The Iowa caucuses haven’t changed The Boston Globe’s mind about Jon Huntsman. The newspaper announced its endorsement of the candidate Thursday, for “vision and national unity.” The editorial blasts the divisions within the Republican Party, saying that the candidates are fighting for meaningless titles like “true conservative.” The Globe says that Mitt Romney also stands out as “presidential,” but his cautious ways don’t stand up next to the “bold” Huntsman. Furthermore, Romney is working to please the most vocal constituencies but has limited personal experience. The bottom line of the editorial: though Romney will probably win the nomination, a Huntsman victory in New Hampshire could influence Romney—and make Mitt a better candidate.

What happens in Iowa doesn’t necessarily stay in Iowa. A 28-year-old Iowa vote counter tells KCCI Des Moines that his 53-person caucus gave Romney only 2 votes—though the Iowa Republican Party’s website says 22 votes were cast for Romney.  If there was really a typo—hitting the ‘2’ key twice—those 20 allegedly incorrect votes for Romney would make Rick Santorum the winner. The Iowa Republican Party has shot back, saying that since the 28-year-old—who actually supports Ron Paul—is not a precinct captain or county chair, he can’t talk about the results. While the caucus results are still to be certified, Santorum’s surge in donations and popularity post-Iowa have already cemented him as a serious candidate. Santorum brushed off the reports, saying that since there were two tally errors, he still would have lost.

Another wave of deadly bombings in Iraq raised the specter of civil war. Four bombs killed an estimated 70 people and wounded another 146 in Shiite areas of Baghdad. Sectarian tensions have been high since Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki removed two senior Sunni politicians from power shortly after the U.S. withdrew, but officials said Thursday it was too early to tell who was responsible for the bombings.

After killing Osama bin Laden, withdrawing from Iraq, and heading for the end in Afghanistan, the U.S. Military is ready for change. Thursday, the president announced a new military budget that will shrink its troops by 10 to 15 percent and include $450 billion in other cuts. From the Pentagon briefing room, Obama said that while the U.S. military will be “leaner,” it will be more agile and still have its “military superiority.” It’s a break from the two wars inherited from the Bush administration, and the first time Obama will shift the nation’s military policy. The president said it’s time to eliminate “outdated cold war-era systems,” while boosting cyberwarfare.

Speaking to students at the College Convention today, Rick Santorum faced questions about gay marriage and found himself in a tense back-and-forth. One student asked the presidential candidate why equality did not include marriage for gay couples, to which Santorum responded ever so vaguely, “Don't you have to make the positive argument why the law should be changed?” Santorum really got terse, however, when asked whether gay people have a right to happiness through marriage. "If you're not happy unless you're married to five other people, is that OK?" he asked to resounding boos. Frustrated by the candidate's insistence on comparing gay marriage with polygamy, many students booed Santorum as he left the room. According to ABC News’s Shushannah Walshe, the Santorum campaign has raised $2 million in the 48 hours since his Iowa almost-win.

Egyptian prosecutors are seeking a punishment of death by hanging for former president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons, and some of his former aides. They are on trial for ordering the shooting deaths of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square last February, and prosecutors have spent the past three days arguing the case against the former president and his top aides. The trial has been adjourned until Monday, when civil-rights lawyers will prepare their case against the defendants.

Iran has responded to the European Union’s plan to ban all oil purchases from the country because of concerns over its nuclear program, accusing the West of waging “an economic war” through recent sanctions. “The enemies of the Islamic Republic’s regime, with all their tricks, have not been able to chain the nation, and now they want to chain the economy,” Iran’s finance minister said on Thursday. The Iranian government claims that its nuke program is peaceful, but the U.S. and other Western countries say a U.N. report reveals Iran has considered building an atomic bomb in the past. Analysts say that despite the new measures, it’s very possible that the Iranian government will continue to move forward with developing its nuclear program.

Barnes & Noble Inc. warned of heavier-than-expected losses this year, and said that it is considering separating its Nook e-book business. Chief Executive William Lynch said, “We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our Nook business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value.” The losses resulted from a “shortfall in the expected sales of Nook Simple Touch,” and the company said it had "overanticipated the growth in consumer demand for single purpose black-and-white reading devices this holiday."

This is uncomfortable. David O. Russell’s 19-year-old transsexual nephew, Nicolas Peloquin, has accused the director of groping him while they worked out at the gym. Peloquin has filed a battery complaint against Russell, alleging that the 53-year-old director of The Fighter felt his breasts after they discussed gender-reassignment surgery. Russell confirmed the incident in an interview with police, but insisted that Peloquin was “acting very provocative toward him.” Peloquin is the son of Russell’s adopted sister.

Jesus walks with Justin Bieber. Well, technically. The pop star debuted his new Jesus tattoo on the back of his left calf while frolicking on L.A.’s Venice Beach. Bieber was with his father, Jeremy Bieber, and several ladies in bikinis. This is Bieber’s third tattoo—he has Jesus’s name in Hebrew on his ribs and a bird on his hip. Bieber is a devout Christian.

Looks like New Year’s is not just a time for breaking up. Drew Barrymore is getting married again, reports People magazine. Barrymore’s new fiancé, art consultant Will Kopelman, reportedly proposed while the pair was vacationing in Sun Valley for Christmas. Though the pair never officially confirmed their relationship, they have been rumored to have been dating since February. This is the third marriage for Barrymore, who was married to Tom Green from 1999 to 2001 and to Jeremy Thomas in 1994.

The number of twins born in the United States has doubled over the last three decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The huge increase is largely the result of new fertility treatments. "We seem to be making improvements, refinements to fertility-enhancing therapies, so that could then result in a lowering of the increase of the pace in twin and other multiple births,” said the author of the CDC study. More than 137,000 twins were born in the U.S. in 2009, accounting for one in every 30 babies.

Newt did a 180 last week and ditched his positivity plan for a negativity-based campaign. Now he has moved on to a new phase, which he is calling "contrast." A combination of Gingrich's dark and lighter sides, the candidate's latest ad begins by explaining what's wrong with opponent Mitt Romney's economic plan: namely, it's "timid." Then the ad contrasts (get it?) this negativity with what the former speaker will do to improve the economy and create jobs, displaying happy images over the backdrop of upbeat music. Gingrich has eased off the negativity since being singled out for his attacks—mostly directed at Mitt Romney.

Did you miss him? Herman Cain is taking a leaf out of Sarah Palin's book and starting a national bus tour. Cain will travel the country touting his 9-9-9 tax plan, a tour he is calling “Cain's Solutions Revolution.” It will start sometime next month, he told Fox's Sean Hannity last night. Cain also said he would endorse the eventual Republican nominee, but would stand back from the primary.

Casey Anthony, in her own words. Anthony released a video diary on YouTube in which she says it's “just a little surreal how much things have changed” since she was acquitted in July. Anthony, who was accused of murdering her daughter, Caylee, talked about her life on probation. She said she is happy to have a computer, phone, and camera, and she has adopted a dog. “The good thing is that things are starting to look up and things are starting to change in a good way,” Anthony says in the video, which was apparently recorded in October. “I hope that things stay good and only get better." Although she looks different in the video than during her high-profile trial—she has a blonde bob, glasses, and a white tank top—people in contact with her confirm that it is in fact Anthony.

Harry Burkhart, the man suspected of the four-day Hollywood arson rampage, faces life in prison. Burkhart was arraigned yesterday on 37 felony counts of arson. Prosecutors said he was "motivated by his rage against Americans.” Burkhart, who is also being investigated in an arson case in his native Germany, appeared disheveled and distracted during his court hearing and is under suicide watch.

This means war. Just months after News of the World closed and Colin Myler, the paper’s editor, was canned, he now has a new job. Myler has been appointed editor in chief of the New York Daily News, the city’s biggest-selling tabloid and the great rival of the New York Post—where Myler served five years as the second-ranking editor starting in 2001. Myler was reportedly unhappy with the way NotW owner Rupert Murdoch treated him as the scandal unfolded. Murdoch hired Myler to replace disgraced NotW editor Andy Coulson and to clean up the paper’s image.

How the mighty have fallen. Eastman Kodak Co. is preparing to file for bankruptcy if it can't sell off its patents in a last-ditch effort, The Wall Street Journal reports. If it files, the company would try to remain operational while it sold off its patents. It's unclear what would happen to it afterward, and what would happen to the 19,000 employees who work for the 131-year-old company. Kodak began to struggle in the 1980s, when foreign competitors made inroads into the film market, and it has since tried its hand at everything from medical-testing devices to printers without much success.

Michele Bachmann may not be the only casualty of the Iowa caucuses. Anchor Keith Olbermann is in a fight with Current TV after he refused to lead the network’s coverage of the GOP race Tuesday. Olbermann has hired a lawyer to find out what his rights are in his five-year contract. Current TV CEO Joel Hyatt said that while he’d like to have Olbermann with the network in the future, “everybody is replaceable.” The Wrap reports that the host is not happy with Current TV’s ratings and its “shoddy” working conditions. With the New Hampshire primary coming up fast, it’s unclear whether Current TV will let Olbermann run the coverage on his terms.

Mitt Romney obviously has his sights set on the presidency, but more specifically the president. The Iowa caucus winner attacked President Obama’s move to make a recess appointment of former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a statement, Romney slammed the choice as a representation of "Chicago-style politics and is precisely what then–Senator Obama claimed would be the ‘wrong thing to do.’” The Washington Post explains that the current congressional Republicans have purposely been turning breaks into “pro forma” sessions so as to stop the president from making recess appointments. While Obama technically could have appointed Cordray—or anyone—during the few minutes that lapsed between congressional sessions, White House lawyers instead have deemed the Republican “pro forma” tactic irrelevant and nonbinding, so didn’t bother rushing during the small break. Romney argues that “instead of working with Congress to fix the flaws in this new bureaucracy, the President is declaring that he ‘refuses to take no for an answer’ and circumventing Congress to appoint a new administrator.”

The confrontation between Orthodox Jews in Israel and more secular citizens is taking on shades of the American civil-rights movement. Women are making a point of sitting at the front of buses in protest of pressure by Orthodox Jews to segregate public transportation. A court ruled a year ago that forced segregation on buses was illegal, but that such an arrangement could be operated for a year on a voluntary basis. However, tensions have increased as Orthodox Jews have outgrown their traditionally insular communities and the number of segregated bus lines has grown. The issue has become a flashpoint in Israel, with repeated protests and counterprotests over segregation, and clashes in Jerusalem last week.

With Iowa done, the Republican candidates swept into New Hampshire yesterday, with Mitt Romney accepting the endorsement of John McCain while Rick Santorum tried to woo Tea Partiers and social conservatives. Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, appears to have traveled to the state solely to continue jabbing Romney, calling him a “Massachusetts moderate” and taking out full-page ads against him. Rick Perry is going straight to South Carolina, and he may have the right idea—despite Santorum's victory in Iowa and an influx of funds overnight, Romney's lead in New Hampshire looks secure, and all his opponents are looking to South Carolina as their best chance to take control of the race.

Six police officers were shot and one killed on Wednesday night while serving a search warrant in Ogden, Utah. The suspect in the case was also wounded, police said. The officers were part of a narcotics task force and were part of a drug strike-force operation. The officers and the suspect were all rushed to the hospital after the shooting, and their injuries range from serious to critical.

Joseph Kennedy III is mulling running for the congressional seat that will be vacated by Barney Frank, senior Democratic sources said Thursday. Kennedy is the grandson of the late Robert Kennedy and the son of Joseph P. Kennedy II, and has been creating buzz in political circles since early last year, when he delivered a stirring commemoration of John F. Kennedy’s “City Upon a Hill” speech. Kennedy is opening an exploratory committee for the seat, which will allow him to raise money immediately. He would be the first Kennedy to return to Massachusetts politics since the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy in 2009.

Apple Inc. has reached a $5 million settlement in a patent infringement suit with Taiwanese touch-design company Elan Microelectronics Corp, which announced the news on Thursday. The company originally sued Apple in 2009 for two touch-related patent infringements, but the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled last June that Apple had not violated U.S. trade law. The relatively small $5 million settlement leaves Apple with one less patent dispute. Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Kodak are among the bigger names going after the California tech giant, though The Wall Street Journal reported that Kodak is preparing to file for bankruptcy. Apple is also embroiled in a number of suits with Google Inc. over its Android, as the two companies duke it out for market share.

If President Obama and Mitt Romney were to face off in the presidential election today, the race would almost be too close to call. According to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll of U.S. voters, each contestant claims 42 percent of the vote. Half of the remaining 16 percent of voters would prefer someone else, while the other half is undecided. The tie actually marks a dip for Romney, who held a 45 to 39 percent lead over the president just last week—the largest lead over Obama held by a Republican challenger so far. Almost all weekly surveys since May have found a generic GOP candidate leading over Obama, but so far Romney has been the only Republican candidate to garner more support than the president in more than one survey.

After being plagued for a year with actor injuries, production delays, and media criticism, Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has made a major comeback and is finally receiving its holiday bonus. The musical recently broke the record for the highest single-week grossing show of all time, nabbing more than $2.9 million in post-Christmas ticket sales. Wicked held the previous one-week record in 2011 at $2.2 million. U2's Bono and the Edge, who wrote the music for the show, released a statement following the good news: “It just goes to show that you can’t keep a good superhero down. We are raising our glasses to our indefatigable cast and crew, and the theatregoers who watch them every night.” Perhaps the new sales will make up for other expenses that producers shelled out for the show, Broadway’s most expensive production ever.