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New Jersey became the first state in more than four decades to abolish the death penalty. Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law a measure that replaced the death sentence with life in prison without parole. The law spares eight men currently on death row.

Updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is one of Congress's top priorities in 2008. FISA, as the law is known, generally tells the president that he must have a court order to spy on Americans in the United States.

The race is crucial for Hillary Clinton and John McCain. In last-minute campaigning, Clinton struggled to avoid a highly damaging second straight defeat in the Democratic presidential race. Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney fought hard for victory in New Hampshire, where neither could afford to lose.

The Supreme Court hears arguments in a lethal injection case from Kentucky. Two death-row inmates say that the way lethal injection is practiced by the state amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. This is the first time in more than a century that the court examines a method of execution.

Democratic presidential candidates campaign in New Hampshire in hopes of winning the nation's first primary. Hillary Clinton is in another tight race against Barack Obama but pledges to stay in the race. Obama is accused of creating a sense of false hope because of lack of experience.

Author Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel Persepolis has been adapted for screen and opens today. It is the story of her childhood in Iran during the Islamic revolution.

A new study shows widespread testing for heart problems in young athletes helps prevent sudden cardiac deaths. But some say that screening every young athlete for a rare condition could cause more problems than it solves.

The Department of Homeland Security began to take shape five years ago, merging two dozen agencies and almost 200,000 federal employees. More than $200 billion later, the department faces low morale, missed deadlines and continued concerns about its abilities.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signals the Fed is ready to cut interest rates in the face of mounting risks to the U.S. economy. Rising unemployment, high oil prices and a decline in manufacturing pressure the White House to keep the economy from lapsing into recession.

Bank of America Corp. agrees to buy Countrywide Financial for $4 billion, a deal that rescues the country's largest mortgage lender. It comes just months after Bank of America plugged $2 billion in Countrywide during the height of the summer's global credit crunch.