Former 2003 Horse of the Year Azeri will be making news at another auction soon.

Christmastime and the new year send television into overdrive with specials and holiday-themed episodes. What stands out? Here's a look at noteworthy programs and a countdown to the most special of all specials.

CINCINNATI — It spread like a cold virus through a day care center.

As of Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008, at least 556 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought Wednesday to head off Indian retaliation against Pakistan for the Mumbai terrorist attacks as the U.S. stepped up pressure on Islamabad to cooperate "transparently, urgently and fully" in tracking down the perpetrators.

Extendicare, the large health-care chain that owns the Richmond nursing home where the staff was videotaped abusing and neglecting an 84-year-old Alzheimer's patient, has big plans to profit from the aging of the Baby Boomers.

A man using a candy cane lawn ornament fended off a knife-wielding neighbor who had been attacking holiday guests at a Sacramento home. Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said the man used the two-foot-tall plastic ornament to subdue the attacker until officers arrived.

On the eve of congressional hearings, union leaders agreed to give the Big 3 carmakers more time to make pension contributions and will suspend a program that let laid-off workers collect most of their salary. But key congressional leaders still weren't willing to say whether the carmakers will get the aid they are seeking.