his duties last week. supreme court nominee elena kagan defended herself against some republican members of the senate judiciary committee in day two of her confirmation hearing. kagan told lawmakers the application of law and not personal empathy should motivate judicial decisions. that hearing is expected to last through the week. stocks tumbled on a big drop in consumer confidence on signs that global economic recovery may be slowing down. the dow closed well below 10,000. the s&p 500 fell to an eight-month low. and after 25 years of hosting his own nightly program on cnn, larry king is stepping aside. >> i'm incredibly proud that we recently made the guinness book of world records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot on the tame nsame network. i'm looking forward to the