The death toll continues to rise in Iran, as clashes between reformist activists and government security forces turned dramatically deadly Sunday, during the Shia holiday of Ashura. Demonstrators who reject the rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had planned widespread protests for the holiday, and the rallies have left more than nine dead and many more injured. In anticipation of the uprising, the government ordered a crackdown on opposition protesters and gave the OK to open fire. "The security forces began shooting at people. I saw one guy with his brains blown out," one witness said. The nephew of reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is among those reported killed. In return, demonstrators have retaliated forcefully; videos posted on YouTube show security agents being attacked and bloodied. The lethal actions of the security forces could lead to a cycle of mourning ceremonies, which may usher in an endless cycle of violence. Political analysts fear that the culmination of events could pave the way to the collapse of the Islamic regime and Iran's political system.

Did Northwest Flight 253—the one that alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up on Christmas Day—have a hero? The New York Times and New York Post laud Dutch filmmaker Jasper Schuringa, who restrained Abdulmutallab and helped to remove the explosive device from his hands. But, ABC News says that the attack was thwarted not because of heroics, but rather because the makeshift detonator failed to work; otherwise, Abdulmutallab was packing more than enough explosives to bring down the plane. ABC News adds that Abdulmutallab’s plot was “organized and launched by al Qaeda in Yemen”—according to Abdulmutallab, the explosive device he brought on board the plane was sewed into his underwear by al Qaeda operatives. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday she does not believe the plan was part of a larger plot.

The 23-year-old Nigerian man who is accused of trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane Friday lived in a $3 million apartment in London while he studied at the University College London for three years. Abdulmutallab’s father, the former economics minister of Nigeria, said he was planning to meet with Nigerian police Saturday night upon realizing his son had become an al Qaeda terrorist. Six months ago, he said he warned American authorities of his son’s extreme views, and Abdulmutallab was recently barred from entering Britain. Adbulmutallab was allegedly on a security watch list maintained by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center that includes approximately 550,000 names. But many were surprised the shy young man nearly caused a Christmas Day massacre. One former classmate remembered Abdulmutallab, nicknamed “Biggie,” would leave to pray while they studied mechanical engineering. Abdulmutallab’s history teacher told The Telegraph that the then-15-year-old student “seemed to think [the Taliban] was reasonable” in 2001. “I wasn’t unduly worried,” he said said of Abdulmutallab, then nicknamed “The Pope” due to his pious nature. Two years ago, he contacted his former teacher, saying he was going to Yemen to study Arabic.

With less than a week left until the end of the year, the U.S. stock market looks well-positioned to close on a high. Compared with last year's global financial fallout, the S&P 500 is "poised for what could be the best year since 2003." The S&P is up 66.5 percent since the economy bottomed out in March, whereas in 2008 it was down 38.5 percent. For 2009, the Dow is up 19.9 percent and the Nasdaq is up 45 percent. Analysts are optimistic that these gains mean that 2010 will have a solid start, and economic indicators show that there will be improvements in the housing and labor sectors. Other indicators to look out for in the upcoming weeks include the Conference Board's index of December consumer confidence, the October S&P/Case-Schiller home price index, and the government's weekly jobless claims.

Everyone can let out a sigh of relief. Following Friday's Christmas scare, a second Nigerian man grounded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 again Sunday morning. Officials say that the man was originally taken into custody upon landing after being verbally disruptive during the flight. Turns out the the businessman simply became sick during the flight and holed himself up in the bathroom for an hour, causing the false alarm. "The investigation shows that this was a non-serious incident and all is clear at this point," said a spokesperson from the FBI.

New Yorkers hoping to add an iPhone to their holiday stockings may have been left wondering where all the smart phones disappeared to. Consumerist reports that AT&T has quietly pulled iPhones from shelves in the New York City area, in a surreptitious attempt to alleviate its overcrowded network. One customer attempting to purchase the coveted iPhone through AT&T was told by a representative that "New York is not ready for the iPhone" because of a paucity of towers. BGR has a slightly different story, and reports that iPhones are available in-store, just not online.

Can we officially declare the past week the worst week for travel ever? After two massive blizzards screwed up holiday-travel plans nationwide, the failed terrorist bombing of an airplane on Christmas Day has led to a slew of new restrictions. In one of the more arbitrary-seeming moves, some airlines have begun telling passengers that they must remain seated and have no items in their laps for the final hour of their flights. Air Canada has also said it is limiting passengers to one carry-on item, per the advice of the U.S. government. Also expect increased screenings at airport security checks.

The three-day holiday weekend, also the last weekend of the year, was a boon for Hollywood. Box offices raked in $263 million, shattering the previous year's record of $253.6 million over the summer weekend The Dark Knight was released. Avatar, which is still only showing in 3-D, continued to lead the pack, and Sherlock Holmes opened to a solid $65.4 million, above industry expectations. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel benefited from the kid-friendly time of year, taking in $50.2 million. “When the third-place movie is at $50 million, it’s usually a pretty good sign that you’re going to break some records,” noted a Fox executive. Rounding out the top openers was Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin's It's Complicated, which came in a far fourth at $22.1 million.

Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York and other states that provide expanded health care to their residents are fighting back against the Senate's health-care bill, which they say makes them subsidize states that are not as generous with their care. The bill passed Thursday will expand Medicaid, but the roughly 20 states that have already expanded coverage will pay a greater proportion of new Medicaid costs than other states, mostly in the South, that do not provide expanded care. “We are, in a sense, being punished for our own charity,” New York Governor David Paterson said last week. In Arizona, the governor ordered the state to stop accepting applicants to its children's insurance program last week. Its share of Medicaid will be $17 billion under the Senate bill. If Arizona hadn't expanded Medicaid, its share would have been $1.4 billion.

The divorce may be final and the show may be over, but Jon Gosselin is still making headlines as his New York City apartment was reportedly burglarized and vandalized with a butcher knife on Saturday. After slashing the former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star’s clothing, bed, and furnishings, the culprit reportedly left a note stabbed into the Gosselin’s bedroom dresser with a butcher knife. Though the note was signed with the name of his ex-girlfriend “Hailey Glassman” and referred to him as a “cheater,” anyone could have signed her name, according to law-enforcement officials. Whoever did write the note, however, allegedly took Gosselin’s television, Nintendo Wii, and cookware, among other items. Gosselin’s attorney also says a 100-year-old Ming vase was “smashed to pieces” and that the NYPD fingerprinted the photographed the crime scene on Saturday. Gosselin says he hopes felony charges will be brought against the perpetrator.

Jasper Schuringa, the Northwest Airlines passenger who reportedly restrained the Nigerian man who attempted to blow up the plane, is talking—for cash. On Saturday, the Dutch filmmaker gave an uncomfortable interview on CNN, which paid Schuringa a $10,000 licensing fee for a cellphone picture of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. By paying for the image, the network was able to say they technically did not pay for the interview—while Schuringa was able to get the money he wanted. Gawker's Foster Kamer reports that the photo's print rights went to the New York Post for $5,000, and that ABC News paid $3,000 for a second photo. Every organization that paid for a photo also scored an interview. A leaked email correspondence reveals that Schuringa's ad hoc publicist, a friend who runs a gossip Web site, has been running aggressive pay negotiations for the hero.

On the final Sunday of the decade, The New York Times has handed over its op-ed page to some of the nation’s most talented writers: Richard Ford, Richard Powers, Colum McCann, and Jonathan Safran Foer, among others. “Fiction deals elegantly with issues that politics eventually wrestles with, corrupts, destroys, but nothing specific had been written to prepare me for President Obama,” McCann writes. “I wasn’t able to align him with any fiction, and yet it seemed that so much of literature has worked toward the moment.” Ford is less celebratory, writing, “But 2000, if it looks like anything now, looks like a year in which we proved ourselves not to be a completely thriving democracy but rather a dangerously ambivalent and inattentive one.”

In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane Christmas Day, President Obama has ordered a review of airport screening procedures, his press secretary said Sunday. Appearing on Meet the Press and This Week, Robert Gibbs said Obama is being regularly briefed by national-security staff on 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s alleged attempt to detonate his explosive underwear. Since last month, Abdulmutallab was on a broad watch list of 500,000 names, Gibbs said, but being on that list does not automatically mean a person will come under tighter security checking. The president ordered a review of the process that determines which people will be pulled aside for more stringent screening. He also called for a review to figure out how someone could get on board with the chemical explosive Abdulmutallab is accused of possessing.

Faced with a weak economy, Americans are saving much more than they did just a few years ago, despite dismal unemployment numbers. The savings rate in October reached 4.4 percent, up from 0.8 percent in April 2008; some economists say the rate could eventually return to 1990 levels of 7 or 8 percent. The new national thriftiness is a mixed blessing, however. Consumers need to repair their balance sheets ravaged by recent out-of-hand borrowing and spending, and banks will benefit. But in the near term, a decrease in spending will slow the economic recovery—businesses that depend on consumer spending will struggle, and unemployment will remain high.

A chilling note on which to end the year: After a bomb killed a U.S. service member in Afghanistan on Sunday, the number of U.S. troops deaths in Afghanistan in 2009 have doubled the 2008 figure. In 2009, there were 310 American troops that died in Afghanistan, compared to 155 in 2008. The increase in casualties is due in part to a new influx of troops and is expected to continue to rise as more troops arrive in Afghanistan in 2010. 2009 is already the deadliest year so far of the Afghanistan war.

Oh crap: The United States now has its first-ever case of a contagious, aggressive, and drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, according to the Associated Press. The patient is Oswaldo Juarez, a 19-year-old Peruvian who came to the U.S. to study English. Only a handful of people in the world are thought to have been infected by the rare strain of the disease—but it killed 52 of the first 53 people it infected in South Africa three years ago. Tuberculosis is the top infectious killer of adults in the world, and it lies dormant in one out of three people, 10 percent of whom will develop active infections. Drug-resistant TB develops when the normally cheap TB medication is stopped short.

India’s version of Eliot Spitzer resigned Saturday after a tape allegedly revealed the 86-year-old governor in bed with three women. A television news channel broadcast the footage of a southern Indian state governor, Narain Dutt Tiwari, on Friday. Pressure mounted for Tiwari as his opposition and women’s rights groups held protests in the streets demanding his resignation in Hyderabad, his state’s capital. Though Tiwari’s camp claimed the tape was fabricated, he conceded to the protesters’ requests, sending his letter of resignation Saturday citing undisclosed “health reasons.” A woman whom Tiwari allegedly promised a mining lease in exchange for sexual favors reportedly brought the three women in the video to Hyderabad. After the governor didn’t keep up his end of the bargain, the woman, according to ABN Andhra Jyoti News, decided to expose him.

President Obama doesn’t want to be filmed, as his predecessor was, momentarily interrupting a casual golf game to talk about a terrorist attack, The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder writes. Obama has been on vacation in Hawaii, and though he’s been videoconferencing regularly on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s failed attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, he has not made a public statement because that could elevate the importance of the deed and cause panic among the public. The president is willing to risk looking “soft” on terror “to advance what he believes is the proper collective response to a failed act of terrorism,” Ambinder says. It’s a conscious move to calm the country, since his advisers feel “the Bush administration projected their panic and anger” onto the public.

This was the year of Internet sales, as the economy lagged and retailers pinned their hopes on online shoppers. In hopes of capitalizing on end-of-the-year holiday shopping, many stores held online sales on Christmas Day. Retailers were persuaded to withhold in-store sales in order to draw customers to their Web sites for last-minute holiday shopping. Larger chains, such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy, are taking a different route, offering deep discounts immediately after Christmas to lure customers to continue their shopping binges. Gift cards were a more popular-than-usual gift item this year, as inclement weather kept people indoors and away from malls. Some retailers offered same-day gift-card purchase and e-delivery, catering to the most last-minute of shoppers.

Iranian security forces fired into crowds of anti-government protesters in Tehran, killing four, among them the nephew of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, the BBC reports. (Police deny there were any fatalities.) Mousavi was at the hospital where his nephew, Seyed Mousavi, was taken after being shot in the heart. Despite government warnings to stay home, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets during the climax of Ashura, the Shia festival. They shouted "Khamenei will be toppled," referring to Iran’s supreme leader, and "This is the month of blood." Helicopters flew above central Tehran as black smoked billowed into the sky. Pro-government protesters marched as well. Though there were fatalities immediately after Iran’s disputed elections in June, deaths among demonstrators have been rare since then.