Nation & World news
Complaint accuses Exxon Mobil of anti-gay bias
One after another, major U.S. corporations have updated anti-discrimination policies to protect gay, lesbian and transgender workers, drawing plaudits from gay-rights groups. There's one prominent exception: Exxon Mobil Corp. In the latest rankings of such corporate policies by the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group, many of Exxon's Fortune ...
Fox show brings messy workplaces to television
This time "you're fired" is more than a Donald Trump catchphrase. Fox is turning the firing of real people from real jobs into prime-time entertainment starting this week. The network on Thursday will begin airing "Does Someone Have to Go?" a series where cameras go into small businesses and employees ...
Senate rejects bid to let states run food stamps
The Senate has rejected a Republican amendment to turn the federal food stamp program over to the states. The current food stamp program is administered by the Agriculture Department and federal dollars are unlimited as long as recipients qualify. It cost $78 billion last year, more than double what it ...
Intercontinental missile test-launched in Calif.
The U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base on Wednesday, a month after the test flight was postponed because of tensions with North Korea. The Minuteman 3 lifted off at 6:27 a.m. PDT Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It splashed down less than ...
Kerry: US, allies, ready to step up aid rebels
The United States and its Arab and European allies will step up their support for Syria's opposition to help them "fight for the freedom of their country" if President Bashar Assad's regime doesn't engage in peace talks in good faith, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Wednesday. Kerry allowed ...
IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the storm over the agency's targeting of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday that she had done nothing wrong in the episode, and then invoked her constitutional right to refuse to answer lawmakers' questions. In one of the most electric moments ...
'BOOM TOWN BABY': African stock markets see gains
The barrage of hourly tweets sent out by Aly-Khan Satchu — East Africa's version of CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer — cheers on what Satchu says is a growing sentiment among investors: If you're not investing in Africa, you should be. Or as Satchu loudly proclaims on his Twitter ...
House preserves its own budget as others face cuts
House lawmakers are moving to protect Capitol Hill's budget even as they slash programs like education, health research, water projects and housing aid for the poor. The move by the House Appropriations Committee promises a small budget increase for legislative branch operations even as funding for labor, health and education ...
House Republicans promote 20-week abortion ban
House Republican who oppose abortion promoted legislation Wednesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. These Republicans want to move ahead despite recent court decisions that have struck down similar state laws. The GOP lawmakers also are taking on their own leadership, which has shown little desire to ...
2 infants among 10 kids killed in Oklahoma tornado
Two infants were among the 24 people killed by the tornado that ripped across the Oklahoma City area this week, the Oklahoma medical examiner's office said Wednesday. The office said it has identified 23 of the 24 victims and that 10 of them were children, including seven who were killed ...
Sathwik Karnik wins National Geographic Bee
Twelve-year-old Sathwik Karnik of Plainville, Mass., has won the 2013 National Geographic Bee. To clinch the title, Sathwik correctly named Chimborazo as the mountain in Ecuador that represents the farthest point from the Earth's center. Thirteen-year-old Conrad Oberhaus of Lincolnshire, Ill., finished second. Sathwik led throughout the final round of ...
North Korean leader sends special envoy to China
After months of ignoring Chinese warnings to give up nuclear weapons, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a high-level confidant to Beijing on Wednesday, in a possible effort to mend strained ties with his country's most important ally and a sign that he may be giving diplomacy a chance. ...
Others who took the 5th: McGwire, Abramoff, North
Lois Lerner of the IRS joins a diverse roll call of people who have invoked Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions at congressional hearings over the years. A few of the well-known names: ___ —Former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire, sometimes choking back tears, wouldn't ...
Russian drunk driver who killed orphans sentenced
A Russian drunken driver who sparked a nationwide debate after killing seven, including five orphan children, in a road accident last year has been sentenced to prison. Moscow's Nikulinsky court ordered Alexander Maximov to serve eight and a half years Wednesday. Maximov scandalized Russia last fall when he crashed his ...
FBI: Man fatally shot in Boston bombing probe
A Chechen immigrant was shot to death by authorities at his home early Wednesday while being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombing case, officials said. Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was gunned down after turning violent during a meeting with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state ...
Maine man appears in court in missing teen's death
A 15-year-old girl found dead in woods north of Bangor knew the man charged with killing her, her best friend said, contrary to early reports that before her disappearance she'd headed outside her Glenburn home to see someone she recently met on Facebook. Kyle Dube, 20, of Orono, had been ...
Canet seeks gritty New York in 'Blood Ties'
The problem with New York these days is there's just not enough litter. At least, that's French director Guillaume Canet's experience. He had to supply his own garbage to recreate the grubby streets of 1970s Brooklyn for his debut English-language feature "Blood Ties." "Every day," the director laughed during an ...
GOP questions IRS scrutiny of anti-abortion groups
When a small anti-abortion group in Iowa sought nonprofit status, the Internal Revenue Service asked its board to promise not to organize protests outside Planned Parenthood and demanded to know how its prayer meetings and protest signs were educational. Although the Coalition for Life of Iowa's application was ultimately approved ...
Cannes: James Franco builds a bookish filmography
James Franco's filmography is starting to look like a book shelf — and a very respectable one, at that. The 35-year-old American has already played poets Allen Ginsberg ("Howl") and Hart Crane ("The Broken Tower"). He recently finished directing an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "Child of God" (having first flirted ...
Chinese premier visits Pakistan, praises ties
China's premier signed economic agreements and praised Pakistan in glowing terms as he began a two-day visit Wednesday, underscoring the importance of the longstanding alliance to the two Asian powers. Premier Li Keqiang said "the tree of China-Pakistan friendship" was planted decades ago, nurtured by successive leaders and "is now ...
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