Last-minute Christmas shoppers packed stores Thursday. Surveys suggest the procrastinators are more likely to be men – and evolution may offer an explanation.

Senate confirms Rajiv Shah, a food security expert, to head USAID, a key development agency. One task: help devise a strategy for infusion of new foreign aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Yemen’s air strike on Al Qaeda Thursday reportedly targeted Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric linked to the Fort Hood shooter. If true, it could alter Americans' understanding of the Fort Hood rampage.

AP - A fierce Christmas storm dumped more snow and ice across the nation's midsection Friday after stranding travelers as highways and airports closed and leaving many to celebrate the holiday just where they were.

AP - The Taliban released a video Friday of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan, showing him apparently healthy but spouting criticism about the U.S. military operation. In Idaho, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl's family pleaded on Christmas Day for his release and urged him to "stay strong."

AP - The Vatican will review its security procedures after a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI for the second time in two years, managing to knock him down before being pulled away by security, the Vatican spokesman said Friday.