The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a request by the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores to temporarily block a provision in the Affordable Care Act making employers responsible for covering the insurance costs of their...

China’s economic boom has seen its coral reefs shrink by at least 80 percent over the past 30 years, according to a joint Australian study, with researchers describing “grim” levels of damage and loss. Scientists from the...

Some 1,500 farmers living on the slopes of the San Cristobal volcano refused to leave, despite being ordered to evacuate as the volcano spewed gas, sand and ash. “People have not evacuated because we do not want to go and leave the area...

A gun advocacy group in Ohio has offered free firearms training to teachers as a response to the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting earlier this month. According to The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the Buckeye Firearms Association said it would pay...

Salon editor-at-large Joan Walsh said on Wednesday she had no preference in the fight between the leaders of the conservative group FreedomWorks — she wished ill on all of them. “A pox on all their houses,” Walsh told MSNBC...

A massive whale, some 60 feet (18 meters) long, beached itself on Wednesday morning in New York City, where, despite rescue efforts, it seemed to have little chance of survival. Experts said the ailing whale was a finback, the second biggest...

The United Nations on Wednesday ordered more than 200 non-essential staff and families of other workers to leave Central African Republic because of a rebel offensive against the government. Rebel coalition troops have stopped short of the...

Hawaii’s Lt. Gov., Brian Schatz (D), was appointed on Wednesday to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), CBS News reported. Schatz will reportedly be sworn into office on Thursday, ensuring that his...

Toyota has agreed to pay about $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit launched by US vehicle owners affected by a series of mass recalls, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday. The deal will cover the cost of installing a free brake...

A sharp parody of the trailer for the movie adaptation of Les Miserables refocuses Fantine’s plaintive song “I Dreamed A Dream” on the plight of Boston University students seeking employment. “The majority of college...

Pakistan Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, with her son expected to launch his political career with a speech in the family’s ancestral home town. Bhutto, twice elected prime...

In a country on the doorstep of western Europe and popular for sunshine holidays, an unusually bitter winter has hit isolated mountain villages, causing hardship not usually associated with Morocco. On an icy morning in December, Salem Said...

Former US president George H.W. Bush has taken a turn for the a worse and is in intensive care after a “stubborn fever” delayed his recovery from bronchitis, a spokesman said Wednesday. “He’s had a series of setbacks now...

Oil prices jumped Wednesday as President Barack Obama headed back to Washington for a last-ditch attempt to secure a “fiscal cliff” deal with Republicans ahead of a year-end deadline. New York’s main contract, West Texas...

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s sister evidently tripped on the social network’s privacy settings, landing in the midst of a debate on Wednesday about “online etiquette.” Randi Zuckerberg, who launched a Silicon...