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<p>All at once, a “fiscal cliff” deal seems to be coming together. Speaker John Boehner’s latest offer doesn’t go quite far enough for the White House to agree, but it goes far enough that many think they can see the agreement taking shape.</p>

NBC is unable to reach its Middle East bureau chief Richard Engel, who was also reporting from inside Syria.

Welcome, my friends, to the least surprising political news of the week. Nikki Haley will appoint Rep. Tim Scott to replace Senator Jim DeMint in the US Senate, making Scott the upper chamber's only African-American member, and give him a boost in the 2014 special election for the rest of DeMint's term: Multiple media sources are reporting that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will indeed name Rep. Tim Scott to be the next senator from South Carolina.Scott will serve for two years, and then presumably run in a special election in 2014. If reelected, he would serve an additional two...

<p>Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to name Rep. Tim Scott as the replacement for outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint, Fox News has learned.</p> <p>Haley is slated to announce her decision at noon on Monday at the Statehouse. Scott was elected to Congress in the 2010 Republican wave. Haley's selection would make him the first black U.S. senator from South Carolina.</p>

House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a major concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end “fiscal cliff.” The offer came Friday, according to people in both parties familiar with the talks, as part of the latest effort by Boehner (R-Ohio) to strike a deal with President Obama to replace more than $500 billion in painful deficit-reduction measures set to take effect in January. With the national debt already bumping up against...

HONG KONG — The state news agency in China, the official voice of the government, has called for the United States to quickly adopt stricter gun controls in the aftermath of the shooting rampage in Connecticut that left 28 people dead, including 20 schoolchildren. According to the state medical examiner who was overseeing autopsies of the children, all of them had been hit multiple times. At least one child had been shot 11 times. All of the children were in the first grade. “Their blood and tears demand no delay for U.S. gun control,” said the news agency, Xinhua, which...

The Liberal Democrat Party was poised to return to power in Japan on Sunday, with exit polls projecting a sweeping victory in the general election. Exit polls from CNN affiliate NHK show that the Liberal Democrat Party, or LDP -- led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- won the majority of votes in the country's lower house election. The projected results, which indicate the party captured at least 275 of 480 house seats, would give the party another stab at power three years after it was unceremoniously dumped for the Democrat Party of Japan, or DPJ.

The Talk Shows December 16th, 2012 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Gov. Dannel Malloy, D-Conn.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Malloy; Connecticut state police Lt. Paul Vance; Sens. Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.THIS WEEK (ABC): Malloy; Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Reps. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Donna Edwards, D-Md.; Mayor Pedro Segarra of Hartford, Conn.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Live coverage of...

President Barack Obama will travel to Newtown, Conn., on Sunday to meet with families of those killed in the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School and thank emergency workers who responded to the tragedy, the White House said Saturday. "The President will also speak at an interfaith vigil for families of the victims as well as families" at 7 p.m., press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. On Friday, an emotional Obama vowed to "take meaningful action, regardless of the politics," to prevent future tragedies like the shooting massacre, which killed 26 people at the school, 20 of...

President Barack Obama has chosen Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to be the next secretary of state, a source has told Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed. His replacement as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the Sneed source said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not be able to testify next week before House and Senate panels on the Benghazi issue because she sustained a concussion, a top State Department official said Saturday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is suffering from a concussion after fainting. Below is a statement from her Philippe Reines, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.“While suffering from a stomach virus, Secretary Clinton became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion. She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors. At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon.”

The secret, one-on-one nuclear negotiations President Barack Obama launched with Iran have run into a blank wall. A senior Iranian team member, Mostafa Dolatyar, said Friday, Dec. 14 in New Delhi that the diplomatic process for solving the nuclear issue with Iran was in effect going nowhere, because the demand that Tehran halt its 20-percent enrichment of uranium “doesn’t make sense.” He went on to say: “They [the world powers] have made certain connections with purely technical issues and something purely political. In so far as this is the mentality and this is the approach from 5 + 1 (the...

The federal government will likely be involved in running the ObamaCare exchange in at least 30 states, 26 of which expressly declined to establish state exchanges. One health-policy expert refers to it as an "administrative nightmare" for the Department of Health and Human Services. Friday was the deadline for a state to let HHS know if it planned to establish a state exchange. Thus far only 18 states and the District of Columbia are planning on doing so. As of right now only Utah and Florida remain undecided. Utah may still decide to set up a state exchange, but few...

December 14, 2012 Fox News Contributor Steven Crowder Files Criminal Complaint After Alleged Assault By Pro-Union Protester Noah Rothman Fox News commentator Steven Crowder has filed a complaint with the Michigan State Police in relation to an assault he sustained by a pro-union protester while attending a demonstration outside Michigan’s state capitol on December, 11. The protesters were demonstrating against the state legislature’s efforts to pass right to work laws in the heavily unionized state. Crowder joined the protests in support of those controversial laws. The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple spoke with Richard Hale, the shift supervisor at the Lansing...

<p>State police are responding to a report of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dickinson Drive, school officials said.</p> <p>Police are reporting a number of injured parties. The nature of their injuries is not clear.</p> <p>There are unconfirmed reports of two shooters — one dead, one still at large.</p>

(CNN) -- The United States is to deploy 400 troops and two Patriot air-defense missile batteries to Turkey in the coming weeks to defend against potential threats from Syria, defense officials said Friday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed the order en route to Turkey, where he is visiting Incirlik Air Base, Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.

A Russian official has said for the first time that the Syrian government may be defeated by opposition forces. President Bashar al-Assad's forces are "losing more and more control and territory", deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said. He said Russia, one of Syria's staunchest allies, was making plans for a possible evacuation of thousands of its citizens. Separately, Syria denied reports it had fired Scud missiles at rebels. Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen earlier said the organisation had detected the launch of such short-range missiles, saying it showed an "utter disregard" for the lives of the Syrian people. 'Unacceptable...

Embattled U.N. envoy Susan Rice is dropping out of the running to be the next secretary of state after months of criticism over her Benghazi comments, she told NBC News on Thursday.

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels are gaining ground and might win, Russia's Middle East envoy said on Thursday, in the starkest such admission from a major ally of President Bashar al-Assad in 20 months of conflict.