TOP NEWS STORIES (jan 12, 2012)

1. A Mississippi state judge has temporarily halted the release of 21 of the 200-plus inmates pardoned or given early release by former Gov. Haley Barbour as he left office.

2. U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, together with the Democratic National Committee, raised more than $68 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said on Thursday.

3. Watching from afar, the dramatic political theater playing out in Pyongyang around Kim Jong Il's funeral reminded my own experiences inside the hermit kingdom.  It took me nine years to secure a visa into North Korea .