A North Carolina judge on Friday delayed John Edwards’s trial due to a life-threatening heart condition. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles revealed that two cardiologists had appealed to delay the trial because Edwards needed a heart procedure, and starting the trial on Jan. 30 would “reduce its chance for success.” Eagles said the trial will begin on March 26. Court documents with more details about Edwards’s medical condition have been sealed. Edwards has been charged with violating campaign-finance laws and accused of using $1 million in campaign donations to pay off his mistress, Rielle Hunter, who was pregnant with his child.

Standard & Poor’s slashed France’s golden credit rating for the first time on Friday. French Finance Minister Francois Baroin confirmed the news as markets fell on reports that more euro-zone downgrades are expected. Though Standard & Poor’s has not yet commented on the situation, Italy and Austria are also expected to lose their AAA ratings. Global markets sank at opening as rumors swirled about the downgrades, while the euro dropped to $1.263 against the dollar—a new 16-month low. A downgrade will have an immediate, though not catastrophic, impact on the countries’ ability to borrow money. Germany and the Netherlands are expected to be spared cuts.

Looks like it's going to be Mitt Romney vs. Ron Paul in Virginia's primary. The state will not bend its rules for Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, or Jon Huntsman, none of whom properly registered for the election. After initially being denied a spot on Virginia's March 6 ballot for not submitting a petition with 10,000 signatures, the candidates filed a joint lawsuit demanding to be included. But Friday, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that their applications were still not complete, and therefore their names would not be on the ballot. "In essence, they played the game, lost and then complained that the rules were unfair," Judge John A. Gibney Jr. wrote in his ruling. 

It’s taken almost half a year, but a controversial quote inscribed at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., will finally be changed. The National Park Service has been given 30 days to come up with a new quote to replace the one on the left side of the memorial, which reads: “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” Critics say the quote is taken out of context and makes King seem arrogant. On Feb. 4, 1968, in a speech in Atlanta, King said, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

Talk about being soft on crime. Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is standing by his decision to either pardon or grant clemency to about 200 convicts five days before he left office. At a news conference on Friday, Barbour said he was “very comfortable” with his decision. "I am fully confident the pardons and other clemency I have given are all valid," he told reporters. Barbour, who considered running for president, added that only 189 of the people who got a reprieve had already been released from prison while others with chronic medical conditions will be on medical leave. The high number of pardons—his predecessor pardoned only one person—drew ire from victims’ families and other groups.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Friday that the U.S. will send an ambassador to Burma, the first step in normalizing a diplomatic relationship. Almost all of Burma's most prominent political dissidents have been set free, as the thawing government released 651 prisoners Friday in another move toward democracy. Those freed include leaders of the 1988 student protest movement, Army dissidents jailed in 2004, and monks arrested in 2007 demonstrations. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the move was a "positive sign."

Charges against four U.S. Marines shown urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan could be brought very soon, according to CBS News. All four Marines in the video—which they reportedly started showing around when they returned to North Carolina from a tour of duty—have now been identified. According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, they, as well as the person who shot the footage, could be charged with a war crime.

That didn’t take too long. A day after a federal court blocked a 2011 Texas law requiring women to listen to the fetal heartbeat before having an abortion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has blocked that ruling. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked the Fifth Circuit to expedite its order, which was scheduled for issue Feb. 1, to continue enforcing the law. The court complied with his request Friday in a one-sentence statement.

Three people are dead and one was injured after a shooting at a lumber yard in Star, N.C. Authorities say the gunman later shot himself in his home and was taken to the hospital. Police wouldn’t release his name, but said the shooter left a note. Witnesses said the gunman appeared to be a disgruntled employee.

JPMorgan on Friday reported a 23 percent decrease in profits for the last three months of 2011 as a result of big losses in its investment-banking and trading divisions. JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank by assets, said it earned $3.7 billion, down from $4.8 billion in the same period in the previous year—a decrease of 23 percent. Net income from the bank dropped 52 percent to $726 million, which includes a $567 million drop that occurred from a debit-valuation adjustment. JPMorgan claimed that without those adjustments, there would be $1.1 billion earnings in its banking division. Net income from the bank dropped 40 percent to $302 million in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that the bank is seeing signs of improvement in loan demand and credit quality.

Joe Paterno hasn't said a peep since he was fired in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, but that's about to change. The Washington Post's Sally Jenkins has the scoop on the former Penn State head coach, and will discuss her exclusive interview online on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST. Meanwhile, the president of the university defended Paterno on Thursday in a meeting with alumni. "It grieves me very much when I hear people say 'the Penn State scandal.' This is not Penn State. This is 'the Sandusky scandal,'" university president Rodney Erickson said, practically dodging any blame or acknowledgment that problems with the school's culture played a role in the scandal.

Gay-marriage advocates in Maine are appealing to voters to make the practice legal in the state. If the measure makes it to the November ballot and passes, Maine would be the first state in the U.S. where the law was enacted due to public approval, as opposed to court rulings or legislation. Lawmakers in New Jersey, Washington, and Maryland are also pushing to make same-sex marriage legal this year. A 2011 Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Americans (53 percent in comparison with 44 percent in 2010) are in favor of legalizing the practice. Democrats and independents accounted for the change, while Republicans’ views on the issue remained the same. In 2009, voters in Maine rejected a same-sex marriage law by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.

Mitt Romney is sick of getting slammed for his time as CEO of Bain Capital and is fighting back against attacks in his latest South Carolina ad. The presidential hopeful insists he is a "conservative businessman" and that during his tenure at the private-equity firm he rebuilt several struggling companies and created thousands of jobs. In addition to defending himself, Romney hits back at his rivals who've been particularly harsh—namely, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry—quoting The Wall Street Journal, which said Romney's opponents were embarrassing themselves with their incessant digs. 

In a recent New York Times column titled, “Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?” public editor Arthur S. Brisbane asks “whether news reporters should challenge ‘facts’ that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.” This quickly generated another question in the media and on Twitter: what exactly is the Times’s army of fact-checkers doing all day, other than apparently twiddling their thumbs? The author didn’t expect readers to take him quite so literally (particularly his headline, in this case), and wanted readers to weigh in on an issue in journalism that is less black and white than one might think.

The (mostly) silent film The Artist made a bang when it grabbed four Critic's Choice Awards on Thursday night—including best picture, director, costume design, and score—to be the big winner, fanning speculation that it could take the Oscars by storm. George Clooney got best actor for The Descendants and Viola Davis won best actress for The Help—that movie won three awards, including best supporting actress for Octavia Spencer and best acting ensemble.

Greece’s struggle to reach a major deal with private-sector creditors—desperately needed to unlock the second round of bailout funds—continued Friday, as the negotiations between the Greek government and the European Union stalled. The EU agreed in October to cover the country's deficits over the next three years, but insisted that private creditors chip in and write off half of Greece's debt. But the details of the agreement, including how much money the International Monetary Fund will pony up, remain undecided. The country is under intense pressure to strike a deal as officials say time is running out.

At least they won’t make that mistake again. Thursday, The Federal Reserve released transcripts of 2006 meetings, revealing that the officials had little idea that the housing bust would shake the entire U.S. economy. The transcripts show frank meetings, held every six weeks to assess the economy, where officials laughing about some of the promotions home builders were using to attract buyers (like giving away cars).  Timothy Geithner—then the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York—says that the expansion going forward looks good. Others say a drop in housing sales may actually funnel money to other areas of the economy. The transcripts are held for five years before being released. While the recordings show a general lack of understanding of how the economy worked—and perhaps an overdependence on broken models—there is some good news: current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is one person who continuously warns that troubles with the housing market could have grave consequences.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knew he was in the house of President Obama's biggest fan—Oprah—so he had kind words for the "charismatic" and "genuine" Democrat, even though he's been lashing out at him at various Republican campaign rallies lately. In a wide-ranging interview set to air this weekend that included talk about how doughnuts helped him pick his wife, Christie called Obama "as good a politician as I've ever seen," and warned "those who underestimate Barack Obama underestimate him at their own peril."

Who’ll blink first? The New York Times reports that using secret communications, the Obama administration has directly warned Iran’s Supreme Leader that blocking the Strait of Hormuz is a “red line”—and the United States will take action. Iran has threatened to block the strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which transfers a fifth of the world’s oil everyday. Closing the strait would be “economic suicide” for the nation. The message to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggests that the U.S. would consider using minesweepers, warships, or even airstrikes on Iran to free up the strait. The news comes as Iran has said it wants open to “serious talks” with world leaders about its highly secretive nuclear program.

Thousands of people attended the funeral of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a nuclear expert who Iran claims was killed by the U.S. and Israel as part of covert operations. Roshan was the director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said those behind Wednesday's assassination would be punished, though he didn't say how the U.S. and Israel killed the scientist. Both the U.S. and Israel have denied the charge.

It may seem like Republican presidential primary is the only thing the news media cares about these days, yet many voters are still clueless as to who's running and what's going on. A new Pew Research Center poll found that less than half of registered voters realize that South Carolina is the next state to hold a primary, about half know of which state Mitt Romney was governor and 44 percent of voters recognize Ron Paul for his staunch opposition to war. Voters age 65 and older who consider themselves Republican or Republican-leaning were the most informed on the election while only 26 percent of GOP voters below the age of 40 knew the answers to at least three of the four questions on the survey. 

Well, Newt just lost the French vote. In a bizarre online ad titled “The French Connection” that’s sure to go viral—for all the wrong reasons—Gingrich’s campaign emphasizes the similarities between Massachusetts politicians Mitt Romney and John Kerry. The ad hits on Romney’s record as a governor who donated to Democrats, as a moderate, and then suddenly shifts gears in its final moment. “He’ll say anything to win,” the narrator says. “And just like John Kerry, he speaks French too.” What follows is not for the faint of heart—a 2002 video of Romney speaking about the Winter Olympics in French. Meanwhile, Gingrich expanded his campaign from South Carolina to Florida, the next battleground state. He opened his Florida headquarters in Orlando, just a few weeks ahead of the Jan. 31 primary.

He is polling ahead of Jon Huntsman. Stephen Colbert announced in tonight’s episode of The Colbert Report that he is exploring a presidential run in South Carolina. “I am proud to announce that I am forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for president of the United States of America of South Carolina,” he said. He turned over control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart at the beginning of the show, since Trevor Potter, the former Federal Election Commission chairman, also appeared on the episode, and told him that he could not be a candidate and run a super PAC.

Five men who were pardoned by former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour are still on the loose—and the attorney general says they will likely be sent back to prison. The men all worked as trusties in the governor’s mansion, and four are convicted murderers and another was found guilty of armed robbery. Attorney General Jim Hood said Thursday that the state had not met a crucial deadline to free the men, who were among 208 prisoners granted pardons by Barbour in one of his last acts as governor. New Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a fellow Republican, said Thursday that he would support a state constitutional amendment to tweak the governor’s clemency powers. Barbour, once considered a presidential hopeful, has sparked national outrage over the pardons.

They wanted it really bad. Hundreds of customers and workers hired by scalpers hoping to profit from early purchases waited for hours at Apple's flagship Beijing store Friday for the launch of the iPhone 4S in the country. But employees were concerned about the huge crowd, and when the store failed to open at 7 a.m., things got ugly and the group pelted the store's sleek glass walls with eggs. The commotion led Apple to cancel the launch and police ordered the crowd to leave. Many of those who waited in line—many of them migrant workers and some were even elderly people—said they won't be able to collect the puny $15 promised if they waited overnight in freezing weather. The incident highlights the role of unscrupulous middlemen who exploit the country's poor to buy up and sell popular gadgets at a high markup.

The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok warned Friday that there is a credible threat of a terrorist attack against Americans in the Thai capital. "Foreign terrorists may be currently looking to conduct attacks against tourist areas in Bangkok in the near future," a message on the embassy website said. "U.S. citizens are urged to exercise caution when visiting public areas where large groups of Western tourists gather in Bangkok." Thai police are holding a Lebanese man with alleged links to Hizbullah militants for questioning, and Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said he received a tipoff before the New Year that the Palestinians were planning an attack to target Israelis, though he said "it turned out to be the Hizbullah." The U.S. and Israel are in a tense state with Iran—which allegedly has close ties to Hizbullah, and is accusing the two countries of killing a leading nuclear expert.

So much for backing off Mitt. Just one day after admitting he'd gone too far with his attacks on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital, Newt Gingrich laughed when questioned about Romney's latest ad boasting of his creation of "thousands of jobs"—a departure from the 100,000 jobs Romney told Time magazine he'd created back in December. The former speaker told voters at a Miami café, "He's still not prepared to release any documents from Bain to prove anything." Gingrich referenced a Washington Post fact-checking blog that gave Romney's "100,000 jobs" claim "three Pinocchios." That same blog gave "King of Bain," the short documentary produced by the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future, four Pinocchios, comparing Gingrich to Michael Moore and calling the film "such an over-the-top assault on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney that it is hard to know where to begin."

While there’s still speculation as to whether News Corp. chair Rupert Murdoch has been honest about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, the media mogul has come clean about another failure: his company made the wrong move when it bought MySpace. “Many questions and jokes about MySpace,” he tweeted from his iPad at the Consumer Electronics Show. “Simple answer—we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons.” News Corp. acquired the social-media company in 2005 for $580 million when it was still growing. It sold it last summer for $35 million. Murdoch tweeted from the show on Thursday about the “Big Three” companies he thinks are unstoppable. “Apple, Google and Amazon, and maybe Facebook dominant now and growing. Plenty of others good, but not in same league."

If they can do it in Las Vegas, why not in Atlantic City? A bill passed by both houses of the New Jersey Legislature on Monday would get rid of the 72-hour waiting period for a marriage or civil-union license, though couples would have to pay $60 rather than $28 to get hitched. Twenty-nine states currently have no waiting period, but only two are in the Northeast (Connecticut and Rhode Island). The bill would also allow couples to get divorced within 30 days of marriage—and without going to court.

Apparently The National Enquirer had the scoop last April when it reported that Food Network star Paula Deen has type 2 diabetes, which is often triggered by fatty foods and obesity. Now The Daily is confirming the report, claiming that Deen is about to come clean about her condition, having worked out a deal to be the spokeswoman for the drug she takes to keep her blood sugar in check. This will make it slightly more difficult for the chef to endorse her Krispie Kream Bread Pudding, Twinkie Pie, and other recipes for a heart attack. Deen has come under fire for the high amounts of fat, salt, and sugar in her dishes. Last August, No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain called Deen "the worst, most dangerous person to America" who should "think twice before telling an already obese nation that it's OK to eat food that is killing us." Another hint that Deen will have to make some changes to her menu: her son, Bobby, began a show on the Cooking Channel this month called Not My Mama's Meals, which features healthier versions of his mother’s recipes.

Who are you calling fiscally irresponsible, Ron Paul and Rick Perry? President Barack Obama is seeking the power to merge agencies in a bid to shrink the federal government in a sweeping move. Obama will ask Congress to give him authority to consolidate six trade and commerce agencies that have overlapping programs, cutting up to 2,000 jobs and saving $3 billion over 10 years. He'll call for a vote by Congress within 90 days.

A Peruvian court has sentenced Joran van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for murder. Van der Sloot, 24, pled guilty on Wednesday to murdering Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian woman he met at a Lima casino and subsequently strangled in her hotel room. The murder occurred in 2010—exactly five years after 18-year-old Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba after spending time with van der Sloot. Holloway was declared legally dead on Thursday.