Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.
1 dead, several injured as car hits pedestrians
REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A woman in Redondo Beach, California has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after police say she ran a red light and hit a group of pedestrians.
One person was killed and up to 11 others were injured.
Last night's crash happened outside a Church as Christmas service ended.
One witness tells a local TV station (KNBC-TV), "Someone ran the red light and bodies started flying. It was pretty horrible."
No release of 'The Interview' planned
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sony Pictures says it's canceled the Christmas Day release of the comedy movie "The Interview," and says it has "no further release plans for the film."
In the movie, James Franco and Seth Rogen play journalists becoming involved in a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea is being blamed for making terror threats against theaters carrying the movie and for hacking of private Sony emails and other information.
S. Korean group cancels plans for border tree
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean church group has canceled plans to erect a giant Christmas tree near the border with North Korea after locals complained that it could provoke Pyongyang.
A spokesman from the Seoul-based Christian Council of Korea says the group faced strong resistance from residents in the border town of Gimpo after it announced plans earlier this month to set up and illuminate a 30-feet tree for two weeks starting Dec. 23.
Putin: Russian economy will recover
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says the national economy will rebound and the ruble will stabilize.
He says the current crisis could last two years at most, but the economy could recover faster if external factors change for the better. Putin said the government and the Central Bank are generally working correctly to deal with the current economic woes, albeit some of their action was belated.
Putin said today that low oil prices will encourage Russia to diversify its economy and ease its dependence on oil and gas exports.
Putin added the nation's currency reserves are sufficient to keep the economy in stable condition, adding that the Central Bank shouldn't aimlessly "burn" its reserves, currently standing at $419 billion.
Jailed Russian tycoon leaves house arrest
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian tycoon placed under house arrest in September in a move that rattled markets has been released from house arrest.
A lawyer for Vladimir Yevtushenkov (yehv-too-SHEN'-kahv) tells Interfax news agency that his client was freed Tuesday, just hours before President Vladimir Putin's annual televised press conference.
Shares in Sistema, a company that Yevtushenkov controls and manages, surged by more than 30 percent in the early hours of trading on Moscow's stock exchange.
Marathon bombing suspect due in court today
BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) is due in federal court for the first time in nearly 1 1/2 years as a judge holds a final hearing before his trial next month.
Tsarnaev hasn't been seen in public since he was arraigned in July 2013. At the time, he still bore signs of the bloody standoff with police that led to his capture and the death of his older brother, Tamerlan, in April 2013.
Tsarnaev faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted in the bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others. The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty.
Security will be tight in and around the federal courthouse in Boston for Thursday's final pretrial conference. Jury selection starts Jan. 5.
Abused kids die as authorities fail to protect
BUTTE, Montana (AP) — An Associated Press investigation has found that at least 786 children died of abuse or neglect in the U.S. in a six-year span while in plain view of child protection officials.
The children lost their lives even as authorities were investigating their families or providing some form of protective services.
The AP canvassed the 50 states, District of Columbia and the military.
The true number of such fatalities where a prior open case existed is undoubtedly higher than the 786.
Seven states reported 230 open-case maltreatment deaths that AP did not include. Those states failed to make a distinction between case files opened only due to the incident that ultimately led to a child's death and case files that already existed at the time the child was fatally injured.
Court documents: Suspect destroyed kidnap evidence
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Courts documents say the New Hampshire man charged with kidnapping, imprisoning and sexually assaulting a teenage girl over nine months ordered his captive to lie to police and help him destroy evidence.
A 205-count indictment released Wednesday charges 34-year-old Nathaniel Kibby with abducting the 14-year-old girl at gunpoint. The indictments say he used death threats, a stun gun, zip ties and a shock collar to control her as he sexually assaulted her at his trailer home in northern New Hampshire.
Kibby was arrested in July and initially charged with kidnapping the girl Oct. 9, 2013, in the White Mountains town of Conway.
The girl, who turned 15 a week after she disappeared, returned just as mysteriously in July, a week before Kibby was arrested.
Prosecutor to mom: Bring daughter out of hiding
LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire prosecutor is expected to ask a judge today to force an 18-year-old girl to come out of hiding.
Eighteen-year-old Mary Nunes was just a child when her mother fled with her to Central America after accusing the child's father of abusing her.
The mother, Genevieve Kelley, returned to New Hampshire last month to face a charge of custodial interference, but she didn't have her daughter with her.
Kelley says the girl is safe, and her attorney argues that an 18-year-old can't be forced to appear in court without having been accused of a crime.
Inmates fight against OK's lethal injection
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Testimony is scheduled to continue today in a federal court in Oklahoma City in the case of 21 death row inmates who are challenging the state's method of execution.
Their attorneys argue that Oklahoma's bungled execution in April is evidence they likely will experience pain and suffering from the state's lethal injection protocol.
Much of the case centers on the use of the sedative midazolam (mih-DAY'-zoh-lam) as the first in a three-drug combination.
Homeowner convicted of garage shooting
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man faces a minimum 10 years in prison for shooting to death a German exchange student who had sneaked into his garage.
Markus Kaarma was convicted Wednesday of deliberate homicide. He had told at least three people that he had been waiting up at night to shoot some kids who were burglarizing homes, and on April 27, he fired four shotgun blasts, killing 17-year-old Diren Dede (DEER'-uhn DAY'-day).
Kaarma's attorneys plan to appeal.
That's what's happening. Read more stories to jump start your day in our special Breakfast Buzz section.
