Banks have launched public relations campaigns to bring in customers and soothe nerves, with ads offering "peace of mind" and other promises.

A lawyer who served in the Clinton administration and more recently was an advisor to California's lieutenant governor pleaded guilty to a child porn charge in a San Diego federal court Monday.

Thanks to dedicated people like Bob and Katherine Rude, many homeless animals in Maryland will have a warm home this winter.

I finally said goodbye to some old buddies.

"Every night someone disappears. Parents and children vanish. We don't know where they have gone. There are killings in the nights. We hear shooting," Valerie, a 27-year-old mother, said of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Michael Jackson's publicist wants you to know that, despite a tabloid report to the contrary, the 50-year-old singer "is in fine health."

Early indications show there were no problems with the tires or brakes on the Continental Airlines jet that veered off a runway at Denver (Colorado) International Airport, despite earlier reports.

The discovery of 264 ancient gold coins in Jerusalem National Park at the beginning of the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah has some Israeli archaeologists having a particularly happy holiday. The 1,400-year-old coins were found in a collapsed building that dates back to the 7th century.

Bitter cold, heavy snow and ice are slowing holiday travelers across a big chunk of the U.S. today. More severe weather is forecast for the Northwest and Northeast. In Seattle, airport terminals are filled with weary and frustrated people, many stuck there since their flights were canceled Saturday.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden will chair a meeting of the presidential transition team's top economic advisers on Tuesday, as the incoming administration tries to craft and sell an expected $775 billion economic recovery package to Congress, CNN learned.

Lillo Brancato Jr., an actor who appeared in "The Sopranos," was acquitted of the 2005 killing an off-duty New York City police officer but found guilty of attempted burglary.

A distraught, sobbing Afghan Taliban member begged the court for mercy, but got none as an unmoved federal judge here Monday handed down maximum life sentences for convictions on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges.

Utah overtakes Nevada as the nation's fastest-growing state, increasing 2.5 percent from July 2007 to July 2008, according to new population estimates from the Census Bureau. Following close behind is Arizona, where more people are moving into the state than moving out.

Five of six men were found guilty Monday of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey.

A problem with the landing gear, tire or brakes may have caused a Continental Airlines jet to veer off a runway into a 40-foot-deep ravine during its takeoff at Denver International Airport, a source told CNN today. More than three dozen people were injured in Saturday's accident.

A new national poll Monday finds a majority of Americans approve of recent loans to big U.S. automakers, but less than 3 in 10 would support additional assistance.

A new national poll suggests that one of out of five Americans think that Dick Cheney is the worst vice president in American history.

Forty years ago this week, three men in a tiny spacecraft slipped their earthly bonds and traveled where no one else had before. The Apollo 8 crew circled the moon 10 times and brought back an iconic image of a blue-and-white Earth in the distance, solitary but bound as one against the black vastness beyond.

A majority of Americans favor the Bush administration's decision to bail out the U.S. auto industry, but they draw the line at $13.4 billion.

What's made up of five women, four African-Americans, three Latinos, two Asians, two Republicans and a Nobel Prize winner?