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| Koreas trade fire; island residents in shelters Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:33 PM PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into each other's waters Monday in a flare-up of animosity that forced residents of five front-line South Korean islands to evacuate to shelters for several hours, South Korean officials said. Full Story | Top |
| In Kentucky, Obamacare's success did nothing to change the politics of the law Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:56 AM PDT  In one of the poorest areas of Appalachia, about 2,500 people have signed up to get health insurance over the last six months — a number that represents more than a tenth of Clay County's residents. Full Story | Top |
| Race against time to find MH370 black box Monday, Mar 31, 2014 07:23 PM PDT  Perth (Australia) (AFP) - Authorities were racing against the clock Tuesday to find the "black box" of missing Flight MH370 before its signal goes silent, as Malaysia admitted it got the last words from the cockpit of the doomed plane wrong. Australian vessel Ocean Shield, fitted with a US-supplied black box detector known as a "towed pinger locator" left Perth Monday but is expected to take up to three days to reach the search zone in the remote southern Indian Ocean. A black box signal usually lasts only about 30 days and fears are mounting that time will run out, after the Malaysian Airlines plane carrying 239 people veered off course and vanished on March 8. Australian Defence Minister David Johnston admitted there was only a slim chance it would be found as debris needs to be positively identified first to nail down a crash site. Full Story | Top |
| Health care website stumbles on last day Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:52 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration says a new technical problem briefly prevented last-minute users from signing up on the government's health insurance website. The new problem comes as traffic is surging on deadline day. Full Story | Top |
| 3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt Monday, Mar 31, 2014 06:20 AM PDT  A tomb newly excavated at an ancient cemetery in Egypt would have boasted a pyramid 7 meters (23 feet) high at its entrance, archaeologists say. Within one of its vaulted burial chambers, a team of archaeologists found a finely crafted sandstone sarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a scribe named Horemheb. The sarcophagus has images of several Egyptian gods on it and hieroglyphic inscriptions recording spells from the Book of the Dead that helped one enter the afterlife. The chambers that the archaeologists uncovered would have originally resided beneath the surface, leaving only the steep-sided pyramid visible. Full Story | Top |
| Whaling ban applauded despite fears of Japan sidestep Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:46 PM PDT  Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday hailed a landmark court decision that Japan must halt an annual Antarctic whale hunt, despite fears it may try to sidestep the order. The United Nations' Hague-based International Court of Justice on Monday ruled that Japan's whaling programme was a commercial activity disguised as science and said it must revoke existing whaling licences. A "deeply disappointed" Tokyo said it would honour the ruling but did not exclude the possibility of future whaling programmes, with New Zealand expressing concerns Japan may try to circumvent the order. "The ICJ decision sinks a giant harpoon into the legality of Japan's whaling programme," New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said. Full Story | Top |
| Newborn elephant's charming attempt to stand on its own 4 feet Monday, Mar 31, 2014 07:04 AM PDT Elephants may be the only creature that can weigh over five tons and still be accurately described as "cute." Full Story | Top |
| Is Obama doing enough to help Democrats for Election 2014? Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:30 AM PDT Could President Obama and the White House do more to help Democratic House and Senate candidates for the 2014 election? That's what assistant House Democratic leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said Monday during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "There are some things I would like to see done," said Representative Clyburn in response to a question about the extent of Team Obama's involvement in the midterm political effort. The White House has put a lot of effort into raising money for 2014, said Clyburn, the third-ranking member of the House Democratic leadership. Full Story | Top |
| Is Walking Just as Good as Running? Monday, Mar 31, 2014 05:56 AM PDT A May 2013 study by researchers in the Life Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory looked at data from 33,000 runners and nearly 16,000 walkers to compare the relative health benefits of each activity. To be sure, both walking and running had positive effects. When the researchers checked in with participants six years after the start of the study, they found that running significantly reduced the risk of high blood pressure (by 4.2 percent), high cholesterol (4.3 percent), diabetes (12.1 percent) and cardiovascular heart disease (4.5 percent), for every MET h/d, which is a standard measure of metabolic energy expenditure. Walking decreased risk by 7.2 percent for high blood pressure, 7 percent for high cholesterol, 12.3 percent for diabetes and 9.3 percent for cardiovascular heart disease. Full Story | Top |
| Crowds swamp church in Spain after 'Holy Grail' claim Monday, Mar 31, 2014 07:26 AM PDT  Curators were forced to remove a precious cup from display in a church in Spain when crowds swarmed there after historians claimed it was the Holy Grail, staff said. Visitors flocked to the San Isidro basilica in the northwestern city of Leon after two historians published a book saying the ancient goblet was the mythical chalice from which Christ sipped at the Last Supper. The director of the basilica's museum, Raquel Jaen, said the cup was taken off display on Friday while curators look for an exhibition space large enough to accommodate the crowds. Made of agate, gold and onyx and encrusted with precious stones, the object in Leon is formed by two goblets joined together, with one turned up, the other down. Full Story | Top |
| Ocean garbage frustrates search for Flight 370 Monday, Mar 31, 2014 04:02 AM PDT  Sometimes the object spotted in the water is a snarled fishing line. Or a buoy. Or something that might once have been the lid to an ice box. Not once — not yet at least — has it been a clue. Anticipation ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian prime minister angers Ukraine by visiting Crimea Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:24 PM PDT  By Darya Korsunskaya SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flaunted Russia's grip on Crimea by flying to the region and holding a government meeting there on Monday, angering Ukraine and defying Western demands to hand the peninsula back to Kiev. But in a gesture that could ease tension in the worst East-West stand-off since the Cold War, Russia pulled some troops back from near Ukraine's eastern frontier - a move which the United States said would be a positive sign if it is confirmed as a withdrawal. President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he had ordered a partial drawdown in the region, Merkel's spokesman said. Full Story | Top |
| SKorea fires shells at NKorean waters after drills Sunday, Mar 30, 2014 10:07 PM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Monday returned fire into North Korean waters after shells from a North Korean live-fire drill fell south of the rivals' disputed western sea boundary, a South Korean military official said. Residents on a front-line South Korean island said they were evacuated to shelters during the exchange. Full Story | Top |
| Hourslong protest turns to 'mayhem' in Albuquerque Monday, Mar 31, 2014 04:21 AM PDT ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque's mayor said that a more than 10-hour protest over recent police shootings turned from peaceful into "mayhem," as officers in riot gear clashed with hundreds of protesters who blocked traffic, tried to get on freeways and shouted anti-police slogans. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare Enrolled Millions in Health Care, but It Is Still Only Loved by Democrats Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:34 AM PDT  As new reports show that Obamacare is the largest healthcare expansion in 50 years, it faces a weird political problem: conservatives hate it far more than the left likes it. According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gained insurance through Obamacare, and less than a million people whose plans were cancelled are now currently uninsured. That figure includes a third of the people who bought private plans through the exchanges, part of the 4.5 million estimated to to have enrolled in Medicaid and a small portion of the 9 million people who bought plans directly from their insurers. It's a number that flat out debunks one of the GOP's biggest talking points, that the health care law has actually led to a net decrease in insurance. Full Story | Top |
| GOP has built-in advantage in fight for US House Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:59 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Even if Democrats recruit great candidates, raise gobs of money and run smart campaigns, they face an uphill fight to retake control of the House in this year's congressional elections, regardless of the political climate in November. Full Story | Top |
| Santa Fe police discover bones that could break 1952 cold case Monday, Mar 31, 2014 07:53 AM PDT  Authorities in New Mexico say they have a new lead in a 61-year-old cold case after bone fragments were discovered at the former home of a man whose 26-year-old wife, Inez Garcia, went missing in 1952. Full Story | Top |
| GOP opposition to Obamacare baffles Dr. Sullivan Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:00 AM PDT Commentary: former HHS Secretary Sullivan says Obamacare resembles plan crafted by Republicans. Full Story | Top |
| Asiana: Plane systems partly to blame in crash Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:37 AM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco International Airport had inadequate warning systems to alert its crew about problems with air speed, Asiana Airlines said in a filing with regulators released on Monday. Full Story | Top |
| Liberia confirms spread of 'unprecedented' Ebola epidemic Monday, Mar 31, 2014 05:48 PM PDT  Aid organisation Doctors Without Borders said an Ebola outbreak suspected of killing dozens in Guinea was an "unprecedented epidemic" as Liberia confirmed its first cases of the deadly contagion. Guinea's health ministry this year has reported 122 "suspicious cases" of viral haemorrhagic fever, including 78 deaths, with 22 of the samples taken from patients testing positive for the highly contagious tropical pathogen. "We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country: Gueckedou, Macenta, Kissidougou, Nzerekore, and now Conakry," Mariano Lugli, the organisation's coordinator in the Guinean capital, said in a statement. The group, known by its French initials MSF, said that by the end of the week it would have around 60 international field workers with experience in working on haemorrhagic fever divided between Conakry and the south-east of the country. Full Story | Top |
| GM recall: Many victims were young drivers Monday, Mar 31, 2014 06:41 PM PDT  DETROIT (AP) — As the deaths are tallied from General Motors' delayed recall of compact cars, one thing is becoming clear: Of those killed, the majority were young. Full Story | Top |
| Scale of Guinea's Ebola epidemic unprecedented: aid agency Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:55 PM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea faces an Ebola epidemic on an unprecedented scale as it battles to contain confirmed cases now scattered across several locations that are far apart, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday. The warning from an organization with experience of tackling Ebola in Central Africa comes after Guinea's president appealed for calm as the number of deaths linked to an outbreak on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone hit 80. The outbreak of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases has spooked a number of governments with weak health systems, prompting Senegal to close its border with Guinea and other neighbors to restrict travel and cross-border exchanges. Figures released overnight by Guinea's health ministry showed that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected Ebola since January, up from 70. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia changes version of last words from missing flight's cockpit Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:19 AM PDT The last words spoken by one of the pilots of the missing Malaysian Airlines airliner to the control tower were "Good night Malaysian three seven zero", Malaysia's civil aviation authority said, changing the previous account of the last message as a more casual "All right, good night." The correction of the official account of the last words was made as Malaysian authorities face heavy criticism for their handling of the disappearance, particularly from families of the Chinese passengers on board Flight MH370 who have accused Malaysia of mismanaging the search and holding back information. Malaysia's ambassador to China told Chinese families in Beijing as early as March 12, four days after the flight went missing, that the last words had been "All right, good night." "Good night Malaysian three seven zero" would be a more formal, standard sign-off from the cockpit of the Boeing 777, which was just leaving Malaysia-controlled air space on its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Full Story | Top |
| 11 ancient burial boxes recovered in Israel Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:33 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities on Monday unveiled 11 ancient burial boxes dating to around the time of Jesus, recovered by police during a midnight raid on antiquities dealers suspected of stealing the artifacts. Full Story | Top |
| US seeking buyers for old military equipment Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:15 AM PDT  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States is trying to sell or dispose of billions of dollars in military hardware, including sophisticated and highly specialized mine resistant vehicles as it packs up to leave Afghanistan after 13 years of war, officials said Monday. Full Story | Top |
| US, Russia offer differing solutions on Ukraine Monday, Mar 31, 2014 05:02 AM PDT PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are advancing far different proposals on how to calm tensions and de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine as Russia continues to mass troops along its border with the former Soviet republic. Full Story | Top |
| Beloved pets also lost, displaced by mudslide Monday, Mar 31, 2014 04:03 AM PDT  DARRINGTON, Wash. (AP) — After a rescue worker called her animal clinic saying dogs had been extracted from the destruction left behind by a massive mudslide, veterinary assistant Cassna Wemple and her colleagues raced to this small Washington town near the debris field. Full Story | Top |
| Climate Change: More Violence, Less Food, and Embarrassment for Political Leaders Monday, Mar 31, 2014 07:22 AM PDT  A bleak report released by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the fifth in a series, makes several things clear: climate change is well underway, it will affect food supplies and global stability, and politicians — particularly American ones — should be embarrassed at their inaction. It's hard not to see that the ongoing failure to address climate change is the biggest geopolitical misstep of the last 80 years. What the report says: Climate change is happening. The thawing permafrost means more organic material is decomposing, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry to Mideast at critical point in peace talks Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:55 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry rushed to the Middle East on Monday for a surprise visit aimed at rescuing his Mideast diplomatic efforts, as peace talks approached a critical make-or-break point. Full Story | Top |
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