Posted: 3:26 PM A western New York police chief says a gunman who entrapped and shot four volunteer firefighters outside a blazing home is dead.

Posted: 2:51 PM A company that operates 28 shopping malls across the country is reporting a "very strong weekend," with shoppers taking advantage of sales.

Posted: 2:43 PM Christians from the world over packed Manger Square in Bethlehem Monday to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the ancient West Bank town where he was born.

Posted: 2:18 PM A West Michigan firm and Kalamazoo area students are raising funds to make and send at least 700 smiley face bracelets to children in Newtown, Conn.

Updated: 3:31 PM A judge has entered a not guilty plea on behalf of three people charged in an explosion that devastated an Indianapolis neighborhood, killing a couple.

Posted: 5:29 AM A U.S. Army brigade will begin sending small teams into as many as 35 African nations early next year, part of an intensifying Pentagon effort to train countries to battle extremists.

Posted: 5:27 AM Authorities say U.S. Sen. Michael Crapo has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in suburban Washington, D.C.

Posted: 9:43 PM U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reached its highest number yet of companies audited for illegal immigrants on their payrolls this past fiscal year.

Posted: 9:39 PM Police say four people were killed when a minivan carrying a family leaving a Christmas party went the wrong way on a southwestern Ohio highway and hit another minivan whose driver and family were going to see grandparents for the holidays.

Posted: 9:36 PM The mother of an Oklahoma teen accused of plotting to attack his high school says her son has symptoms of possible mental illnesses, but did not seriously plan violence.

Posted: 5:17 PM The National Rifle Association's CEO is lashing out at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a continuing exchange of criticisms after the Connecticut school shootings.

Posted: 4:41 PM A former teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School says she remembers the gunman who killed 26 people at the school as a smart, sweet boy in her second-grade class.

Posted: 3:22 PM Getting stranded at an airport once meant enduring hours of boredom with nothing to eat but fast food. These days, it can seem more like passing through the gates of Shangri-la to find spas, yoga studios, luxury shopping and restaurant menus crafted by celebrity chefs.

Posted: 3:21 PM Sen. Joe Lieberman says he feels "it's more likely than not" that the country will go over the "fiscal cliff" now that House anti-tax rebels rejected Speaker John Boehner's plan because it would raise rates on million-dollar earners.

Posted: 10:19 PM North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for the development of more powerful rockets after last week's successful launch of a satellite into space.

Posted: 9:39 PM Preliminary results released by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood show that the disputed constitution has received a "yes" majority of more than 70 percent in the second and final round of voting.

Posted: 9:34 PM Authorities say the shooting of the gunman in a rampage in central Pennsylvania that left three people dead was a justifiable homicide.

Posted: 3:56 PM The Connecticut town in mourning over the loss of 20 children and six school workers in the December school massacre has been overwhelmed by gifts from across the world.

Posted: 10:20 PM President Barack Obama says he is "ready and willing" to get a big package done to deal with the "fiscal cliff" and says there's no reason not to protect middle-class Americans from tax increases.

Posted: 4:22 PM President Barack Obama's top Democratic ally in the Senate is calling for the House to vote on the president's plan to raise top tax rates on households making more than $250,000 a year.

Posted: 4:20 PM A parent and community activist in Philadelphia is denouncing the suggestion from the National Rifle Association today that armed guards be placed in every school to prevent violence.

Posted: 4:19 PM As the community of Newtown, Conn., marks one week since the deaths of 20 children in their classrooms, school officials are looking ahead to getting Sandy Hook Elementary School students back into class, in a refurbished school in a neighboring town.

Posted: 8:26 AM Instagram has abandoned wording in its new terms-of-service agreement that sparked outcry from users concerned it meant their photos could appear in advertisements.

Posted: 8:10 AM The FBI says one of two bank robbers have been arrested after the pair's brazen escape from a high-rise federal jail in downtown Chicago sparked a dayslong manhunt.

Posted: 4:43 PM In the "fiscal cliff" standoff, President Barack Obama wants to raise taxes by about $20 billion a year more than House Speaker John Boehner. The president wants to spend about that much more yearly than Boehner does, too.