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Federal authorities announced Monday that they have seized the domain names of 150 websites accused of selling counterfeit or pirated merchandise.

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI coordinated the effort for "Cyber Monday," the day that for many shoppers kicks off the online holiday shopping season.

Undercover agents had been buying phony merchandise from the websites for three months. Then they contacted big companies to make sure the items were phony before taking over the domain names.

The acclaimed, eccentric, and very polarizing British film director Ken Russell has died, after a series of strokes at the age of 84.

The director of Tommy, Women In Love and Altered States, Russell was known for a florid style and fascination with sadomasochism that earned him condemnations and a cult following. His adaptations of classic literature and over-the-top biopics ranged from perverse to merely provocative — and an indelible nickname: "Kinky Ken Russell."

It's funny how the birthplace of one little bean can stir up a world of passions. But when it's the soybean, maybe it's not such a shocker.

Soy plays an outsized role in human history, serving as the primary source of protein in Asia for millennia. That can slip by people in the United States, where — until very recently — the super-nutritious bean was relegated to animal feed.

At point today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.9 percent to 11,554. The rally comes after news that European leaders had made progress on a solution to the sovereign debt crisis and record sales this past Friday.

It also comes after a 4.8 percent downturn last week, the worst Thanksgiving week since the markets started observing the holiday in 1942.

Anxious parents sometimes ask the pediatrician if they can postpone vaccines for young children. And a new survey suggests quite a few doctors go along with the requests, despite standing recommendations they stick to a strict schedule.

Before he was cast in the Broadway revival of Follies, actor Danny Burstein had never seen Stephen Sondheim's famous musical, which first hit the Broadway stage in 1971. And he didn't know much about the show, except that everyone in the theater world seemingly had an opinion about it.

WBUR in Boston reports it has confirmed that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will not seek re-election in 2012.

CNN says that "Frank, a 16-term Democrat, will announce Monday he does not intend to seek re-election in 2012, according to a statement from [his] office."

"Police arrested several people early Monday at the Occupy L.A. demonstration outside City Hall, but then the commotion quickly died down," the Los Angeles Times reports.