Lifestyle Trends India

New Year's predictions: They're right up there with Christmas carolers and fruitcake as sure signs we're about to change the calendar again. Every journalist worth his or her laptop litters the Internet, and Old Media like newspapers and magazines, with what they're sure will happen in the next 12 months.

I'm not playing that game -- exactly. Instead, Power Lunch is going to wow you with the Second Annual 10 Things That Won't Happen Next Year. How is that different from making predictions? Strictly speaking, it's not. But any self-respecting online columnist must do something to distinguish himself [or herself] from the growing gaggle of know-it-alls out there.

Today is Thursday, December 18, the 353rd day of 2008. There are 13 days left in the year.

In 1990, the Taj Mahal reopened after being closed to tourists due to sectarian violence that took 11 lives in three days of fighting in Agra.

All it took were a lawn gnome, book and guitar for Gail Jones to decide she was going to help the needy this holiday season.

While on a recent trip to California, the 51-year-old Wilkes-Barre woman and her daughter stopped at a rest area in New Mexico and saw a homeless couple huddled together with the three items, sleeping on the ground.