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The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to overturn the ban on openly gay and lesbian soldiers serving in the U.S. military, passing legislation repealing the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The Israeli Air Force shot down an unidentified flying object over the Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Iraqi authorities have shared information obtained from captured insurgents who claim al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas holiday season, a U.S. official said Thursday.

RARITAN TWP. - A township settlement with developer John Aldrich raised his 2008 tax assessment on a Route 202 property from $772,500 to $2,500,000.

DAKAR, Senegal - Security forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast opened fire on demonstrators in the economic capital, Abidjan, on Thursday, beating and killing marchers who had planned to disrupt state television, one of the principal underpinnings of the government's hold on power, according to observers and news reports.

Apple on Thursday announced that its Mac App Store will open for business on Jan. 6. In a company press release, Apple said the new store would "be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature paid and free apps in categories like Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities." Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said he hoped to have the same impact with the distribution and creation of applications designed for a personal computer as Apple has had with mobile apps for the iPhone. The new Mac App Store is expected to cause some strife for larger software companies, including Adobe and Microsoft, that will have to battle a new wave of app developers that can sell software through the new store, bypassing expensive traditional software distribution.

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama plans to sign an $858 billion tax deal into law on Friday afternoon.

IT'S A BIG ONE! John F. Korn of Flemington, member of the Round Valley Fishing Association, caught and then released this 40 inch lake trout on Dec. 11 at Round Valley Reservoir in Clinton Township. Its estimated weight is 25 pounds - Korn's biggest ever.

Editor's note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He writes a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com.

Egyptian authorities have charged a local businessman and two Israelis for recruiting agents in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon to spy for Israeli intelligence, a State Security prosecutor said Monday.

Despite protests and last-minute lawsuits, New Jersey's first bear hunt in five years is all set to start today.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran delivered a resolute message Sunday on the eve of talks with six world powers: We're mining our own uranium now, so there is no stopping our nuclear ambitions.

Though its founder is cooling his heels in a London jail and major credit-card firms have refused to process its donations, the website WikiLeaks continued to trickle out documents from its vast cache of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables Wednesday.

The 216-198 vote, mostly on partisan lines, sends the so-called DREAM Act to the Senate, where it was uncertain if supporters had the votes to overcome a certain Republican filibuster against it.

The "technical glitch," which occurred during network maintenance, stopped Verizon users from being able to access mobile websites from about 1:40 to 5 a.m. ET on Wednesday, said Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon Wireless spokesman.

With tens of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables still to be disclosed by WikiLeaks, the Obama administration has warned federal government employees, and even some future diplomats, that they must refrain from downloading or even linking to any.

igerian investigators say they have filed charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and others connected to the energy services company Halliburton, accusing them of paying bribes to secure a lucrative natural gas project in the 1990s.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo will be represented Friday at the ceremony bestowing the honor by an empty chair, the second time such a symbol has been used in the event, the director of the Nobel Institute said Thursday.

U.S. agencies have warned some employees that reading the classified State Department documents released by WikiLeaks puts them at risk of losing their jobs. But what about students considering jobs with the federal government? Do they jeopardize their chances by reading WikiLeaks?

(CNN) -- U.S. agencies have warned some employees that reading the classified State Department documents released by WikiLeaks puts them at risk of losing their jobs. But what about students considering jobs with the federal government? Do they jeopardize their chances by reading WikiLeaks?

Resident Carole Chiaffarano requested the documents from the DCA in September, in order to compare them with building and site plans she already received from the township, because she wanted to see if construction of the salt barn differed from the plans approved by the state.