NewsCosmos

Defying U.S. Senate leaders and his own state’s lawmakers, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Tuesday the appointment of a Senate replacement for President-elect Barack Obama.

Consumer confidence hit an all-time low in December, dropping unexpectedly in the face of layoffs and deteriorating markets for housing, stocks and other investments.

Israel is considering halting its Gaza offensive temporarily to give Hamas militants an opening to halt rocket fire on Israel, an Israeli defense official said Tuesday.

Cuba marks the 50th anniversary of the Communist revolution this week, awaiting the 11th U.S. leader to face the Castro brothers as adversaries across the Florida Straits.  Andrea Mitchell, NBC News’ Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, reports.

An 85-year-old former Army mechanical engineer has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting that he passed classified documents to the Israelis in the 1970s and ’80s.

He was known as a genius, a mastermind and, yes, a Super Bowl champion. Shockingly, though, Mike Shanahan has a new title: Unemployed coach.

California is suing the Bush administration to block last-minute endangered species regulations that are intended to reduce input from federal scientists.

A new NASA report says that the seat restraints, suits and helmets of the doomed crew of the space shuttle Columbia were not designed to cope with the catastrophe, leading to “lethal trauma.”

Few could have predicted the financial tsunami that hit the U.S. economy in the latter part of this year, but a handful of powerful men should have at least had an inkling.

Media giant Viacom Inc. is threatening to pull MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and 16 other channels from Time Warner Cable Inc. if a new  deal is not agreed upon by midnight Wednesday.