U.S. Shutdown mocked by the Taliban
Taliban militants in Afghanistan issued a statement on Wednesday mocking the U.S. shutdown and accusing American politicians of “sucking the blood of their own people.”The statement from the Islamist militants described how U.S. institutions have been “paralyzed” by the shutdown. American icons like the Statue of Liberty are...Default on U.S. debt could have disastrous effects on recovering economy
As the U.S. government is about to hit its so-called debt ceiling of $16.7 trillion on Oct. 17, the frightening prospect of the world’s biggest economy running out of cash is dominating headlines around the globe.What exactly is the “debt ceiling?”The U.S. debt ceiling has existed for almost a century, and describes the maximum...Indiana government, school districts sue over IRS healthcare rule
INDIANA — The state of Indiana and 15 of its public school districts sued the U.S. government this week, challenging its use of federal tax subsidies and penalties to implement President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law.The lawsuit claims that a rule, issued in 2012 by the Internal Revenue Service which allows the federal government...Hundreds sickened in U.S. from salmonella outbreak linked to raw chicken
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of people in 18 states have become sick from a salmonella outbreak, linked to raw chicken products made at three California plants, owned by Foster Farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture."The outbreak is continuing," USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a statement.An estimated 278...9-year old boy accused of stealing car, sneaking on airplane and traveling to Vegas
MINNEAPOLIS — A 9-year-old boy garnered national attention this week after sneaking passed security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and catching a flight to Las Vegas without a ticket.The boy rode to the airport Wednesday, October 2, on the light rail system that runs from downtown, took a bag from a luggage carousel and...Off-duty officer arrested for involvement in New York motorcycle gang beating
NEW YORK — Detective Wojciech Braszczok, 32, was arrested more than a week after bikers pursued an SUV, driven by a man traveling with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. Riders smashed the vehicle's windows, hauled the driver out and beat him in front of his family. Video of the September 29 confrontation was uploaded to YouTube...Government shutdown: How much will it harm the economy?
A government shutdown won't have much of an economic impact if it lasts just a few days, but a prolonged shutdown could become a drag on overall consumer and business confidence. The effects of a debt-limit impasse could be severe for the U.S. and the world, raising fears of a possible default by the U.S. Treasury.Just the act of...U.S. Capitol shooting: Woman killed after ramming White House barricades
Gunshots rang out near the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Thursday afternoon, with police opening fire on a female suspect who rammed a security barrier and a patrol car in the midst of a pursuit.Witnesses said they could hear shots from inside the Capitol around 2 p.m. The female suspect, driving a black sedan with a child in...Obama blames Republican ‘obsession’ with Obamacare for shutdown
President Barack Obama ridiculed House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Thursday, Oct. 3, for refusing to allow a vote on a funding bill that would end a three-day government shutdown, saying the top Republican in Washington is in the grip of conservative "extremists."Obama's speech at a construction company in the Washington...Chicago trains collide, dozens injured
CHICAGO — A Chicago Transit Authority train collided with a standing train at a station in a western suburb of Chicago, during the morning rush hour on Monday, Sept. 29, leaving at least 33 people injured.The collision happened at about 7:45 a.m. local time at the ground-level Harlem Station in Forest Park, west of Chicago. Those who...New York police search for two men who parachuted onto ground zero
NEW YORK — Police in New York are searching for two men who appear to have parachuted onto a lower Manhattan street near Ground Zero before dawn on Monday and disappeared. Two men wearing black suits and black helmets were spotted by a security camera alighting onto a street near Goldman Sachs Group Inc's lower Manhattan headquarters...Man arrested in Florida airport bomb hoax
JACKSONVILLE — A trucking company worker was arrested on charges of making a false bomb threat that prompted a five-hour evacuation at Jacksonville International Airport in Florida this week.Zeljko Causevic, 39, of Jacksonville, walked up to a Transportation Security Administration agent on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30, and pointed...Missouri couple charged with decades-old murders of spouses
MISSOURI — A married Missouri couple who were both arrested last week have each been charged for the killing of their former spouses in separate incidents more than three decades ago. Gerald Uden, 71, was charged in Fremont County, Wyoming, with killing his wife and her two sons from a prior marriage in 1980. Alice Uden, 74, was...San Francisco passes law to prohibit immigrant holds
San Francisco officials this week moved to curb their partnership with U.S. immigration authorities, by ending a practice that facilitates deportations by extending the detention of illegal immigrants arrested for crimes. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors action, which would exclude certain violent offenders, represents the latest...Florida woman tricked into taking abortion drug, sues pharmacy
ORLANDO — Remee Jo Fleed is suing a Tampa-area pharmacy, after she claims her antibiotics were switched with abortion pills by her ex boyfriend, who obtained the drug, prescription bottle and fake label from the pharmacy.Days before taking the pills, her ex boyfriend's father, an obstetrician, had confirmed her pregnancy. Several days......
Documents: NSA spied on Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali
The National Security Agency monitored overseas communication of U.S. critics of the Vietnam War including Martin Luther King, newly released documents show.Documents — including one that asserted the United States "appeared to be going up in flames" — show the NSA intercepted telephone calls, telexes and cable traffic involving...National bank ordered to pay $2.2 mil to African American job seekers
NEW YORK - Bank of America Corp was ordered to pay $2.18 million to 1,147 black job applicants over racial discrimination in hiring that kept qualified candidates from getting jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor said this week.The decision by Linda Chapman, an administrative law judge at the Labor Department, awards back pay and...Homeless man rewarded for turning in bag containing $42,000
BOSTON — More than $68,000 in donations have poured in from people around the country for a Boston homeless man who turned over to police a backpack stuffed with cash that he had found outside a shopping mall. The man, Glen James, landed in the spotlight earlier this month when Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis lauded him for...Fake online reviewers exposed by NY Attorney General
NEW YORK — Nineteen companies caught writing fake reviews on websites such as Yelp, Google Local and CitySearch have been snared in a year-long sting operation by the New York Attorney General, and will pay $350,000 in penalties.The Attorney General's office set up a fake yogurt shop in Brooklyn, New York, and sought help from firms......
California law allows kids to erase digital indiscretions
SAN FRANCISCO — California teenagers, who post photographs of themselves wearing too little clothing or having had too much to drink, will have the legal right to erase their online indiscretions under newly enacted first-in-the-nation legislation.The so-called 'eraser bill,' which Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed into law this...Columbia University instructor beaten in possible hate crime
NEW YORK — A Columbia University professor, who wears a beard and turban in keeping with his Sikh religion, was savagely beaten by teen attackers who shouted anti-Muslim taunts in what police described as a possible hate crime. Singh was strolling near his home in nearby Harlem around 7 p.m. on Saturday when 15 to 20 teenagers on......
American journalist and family detained and harassed at U.S.-Canada border
September 27th, 20130 Ignore the sign at the United States’ border crossing near Buffalo, New York claiming those coming in from Canada will be treated with courtesy, dignity and respect. An American journalist says that’s far from what happened recently when returning home.A producer with National Public Radio’s “On the Media” program says the U.S....Wild pigs take over Atlanta neighborhood
ATLANTA — Wild pigs have descended on a suburban Atlanta neighborhood, where they are routinely seen rummaging through garbage, trotting around in backyards, and sleeping on front lawns. Descendents of wild boar, the feral pigs seem to have become pests in rural Georgia in recent years, earning a reputation for damaging farmer's......