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Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday that stabilizing the financial markets is a top priority for the Federal Reserve as a weak housing market, tight credit and rising oil prices threaten the U.S. economy.

The day before the Thanksgiving holiday is among the busiest travel days of the year in the U.S. According to AAA, some 39 million Americans are due to travel at least 50 miles. Many will be in crowded airports where flights are bound to be either delayed or cancelled.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has suffered a startling defeat in a referendum that would have greatly enhanced his power, including ending presidential term limits. Voters rejected the referendum, 51 percent to 49 percent. Opponents said the country was hurtling toward dictatorship.

In Venezuela, millions of people turned out to vote Sunday in a controversial referendum that, if approved, would fundamentally alter the country's political and economic model and give President Hugo Chavez broad new powers. One of the provisions would allow Chavez to run for reelection indefinitely.

Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr tells the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that even though Iran froze weapons development in 2003, the country still retains key nuclear capabilities and also likely still wants the ability to make nuclear weapons.

A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran concludes that the country's efforts to build a nuclear weapon had ceased back in 2003. The report is a stark contrast to the dire warnings issued from the Bush administration about a nuclear threat posed by Iran.

The High Court hears arguments Wednesday regarding whether detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can challenge their imprisonment in federal court. The detainees claim the constitutionally guaranteed procedure called a writ of habeas corpus allows them a chance to rebut charges against them in front of a neutral judge.

Ministries raise millions of dollars with little oversight. One Senate lawmaker wonders whether the lavish lifestyles of the ministers violate the churches' tax-exempt status. Six megachurches have been asked to respond by Dec. 6 to questions about their spending.

Transportation, gas, and electricity workers are demonstrating against President Sarkozy's plan to reform their retirement system.

The Czech writer tackled big topics — sex, surveillance, death, totalitarianism — but always with a sense of humor. Blacklisted and banned in the Soviet Union, he left for France in 1975.