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Men's professional basketball was on a long break because of the lockout. But on Christmas Day, the NBA season begins with a five-game package featuring exciting teams and glittering superstars. There's a rematch between defending champion Dallas and everyone's favorite team to hate — the Miam Heat.

Corporations use data all the time when they consider whether to move. So, researchers at the University of Toronto took into account Santa's undesirable location, his brutal commute and "extreme isolation" and asked: What location makes better sense for Santa?

Three days of intense pressure persuaded House GOP leaders to give in and go along with a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut and extend unemployment compensation benefits. Congress convenes on Friday in hopes of approving the stopgap measure.

Over the last year, many dictators have fallen from power. To name a few: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was killed, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died. Linda Wertheimer talks to Susan Glasser, with Foreign Policy magazine, about the year that was and which of the world's remaining strongmen need to worry about what 2012 has to offer.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin was writing for the majority in an insurance fraud case. He produced six pages of verse with gems like: "Convictions for the forgery and theft are approbated — the sentence for insurance fraud, however, is vacated."

Few things announce the arrival of Christmas-time like the sound of bells. And chances are many of the bells you hear this holiday season can be sourced to one small, family-owned manufacturing business in Connecticut. Bevin Brothers was founded 180 years ago.

The one-time dissident who went on to be his country's president, "spent his life removing chains of oppression, standing up for the downtrodden, and advancing the tenets of democracy and freedom," says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Also: Pakistan rejects U.S. conclusions about airstrikes that killed 24 of Pakistani soldiers; world leaders gather to pay respects to Vaclav Havel; U.S. hopes to buy missiles that have disappeared in Libya.

Cooking crystal meth is just "basic chemistry" for Walter White, the fictional chemistry teacher and anti-hero of the TV drama "Breaking Bad." Organic chemist Donna Nelson serves as science adviser to the show; she explains how the series' writers work to get the science right.

The 112th Audubon Christmas Bird Count is underway. Citizen scientists armed with binoculars are recording data vital to monitoring bird health and conservation. But before you can count a Snowy Owl or a Rufous Hummingbird, you need to identify it. Birder Richard Crossley has some tips.