AP - Two Pennsylvania men accused of harassing Sarah Palin's lawyers in Alaska by phone plan to forgo trial and again plead guilty, this time without the benefit of a plea agreement.

AP - Former President Jimmy Carter has some advice for Barack Obama as he gears up for the 2012 election: Don't alienate voters with controversial positions.

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Sarah Palin, in an interview on Fox News, may have taken the wounded body of the Michele Bachmann campaign and shot it in the head. Considering Bachmann's standing in the polls going into Iowa, it can be seen as a mercy killing.

AP - Two Pennsylvania men accused of harassing Sarah Palin's lawyers in Alaska by phone plan to forgo trial and again plead guilty, this time without the benefit of a plea agreement.

AP - Intertribal violence may have left hundreds dead over the last week in South Sudan, according to the official in charge of the U.N. mission in that country .

AP - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his second term as chief of the United Nations, wants to help people who rose up in the Arab Spring attain and sustain freedom and democracy.

AP - Egyptian authorities agreed Friday to halt raids against non-governmental pro-democracy groups as senior Obama administration officials stepped up pressure for them to stop, U.S. officials said.

AP - The U.N. says it's critical that the Syrian government give the Arab League's observer mission unhindered access and its full cooperation as thousands of protesters take to that country's streets to underscore their defiance of the regime.

AP - Work on a planned museum at the World Trade Center has ground to a halt because of a financial dispute, and there is now no possibility it will open on time next year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday.

AP - U.S. officials say the Obama administration is poised to announce the sale of nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

AP - Two South Carolina legislators say state employees shouldn't have to answer the phone with Gov. Nikki Haley's mandated cheery greeting unless it's truly a great day in South Carolina.

Rasmussen
12/26/11; 1,000 likely voters, 3% margin of error
Mode: Automated phone
Rasmussen release

National

2012 President
47% Obama (D), 37% Gingrich (R) (chart)

AP - The Obama administration says it will be more flexible when pushing financially struggling cities to upgrade their sewage systems to prevent overflows that foul U.S. waterways with harmful bacteria and viruses.

AP - It's been a different presidential race in Iowa this year — quieter.

AP - More than 1,600 people suing over their exposure to World Trade Center dust must decide by Jan. 2 whether to keep fighting in court, or drop their lawsuits and apply for benefits from a government fund.

AP - Occupy Columbia protesters have removed their tents and camping gear from the Statehouse, but not before leaving a tent as a holiday present for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who fought for more than a month to kick them off the capitol grounds.

AP - The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned Friday's terrorist attacks in Syria and sent condolences to the victims, their families and the Syrian people — but not to the government, which is the usual council practice.

AP - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's office says the Obama administration has approved new political boundaries in Georgia.

AP - Russia urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to investigate civilian deaths in Libya from NATO's bombing campaign, a move the United States immediately dismissed as "a cheap stunt" to distract from Moscow's failure to condemn the Syrian government's ongoing killing of protesters.

AP - Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner has apologized to first lady Michelle Obama for reportedly saying she has a "big butt."

Reuters - A white man convicted of burning down a mostly black church to condemn Barack Obama's election as the nation's first black president in November 2008 was sentenced on Thursday to nearly 14 years in prison.

AP - Colorado Christian University has a filed a lawsuit challenging the Barack Obama administration's health care legislation requirement that the morning-after pill be provided by health insurance plans.

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | The trailer for the upcoming HBO drama "Game Change," starring Julianne Moore as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is out. The film is based on a book by the same name by Mark Halperin on the 2008 presidential campaign.

AP - A white Massachusetts man convicted of burning down a predominantly black church because he was angry with President Barack Obama's election faces sentencing in federal court.