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• Supreme Court to decide if states can ban gay marriage
• Judge denies bail to man accused of plotting U.S. Capitol attack
• Why it's taken so long to bring Colorado theater shooter James Holmes to trial
• Boko Haram’s use of girl suicide bombers intensifies amid terror campaign
• San Francisco train stations closed by anti-police protests
• Washington subway hit again by electric malfunction, smoke
• U.S. woman accused of killing mother in Bali seeks funds from her estate
• Obamacare's lead agency chief announces resignation
• Saudi Arabia postpones lashing blogger 1,000 times
• Arizona students face new graduation requirement
• Pakistanis protest Charlie Hebdo
• Indian woman allegedly raped by Uber driver plans to sue in U.S.
• Two dead inside Florida home after robbery suspect cornered
• GOP’s biggest tech challenge for 2016 is closing small-donor gap
• Republican activists widely say Romney should sit out White House run
• Belgian terror raid puts Europe on high alert
• Pentagon to deploy 400 troops to train Syrian rebels
• Oklahoma carries out its first execution since botched one
• Occupy protesters arrested in Oakland to share $1.4 million settlement
• Oklahoma and Florida execute convicted murderers
• Florida man executed for 1993 murder of banker: official
• Obama measures on Cuba trade, travel poke new holes in embargo
• Immigrants can now get Mexican birth certificates in U.S.

Supreme Court to decide if states can ban gay marriage Posted: 16 Jan 2015 01:12 PM PST By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether states can ban gay marriage, delving into a contentious social issue in what will be one of the most anticipated rulings of the year. There has already been a legal sea change on the issue, thanks in large part to the Supreme Court's prompting. Judges around the country later seized on the language in the decision, written by swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy, to strike down a series of state bans. At the time of the 2013 ruling, only 12 states had authorized gay marriage.

Judge denies bail to man accused of plotting U.S. Capitol attack Posted: 16 Jan 2015 12:25 PM PST By Ginny McCabe CINCINNATI (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ruled on Friday that an Ohio man charged with plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs be held without bail after prosecutors said he posed a threat to national security. Christopher Cornell, 20, of Cincinnati, was arrested on Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman granted their request to deny bail in a hearing that lasted less than 15 minutes.

Why it's taken so long to bring Colorado theater shooter James Holmes to trial Posted: 16 Jan 2015 11:53 AM PST When the first potential juror in Case No. 12CR1522 arrives at the Arapahoe County courthouse on Tuesday, two years, six months and a day will have passed since the defendant terrorized a packed Denver-area movie theater with guns and tear gas.

Boko Haram’s use of girl suicide bombers intensifies amid terror campaign Posted: 16 Jan 2015 11:19 AM PST Experts discuss Boko Haram's new tactic of forcing young women and girls to walk into crowded market places wearing explosive devices, as campaign of terror escalates.

San Francisco train stations closed by anti-police protests Posted: 16 Jan 2015 11:02 AM PST By Robert Galbraith and Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO _ (Reuters) - Activists protesting police shootings of young black men staged demonstrations at three San Francisco rail stations on Friday, forcing officials to divert trains and sending morning commuters miles out of their way. No injuries were reported, and two people were arrested on misdemeanor charges of interfering with the operation of a rail system, Bay Area Rapid Transit police spokesman Jim Allison said. The protests, dubbed "BART Friday: No Business as Usual," targeted a commuter rail system that serves more than 400,000 riders a day in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and surrounding suburbs.

Washington subway hit again by electric malfunction, smoke Posted: 16 Jan 2015 10:14 AM PST An electrical malfunction on Friday caused smoke and delays on Washington's subway, four days after another, much more serious incident in which a passenger died, a subway spokeswoman said. An arcing insulator caused light smoke in the Ballston subway station in Arlington, Virginia, said Caroline Laurin, a spokeswoman for the Washington Metropoitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). On Monday, an arcing insulator filled a tunnel near Washington's L'Enfant Plaza station with smoke. The National Transportation Safety Board and the WMATA said it may take a year to complete an investigation of Monday's accident.

U.S. woman accused of killing mother in Bali seeks funds from her estate Posted: 16 Jan 2015 09:25 AM PST A U.S. woman who is being tried in Indonesia for the murder of her mother on the resort island of Bali has filed a lawsuit seeking money from a trust in her alleged victim's name to pay legal bills, court records showed. The woman, Heather Mack, and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, could face the death penalty if found guilty of murdering Sheila von Wiese-Mack, whose battered body was found in a bloody suitcase outside a luxury hotel in August. Mack filed a suit in Chicago on Thursday seeking to transfer $150,000 out of her mother's $1.6 million trust fund to pay her legal expenses, according to her attorney, Anthony Scifo. Mack is the sole beneficiary of the trust, administered by William Wiese, the dead woman's brother, Scifo said.

Obamacare's lead agency chief announces resignation Posted: 16 Jan 2015 08:49 AM PST By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration official who oversaw the botched rollout of the Obamacare website, Healthcare.gov, announced on Friday she will resign as head of the agency that also manages the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs. "It is with sadness and mixed emotions that I write to tell you that February will be my last month," Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said in an email to staff that was seen by Reuters. A former nurse and hospital executive, Tavenner, 63, joined CMS in February 2010, a month before President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. An administration official said Tavenner was leaving "at the right time" after her agency had hired capable new officials in leadership positions.

Saudi Arabia postpones lashing blogger 1,000 times Posted: 16 Jan 2015 08:16 AM PST Saudi Arabia postponed Friday the next round of flogging for a blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam because his wounds from last week's beating have not yet healed, his wife said. The public flogging of Raef Badawi, who is also serving a 10-year jail sentence, has sparked an international outcry and a campaign by Amnesty International and other rights groups to free him. Badawi received the first 50 lashes of his sentence outside a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on January 9. He is expected to undergo a total of 20 flogging sessions until his punishment is complete, but his wife Ensaf Haidar said the second round of lashes had been postponed on Friday.

Arizona students face new graduation requirement Posted: 16 Jan 2015 06:55 AM PST Students in the Copper State must take a test that's the first of its kind in the nation.

Pakistanis protest Charlie Hebdo Posted: 16 Jan 2015 04:41 AM PST Anti-Charlie Hebdo protesters face police outside the French consulate in Karachi.

Indian woman allegedly raped by Uber driver plans to sue in U.S. Posted: 16 Jan 2015 04:26 AM PST A woman who was allegedly raped by an Uber taxi driver in India's capital has hired a prominent lawyer to sue the online-hailing taxi service in U.S. courts. The financial executive, who cannot be named under an Indian law that grants rape victims anonymity, has hired Douglas Wigdor, a New York-based employment lawyer."We have been in talks over the last few weeks, which led to me being retained," Wigdor said in an email, declining to comment on the basis or timing of any case. Among recent work, Wigdor represented the hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault. The Delhi government blacklisted Uber from operating in the capital last month after the alleged attack on the passenger as she returned home from seeing friends.The case triggered protests and reignited a debate about the safety of women in Asia's third-largest economy, especially in New Delhi, which has been dubbed India's rape capital.

Two dead inside Florida home after robbery suspect cornered Posted: 16 Jan 2015 03:38 AM PST (Reuters) - Police found two bodies in a house in central Florida on Thursday after they had cornered a robbery suspect there then stopped him in a blaze of gunfire as he tried to drive a car through their cordon. Officers had surrounded the house in Haines City after a resident reported suspicious activity at her neighbor's home. Police dogs also tackled him.

GOP’s biggest tech challenge for 2016 is closing small-donor gap Posted: 16 Jan 2015 02:47 AM PST In the world of money and politics, Democrats talk a lot about wealthy Republican donors, but the reality is that in recent years they've had a cash advantage over Republicans that the GOP has not been able to match.

Republican activists widely say Romney should sit out White House run Posted: 16 Jan 2015 01:43 AM PST By Tim Reid SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Mitt Romney's declaration that he is considering a third shot at the White House after being a two-time Republican presidential loser was widely greeted with disdain at a national gathering of Republican activists on Thursday. Romney, the Republican U.S. presidential nominee in 2012, told a meeting of donors in New York last week that he is considering another White House run in 2016. Romney lost to incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama in 2012, and lost the Republican presidential nominating race in 2008 to Senator John McCain. If Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, does enter the 2016 presidential race, opposition to a possible third White House attempt is already widespread and deeply felt, according to interviews with a gathering of grassroots Republican party members where Romney is scheduled to speak on Friday night.

Belgian terror raid puts Europe on high alert Posted: 16 Jan 2015 01:26 AM PST German and French police make fresh arrests a week after the attacks in Paris.

Pentagon to deploy 400 troops to train Syrian rebels Posted: 15 Jan 2015 11:16 PM PST The U.S. military is planning to deploy more than 400 troops to help train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State, along with hundreds of U.S. support personnel, a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. The U.S. military has not yet identified where it will draw its forces from for the training mission, expected to begin in the spring at sites outside Syria, Colonel Steve Warren said. The training program is a part of President Barack Obama's multi-year plan to field local forces in Syria to halt and eventually roll back Islamic State fighters, while pounding them with U.S.-led airstrikes.

Oklahoma carries out its first execution since botched one Posted: 15 Jan 2015 09:44 PM PST Another inmate is executed in Florida using the same three-drug method.

Occupy protesters arrested in Oakland to share $1.4 million settlement Posted: 15 Jan 2015 08:55 PM PST Hundreds of protesters arrested during a 2012 Occupy movement demonstration in Oakland, California, have won a nearly $1.4 million settlement of a lawsuit that accused authorities of violating their civil rights, an attorney said on Thursday. The federal lawsuit against Oakland and the county of Alameda said the mass arrests on Jan. 28, 2012, violated the protesters' constitutional rights to free speech, due process, and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Attorneys for the protesters contended they were taking part in an Occupy Oakland protest against economic inequality and had gathered peacefully outside a Young Men's Christian Association center in Oakland when, without cause, police took more than 350 people into custody.

Oklahoma and Florida execute convicted murderers Posted: 15 Jan 2015 07:03 PM PST Oklahoma put to death convicted murderer and rapist Charles Warner on Thursday, its first execution since a faulty lethal injection last April sparked widespread criticism and led the state to draw up new protocols for its death chamber. At nearly the same time, Florida executed Johnny Kormondy, 42, for the fatal 1993 shooting of Pensacola banker Gary McAdams and the rape of his wife, according to the state Department of Corrections. Both executions had been delayed as the U.S. Supreme Court considered appeals concerning secrecy surrounding the source of the lethal injection cocktail and what is in the mix.

Florida man executed for 1993 murder of banker: official Posted: 15 Jan 2015 06:13 PM PST TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida executed Johnny Kormondy, 42, on Thursday for the 1993 fatal shooting of Pensacola banker Gary McAdams and the rape of his wife, according to the state Department of Corrections. Kormondy had spent almost half of his life on death row for the killing, which took place when the couple came home from a high school reunion. His execution was the 21st carried out under Governor Rick Scott, tying the mark set by former Governor Jeb Bush. Bush served eight years, while Scott is just starting his second four-year term in office. ...

Obama measures on Cuba trade, travel poke new holes in embargo Posted: 15 Jan 2015 04:39 PM PST By Anna Yukhananov, Matt Spetalnick and Krista Hughes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States announced sweeping new rules on Thursday that will significantly ease sanctions on Cuba, opening up the communist-ruled island to expanded U.S. travel, trade and financial activities. Defying hardline critics in Congress, President Barack Obama made good on his commitment last month to loosen restrictions on dealings with Cuba as part of an historic effort to end decades of hostility. The U.S. embargo on Cuba, in place for 54 years, will remain. Only Congress can lift it.

Immigrants can now get Mexican birth certificates in U.S. Posted: 15 Jan 2015 03:32 PM PST SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — For Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally and hoping to stay in the country under President Barack Obama's new immigration policy, things just got one step simpler.

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