Pardon Lasts Just a Day for Developer in Fraud Case  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush changed his mind on Christmas Eve, pulling back a pardon he had extended a day earlier to a Brooklyn developer at the center of a Long Island real estate fraud case and adding a bizarre twist to the episode.

Minnesota Supremes Shoot Down Crucial Coleman Lawsuit, Making A Franken Win Nearly Certain  —  Norm Coleman just got a Christmas present from the Minnesota Supreme Court: A giant lump of coal.  —  In a unanimous decision handed down just now, the state Supremes denied Coleman any relief …

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Christmas C4 speech sparks row  —  Channel 4 will screen an alternative Christmas message from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, in a move that has provoked widespread condemnation.  —  President Ahmadinejad's address will focus on spiritual messages …

Pope issues plea for end to child abuse  —  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict led the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas at a midnight mass Thursday in which he appealed for an end to child abuse in all its forms.  —  He also called for peace in the Middle East, ahead of a possible trip to the region next year.

Reboot the FCC  —  We'll stifle the Skypes and YouTubes of the future if we don't demolish the regulators that oversee our digital pipelines.  —  Economic growth requires innovation.  Trouble is, Washington is practically designed to resist it.  Built into the DNA of the most important agencies created …

Obama's Job-Creation Program Flunks Basic Math: Caroline Baum  —  A A A  —  Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama is still four weeks away from inauguration, and already the size of government is growing.  His initial goal of creating 2.5 million new jobs has been upped to 3 million …

Merry Christmas, Kwanzaa is Over  —  fIn the days leading up the Christmas, one couldn't help but notice that references to Kwanzaa, the decades-old African-American holiday that captured so many dull minds during the Great Culture Wars of the 1990s, were almost nonexistent.

Poll: America's honeymoon with Obama continues  —  CNN Deputy Political Director  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Call it a love affair so far between Barack Obama and the American people.  —  More than eight in 10, or 82 percent, of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Wednesday approve …

Federal agencies examining deadly Lake Township plane crash  —  A preliminary report on Friday night's plane crash that killed a Summit County man should be posted in early January, but it likely will be several months before the National Transportation Safety Board completes its investigation.

White House Divergence After 8 Years  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have been unusually talkative in recent weeks, sharing candid thoughts in a string of exit interviews.  But after eight years of a tight partnership that gave Mr. Cheney powerful influence inside …