The best-selling author and historian Niall Ferguson shows how finance is the foundation of human progress in his latest book, “The Ascent of Money,” on which a new PBS program of the same title is based (airing in January). Watch interview. (Originally aired: 12/10/2008).

Leaders from New York’s nonprofit, philanthropic, business and public sectors held a forum on Nov. 19, 2008, to discuss the current challenges and opportunities for nonprofits. Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, delivers the keynote address. See more…

* World Bank warns of a deep global recession
* Controversy in England over assisted suicide
* 21st century Africa: Uganda’s hospitals
* Record warm December in Moscow
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This four-hour documentary tells the epic story of the rise of Christianity, exploring the life and death of Jesus, and the men and women whose belief, conviction, and martyrdom created Christianity. The film covers how Judaism and Roman cultures shaped Jesus’ life, to the growth of the Christian religion from 100 to 300 A.D. Watch. (Originally aired: 4/6/1998)

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peace, on the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, December 10, 1901. Nobel, who was a Swedish chemist and the inventor of dynamite, created a fund for the prizes in his will.