NBC announced Monday that its late-night shows will resume Jan. 2 without their writing staffs. Evening talk shows on all of the TV networks went into re-runs in November, as soon the screenwriters went on strike. This is a sticky situation for all sides because Jay Leno has been visibly supportive of the striking writers -- and it's unclear whether they will picket him at NBC when he returns to work.

The Des Moines Register endorsed Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ). Carol Hunter, editorial page editor of the influential paper, explains how the editorial board came to those decisions: "In both cases, it came down to competence and readiness to lead."

The Senate is debating a bill that would restrict the Bush administration's broad power to conduct warrantless eavesdropping. One of the most divisive issues is whether to grant telecommunications companies retroactive immunity from lawsuits over their participation in the government's wiretapping program.

Despite revived corruption allegations, Lee Myung-bak is running strongly ahead in the country's presidential race, largely on the basis of promises to boost the country's sluggish economy.

A computer programmer in Indiana develops FreeRice.com, a game that teaches vocabulary and helps fight hunger. The word game offers four definitions for a word, and clicking on the right definition leads to a donation of 20 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Programme.

Compass Group, the world's largest food-service provider is now requiring that all eggs come from hens that are allowed to roam around. The Charlotte-based company says its decision will decrease the birds' suffering.

The U.S. military surge in Baghdad has largely skipped over the neighborhood of Sadr City, home to 2.3 million Shiites loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The U.S. and Iraqi forces have made some improvements across the rest of the capital.

New Jersey became the first state in more than four decades to abolish the death penalty. Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law a measure that replaced the death sentence with life in prison without parole. The law spares eight men currently on death row.

Suicide and roadside bombings have increased in Afghanistan, making this the most violent year since 2001. Some NATO countries' commitment to the Afghan mission appears to be wavering, and the U.S. is urging NATO allies to do more.

Ethel Martin's cousins addressed the card to her in Oberlin, Kan., in December of 1914. But the card from Alma, Neb., just showed up in the Oberlin Post Office. Since Martin has passed on, the post office sent it to her sister-in-law. It shows Santa holding up a little girl. It has a one-cent stamp.

When radio ruled the airwaves, Nashville station WSM was a broadcasting powerhouse. Started in 1925, it became a cultural force that shaped the future of Nashville, largely because of its signature program, The Grand Ole Opry.

A tape of a September shootout in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA leaves Iraqis unable to distinguish between U.S. military personnel and private security contractors. The Blackwater shootout left 17 Iraqis dead.

New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte admits using human growth hormone in 2002 -- not banned by baseball until 2005. The Baltimore Orioles became the first team to publicly criticize the report. How will the league and players' union deal with issues detailed in the report?

Iowa's largest newspaper endorses Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton. The Des Moines Register's backing comes as Clinton remains in a tight race with Barack Obama and John Edwards. McCain is running well behind GOP candidates.

In his first year as Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon takes aim at drug cartels, deploying thousands of soldiers and police to battle narco-traffickers. Although violence is dropping, drug-related murders for the year are at an all-time high. And those on the front lines say more needs to be done.

Locke High School is, by all accounts, among the worst high schools in Los Angeles. It's crowded and on the brink of an academic meltdown. Earlier this year, parents and half of the school's faculty revolted, forcing the school district to turn over Locke High to a private group.

Parts of the Midwest and Northeast are digging out from more than 10 inches of snow after a major storm system swept through a vast area of the country, stranding air and road travelers and causing a jetliner to skid off a runway.

Lawmakers unveil a $500 billion-plus catchall spending bill, reluctantly sticking within President Bush's budget but still protecting politically sensitive domestic programs from White House cuts. Eleven overdue spending bills will be rolled into one.

Dozens of Turkish planes were bombing mountain hideouts of the rebel Kurdish organization, the PKK, over the weekend. The attack, 60 miles inside Iraq, lasted for three hours. This appears to be the most intense cross-border attack launched by the Turks since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Green companies are sprouting. There are some 200 new businesses for solar-panel installation, home weatherization, and electronic recycling. The sector is growing so fast, there's a critical shortage of entry-level workers. And that's opening doors for unemployed young people.

A new study on Vitamin D comes from researchers in sun-drenched California. They say their research sheds light on how Vitamin D may help promote brain health. Once Vitamin D is converted in the body to its active form, calcitriol, it binds to receptors in the brain.

Dozens of Turkish planes were bombing mountain hideouts of the rebel Kurdish organization, the PKK, over the weekend. The attack, 60 miles inside Iraq, lasted for three hours. This appears to be the most intense cross-border attack launched by the Turks since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Lawmakers unveil a $500 billion-plus catchall spending bill, reluctantly sticking within President Bush's budget but still protecting politically sensitive domestic programs from White House cuts. Eleven overdue spending bills will be rolled into one.

Last September, 17 Iraqis died in a controversial shooting involving the security firm Blackwater USA. Several Iraqis involved in the incident have sued in U.S. courts. They recall that day in videotaped testimonies, and their accounts differ from Blackwater's.

The Mingyong glacier, China's lowest, is retreating at a rate that astonishes scientists. The glacier helps feed rivers that deliver water to hundreds of millions of people -- and no one knows what will happen as it continues to melt.

The Presidential hopefuls from both parties have been spending a lot of time and a great deal of money campaigning in Iowa. And with the Iowa caucuses now less than three weeks away, the state's biggest newspaper has endorsed John McCain on the Republican side and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats.

In Iraq's southern province of Basra on Sunday, British troops formally handed over security to Iraqi soldiers and police. Western and Iraqi officials welcomed the handover as a sign that Iraq is taking care of its own problems. But there are signs that Basra is not all safe and serene.

The fourth report in a six-part series examines the mysterious factor that gives the Ganges River a mythical reputation among the millions of Indians who bathe and drink the river's water.

There is less than a month to go before the New Hampshire primary, and voters are still trying to make up their minds. Residents of Exeter, N.H., are studying the candidates and their platforms.

In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government are up for re-election. Modi is the face of hardline Hindu nationalism. His administration is believed to have instigated some of the worst communal violence in India since the 1947 partition -- the killing of 2,000 Muslims in 2002.

In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government are up for re-election. Modi is the face of hardline Hindu nationalism. His administration is believed to have instigated some of the worst communal violence in India since the 1947 partition -- the killing of 2,000 Muslims in 2002.

Britain has controlled the southern province of Basra since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. On Sunday, the British formally hand over the reins to Iraqi authorities.

Tensions between Britain and Russia are building over the investigation of the assassination of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in England.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, ending eight years of exile and launching what she hopes will be a remarkable political comeback. Thousands of flag-waving supporters waited to greet her.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, ending eight years of exile and launching what she hopes will be a remarkable political comeback. Thousands of flag-waving supporters waited to greet her.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, ending eight years of exile and launching what she hopes will be a remarkable political comeback. Thousands of flag-waving supporters waited to greet her.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, ending eight years of exile and launching what she hopes will be a remarkable political comeback. Thousands of flag-waving supporters waited to greet her.

A provision that would speed the process of bringing Iraqi refugees into the United States is included in the defense authorization bill making its way through Congress. The legislation would grant 5,000 special immigrant visas to translators and other Iraqis whose lives are endangered as a result of their work with U.S. forces in Iraq.

The Senate passed a $286-billion farm bill on Friday expanding grower subsidies and food stamps. An earlier version of the bill contained a bipartisan amendment designed to scale back the nation's federal crop insurance program, which critics have called one of the government's most inefficient programs.

A brutal fight between the Russian government and Islamist separatists in the 90s reduced Chechnya to rubble. Reporting from the region in winter 2006, Kevin Sites documented the continuing effects of separatist violence and Russian security crackdowns.

Exploring Tehran in winter 2006, Kevin Sites found kids slamming on the basketball court, a heavy metal band forced to play in secret, a flea market packed with interesting characters and an innovative heroin treatment clinic.

In the following clip from the documentary "Open Eye - Open I," photographer Shirley Barenholz visits Kinneret Boosany as she recovers from a suicide bombing. Throughout her struggles we see Boosany serve as an example of emotional freedom and expression for Barenholz.

In Israel, Kevin Sites interviewed Kinneret Boosany, a victim of a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv cafe in 2002. She barely survived the attack; she had burns on 70 percent of her body and was in a coma for four months.

Kevin Sites first reported from Lebanon at a time when Syrian troops had pulled out, but political assassinations were continuing to fuel rage and apprehension. In Gaza, Sites documented a chaotic funeral procession through the streets.

A year after the battle of Fallujah, Kevin Sites returned to Iraq to gauge progress on rebuilding and securing the city. He also reported from northern Iraq, where Kurds enjoy relative prosperity but still bear scars from abuses under Saddam Hussein's regime.

In the DR Congo, once considered the battleground of Africa¿s 'First World War,' Kevin Sites interviewed child soldiers and reported on the rape epidemic, in a nation where sexual violence is still being used as a weapon of war.

Josh Rushing, a former Marines Captain, is now a reporter with Al Jazeera International. He talked to Kevin Sites about that transition, which he also details in his new book, 'Mission Al Jazeera.'

In Somalia, the first location of the Hot Zone project, Sites visited the site of the infamous 'Black Hawk Down' battle and explored whether al-Qaida had taken root amid Somalia's anarchy.

The opening montage of the documentary about Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone features unforgettable images from all the conflict zones, edited together by Director Jeffrey Porter and Editor Steve Neilson, with a beautiful and haunting score by composer Damian Wagner.

Photographer Shirley Barenholz listens to her father - a Holocaust survivor - describe his time hiding in Holland during World War II.

Kevin Sites recently conducted a phone interview with Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq. Watada faces up to six years in prison.

Journalists Heather Hughes and Hanson Hosein chronicle how independent businesses in Austin, Texas took on corporate America ¿ and won.

History collides with modernity in Ho Chi Minh City. Formerly Saigon and renamed in 1975, the bustling city is Vietnam's largest and is the country's economic center.

Israel has voted to expand its ground offensive in Lebanon, but is holding off for now to give diplomatic efforts more time to gain traction. Meanwhile, additional columns of armor are already massed in northern Israel near the Lebanese border.

Kevin Sites interviews a Lebanese man caught in an Israeli air strike on the Beirut-Tripoli highway.

Four bridges in Lebanon were destroyed by Israeli air strikes on Friday, breaking up the last major roadway from Beirut to Syria. Kevin Sites reports from what was left of the Halat bridge as rescue workers try to recover a car trapped in the rubble.

Firefighters and school officials respond after a high school in northern Israel is hit by Katyusha rockets for the third time in two weeks.

In the deadliest attack on Lebanon since the fight between Israel and Hezbollah began, Israeli air strikes killed dozens of civilians in Qana, mostly women and children. Kevin Sites surveys the scene, where there were conflicting accounts about the death toll.

The Union of Municipalities in Tyre has been working with local humanitarian groups to distribute limited amounts of aid supplies for the people of southern Lebanon. Officials hope that will soon be bolstered by U.N. aid efforts.

Kevin Sites reports from the scene of an Israeli air strike on a Hezbollah office building in downtown Tyre, which destroyed a city block and injured at least 12 people nearby.

Scenes of destruction are multiplying in Tyre, as Israeli air strikes target residential areas and roads, in a continuing campaign to eliminate Hezbollah infrastructure. Kevin Sites surveys the damage.

An Israeli missile struck a three-story residential building in the heart of downtown Tyre on Monday. There were no casualties, but the incident illustrated the danger for residents of Tyre who have chosen to remain, or have not been able to leave.

Israeli air strikes continue in and near Tyre, southern Lebanon. Sunday, three people were killed and 13 injured in a strike on a civilian bus. Note: the nurse interviewed in this clip says 18 people were aboard; that number was later confirmed at 16.

Cambodian art reflects the country's iconic imagery because that's what sells. Artists looking for alternate routes of expression turn to commissioned works of sculpture and paintings to create viable businesses, while maintaining some artistic freedom.

The Khmer Rouge nearly destroyed many aspects of Cambodian culture during their genocidal reign. The Rajana Association is helping to rebuild it, empowering Cambodians with ways to learn the skills that can convey the beauty of their culture.

Cambodia is awash in weapons, a remnant of the country's dark past under the Khmer Rouge. An artist has used decommissioned AK-47s to build a giant statue of a dove in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh - a symbol of peace built from war.

Five Cambodian students talked to Kevin Sites about their country's past and potential future. Though two million people died during the Khmer Rouge's genocidal reign, these students say schools aren't teaching many of the details of that dark past.

The Karen National Liberation Army has waged a 58-year war against the Myanmar government - the longest fight for independence in the world. Kevin Sites journeyed over the Moei River to Myanmar to meet with some of the group's leadership.

The infamous S-21 prison, where so many Cambodians suffered during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, is now a museum. Visitors feel the full scale of the genocide, from a regime that methodically documented its victims and the horrors they experienced.

With violence raging between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, few surfers dare to venture to Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka's southeast coast. Those that do are rewarded with near-perfect surf.

In Sri Lanka tamed elephants are often used as beasts of burden for industries like logging and tourism. This 30-year-old male named Alia takes tourists on rides through the jungle. In the afternoon he lounges in the river, but is on a short leash.

Wild elephants like this one are protected in Sri Lanka, but they can sometimes be a nuisance, destroying grass hut homes in their search for food and water. The government provides loud firecrackers for people in rural areas to scare elephants away.

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels are known as one of the most organized, and ruthless, forces in the world. Kevin Sites interviewed four Tigers in the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.

The Jaffna Library in northern Sri Lanka housed one of the richest collections in Southeast Asia before it was burned down in 1981. It's been rebuilt, but as the managing librarian tells Kevin Sites, much is lost.

Many tourists come and go at Kashmir's Dal Lake, but Mahooda and her family have no choice but to stay. Too poor to live on land, they make their home on four small fishing boats here.

Security is omnipresent in Kashmir. Four different forces - an estimated total of 500,000 men - patrol the streets, and even the waters of the famous Dal Lake. Yet during Kevin Sites' visit, militant attacks were a daily occurrence.

Dr. Noor Ahmad Baba has lived the complexities of Kashmir. He was born in Srinagar and has lived there all his life. Now head of Kashmir University's political science department, he has written and lectured extensively about Kashmir.