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| Legs bared around the world for annual 'No Pants' commute Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 05:13 PM PST Bare legs and briefs filled train cars from Sydney to New York Sunday as passengers traveled trouserless -- provoking laughs and perplexed looks -- for the 13th annual "No Pants Subway Ride." Commuters in some 60 cities braved public transportation in their undies for the stunt, which has gone global since its first staging by US group Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002. "It is just about fun, and providing a laugh and a smile," said Charlie Todd, who created the event 12 years ago when just seven people took part. Full Story | Top |
| Subpoenas Expected for Chris Christie Aides Over Bridge Scandal Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 10:41 AM PST  NJ Democrats Hint at Possibility of Impeachment Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare may get sick if young Americans don't sign up Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 05:14 AM PST By Lewis Krauskopf NEW YORK (Reuters) - Now that more than 2 million people have signed up for private insurance plans created by President Barack Obama's healthcare law, a crucial next check-up for the new marketplace will be to see how old customers are. Early data from a handful of state exchanges shows the administration needs more young adults to sign up in the next three months to help offset costs from older enrollees and prevent insurers from raising their rates. Critics of Obama's Affordable Care Act say the market won't attract enough young people to keep it financially viable, putting more pressure on government funds to compensate for any insurer losses. Data from seven states and the District of Columbia, which are running their own marketplaces, show that of more than 200,000 enrollees, nearly 22 percent are 18 to 34 years old, according to a Reuters analysis. Full Story | Top |
| Republicans defend Christie on 'bridgegate' by invoking Benghazi, IRS scandals Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 09:40 AM PST Prominent Republicans hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit to defend Chris Christie, comparing the New Jersey governor's handling of the bridge scandal to President Obama's response to the Benghazi terror attack and the IRS' targeting of conservative groups. Full Story | Top |
| Entrepreneur: Boost Calif. wages to $12-an-hour Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 01:03 AM PST  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrats across the nation are eager to make increasing the minimum wage a defining campaign issue in 2014, but in California a proposal to boost the pay rate to $12 an hour is coming from a different point on the political compass. Full Story | Top |
| Indian diplomat tells of anguish at leaving US without children Saturday, Jan 11, 2014 11:48 PM PST  An Indian diplomat at the centre of a bitter row with the United States told Sunday of her "immense stress" at leaving behind her young family in New York, and vowed to clear her name. Indian consulate official Devyani Khobragade was allowed to leave the United States on Friday after a month-long dispute over her arrest and strip-search on suspicion of visa fraud involving her domestic servant. Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity and allowed to fly back to India -- just hours after charges were filed in court alleging she lodged false documents to obtain a visa for her servant and then underpaid her. Khobragade, 39, told an Indian newspaper of her anguish at leaving behind her daughters, aged seven and four, in New York along with her husband, a US citizen, who works as an academic. Full Story | Top |
| Black rhino hunting permit auctioned for $350,000 Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 12:23 AM PST DALLAS (AP) — A permit to hunt an endangered African black rhino sold for $350,000 at a Dallas auction held to raise money for conservation efforts but criticized by wildlife advocates. Full Story | Top |
| Loss of jobless aid leaves many with bleak options Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 11:26 AM PST  A cutoff of benefits for the long-term unemployed has left more than 1.3 million Americans with a stressful decision: What now? Without their unemployment checks, many will abandon what had been a futile ... Full Story | Top |
| Court weighs president's recess appointments power Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 07:24 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is refereeing a politically charged dispute between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans over the president's power to temporarily fill high-level positions. Full Story | Top |
| Pope names 19 new cardinals, focusing on the poor Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 11:59 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis named his first batch of cardinals Sunday, choosing 19 men from around the world, including the developing nations of Haiti and Burkina Faso, in line with his belief the church must pay more attention to the poor. Full Story | Top |
| 'Sister Wives' family humbled by polygamy ruling Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 09:24 AM PST  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — There was no fist-pumping or wild celebrations by the polygamous family that stars in the TLC reality TV show "Sister Wives" when a federal judge in Utah struck down key parts of the state's polygamy laws. Full Story | Top |
| Frustration grows days after W.Va. chemical spill Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 07:03 AM PST CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Frustration is mounting for many of the 300,000 West Virginia residents who've gone three days without clean tap water. Full Story | Top |
| Restaurants reopen with bottled water after West Virginia spill Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 01:32 PM PST By Ann Moore CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) - Restaurants and shops were reopening on Sunday in parts of West Virginia where the water supply was poisoned by a chemical spill, although up to 300,000 people spent a fourth day unable to use tap water for anything besides flushing toilets. State government officials, the utility company West Virginia American Water and the National Guard were continuing to test the water supply on Sunday after as much as 7,500 gallons (28,000 liters) of an industrial chemical leaked into the Elk River on Thursday. It could still be several days before people in nine counties and Charleston, the state capital and largest city, can once again use the water from their faucets for drinking, cooking and bathing. Full Story | Top |
| Israel buries its controversial hero Ariel Sharon Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 08:12 PM PST Israel was on Monday set to bury former prime minister Ariel Sharon, celebrated as a military hero at home but loathed by Palestinians as a bloodthirsty criminal. Sharon will be laid to rest in a ceremony at his family's Sycamore Ranch in the southern Negev desert, which lies a few miles from the northern border of the Gaza Strip. Affectionately known as "Arik" among his loyalists, Sharon will be buried next to his second wife, Lily, after a military funeral at 1200 GMT. Ahead of his funeral on Monday, Sharon's flag-draped coffin was placed on a black marble plinth in the plaza outside the Knesset, or parliament, for the public to pay their last respects. Full Story | Top |
| Breastfeed babies if you want, pope tells mothers in Sistine Chapel Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 08:13 AM PST  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis baptized 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday and told their mothers, including one who was married in a civil service rather than in church, to have no qualms about breast-feeding them there. Unlike his predecessors, who usually delivered long and theology-laden homilies at the yearly baptism event, the pope offered a brief, improvised homily of some 300 words centered on the children. Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel are some of the world's most celebrated works of art. But the pope told the mothers not to feel intimidated by the surroundings. Full Story | Top |
| Brother describes finding sibling's plane wreckage Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 01:00 AM PST  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — When Dellon Smith spotted the wreckage of his older brother's airplane on the side of a central Idaho mountain, he started running. Full Story | Top |
| Health care website frustrates Spanish speakers Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 08:03 AM PST  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Mirroring problems with the federal health care website, people around the nation attempting to navigate the Spanish version have discovered their own set of difficulties. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Weighing power among branches, U.S. court could tip against president Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 07:00 AM PST  By Joan Biskupic WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When a prominent U.S. appeals court last year slashed President Obama's power to appoint government officials, many legal experts said the Supreme Court would be unlikely to let that surprising decision stand. In its January 2013 ruling involving "recess appointments" to a key regulatory agency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit repeatedly invoked the nation's early history and a literal reading of key constitutional terms. Such an "originalist" approach in the past persuaded the court under Chief Justice John Roberts to take bold action. The new case, National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, revolves around the president's power to appoint top officials with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Full Story | Top |
| Ant Farm Hitches Rocket Ride to International Space Station Saturday, Jan 11, 2014 09:18 PM PST  Just call them "ant-ronauts." A private robotic spacecraft that launched to the International Space Station Thursday (Jan. 9) may have been unmanned, but it was packed with about 800 living six-legged spaceflyers hoping to set up a colony in orbit. As part of a student experiment, eight ant farms hitched a ride to the orbiting lab alongside the food, supplies and other gear being delivered to the astronauts. The space ants launched into orbit aboard an Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft that will arrive at the space station early Sunday (Jan. 12). Scientists and students alike will be looking at how the insects' movement behavior changes in a microgravity environment, Tara Ruttley, a NASA associate International Space Station program scientist, said in video describing the ant farm in space. Full Story | Top |
| Christmas delivery finally for space station Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 11:58 AM PST  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The six space station astronauts finally got their Christmas presents Sunday with the arrival of a privately launched supply ship that took an extra month to soar. Full Story | Top |
| Pope's choice of new cardinals puts emphasis on poor Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 09:30 AM PST  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis put his first stamp on the group at the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy on Sunday, naming 19 new cardinals from around the world and emphasizing his concern for poor countries. Sixteen of them are "cardinal electors" under 80 and thus eligible to enter a conclave to elect a pope. They come from Italy, Germany, Britain, Nicaragua, Canada, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Chile, Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Haiti. Full Story | Top |
| Pope baptizes 32 babies in Sistine Chapel Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 09:25 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — With wails resounding amid the splendor of the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis on Sunday baptized 32 infants, and at one point in the ceremony told mothers to feel free to feed their crying babies. Full Story | Top |
| McAuliffe sworn in as Virginia governor, as Clintons look on Saturday, Jan 11, 2014 10:07 PM PST  By Gary Robertson RICHMOND (Reuters) - Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a major party fundraiser, was sworn in as governor of Virginia on Saturday, cheered on by his friends former President Bill Clinton and potential White House contender Hillary Clinton. McAuliffe, 56, who led a Democratic sweep of the three top offices in the swing state, took the oath at the state Capitol, which was designed by Thomas Jefferson. The governor, who has never before held public office, in November narrowly defeated Republican Ken Cuccinelli, the outgoing attorney general and a favorite of the party's conservative Tea Party wing. Full Story | Top |
| Israelis pay final respects to Ariel Sharon Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 09:01 AM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis from all walks of life flocked to parliament Sunday to catch a glimpse of Ariel Sharon's coffin and pay their final respects to the iconic former prime minister and general. Full Story | Top |
| Japan condemns China fishing curbs; vows to defend islands Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 12:02 AM PST  By Kiyoshi Takenaka NARASHINO, Japan (Reuters) - Japan on Sunday joined the United States in criticising China's new fishing restrictions in the South China Sea, saying the curbs, coupled with the launch last year of an air defence zone, has left the international community jittery. Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera made the comment after observing the Japanese Self-Defence Forces' elite airborne brigade conducting airdrop drills designed to hone their skills to defend and retake remote islands. Earlier on Sunday, Chinese government ships briefly entered what Japan considers its territorial waters near a group of disputed East China Sea islets, in the first such action this year. "Setting something like this unilaterally as if you are treating your own territorial waters, and imposing certain restrictions on fishing boats is not something that is internationally tolerated," Onodera told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Abbott wins 4th US figure skating title; Brown 2nd Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 04:47 PM PST  BOSTON (AP) — Jeremy Abbott was reminding himself to feel his legs, the pressure of the moment weighing down on him. Full Story | Top |
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