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| Obama to O'Reilly: 'I try to focus not on the fumbles but on the next play' Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 01:18 PM PST  In a testy interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly Sunday, Barack Obama defended the handling of the three scandals — Benghazi, Obamacare and the IRS — that have dogged his presidency. Full Story | Top |
| Hermione should have married Harry Potter, Rowling admits Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 07:34 AM PST  After years of squabbling, Harry Potter's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger finally became an item -- but now their creator JK Rowling has admitted she made a mistake by marrying them off. Hermione -- whose quick wits get the teen wizards out of many a scrape in Rowling's hit novels -- would have been better off with hero Harry, the British author said in comments published by the Sunday Times newspaper. In fact, Ron and Hermione would likely have ended up in marriage counselling, Rowling suggested. "For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron," Rowling says in an interview with Wonderland magazine, previewed by the Sunday Times and due out next Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Handlers: Punxsutawney Phil predicts longer winter Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 07:43 AM PST PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Emerging from his lair on Super Bowl Sunday, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil couldn't predict the winner of the big game but his handlers said he was sure of his weather forecast: There will be six more weeks of winter. Full Story | Top |
| Baldwin, Dunham react to Dylan Farrow's sexual assault claims against Woody Allen Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 03:14 PM PST Woody Allen's adoptive daughter broke her 20-year public silence on sexual abuse allegations against the director on Saturday, alleging that Allen sexually assaulted her when she was 7. Full Story | Top |
| Top Republicans say they stand by NJ Gov. Christie Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 03:39 PM PST  TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — High-profile Republicans were adamant Sunday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie should not resign from his post as chairman of the Republican Governors Association following a former ally's claim that there is evidence Christie knew about an apparently politically motivated traffic jam earlier than he has said. Full Story | Top |
| Gay-marriage debate takes new twist in Oregon: religious exemption Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 04:16 AM PST Oregon voters will likely face two questions about gay marriage when they go to the ballot this year: whether to become the 18th state to let same-sex couples wed, and whether the state should be the first to allow florists, cake makers and others to refuse to participate in these weddings on religious grounds. The ballot initiatives set up what some activists have said is the next frontier in the marriage debate - as more states move to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples, those who object on religious grounds want a legal right to opt out. "This is not a sideshow issue," said James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union, referring to the Oregon ballot initiative and the coming debate over religious exemption. "This is going to be the issue that we fight about for the next ten years, at least, in the (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights movement." In Oregon and 20 other states, it is illegal to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli premier rejects Kerry's boycott warning Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 05:05 AM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's warning against a growing boycott movement against the Jewish state should peace talks with the Palestinians fail, saying the stance undermined Israel's legitimacy and the chances of reaching a peace agreement. Full Story | Top |
| Obama spars with Fox News host in testy pre-Super Bowl interview Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 03:59 PM PST  President Barack Obama accused Fox News on Sunday of keeping alive controversies the White House believes have been settled in a testy interview that aired before the NFL's Super Bowl, the most-viewed sports event in the United States. Host Bill O'Reilly asked Obama why he did not fire his health and human services chief over the botched rollout of the healthcare law last year, whether there was "widespread corruption" at the Internal Revenue Service, and whether the White House had tried to play down the significance of a 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Obama said "some boneheaded decisions" were to blame for extra scrutiny the IRS had given to conservative Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status, and that the issue had been cleared up during "multiple hearings" in Congress. Full Story | Top |
| Woody Allen: Farrow claims 'untrue,' 'disgraceful' Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 06:34 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Woody Allen called Dylan Farrow's allegations of child molestation "untrue and disgraceful," signaling that he would fight renewed claims dating back to Allen's tempestuous relationship with actress Mia Farrow in the early 1990s. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican castaway begins long journey home Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 11:15 PM PST  Majuro (Marshall Islands) (AFP) - A Mexican castaway who says he survived more than a year drifting at sea pleaded on Sunday to be taken home as he was picked up from the remote Pacific island where he had washed ashore. "I want to get back to Mexico," the castaway, who identified himself as Jose Ivan, told interpreter Magui Vaca as he was about to board a Marshall Islands patrol vessel to be taken from Ebon Atoll to the capital Majuro for a medical examination. "I feel bad," he told Vaca of his physical and mental state. An emaciated Jose Ivan was found last Thursday clad only in ragged underpants, when his 24-foot fibreglass boat with propellerless engines floated on to the reef at Ebon Atoll, the southernmost cluster of coral islands in the Marshalls. Full Story | Top |
| Paul Ryan: Immigration legislation unlikely in '14 Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 10:51 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after House Republicans unveiled a roadmap for an overhaul of the nation's broken immigration system, one of its backers said legislation is unlikely to pass during this election year. Full Story | Top |
| Immigrant reform might raise price of citizenship Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 09:59 AM PST  EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Hilda Vasquez squirreled away the money for her U.S. citizenship application by selling batches of homemade tamales at South Texas offices. Carmen Zalazar picked up extra babysitting jobs at night after caring for kids all day in Houston. Full Story | Top |
| N.J. Democrat says has seen no evidence Christie knew of traffic scheme Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 02:26 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey Democrat leading a probe of a bridge traffic scandal that has engulfed Governor Chris Christie said on Sunday he had seen no evidence to support claims that the governor had been aware of the politically motivated traffic jams as they happened. If such evidence does exist, a state panel investigating the closures has not yet seen it, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who co-leads the probe, said on Sunday. Christie, a leading Republican candidate for the White House in 2016, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of a plan to snarl traffic last September near the busy George Washington Bridge and severed ties with several top aides over their role in the incident. Christie has been dogged by scandal for nearly a month after it emerged that several of his top aides and appointees called for lane closures leading to the busiest bridge in the United States, apparently as retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who did not endorse the governor's re-election campaign. Full Story | Top |
| Report: US abortion rate at lowest since 1973 Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 07:51 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. abortion rate declined to its lowest level since 1973, and the number of abortions fell by 13 percent between 2008 and 2011, according to the latest national survey of abortion providers conducted by a prominent research institute. Full Story | Top |
| Husband Destroys Wife's Trust Trying To Shore Up Business Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 09:00 PM PST DEAR ABBY: During the past three years, my husband and I managed to save about $45,000 for a down payment on the purchase of a new home. (We each put in about half.) Early last month, I asked my husband if he liked one house we had just seen, and he confessed that he had taken all the money we had saved and put it into a struggling business he has had for 12 years and which I helped him run on weekends. I am devastated! It's not just the money, which was for our future. The plan was to purchase an affordable home and pay it off quickly. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House: Obama awaits more Keystone reviews; timing unclear Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 10:18 AM PST  U.S. President Barack Obama still wants to hear from other federal agencies before deciding whether to accept the State Department's finding that the Keystone XL pipeline would have no major impact on climate change, his top aide said on Sunday. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Obama would decide once the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Department and other federal experts offer their assessments of the State Department review, as well as their own analysis. But McDonough offered no word how soon Obama may rule. Full Story | Top |
| Clinton warns new Iran sanctions could upend talks Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 02:50 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning Congress that new unilateral sanctions against Iran could upend sensitive international negotiations over its nuclear development, imploring lawmakers to work with the Obama administration in presenting a unified front to Tehran. Full Story | Top |
| Bill O'Reilly's ridiculous Super Bowl interview with President Obama Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 09:59 AM PST O'Reilly doesn't get along with Sean Hannity, but it seems like Hannity somehow took over his brain. Mr. O'Reilly wanted to know, first, when Obama knew, for sure, that the website was going to have problems of the magnitude that it did. Health care was Obama's signature initiative. Obama somehow learns well in advance that the website won't work, thereby jeopardizing his entire presidency, and says nothing about it to anyone, because...? Full Story | Top |
| Despite safety emphasis, school shootings continue Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 11:03 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — There's been no real reduction in the number of U.S. school shootings despite increased security put in place after the rampage at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands of anti-Putin protesters march in Moscow Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 07:20 AM PST MOSCOW (AP) — Several thousand protesters marched through central Moscow on Sunday to call for the release of 20 people who were arrested after clashes between police and demonstrators in May 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Second Amendment: The Right To Bear Arms Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 08:00 AM PST As part of the National Constitution Center's 27 Amendments (In 27 Days) project, each day we will look at a constitutional amendment. Today, we look at the Second Amendment, which protects individuals' rights to possess firearms unconnected to any service in a militia. Full Story | Top |
| China's unwanted babies once mostly girls, now mostly sick, disabled Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 01:03 PM PST  By Li Hui and Ben Blanchard TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - Fangfang was just a few days old when she was abandoned on a near freezing New Year's Day in north China. "They will only provide more accurate numbers." Welfare experts and officials note that China has various charity funds and government health insurance schemes to help the sick and disabled. Full Story | Top |
| US denies Syrian claim of seeking direct meeting Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 10:07 PM PST  The US State Department has denied a claim by Syria's foreign minister on Saturday that Washington sought direct negotiations with them at peace talks in Switzerland. "The Americans asked us to negotiate directly with them in Montreux," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told Syrian state media on the plane home from 10 days of peace talks in the Swiss cities of Montreux and Geneva. "But we refused to do so before Secretary of State John Kerry apologised for what he said at the conference," Muallem added, in remarks carried by state news agency SANA. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki denied there was any attempt at direct negotiations. Full Story | Top |
| A year after snub, Chris Christie will speak at CPAC 2014 Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 05:02 PM PST  Meanwhile, new questions raised about his knowledge about politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. Full Story | Top |
| Could Russian Nuke Tests Start a New Cold War? Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 02:30 AM PST In 1987, a treaty signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev prohibited the testing of medium range nuclear missiles. Now, there are growing concerns that Russia is violating the agreement that helped to end the Cold War. The State Department has yet to formally accuse Russia of violating the terms of the deal. But the United States has told NATO allies that Russia has tested the missile. "The United States never hesitates to raise treaty compliance concerns with Russia, and this issue is no exception," Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, told The New York Times. "There's an ongoing review process, and we wouldn't want to speculate or prejudge the outcome. Full Story | Top |
| Echoes of Zimmerman might he heard in Fla. trial Sunday, Feb 02, 2014 09:15 AM PST  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A man with a gun. A black teen, shot dead. Full Story | Top |
| Florida Teacher Accused of Being Drunk at School Fights to Keep Job Saturday, Feb 01, 2014 09:48 PM PST  She Was Staggering Down the Hallway and Slurring, Report Says. Full Story | Top |
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