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China has joined the ranks of Singapore, Norway and the United Arab Emirates as nations that have purchased big chunks of Wall Street.

accepted a $5 billion investment from the Chinese government’s investment company China Investment Corporation (CIC). The investment gives CIC a 9.9% stake in the firm.

Hollow Earth May Be the Weirdest Theory of the World

So wait, what? The Earth … hollow? Yes, it’s an insane theory, and yes it is as fictitious as the fairy tales that gave rise to it, yet at the same time it can’t be directly disproved. Why? Because we have never actually dug more than about 15 miles below the surface of the Earth, so there is no 100% direct evidence the Earth is solid through an through! Does this mean Hollow Earth Theories could hold true? Sure, and Santa might actually drop by 6 billion houses a year on a sled pulled by a glorified pack of deer.

some people believe them even today.

San Fran. Zoo could face penalties, charges in tiger attack

The deadly tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo could prove to be a costly blow to an institution that has come under fire repeatedly in just the past few years over the deaths of two elephants and the mauling of a zookeeper.

The zoo could face heavy fines from regulators. It could be stripped of its exhibitor license.

Will The iPod Kill Blockbuster?

Forget the cavernous big box stores that laid waste to the retail landscape a decade ago. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs' tiny iPod has turned his company into a category killer for the digital era--first wiping out music stores and now, potentially, the corner video store.

Starting in mid-January, the Cupertino, Calif., computer and gadget maker will take on Blockbuster (nyse: BBI - news - people ) and Netflix (nasdaq: NFLX - news - people ) by renting movies from Fox on its iTunes digital media store, according to a report first published in the Financial Times earlier this week.

Gift cards, the gift that keeps on taking

Now that Christmas celebrations are over and the dust has settled, millions of people around the world are holding the number one gift for this holiday season.

A plastic gift card is once again the top gift that will be purchased for loved ones and friends.

Switchgrass shows promise for ethanol production: study

A five year trial of the native North American prairie grass on farmland in the Midwestern United States revealed that the crop produces 540 percent more renewable energy than energy consumed in its production.

Previous estimates, based on small scale research plots, suggested the grass would yield a net energy production of about 343 percent. Net energy production is considered an important measure of sustainability.

China unveils healthcare scheme

China's health minister has announced an ambitious programme to provide basic healthcare for every citizen in the world's most populous nation.

Chen Zhu said the Healthy China 2020 programme would provide a universal national health service and promote equal access to public services.

Netflix enters internet TV race

US DVD rental firm Netflix is to release a set-top box which will let subscribers download movies and other programmes over the net.

The box will be built by LG and is the latest move in the battle among content providers and hardware manufacturers to dominate the digital living room.

Chewing too much sugar-free gum containing the artificial sweetener sorbitol can cause diarrhea leading to potentially dangerous weight loss,

21-year-old woman who suffered diarrhea that caused her to lose about 24 pounds and a 46-year-man who lost approximately 46 pounds

Both were found to be consuming a lot of sorbitol

Tom Hanks, all-round cinematic good guy

playfully refers to the hedonistic tableau of the opening sequence of his new movie,Charlie Wilson’s War

tells the remarkable true-life tale of how Wilson played a key role in the outcome of the Afghan war of 1979-89, pushing US funding for the Afghan resistance from $5 million to $1 billion a year and facilitating a morale-crushing defeat for the Soviet Union

tailpipe emissions standards by California and 16 other states could doom the auto industry

at the North American International Auto Show.

lead to conflicting federal and state standards, and would make automobile production "so expensive that people won't be able to buy, and the companies won't be able to produce anyhow."

SKoreans clone cats that glow in the dark: officials

Medicare project pays doctors for saving money

Doctors participating in a new Medicare experiment appear to have done the impossible — delivering better care and saving money at the same time.

Using electronic health records and other innovations, physicians at 10 large group practices helped thousands of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes take better care of themselves and, for some, avoid costly emergency-room visits and hospitalizations.

reducing the cost of production from $3 a watt to a mere 30 cents per watt.

solar power cheaper than burning coal.

Although the underlying technology has been around for years, Nanosolar has created the actual technology to manufacture and mass produce the solar sheets.

roughly 43 miles per gallon for cars and some light trucks and about 27 miles per gallon for heavier trucks and sport utility vehicles.

new federal law will require automakers to meet a 35-mile-per-gallon fleetwide standard for cars and trucks sold in the United States by 2020

Microsoft OKs open-source license

Microsoft, whose software powers about 95 percent of the world's personal computers, reached an agreement on licensing terms that will allow open-source products to connect to the Windows operating system.

Microsoft will license proprietary information on how Windows shares files and printers with the non-profit Protocol Freedom Information Foundation, which will make the data available to open-source developers working on a file and printing system called Samba.

China city bans Christmas trees

A Chinese city has beaten the Grinch at his own game, banning Christmas trees from shopping malls, restaurants and other public places because they pose a fire hazard, a newspaper reported.

Chen Ying, deputy mayor of Zhuhai, a city of 1.3 million people in southern China, said restaurants, malls, grocery stores and other entertainment venues had to remove trees and other "flammable decorations" immediately.

Christmas is a Good Time to Catch a Cheating Mate

People don't usually associate Christmas with infidelity and extramarital affairs. But according to infidelity expert Ruth Houston, the Christmas season is a good time to catch a cheating mate.

"Christmas offers two prime opportunities to confirm that your spouse or significant other is cheating on you, or to get tangible evidence of an existing extramarital affair."

less than four days left until Christmas, the nation's retailers are in a lather to attract last-minute shoppers to salvage what has been a mediocre December.

At stake are retailers' profits for the year and perhaps even the strength of the economy.

biggest disappointment comes from women's apparel, extending a downturn that's grown deeper in recent months and serving as an ominous sign for the health of retailing in general.

Santa Delivers 37,000+ Copies of Constitution to Bush

Santa Claus (in the person of noted constitutional lawyer Bill Goodman) drove his sleigh to the White House to deliver thousands of copies of the U.S. Constitution to President Bush.

Americans from all over the country - more than 37,000 of them - asked that a copy of the Constitution be delivered to the President in their name and cordially requested that he make time in his busy schedule to read it.