Mark Memmott

Saying that her choice understands the business sector and is the "right U.S. senator for our state and our country," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley named Republican Rep. Tim Scott to replace the retiring Sen. Jim DeMint (also a Republican) at a noontime news conference today.

After asking those gathered at the state capitol to pause for a moment of silence to honor the victims of Friday's shootings in Newtown, Conn., Scott said he's honored and excited "for many, many reasons."

Good morning.

Our early headlines, as you would expect, were about Friday's mass murder at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.:

-- Funerals Begin In Newtown, Investigation Continues.

The tragedy in Newtown, Conn., touches people in many different ways. On Morning Edition and at WNYC.org, the station's Brigid Bergin tells the story of Kyle Mangieri, a 7th grade social studies teacher at a school in nearby Fairfield, Conn.

Six-year-olds Jack Pinto and Noah Pozner — two of the 20 first-graders killed Friday when a gunman stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — are to be remembered at funeral services this afternoon.

Jack loved sports and was said to be a big fan of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who wrote the boy's name on the cleats — along with the words "My Hero" — he wore Sunday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who earlier this week canceled a trip to Morocco and the Middle East because she was ill with a stomach virus, is at home recovering from a concussion she suffered in a fall, her spokesman says.

According to an email that State has sent to reporters, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines says that:

We continue to follow the tragic news from Newtown, Conn., about Friday's mass shooting at an elementary school.

There is, of course, other news:

-- "Some Polling Issues As Egyptians Vote On Draft Constitution." (NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson)

President Obama focuses on the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., in his weekly radio/Web address. His message echoes the emotional comments he made to the nation Friday afternoon.

If you're fascinated by the story of anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee and his flight from Belize after authorities there said they want to talk to him about a neighbor's murder, CNBC has abo

It looks like the feds will not be worrying much about those folks who choose to smoke pot in Colorado and Washington state, where new laws decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

"In recent weeks, new lines of attack have been raised to malign my character and my career. Even before I was nominated for any new position, a steady drip of manufactured charges painted a wholly false picture of me."

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Syrian Crisis: Turkey Getting Patriot Missiles, Some U.S. Troops To Operate Them.

-- Inflation Is In Check; Consumer Prices Fell 0.3 Percent In November.

A sharp drop in the cost of a gallon of gasoline helped pull consumer prices down 0.3 percent in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

According to BLS, gas prices plunged 7.4 percent last month.

Excluding the food and energy sectors, the so-called core rate of inflation rose just 0.1 percent.

Twenty-two children and one adult are reported to have been injured at a school in China today by a man wielding a knife.

It happened in a village about 500 miles south of Beijing. As NPR's Louisa Lim tells our Newscast Desk, the attack is the latest of what has been a disturbing series of such incidents in recent years.

"The U.S. will send two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from a potential Syrian missile attack, the Pentagon said Friday." (The Associated Press)

Moving to withdraw her name from among those being considered to be the next secretary of state, embattled U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has told President Obama she does not want to be nominated.

The White House just released a statement from the president that says, in part:

We didn't make the list, and boy are we glad.

CNN and Fox News share the shame of the Poynter Institute's "error of the year" for mistakenly telling their audiences that the Supreme Court had struck down Obamacare.

In truth, the court had done the opposite.

Before anyone else does, we'll make the "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" reference that comes to mind when you read this:

Enough of the bad news for a moment.

Smack in the middle of the holiday season, here's something that underscores how generous many Americans are:

"64.3 million Americans (more than one in four adults) volunteered through a formal organization last year, an increase of 1.5 million from 2010," the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship report.

As the end-of-year tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" near, "Democrats are in a strong position with the public," the Pew Research Center reports.

A new national poll Pew released this morning shows that:

There were 343,000 first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, down 29,000 from the week before, according to the Employment and Training Administration.

At that level, claims were the lowest they'd been since the first week of October's 342,000.

Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse "fooled by a hoax call to the London hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge was later found hanged," the BBC says.

"Syria's most powerful ally, Russia, said for the first time Thursday that President Bashar Assad is losing control of his country and the rebels might win the civil war, dramatically shifting the diplomatic landscape at a time of enormous momentum for the opposition," The Associated Press writes.

Here's what Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, according to the AP:

There are conflicting reports about whether the satellite launched into space Wednesday from North Korea is safely circling the planet.

Last year, smugglers tried using a catapult to get pot into the U.S.

Now, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents say they recently discovered 30 large cans of marijuana in a field near Yuma, Ariz., — and that the barrels apparently landed there after being fired from a pneumatic-powered cannon 500 feet away in Mexico.

Saying it is concerned that the economy won't be strong enough in coming months to keep adding jobs to the labor market, the Federal Reserve announced this afternoon that is increasing its efforts to give the economy a boost.

And in an unusually specific statement from the central bank, its policymakers said they expect to keep a key short-term interest rate at or near zero percent "as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5 percent."

The trends continue:

"The U.S. population will be considerably older and more racially and ethnically diverse by 2060, according to projections released today by the U.S. Census Bureau."

Based on data from the 2010 census, the bureau projects that: