic militant group for more than three years.

Dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists, and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor, killing at least 21 of the travelers Monday in the southern Philippines' worst political violence in years.

A veteran dissident was sentenced Monday to three years in prison after casting a spotlight on poorly built schools that collapsed during China's massive earthquake last year, killing thousands of children _ an apparent government attempt to squelch such information.

The remains of British hostage Alec Collett, who disappeared in 1985 during Lebanon's civil war while working for the United Nations, have been positively identified, the U.N. announced Monday.

McDonald's is going green _ swapping its traditional red backdrop for a deep hunter green _ to promote a more eco-friendly image in Europe.

The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said.

A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs. The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat.

Bombings and shootings killed 12 people across Afghanistan, including four American troops and three children, as President Barack Obama convened his war council again Monday to fine-tune a strategy to respond to the intransigent violence.

Olympics  (top)

The projected final cost of construction for the 2012 London Olympics has risen slightly, but the overall budget for the games remains unchanged.

Tony Benshoof's back problem is back, already causing concern for the Olympic season.

Steven Holcomb said the U.S. bobsled team was going to be a powerhouse this year. He sure seems like a prophet.

Comedian Stephen Colbert took the "Night Train" and it nearly left him speechless.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the second edition of the parallel slalom Champions Cup on a giant ramp in a promotion of Alpine ski events for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Listening to her coach paid off for Joannie Rochette.

U.S. skier Resi Stiegler is out for the season after breaking two bones in her left leg in a crash during giant slalom training.

The home-ice advantage for the U.S. skeleton team vanished for the second straight week in World Cup competition and Canada and Germany took advantage in the snowless Adirondack Mountains.

Vancouver Olympic organizers didn't violate women ski jumpers' rights because they had no power to include their event in the 2010 Winters Games.

Petter Northug enters the Olympic season as the man to beat in cross-country skiing, and he isn't doing much to downplay expectations.

Politics  (top)

Federal authorities are due to unseal charges against eight new suspects in a long-running probe of young men who left the United States to fight in Somalia.

A technology originally developed for premature babies may be helping to save some of the sickest swine flu patients by rerouting their blood so their lungs can rest.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that Indian and U.S. officials will sign a memorandum intended to improve cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change.

President Barack Obama called his war council together Monday as he moves toward a decision on whether to add more U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Reports of hate crimes against gays and religious groups increased sharply in 2008, according to FBI data released Monday.

Two Senate leaders trying to steer a pair of President Barack Obama's high-stakes initiatives through Congress are being dogged by re-election worries, and it's not clear whether their legislative prominence will help or hurt them.

Hey kids, grab those beakers and Petri dishes, the White House is going to hold a science fair.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is holding out the possibility that Iraq's national election could be delayed beyond January because of a dispute over the allocation of seats in parliament.

A leading Senate Democrat said Monday his party is determined to push through a health care overhaul bill with or without Republican support because the "system is broken." "We prefer to go at it with Republicans if we can reach compromises in some areas," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "But we're not going to not pass a bill."

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will be a tough act to follow, even for the Kennedys. His death, coupled with the decision by family members not to seek the seat he held for nearly five decades, has prompted predictions that the family's long-running political dynasty is over.

Religion  (top)

The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: "Ask an Atheist."

More than 150 Christian leaders, most of them conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Roman Catholics, issued a joint declaration Friday reaffirming their opposition to abortion and gay marriage and pledging to protect religious freedoms.

Fallout continues from the summer controversy over the University of Notre Dame awarding an honorary degree to President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights.

Terverius Black believes in hip-hop gospel so much he sold his first home to get the money needed to start his Christian-themed entertainment company.

Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard said he will continue to hold weekly prayer meetings at his home, three years after he was ousted from the church he founded amid a scandal involving a male prostitute and drug use.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops have affirmed that the church defines marriage between one man and one woman, and sex is meant for procreation.

Science  (top)

The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said.

The readings at this 2-mile-high station show an upward curve as the world counts down to climate talks: Global warming gases have built up to record levels in the atmosphere, from emissions that match scientists' worst-case scenarios.

Getting one of the roughly 11,500 permits granted each year to backpack overnight in the Grand Canyon has become so competitive and "unfair" that managers at the national park have decided to change the system.

Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated _ beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.

A pair of astronauts zipped through the third and final spacewalk of their mission Monday, installing an enormous oxygen tank at the International Space Station and accomplishing everything else on their list.

Sixty-five world leaders have said they will attend the Copenhagen climate summit in December, and several more have responded positively to invitations, Danish officials said Sunday.

An auction house says it is selling a rare first edition of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" found in a family's guest lavatory in southern England.

Vladimir Gapor is a plumber by trade, but now he's a scavenger, prying bits of scrap steel from the ruins of his old factory and selling them for a pittance.

A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus. Experts say the historian may be reading too much into the markings, and they stand by carbon-dating that points to the shroud being a medieval forgery.

The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits.

Sports  (top)

Joe Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing first in a near-unanimous vote Monday. The Minnesota Twins star received 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Syracuse was so impressive in the 2K Sports Classic that it made one of the best entrances ever into The Associated Press' college basketball poll.

San Diego State cracked the AP women's basketball Top 25 for the first time in 14 years, while Connecticut remained a unanimous No. 1 for the 18th consecutive poll.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt says he had a long talk with Kurt Warner on the flight home, and the quarterback was alert and upbeat following a blow to the head in Sunday's' victory over St. Louis.

Standing behind the same podium where quarterback Tim Tebow delivered his now-famous promise 14 months and 21 wins ago, coach Urban Meyer vowed Monday to be at Florida "as long as they'll have me."

They don't all need glasses. But if you always suspected basketball referees are biased _ well, you're right, according to a couple of professors who've studied the matter.

Rafael Nadal lost to Robin Soderling for the second straight time, falling 6-4, 6-4 Monday in their opening round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals.

An Illinois insurance executive accused of secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews pleaded not guilty Monday to interstate stalking.

Barring a problem in practice, quarterback Tony Pike will start for fifth-ranked Cincinnati against Illinois on Friday.

Running back Ladell Betts and guard Chad Rinehart are done for the season for the battered Washington Redskins.

Strange  (top)

A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs.

Britain's authority on etiquette says it's more hygienic to exchange kisses on the cheek than to shake hands _ so the swine flu pandemic should not make people afraid of kissing under the mistletoe this holiday season.

Police say a bank robbery suspect in Ohio may have eaten evidence when he gobbled a piece of paper while handcuffed and lying across the hood of a police cruiser.

Federal officials say they arrested a man who strapped 15 live lizards to his chest to get through customs at Los Angeles International Airport.

A 39-year-old Southern California man has been arrested for misdemeanor child annoyance after allegedly paying a teenager $31 to spit in his face. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department says Charles Hersel was arrested Wednesday in a sting operation at a mall in Thousand Oaks. He's free from jail pending a court hearing.

Authorities in western Michigan arrested a person twice in three days for driving the wrong way down the highway Kalamazoo County deputies said they were alerted about 1:30 a.m. Friday after several people called 911 when they passed the unidentified driver traveling south on northbound U.S. 131.

A western Pennsylvania woman has been ordered to stand trial on charges she passed a drug-filled balloon to a state prison inmate while kissing him. State police said guards at the State Correctional Institution-Mercer became suspicious when an inmate appeared to swallow something after a prolonged kiss with a visitor on Oct. 19.

California tax officials say an interior designer's false disability claim was uncovered when he was spotted on a home improvement television show.

A North Carolina doctor could lose his medical license after a patient complained he made cutting criticisms, including telling her she was fat. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported the North Carolina Medical Board will decide if Dr. Earl Sunderhaus of Asheville overstepped the bounds of professional decency.

Wichita police arrested a pregnant woman after she allegedly robbed homes after asking residents for help. Police said the woman, who is eight months pregnant, had been telling people in west Wichita that her car broke down and she needed to call someone for a ride.

Today-in-history  (top)

Today is Monday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2009. There are 38 days left in the year.

Us  (top)

Schoolteacher Kinzi Blair makes only $46,000 a year, but she has what many would consider a "Cadillac" health plan, now targeted for a big tax increase by health reformers.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, whose tryst with an Argentine lover blossomed into a wide-ranging scandal, is accused of breaking ethics laws by using taxpayer money for pricey airline seats, taking state planes for personal and political trips and occasionally tapping his campaign chest to reimburse himself for travel.

The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.

A pair of astronauts zipped through the third and final spacewalk of their mission Monday, installing an enormous oxygen tank at the International Space Station and accomplishing everything else on their list.

It won't be just the balloons, marching bands and floats on display in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The laws of physics will also be on parade.

Police say a western Pennsylvania man told them he kicked his girlfriend's puppy to death because he was upset that the pit bull wouldn't behave before the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers game.

At the newly opened Cannabis Cafe, people sit around taking tokes from a "vaporizer" _ a contraption with a big plastic bag that captures the potent vapors of heated marijuana. Glass jars hold donations of dried, milky-green weed, and the cafe serves up meals and snacks for the hungry.

A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

Funeral services are under way for a 15-year-old Michigan boy who police say pleaded for mercy before being fatally shot by his father.

Kentucky State Police say two arrests have been made following the discovery of three bodies in rural Kentucky.