Shopper Monica Eaves, with her daughter, Sophia, 2, shops for holiday gifts at The Grove outdoor mall in Los Angeles on Tuesday. A strong start to the holiday season is raising confidence that the consumer is back and that 2011 could be a better year for the economy than expected.
AP Photographer/AP
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The 46-year-old research submarine, here just before a dive in the Gulf of Mexico in November, has made more than 4,600 ocean trips. Over the next year and a half it will be renovated.
Richard Harris/NPR
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Barbara Newhall Follett was 13 when Knopf published her first book, The House Without Windows, which she had been working on since she was 8.
Columbia University Archives
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French-American composer Pierre de Gaillande is a devoted fan of the famous French singer-songwriter Georges Brassens. He has translated the musician's songs into English for a new album, Bad Reputation.
Beowulf Sheehan
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Mock-up of a high-speed-rail train by Siemens, one of the firms in the running for the Florida contract, with Siemens executives Eric Spiegel (left) and Oliver Hauck in Tampa in October.
Steve Nesius/AP Images for Siemens
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Operation Gratitude volunteer Joan Mazzarelli models one of the hats and scarves she knits for the care packages. Since March, the 98-year-old has knitted 527 scarfs for the troops.
Courtesy of Maryssa D'Angelo
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