The Supreme Court decides unanimously that the First Amendment bars government interference in a religious group's decision to fire a minister. Critics say the ruling protects religious groups that fire people for the most venal reasons.

Collective ignorance is essential to the democratic process because it keeps extremists from dominating politics

Russia is wary of any international action similar to the UN resolution on Libya, which parlayed a mandate to protect civilians into a drive for regime change.

AP - The final weeks of 2011 were the economy's strongest since it appeared to be slipping toward recession in late spring.

AP - Anxious to end Mitt Romney's two-state winning streak, his rivals hammered him as unfeeling toward laid-off workers and out of step with conservative Christians while Romney put his dominance on full display, touting his $56 million fundraising haul as the presidential campaign barreled into South Carolina on Wednesday.

AP - It seemed a clockwork killing: Motorcycle riders flashed by and attached a magnetic bomb onto a car carrying a nuclear scientist working at Iran's main uranium enrichment facility. By the time the blast tore apart the silver Peugeot, the bike was blocks away, weaving through Tehran traffic after what Iran calls the latest strike in an escalating covert war.