Bush Tax-Cut Deal With Jobless Aid Said to Be Near  —  WASHINGTON — White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders …

List of facilities ‘vital to US security’ leaked  —  Ningbo port in south-eastern China, one of the facilities on the US list  —  A long list of key facilities around the world that the US describes as vital to its national security has been released by Wikileaks.

WikiLeaks cables: Barack Obama is a bigger danger  —  WikiLeaks harms the US.  But the president's refusal to acknowledge the threats we face is a bigger danger  —  WikiLeaks has yet again flooded the internet with thousands of classified American documents, this time state department cables.

Mike Huckabee wants some respect  —  Dial down the deafening Sarah Palin buzz for just a moment: The most consequential decision in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes could be whether Mike Huckabee decides to run again - and associates say the former Arkansas governor may well take the plunge.

Hugo Chavez blames massive flooding on capitalism as 70,000 remain homeless in Venezuela  —  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he knows what's been causing the floods that have killed 32 people in his country and left 70,000 homeless: “criminal capitalism.”

Doc fix new weapon vs. health reform  —  Congressional Republicans are hoping to put Democrats in a no-win new year's jam: defund a big chunk of their health care overhaul or slash Medicare payments instead.  —  Despite rampant repeal rhetoric, Republicans have so far struggled to dismantle any part of health reform.

RNC General Counsel Quits  —  Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee's top legal counsel, resigned his position early Sunday morning, The Hotline has learned, a move that will be widely interpreted as a major step toward running for chairman of the organization and a big blow to current chairman Michael Steele.

Rangel in deeper with new ethics charge  —  Tweet  —  The Federal Election Commission is investigating a complaint that Rep. Charles Rangel improperly used his National Leadership PAC to fund his legal defense on ethics charges for which he was censured Thursday, The Post has learned.

WikiLeaks Ready to Release Giant ‘Insurance’ File if Shut Down  —  Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, has circulated across the internet an encrypted “poison pill” cache of uncensored documents suspected to include files on BP and Guantanamo Bay.  —  One of the files identified this weekend …

Same-Sex Initiative Reaches Next Hurdle  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It has been more than two years since voters outlawed same-sex marriage with a ballot initiative in California, and it may be two more before the legality of that measure — Proposition 8 — is finally decided, most likely by the Supreme Court.

Senate Republican to push states' rights in response to healthcare law  —  A Republican senator is planning on introducing legislation this week that would allow state officials to challenge federal regulations before they go into effect.  —  Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) …

U.S. steps up pressure on China to rein in North Korea  —  The United States has stepped up diplomatic pressure on China by accusing its leaders of “enabling” North Korea to start a uranium-enrichment program and to launch attacks on South Korea, a senior U.S. administration official said this weekend.

Helen Thomas: Blood on Her Hands  —  Yesterday I joked about Helen Thomas's latest expedition into Jew-baiting paranoia.  Yet, ridiculous as it is, what Thomas is telling the Arab world is what too many people — Arab and non-Arab alike — are all too eager to believe: That American foreign policy vis …