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Automakers will report U.S. sales for 2011 on Wednesday. When final figures are calculated, sales of new cars and trucks are expected to reach 12.7 million, up from 11.5 million in 2010 and 10.4 million in 2009, the worst year since 1982. For 2012, analysts expect sales to top 13.6 million.

Brazil's exports to China hit $44.3 billion, an increase of more than 43 percent over 2010. In 2009, China surpassed the U.S. as Brazil's biggest trading partner. For 2011, Brazil logged $256 billion in exports, with a $29.7 billion surplus.

In 2008, 16-year-old Nga Truong admitted to suffocating her infant son. She spent nearly three years awaiting trial for murder, until a videotape of her interrogation revealed that detectives had manipulated her in order to obtain a confession. Ultimately, that videotape helped set her free.

There's nothing pedantic or flowery about poet and critic David Lehman's three favorite poems of the year. In simple, unadorned language, they address the mysterious and spiritual dimensions of human life.

A giant steel plant would bring thousands of jobs to a rural area in eastern India. But local farmers have been opposing the project for years in a battle that symbolizes the friction that often occurs in India's fast-growing economy.

Moammar Gadhafi cracked down hard on Islamists throughout his long rule. With his overthrow and death, Islamist groups are now able to operate freely.

An explosion set off a series of shootings by a U.S. Marine squad in Haditha in one of the war's more controversial incidents. The military trial starts this week for the squad's leader, the only Marine still facing charges in the killings. Others were acquitted or had the charges against them dropped.

The new year brings an increase in the minimum wage in a number of places around the country, including Washington state, which now boasts the nation's highest statewide rate: $9.04 an hour. But the increase has rekindled an old debate over whether minimum wages make sense — especially at a time of high unemployment.

College football bowl games began last month but the big games are being played in the new year. There were six games played Monday including the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Michigan and Virginia Tech meet Tuesday night in the Sugar Bowl.

The new measure signed into law by President Obama imposes sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank. That's in addition to existing international sanctions. Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, tells Steve Inskeep that the new sanctions could put tremendous pressure on Iran's economy.