AP - Sales of new homes plunged unexpectedly last month to the lowest level since April, a sign the housing market recovery will be rocky.

AP - An American Airlines flight carrying 154 people skidded across a Jamaican runway in heavy rain, bouncing across the tarmac and injuring more than 40 people before it stopped just short of the Caribbean Sea, officials and witnesses said.

AP - Jubilant Democrats are ready to push President Barack Obama's health care overhaul past one last 60-vote hurdle to final Christmas Eve passage, and Republicans concede they're powerless to stop it.

AP - The parents who pulled off the balloon boy hoax are already facing the prospect of jail time and paying tens of thousands of dollars in restitution over their stunt. An investigator also wants to forbid the couple from making any money off their newfound fame.

AP - A major winter storm is promising to bring a white Christmas to parts of the West and Midwest, though countless holiday travelers faced tough driving conditions and scattered flight delays Wednesday that only looked to get worse.

AP - A daughter of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has taken refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Tehran after eluding guards who have held her and five brothers under house arrest for eight years, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported Wednesday.

AP - An American father is cautiously hopeful that he will be reunited with his son in Brazil on Wednesday after a five-year custody battle that went to the highest levels of both governments.

AP - BlackBerry e-mail service in North America was restored for some users Wednesday morning following its second outage in less than a week.

AP - Steven Tyler has entered a rehabilitation facility to treat an addiction to painkillers the Aerosmith frontman has taken to cope with 10 years of performance injuries.

AP - Major League Baseball and its umpires have reached an agreement on a five-year labor contract running through December 2014.