AP - Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least eight people before killing himself hours later.
AP - Japan's contracting economy got more bad news Friday when the government said industrial production plunged by its biggest margin since records were started in 1953, the jobless rate jumped and household spending fell.
AP - Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.
President-elect Barack Obama visited military personnel and their families enjoying Christmas dinner at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii on Thursday. Obama also highlighted the service of the country's military men and women now overseas in a holiday message to be broadcast on radio this Saturday.
Eight bodies were recovered in a suburban Los Angeles house where a man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at a Christmas Eve party and then started a raging blaze, police said Thursday. Police said the suspect, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, who had recently divorced one of the women at the party, later committed suicide.