Inquiry Into I.R.S. Lapses Shows No Links to White House  —  WASHINGTON — An 18-month congressional investigation into the Internal Revenue Service's mistreatment of conservative political groups seeking tax exemptions failed to show coordination between agency officials and political operatives …

No rules of cyber war  —  U.S. in uncharted waters with ‘proportionate response’ on hack attacks.  —  A day after a nine-hour Internet outage in North Korea, experts are still debating whether the U.S. government pulled the plug, or perhaps a rogue group of hackers.

CNN/ORC Poll: Obama ends year on an upswing  —  ‘Pals’: The Obama-Biden partnership  —  Honolulu (CNN) — Improving views of the economy have helped hike President Barack Obama's approval rating to a 20-month high, a new CNN/ORC poll showed Tuesday, as markets climbed to record levels at news of an economy in overdrive.

FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg's statement on FDA's blood donor deferral policy for men who have sex with men  —  For Immediate Release  —  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is a science-based regulatory agency that works to protect and promote the public health.

George H.W. Bush rushed to the hospital … Former President George H.W. Bush was hospitalized on Tuesday after experiencing what a spokesman called a “shortness of breath.”  —  Bush, 90, was taken by ambulance to Houston Methodist Hospital Tuesday evening as a precaution.

Berkeley officer fatally shoots teenager at gas station  —  Updated at 3:15 a.m. with new details.  —  BERKELEY  • A Berkeley police officer fatally shot a suspect who pointed a gun at him late Tuesday, St. Louis County police said early today.  —  Police did not identify the person killed …

GOP leaders refuse to weigh in on Grimm  —  House Republican leadership is refusing to weigh in so far on whether New York GOP Rep. Michael Grimm should remain in Congress after pleading guilty to felony federal tax fraud on Tuesday.  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has declined to comment on the case …

Immigration lawsuit thrown out  —  President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration survived their first major court test Tuesday, when a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit claiming the president exceeded his constitutional power.  —  U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell dismissed …

Obama continues vacation golf tradition  —  President Obama is back on the golf course on Tuesday, continuing a tradition that's part of his annual Christmas vacation to Hawaii.  —  He arrived on Tuesday morning at the golf course at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, according to a pool report.

The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops  —  Evidence from photos, video, social-media posts and interviews suggests it was a single group, desperate to ‘turn up the anger’ at otherwise-peaceful protests.  —  A little over a week ago, a group of people marched down the streets of Manhattan and called for police to be killed.

Oops!  U.S. Offers $5 Mil Reward for Al Qaeda Terrorist it Released From Gitmo  —  Years after liberating an Al Qaeda operative from the military prison at Guantanamo, the United States government has put him on a global terrorist list and offered a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts.

Jordan confirms IS captured pilot after plane went down in Syria  —  Amman (AFP) - Jordan's military on Wednesday confirmed that one of its pilots was captured by the Islamic State jihadist group after his plane went down in Syria, official news agency Petra said.

Florida Passes New York to Become the Nation's Third Most Populous State, Census Bureau Reports  —  By adding an average of 803 new residents each day between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, Florida passed New York to become the nation's third most populous state, according to U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates released today.

Off duty, black cops in New York feel threat from fellow police  —  (Reuters) - From the dingy donut shops of Manhattan to the cloistered police watering holes in Brooklyn, a number of black NYPD officers say they have experienced the same racial profiling that cost Eric Garner his life.

Govt to pay subcontractor freed from Cuban jail  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — A former subcontractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail will receive $3.2 million from the federal government as part of a settlement with the Maryland-based company that employed him at the time of his arrest.