Since surprising the political world by taking a close second in the Iowa caucus on Tuesday, Rick Santorum has been battling increased press scrutiny of his reputation as a hard-nosed backroom dealer in Washington, a label that could damage him with anti-establishment GOP voters. As a federal lawmaker, Santorum worked closely with K Street lobbyists, chairing a weekly meeting designed to elicit lobbyists thoughts and legislation and get Republicans hired at lobbying firms. After he was ousted in 2006, the former senator went on to make millions from consulting gigs. Santorum’s campaign has blamed the new attention to his record as a plot by the GOP establishment and “elites” who want to keep an insurgent candidate out of the race.

U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis broke up a pirate attack on Friday and rescued 13 Iranians, who had been held hostage for roughly 45 days. The ship intercepted and captured 15 Somali pirates who had been attacking a vessel called The Sunshine, a cargo ship en route from France to Iran. The pirates were not aware that the Stennis and other U.S. ships were just a few miles from their position. Rear Adm. Craig S. Faller, who was aboard the Stennis during the incident said, “These might be the dumbest pirates ever.” Earlier this week, Iran officials had threatened the Stennis with the “full force” of the Iranian military if it tried to reenter the Persian Gulf.

Mitt Romney’s South Carolina support is soaring, but he’s not the only one getting a boost. A new CNN/Time/ORC International poll finds Rick Santorum’s base in the Southeastern state is expanding as well. Romney’s support there has nearly doubled since the beginning of last month—the former Massachusetts governor has won over a total of 37 percent of likely Republican voters in South Carolina. Gingrich's numbers, on the other hand, have dipped 25 percentage points to 18 percent, just below Rick Santorum, pitting the two against each other for second place. Ron Paul has actually doubled his support in South Carolina since the last poll—from 6 percent to 12 percent.

Nobody says no to Michelle Obama, except maybe Rahm Emanuel. According to The Obamas, a new book by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, Michelle wanted to sit in on Emanuel’s 7:30 a.m. staff meetings, but he rebuffed the idea. Kantor writes that the first lady wasn’t thrilled about her husband’s choice for chief of staff and as time wore on, the pair was increasingly at odds over how President Obama should approach policy issues like immigration and health-care reform. Emanuel often took the tack that the president needed realistic legislative victories, while the president's spouse was more concerned with whether her husband was fulfilling the mission he set out to achieve. But the White House has already pushed back against Kantor's book, calling it "an overdramtization of old news" and said the characterization of the Obamas' relationship are from "second-hand accounts."

The newest U.S. monthly employment data show the creation of 200,000 nonfarm jobs in December, better than the expected 155,000 forecast by analysts and more encouraging compared to 120,000 in November, signaling that the market is picking up. The unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent—the lowest in nearly three years—from 8.6 in November. It's a big boost for President Obama's reelection campaign, although at the polls he will probably still have the highest unemployment rate of any sitting president since World War II. Historical data show that reelection prospects hinge less on the jobless rate itself than on the direction during the year or two before Election Day.

A hot air balloon crash in New Zealand killed 11 people—the pilot and all the passengers. The crash reportedly resulted from a fire on board the balloon, though the cause of the fire is unknown. A police official said, “This is an absolutely tragic incident and our thoughts are with the families of the deceased. We are in the process of notifying next of kin. However, we will not be releasing any names until all next of kin have been advised.”

A Dallas girl who was mistakenly deported to Colombia by U.S. officials was returned home Friday. Jakadrien Turner, 15, flew to Atlanta before heading home to Texas.  Turner ran away from home in the fall of 2010 and was removed from the country when she was arrested in Houston for theft and told authorities she was an adult from Colombia, despite the fact that she lacked proper identification. Turner’s family plans to sue Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which says authorities believed her story because she maintained her false identity throughout the deportation process. Her family countered that the agency’s argument lacks credibility, since it took her fingerprints but failed to match them to the name she gave.

Jared Lee Loughner, who pled not guilty to charges in the Arizona shooting rampage that occurred a year ago this Sunday, will likely not be tried in 2012. His case was put on hold indefinitely when psychologists diagnosed him with schizophrenia and a federal judge ruled him unfit to stand trial. Loughner has been forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison for five months now, and though psychologists say his condition is improving, his lawyers have been adamantly fighting the government's efforts to treat him with psychotropic drugs. His Feb. 8 release date from the facility could be extended until June, since his doctors have said in court that he needs at least four more months of treatment. Even if he is declared mentally fit, the trial likely won’t occur until 2013, as it would take his lawyers a long time to prepare their defense.

Though unconfirmed by Apple officials, if the rumors are true, Apple computers may soon be coming to a Target near you. The computer company is reportedly looking at setting up mini-stores in Targets in 25 cities that are too small to warrant their own standalone Apple stores. Apple already has more than 600 mini-stores set up in Best Buys around the country. Target, which already sells iPods, iPhones, and iPads, doesn’t currently sell MacBooks or have any of the signature Apple signage in their stores.

Community fans have been more than a little anxious about the fate of the cult NBC comedy since it was announced in November that the show was being put on indefinite hiatus in order to make room on the schedule for the return of 30 Rock. Viewers have attempted to rally, with some devoted Greendale Human Beings launching flash mobs in New York and Los Angeles in support of the show. Ahead of his appearance at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour today, NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt told The Daily Beast's Jace Lacob that NBC hasn’t forgotten about Community, and that the show will be returning to the airwaves before too long. “Community is coming back,” said Greenblatt in an interview earlier this week. “We just had to get some stuff moved around for midseason, but it’s not going anywhere. I can’t say anything about next season yet, but the fact that people think it’s gone … I need to fix that.”

After an eight-week search, Penn State has settled on a replacement for former head coach Joe Paterno in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has agreed to take on the tough role, sources told ESPN on Thursday. O’Brien, who has never served as head coach, will finish the season with the Patriots before assuming his new position at Penn State. While he has no affiliation with the school, O’Brien was an assistant coach at the college level for 14 seasons before joining the Patriots in 2007. Details of the deal are unknown, but sources told ESPN an official announcement will be made on Saturday.

A Peruvian judge has postponed Friday's trial of murder suspect Joran van der Sloot until Jan. 11. The Dutch national had been expected to plead guilty to the killing of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a last-minute change to his defense strategy, according to CNN. His lawyer says a "sincere confession" could bring him a more lenient sentence than the 30-year-long one that prosecutors are seeking. Van der Sloot is accused of killing Flores in her hotel room in May 2010, but he is also a central figure in the disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway, who vanished in Aruba in 2005. He was never charged in connection with Holloway, and maintains he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

China's state media warned the U.S. on Friday against "flexing its muscles" in Asia after President Obama unveiled a Pentagon plan to shift focus to the region. In an editorial, the Xinhua news agency said militarism will only "endanger peace," but admitted that increased U.S. presence in the region could be a boost to stability and prosperity. Obama said Thursday his administration will refocus on Asia, the Pacific, and the Middle East, with a "leaner" force that will cut spending by $450 billion and troop numbers by 10 to 15 percent.

Will he join the ranks of Punxsutawney Phil and Paul the Octopus? Grandpa, a 39-year-old spider monkey at the Staten Island Zoo renowned for his psychic abilities, has been selected by the Daily News to predict the winner of the GOP New Hampshire primary. On Monday, the Daily News will test Grandpa’s abilities and give him a choice of bananas, each with a different presidential candidate’s name written on it. Grandpa’s powers earned praise in 2010, when he predicted the winners of six out of nine tennis matches during the U.S. Open. Last year, he garnered even more fame when he successfully predicted that the Green Bay Packers would win the Super Bowl.

Not only is there growing income inequality—now there's network inequality. The top 1 percent of consumers use up half of the world's wireless bandwidth, according to data from Arieso, an English company that advises mobile operators. The top 10 percent of users even consume 90 percent of the mobile airwaves. The gap between extreme users and the rest is growing—in 2009, the top 3 percent used only 40 percent of network traffic, while they now use 70 percent. Lest protesters suggest "Occupy the Downlink," Arieso says usage doesn't break down along socioeconomic lines. The survey also found that 64 percent of extreme users operate on a laptop, while a third were on smartphones and 3 percent had an iPad.

A suicide bomber targeted a police bus in central Damascus Friday, killing an estimated 25 people and wounding another 46, most of them civilians. The blasts comes two weeks after twin blasts killed 44 people in the Syrian capital, which the authorities blamed on terrorists targeting security buildings—a claim that the Syrian opposition denied, saying that the government staged the bombings.

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.

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.

Samsung Electronics announced record profits in the fourth quarter Friday, on the strength of best-ever sales of its high-end smartphones. It posted $4.5 billion in operating profit from October to December 2011. The South Korean firm surged past Apple as the top smartphone maker in the world earlier this year and is doing well while competitors like HTC, Nokia, and BlackBerry are struggling.

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.

A former Turkish military chief was jailed Friday for allegations of leading a terror organization and attempting to stage a coup against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2009. Gen. Ilker Basbug, who retired in 2010, was the leader of the military at the time, and becomes the most senior officer to face trial in the alleged coup. Prosecutors say the military funded dozens of websites that discredited the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Erdogan. The military has staged three coups in the country and forced an Islamist prime minister to quit in 1997.

Oklahoma has staged the country's first execution in 2012, putting Gary Rolan Welch to death Thursday evening for a 1994 slaying in Ottawa County. Welch, 49, repeatedly chanted, "Valhalla! Odin! Slay the beast!" until he died of lethal injection. He offered no apology and showed no remorse after he was convicted of killing Robert Dean Hardcastle in a drugs dispute. He had maintained that he killed Hardcastle in self-defense. He attempted suicide with a razor blade three weeks ago, but recovered and was deemed competent for the execution. The U.S. executed 43 inmates in 2011, 46 in 2010, and a record 98 prisoners were executed in 1999. Oklahoma executed two people in 2011, both in the first two weeks of the year.

Sicily's Mount Etna, Europe's highest active volcano, has erupted, spewing columns of hot ash 16,000 feet into the sky. Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and eruptions sometimes last for days. They can force the closure of Catania airport, but flights have not been cancelled so far in the latest string of activities.

Ron Paul is taking a page from his 2008 playbook and launching the most aggressive mailing campaign in South Carolina of any GOP contender. The letter South Carolina residents are finding in their mailbox this morning digs at all of Paul's competitors with a particularly harsh emphasis on Newt Gingrich. "Newt Gingrich has a long record of liberal appeasement, flip-flopping on key issues, and lobbying for insider millions," Paul writes. "I have rarely seen a candidate who represents so much of what is wrong with Washington and what is wrong with our political system."

Rick Santorum lost his Senate seat in 2006, but before that, he sponsored at least two bills that won hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare funding for Universal Health Services, a Pennsylvania-based hospital-management company with facilities in Puerto Rico. Within months of leaving the Senate, Santorum joined the company's board, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and stock options before resigning last year. That's just one of many businesses that had lucrative ties to Santorum, who built a career in the private sector with income from companies that returned the favor for his work in Congress, and his strong showing in Iowa is upping the scrutiny over his history.

President Obama will propose a modest pay increase for federal employees as part of his 2013 budget, White House officials confirmed Friday. The .5 percent increase in worker compensation would be the first bonus for federal employees since Obama mandated a two-year pay freeze in late 2010. Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates wanted to maintain the freeze for at least one more year as a way to pay for the payroll-tax extension. The proposal would save roughly $28 billion over the next 10 years and $2 billion in the fiscal year of 2013, officials said. While no date has been set, the White House is expected to formally release its 2013 budget proposal in early February.

The U.S. Navy has rescued 13 Iranians who were being held hostage by pirates, the Pentagon said Friday. While details are scarce, the news comes only one day after Iran warned the U.S. to keep its operations out of the Persian Gulf—a warning that included this rescue mission. Fifteen suspected pirates have been captured and are being held by the Navy.

Chelsea Clinton fans, now might the time to tune into Rock Center. Page Six reported Friday that Clinton is considering not renewing her contract for Brian Williams’s weekly newsmagazine past its initial 90 days. An NBC rep said the rumors are “100 percent false” and the network “couldn’t be more pleased” with her work. Sources told Page Six that they believe Clinton was “set up for a fail” when NBC overhyped her coming to the network as a full-time special correspondent. The source said NBC “created unrealistic expectations.” Clinton will still have two more stories air, but the source said that she doesn’t know if she will continue at NBC.

The Daily Beast has scored another influential voice. David Frum is joining Newsweek and The Daily Beast, writing for both. Frum, who is a conservative D.C. blogger and former George W. Bush speechwriter, will be launching a new Beast blog on the heels of FrumForum, which boasted hundreds of contributors and reached more than 5 million readers. "When we launched, Sarah Palin was a leading candidate for president and Glenn Beck was broadcasting conspiracy theories on cable TV," Frum wrote in his farewell post. "Three years later—not so much. OK, maybe we can’t claim all the credit. But we won’t refuse some fair share." Beast and Newsweek editor Tina Brown tweeted, "Excited to welcome the brilliant writer and commentator @davidfrum aboard the NewsBeast! Look fwd to a blog on Web & essays in the mag." Frum will bring contributor Noah Kristula-Green with him.

Former employees of the fraudulent WMC Mortgage Corp. are coming forward with claims that General Electric Co. bought them out so it could profit from subprime mortgages. What GE came away from the bargain with was a hefty amount of cash, WMC employees say, as its staff pushed home loans on people who couldn't pay them back. WMC salespeople didn't necessarily need credentials—even former strippers and shoe salesmen could make money hawking subprime mortgages—but the best ones earned a million dollars a year or more. A former compliance manager at the company says sales reps often used falsified paperwork, forged income documentation, and other tricks to get their loans approved and sold to Wall Street investors. Employees say GE ignored warnings from WMC whistle-blowers as early as 2004 and made little effort to investigate the mortgage fraud. The industrial giant lost more than $1 billion after shutting the lender in 2007.

The Obama administration proposed on Friday a plan to slightly change the immigration laws, which would allow illegal family members of American citizens to remain in the U.S. while their applications for the citizenship are processed. Under the current rule people applying for legal status must return to their home country and wait while their applications are processed. President Obama will change the rule using his executive powers, and will not require congressional approval.

It's the first major revision to the definition of rape in more than 80 years. The Obama administration on Friday broadened the parameters of the crime—which had been undercounted for decades—to include more forms of sexual assaults. It now includes men as victims, oral or anal sex, and attacks which a victim cannot give consent because of the influence of drugs or alcohol, is under the age of consent, or mentally or physically incapable. Since 1927, forcible rape was defined as the carnal knowledge of a woman, forcibly and against her will, which only included penetration of a woman's vagina but excluded oral or anal penetration—and the rape of men.