Online posts by 'Farouk1986,' thought to be the Christmas Day bombing suspect, suggest a student preoccupied by university admissions and English soccer clubs, but who was also apparently lonely and conflicted.

A White House meeting with dissident Shirin Ebadi would send a signal of US support for protesters. The Islamic regime fears the ideals that Ms. Ebadi champions – even to the point of arresting her innocent sister.

Iran singled out Harvard professor Gene Sharp as a key inspiration for protesters' 'velvet coup.' Sharp's manual on nonviolent protest shaped opposition movements in Czechoslovakia and inspired activists in Burma.

AP - Yemeni investigators pieced together the movements and contacts of the Nigerian suspect in the botched Christmas Day airline attack, questioning the principal of a school where he studied for a second day on Tuesday.

AP - Internet postings purportedly written by a Nigerian charged with trying to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day suggest a fervently religious and lonely young man who fantasized about becoming a Muslim holy warrior.

AP - A more upbeat outlook on jobs pushed Americans' confidence in the economy higher in December for the second month in a row, a survey released Tuesday said.