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Federal site crashes as healthcare enrollment deadline looms - Boston.com Posted: 31 Mar 2014 08:19 AM PDT Midnight tonight marks the end of Obamacare's first open enrollment period, but those looking to sign up on deadline day may experience a slower than normal process, if they're able to sign up at all. The federal government's healthcare website, Healthcare.gov, went down for a few hours Monday morning, and delays continued after it came back up. A message appearing to users in the early hours initially indicated that it was out of service for maintenance issues, but a later message indicated the site was experiencing heavy traffic. Users were directed to a virtual waiting room where they would be told when they could begin the process. The site received about 2 million visitors a day over the weekend, an increase of about half million from the previous week, the AP reports. This is not the first time there have been problems with the site. The launch of the site in October 2013 was hampered with many technical issues, which may have contributed to the low initial enrollment rate. Six million people have already signed up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which is responsible for implementing the law, anticipates at least 7 million will be enrolled by the deadline. Although March 31 is the last official day to sign up, millions of Americans may be eligible for extensions. The federal government will accept paper applications until April 7 for those who couldn't finish enrollment because of technical glitches, natural disasters, domestic abuse, or other reasons depending on their circumstance or state rules. 10 simple things to explain the Affordable Care Act. © Copyright 2014 Globe Newspaper Company.

MH370: Hopes dashed as orange objects turn out to be fishing equipment - CNN Posted: 31 Mar 2014 09:05 AM PDT STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Malaysian officials: Final tranmission was "Good night Malaysian three seven zero" Officials had earlier said the transmission was, "All right, good night" United States sending pinger locator to sea, but it's of no use until search area is narrowed Australian Prime Minister vows to keep looking, says effort is just ramping up Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- Potential leads on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 keep coming. So do the setbacks and frustrations. Monday's search ended without finding anything significant, Australian officials said. Four orange objects spotted by search aircraft and earlier described as promising turned out be nothing more than old fishing gear, they said. Underscoring the difficulty of the search, U.S. Navy officials loaded underwater locating gear aboard an Australian naval support vessel and set out to sea Monday evening, but won't be able to make use of the equipment until searchers narrow the search zone. U.S. Navy Cmdr. William Marks told CNN's "State of the Union" that his team needs a conclusive piece of debris to narrow down the search area before deploying the equipment. "We have to be careful not to send it in the wrong place," he said. "But we also wanted to get it out there as close as we can to what we believe is the right place." The gear includes a pinger locator that's towed behind a ship and scans for the sound of the locator beacon attached to the plane's flight data recorder. Also on board is a remotely operated submersible that can look for wreckage on the ocean floor. It will take the ship, the Ocean Shield, three days just to get to the search zone, leaving precious little time to locate the plane's flight data recorders before the batteries on its locator beacon run out. The batteries are designed to last 30 days; the plane has been missing 23 days. Under favorable sea conditions, the pingers can be heard 2 nautical miles away. But high seas, background noise, wreckage or silt can all make pingers harder to detect. In this case, searchers barely know where to look at all. "We are searching a vast area of ocean, and we are working on quite limited information," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters Monday. "Nevertheless, the best brains in the world are applying themselves to this task. ... If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it." And he vowed to keep looking. "The intensity of our search and the magnitude of our operations is increasing, not decreasing," he said. Ten aircraft and 11 ships scouted more than 98,000 square miles (254,000 square kilometers) of Indian Ocean on Monday looking for the missing plane, Malaysia's acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Monday. Flight 370 vanished March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A new Australian Joint Agency Coordination Center is being formed to synchronize search efforts among Australian agencies and other countries taking part in the search, Hishammuddin said. And Malaysia will ask the United States about the possibility of deploying more military assets, he said. New details on handoff On Monday, Malaysia's Transport Ministry said the final voice transmission from the cockpit of Flight 370 was "Good night Malaysian three seven zero." That's a departure from earlier language in which Malaysian authorities said the final transmission was "All right, goodnight." The new language is routine and is not a sign of anything untoward occurring aboard the flight, said CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo. But she said it does raise questions about how Malaysian officials have handled the investigation. "Well, it speaks to credibility issues, unfortunately," she said. Get up to speed Relatives' demands Family members of people on board Flight 370 have accused Malaysian officials of giving them confusing, conflicting information since the plane vanished more than three weeks ago. On Monday, dozens of Chinese family members visited a Kuala Lumpur temple. They chanted, lit candles and meditated. "Chinese are kindhearted people," said Jiang Hui, the families' designated representative. "But we can clearly distinguish between the good and evil. We will never forgive for covering the truth from us and the criminal who delayed the rescue mission." Jiang asked Malaysia to apologize for announcing March 24 that the plane had crashed, despite the lack of any "direct evidence." At the daily press briefing, Hishammuddin responded, saying Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had not used the word "crash" or mentioned a lack of survivors in his announcement that the plane's flight had "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean. And, he said, Malaysian authorities were not hiding anything by declining to release some details of the missing flight. Some details are part of ongoing investigations into what happened to the plane, he said. "We are not hiding anything. We are just following the procedure that is being set." he said. He described a meeting Saturday between Malaysian authorities and Flight 370 relatives as "the most difficult meeting I've ever attended." "The families are heartbroken. For many, the strain of the past few weeks has been unbearable," he said. He said Malaysia will hold a high-level briefing for families where experts will explain some of the data and methodology used to guide the search. He also said authorities have discussed with the families what happens if they are unable to find debris from the missing plane. But he declined to discuss it with reporters Monday, saying "to be fair to the families, that is something I would not want to share with the public at the moment." Beijing has also publicly slammed Malaysia's efforts to find the Boeing 777. Of the 239 people aboard the jetliner, 154 were Chinese. But Malaysia says it's done its best with what it has. "History will judge us as a country that has been very responsible," Hishammuddin said. Flight attendant's husband has no answers for children CNN's Dana Ford, Mitra Mobasherat, Kyung Lah, Yuli Yang and Paula Hancocks contributed to this report. KJ Kwon reported from Kuala Lumpur; and Faith Karimi wrote from Atlanta. 0 Comments » SHARE THIS Print Email More sharing

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Malaysia flight MH370: Chinese families vent anger - BBC News Posted: 30 Mar 2014 08:44 AM PDT 30 March 2014 Last updated at 16:09 The BBC's Jennifer Pak: "Family members have come here for answers" Relatives of Chinese passengers from the missing Malaysian plane have vented their anger at government officials, after arriving in Kuala Lumpur. Chanting "Tell us the truth", they said they wanted the Malaysian prime minister to apologise for what they regard as misleading statements. Eight ships and nine planes searched around 252,000 sq km (97,000 sq miles) of ocean for debris on Sunday. The Beijing-bound plane disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board. International investigators have concluded that, based on satellite data, the missing Boeing 777 crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. The search zone shifted on Friday after further analysis. But while aircraft continue to spot debris in the water, nothing recovered by ships has so far been verified as being from the plane. Some relatives of the 153 Chinese passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have refused to accept the Malaysian account of events and blame the authorities. On Sunday, several dozen family members travelled from Beijing. After landing in Kuala Lumpur they held a news conference at a hotel holding up banners that read "We want evidence, truth, dignity" in Chinese, and "Hand us the murderer. Give us our relatives," in English. Their designated representative, Jiang Hui, said they wanted the Malaysian government to apologise for the initial handling of the disaster, as well as for Prime Minister Najib Razak's earlier statement that indicated the plane had crashed with no survivors. He said the conclusion had been announced "without direct evidence or a sense of responsibility". He said the group wanted to meet airline and government officials face to face - although he stopped short of saying that these included Mr Najib, as some relatives had earlier suggested. None of the objects retrieved by Haixun 01 or HMAS Success is thought to be from the missing plane Before the relatives travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the search for survivors would continue. "The hardest part of my job is to see the families," he said. "I've always said we are hoping against hope that we will find survivors." On Sunday, Malaysian officials cancelled their daily update on the search for a second day. The objects recovered by Australian naval ship HMAS Success and China's Haixun 01 on Saturday had been examined and were thought to be fishing equipment and other flotsam, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement. The BBC's Jon Donnison explains how a "towed pinger locator" is used An Australian vessel carrying a US device known as a "towed pinger locator" is due to join the search in the coming days. The device is designed to detect any ultrasonic signals - "pings" - from flight recorders and can operate up to a depth of about 6,000m. But the search area is huge - covering some 319,000 sq km (123,000 sq miles) - and time is running short. The flight recorders' batteries are expected to run out in about a week's time. The current search area is about 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous zone. Officials said the focus changed after radar data showed the plane had been travelling faster than previously thought, thus burning more fuel and reducing the distance the aircraft could have travelled. Various theories about what went wrong have been suggested - including the captain hijacking his own plane. The speculation was fuelled by reports that files had been deleted on the pilot's home flight simulator. However on Saturday Malaysia's transport minister said investigators had found "nothing sinister" from the simulator. Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. The airliner diverted off course and lost contact with air traffic controllers between Malaysian and Vietnamese air-traffic control areas. Are you in the region? Email us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk adding 'Malaysia Airlines' in the subject heading and include your contact details. Or send your thoughts using the form below.

Ukraine crisis: US and Russia set for Paris talks - BBC News Posted: 30 Mar 2014 08:46 AM PDT 30 March 2014 Last updated at 16:54 Mr Kerry abruptly diverted his flight on Saturday to attend the talks in Paris Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has set out demands for a neutral and federal Ukraine, ahead of crisis talks with his US counterpart in Paris. Sunday evening's meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry was hastily arranged after President Vladimir Putin phoned Barack Obama on Friday. Russia has annexed Crimea and there are reports of thousands of Russian troops massed close to Ukraine's borders. Ukraine denounced Mr Lavrov's remarks as a demand for "full capitulation". Mr Lavrov has categorically denied any plans for an invasion. But he has stressed Moscow will protect the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers, after pro-EU protests in Kiev led to the ousting of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych. He had faced months of protests after pulling out of an association deal with Brussels. Hours before the Paris talks were due to take place at the Russian ambassador's residence, Mr Lavrov told Russian state TV that Ukraine should come up with a new constitution "providing for a federal structure" and neutrality. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: "We have absolutely no intention of, or interest in, crossing Ukraine's borders" The Russian foreign minister said Moscow, the US and European Union should act as a support group for Kiev to begin a nationwide dialogue that did not involve the "armed radicals". Moscow claims that fascists have taken power in Ukraine, jeopardising the safety of Russian speakers. In an interview on Saturday, he said Russia had been deceived after being promised "there would be no movement of Nato military infrastructure closer to our borders". The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it deeply regretted Mr Lavrov's "patronising" remarks. "At the point of its automatic rifles, this aggressor demands only one thing - Ukraine's full capitulation, its split and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood," said a statement carried by Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Nato's outgoing Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned on Sunday that Russia's government was "[flouting] the principle that every state is sovereign and free to choose its own fate". Mr Putin is also thought to be demanding that Washington accepts Crimea's independence from Ukraine. Separately, Moscow is keen to tackle the issue of Trans-Dniester, a pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova on the south-western border of Ukraine. It accuses Ukraine and Moldova of "blockading" the area while the EU and the US stay silent. US officials are divided over whether Mr Putin is seeking to ease tensions or is still planning further military action, BBC Paris correspondent Christian Fraser reports. The Pentagon believes Moscow has massed tens of thousands of troops close to Ukraine's eastern border. Food, medicines and a field hospital are said to be among the supplies moved into position, officials say, which would not be necessary for any spring military exercise. Russia has said it has no intention or interest in invading predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC: "Everybody is concerned. We are concerned that there might be a further incursion in the territory of a sovereign nation." The diplomatic push was initiated by President Putin, who spoke to President Obama for an hour late on Friday. The next day, the US secretary of state abruptly diverted his flight from Saudi Arabia to Paris for Sunday's meeting. "We are getting closer in our positions," Mr Lavrov said on Saturday. The White House, in its statement after Mr Putin's phone-call, said President Obama made clear that a de-escalation of the crisis could only take place "if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty". People in the Crimean capital Simferopol have been celebrating the change of the clocks to synchronise with the time in Moscow As the rest of Europe put clocks forward by one hour on Sunday, Crimea aligned its time with Moscow, jumping two hours ahead. Hundreds of people waving flags greeted the time change in the capital, Simferopol. Voters in the mainly pro-Russian peninsula backed leaving Ukraine for Russia in a referendum a fortnight ago. But the vote has been condemned as illegal by Kiev and the UN General Assembly.

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Magnitude 5.1 earthquake strikes Los Angeles area, second this month, could ... - New York Daily News Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:02 AM PDT BLAINE OHIGASHI,/AP Merchandise is strewn across the floor in a La Habra Walgreens following a 5.1 earthquake centered near La Habra Friday night March 28, 2014. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Blaine, Ohigashi) REUTERS/Gene Blevins News cameraman Juan Guerra records a video of a fallen brick wall after a magnitude 5.1 earthquake in Fullerton, Calif., on Friday.  Jae C. Hong/AP Larry Van Osten (right) talks on the phone as he and other residents stand outside their condo complex during a power outage caused by an earthquake on Friday, Mar. 28, 2014, in Buena Park, Calif. USGS/EPA epa04145233 A shake map released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) on 29 March 2014 shows the location and intensity of a 5.1 Richter scale earthquake 2.4 km north-west of Brea in Orange County, California, USA. No immediate damage has been reported. About an hour earlier, a 3.6 quake hit the nearby city of La Habra, USGS reported on 29 March. EPA/USGS HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY Rod Veal/The Orange County Register via AP A car sits rolled over in the wake of Friday night's earthquake on Carbon Canyon Road in Brea, Calif., near Olinda Village. Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP Police and work crews close off the area as water bubbles up through the pavement along Gilbert St. in Fullerton, Calif., on Friday night following a magnitude 5.1 earthquake. Previous Next Enlarge More than 100 aftershocks have rattled Southern California since a 5.1 magnitude earthquake jolted the area Friday night. Scattered, minor damage and injuries were reported as the U.S. Geologoical Survey warned the seismic shift could foreshadow a bigger temblor. "There could be even a larger earthquake in the next few hours or the next few days," seismologist Lucy Jones said at a media briefing. Friday's event followed a ground-shaking event earlier this month. "Tonight's earthquake is the second in two weeks, and reminds us to be prepared," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. It struck at 9:09 p.m. and was centered near La Habra in Orange County — about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles — at a depth of about 5 miles. It was felt as far south as San Diego and as far north as Ventura County, according to citizen responses collected online by the USGS. Broken glass, gas leaks, water main breaks and a rockslide were reported near the epicenter, according to authorities. Eyewitness photos and videos show bottles and packages strewn on store floors. Southern California Edison reported power outages to about 2,000 customers. Public safety officials said crews were inspecting bridges, dams, rail tracks and other infrastructure systems for signs of damage. The Brea police department said a rock slide in Carbon Canyon area caused a car to overturn, and the people inside sustained minor injuries. Callers to KNX-AM reported seeing a brick wall collapse, water sloshing in a swimming pool and wires and trees swaying back and forth. One caller said he was in a movie theater lobby in Brea when the quake struck. "A lot of the glass in the place shook like crazy," he said. "It started like a roll and then it started shaking like crazy. Everybody ran outside, hugging each other in the streets." A helicopter news reporter from KNBC-TV reported from above that rides at Disneyland in Anaheim — several miles from the epicenter — were stopped as a precaution. Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully was on the air calling the Angels-Dodgers exhibition game in the sixth inning at Dodger Stadium. "A little tremor here in the ballpark. I'm not sure if the folks felt it, but we certainly felt it here in press box row," Scully said. "A tremor and only that, thank goodness." Tom Connolly, a Boeing employee who lives in La Mirada, the next town over from La Habra, said the magnitude-5.1 quake lasted about 30 seconds. "We felt a really good jolt. It was a long rumble and it just didn't feel like it would end," he told The Associated Press by phone. "Right in the beginning it shook really hard, so it was a little unnerving. People got quiet and started bracing themselves by holding on to each other. It was a little scary." Friday's quake hit a week after a pre-dawn magnitude-4.4 quake centered in the San Fernando Valley rattled a swath of Southern California. That jolt shook buildings and rattled nerves, but did not cause significant damage. Southern California has not experienced a devastating earthquake since the 1994's  6.7 magnitude quake in Northridge, which killed 57 people, severed freeways and caused $25 billion in damages. Preliminary data suggest Friday night's 5.1 magnitude earthquake occurred near the Puente Hills thrust fault, which stretches from the San Gabriel Valley to downtown Los Angeles and caused the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, seismologist Lucy Jones said. "It's a place where we've had a lot of earthquakes in the past," she said. The 5.9 Whittier Narrows quake killed eight people and caused $360 million in damage. ON A MOBILE DEVICE? Click here and here to see the videos.

Ukraine crisis: Russia vows no invasion - BBC News Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:06 AM PDT 29 March 2014 Last updated at 15:26 Russian troops are already in full control of Crimea Moscow has no intention of sending troops into Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. His comments came after the US and Russian presidents discussed a possible diplomatic solution to the crisis. The US-backed plan calls for Russia to halt to its military build-up on the border with Ukraine and withdraw its troops in Crimea to their bases. US Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to set up talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reports say Mr Kerry was flying home from the Middle East on Saturday when he abruptly changed travel plans. He instructed his plane to fly to Paris, where he is expected to meet Mr Lavrov early next week. Tensions over Ukraine rose following the overthrow of pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February, following months of street protests. Moscow later intervened in Crimea, a predominantly ethnic Russian region of Ukraine where its troops are stationed, saying the takeover in Kiev was a pro-fascist coup. Russia then annexed Crimea after the region held a referendum which backed joining the Russian Federation. Western countries condemned the vote as illegal and imposed sanctions on members of Mr Putin's inner circle. Meanwhile Ukraine's interim authorities have been pressing ahead with elections due in May. On Saturday boxer and opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko pulled out of the race for president. He announced he was supporting billionaire Petro Poroshenko saying: "The only chance of winning is to nominate one candidate from the democratic forces." Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has also said she will stand. 'Diplomatic means' In an interview with state TV channel Rossiya 1 on Saturday, Mr Lavrov said: "We have absolutely no intention of - or interest in - crossing Ukraine's borders." Sergei Lavrov: "We have no intention of crossing Ukraine's borders" He added that Russia was ready to protect "the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, using all available political, diplomatic and legal means". After the interview was broadcast, it emerged Mr Lavrov had spoken by phone to Mr Kerry, in a conversation that Russian officials said was initiated by the US. That call followed an hour-long phone discussion late on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama. Mr Putin had contacted President Obama, according to US officials. "President Obama underscored to President Putin that the United States continues to support a diplomatic path... with the aim of de-escalation of the crisis," the White House said in a statement. "President Obama made clear that this remains possible only if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty." President Putin welcomed military leaders to the Kremlin on Friday The US proposal, developed in consultation with Ukraine and other European countries, includes halting the military build-up near Ukraine's border, the deployment of international monitors in Crimea to protect the rights of Russian speakers, and the return of Russian troops there to their bases. The Kremlin said that the Russian president had drawn Mr Obama's attention to "the continued rampage of extremists" in Kiev and various regions of Ukraine. It said these individuals were "committing acts of intimidation towards peaceful residents, government authorities and law enforcement agencies... with impunity". Russia's reported troop movements near Ukraine's eastern border - described by Nato as a "huge military build-up" - has triggered fears that Mr Putin's interest in Ukraine is not limited to Crimea. The BBC's North America Editor, Mark Mardell, said Friday night's phone call could indicate tentative progress towards a diplomatic solution - just when fears were growing in the West that Russia could be about to stage an invasion of eastern Ukraine.

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US Recognizes Michigan Same-Sex Couple Marriages - ABC News Posted: 28 Mar 2014 08:47 AM PDT Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday extended federal recognition to the marriages of about 300 same-sex couples that took place in Michigan before a federal appeals court put those unions on hold. Holder's action will enable the government to extend eligibility for federal benefits to the Michigan couples who married Saturday, which means they can file federal taxes jointly, get Social Security benefits for spouses and request legal immigration status for partners, among other benefits. The attorney general said the families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their benefits while courts decide the issue of same-sex marriage in Michigan. Holder did the same thing in Utah, where more than 1,000 same-sex couples got married before the U.S. Supreme Court put those unions on hold in January after a federal judge overturned the conservative state's same-sex marriage ban in December. Holder's decision came a week after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit struck down the gay marriage ban and two days after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder called last weekend's marriages legal but said Michigan won't recognize them. Donna DeMarco and Lisa Ulrey were among the dozens of couples who married Saturday in Oakland County, northwest of Detroit. DeMarco's reaction to Friday's federal recognition: "Cool." "That's a major step," DeMarco said. "The federal government is making great strides with recognizing same-sex marriage. It's time for Michigan to get out of its prehistoric age and get with the times. When you have a state government that's full of hate and straddles political lines and doesn't recognize that people are people, it affects a lot of people." DeMarco said she and Ulrey have not yet applied for joint Social Security benefits. "I guess we can now," she said, adding that the couple will jointly file federal taxes next year. Oakland County was one of four that took the extraordinary step of granting licenses Saturday just hours before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ordered a temporary halt. The stay was extended indefinitely Tuesday. The federal appeals court acted on a request from Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who defended Michigan's same-sex marriage ban. Friedman's ruling came in a federal lawsuit filed in 2012 by April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, two Detroit-area nurses who are raising three children with special needs. DeBoer and Rowse have said they sued because they were barred from jointly adopting each other's children. Joint adoption is reserved for married heterosexual couples in Michigan. "I think it's spectacular that our federal government has chosen to acknowledge the validity of these marriages, and accord the respect and dignity these couples and their families deserve," said attorney Dana Nessel, who represented DeBoer and Rowse. Snyder, a Republican, acknowledged Wednesday that same-sex couples "had a legal marriage." But because of the court's stay, he added, the gay marriage ban has been restored. That closed the door, at least for now, to certain state benefits reserved solely for married couples. The American Civil Liberties Union has said more than 1,000 Michigan laws are tied to marriage. Bill Freeman, pastor of Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation church in western Michigan's Muskegon, responded to Friday's news with a loud "Yeah!" "I think it's great. I think it's wonderful. I think it's glorious," he said. "Even the governor of Michigan says the marriages are legal, but is not going to let them be enforceable in Michigan — and that's crazy. "These guys ought to be able to get their Social Security cards and have the same benefits just like any other heterosexually married couple." Freeman officiated dozen of weddings Saturday after marriage licenses were issued by the Muskegon County clerk's office. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., issue licenses for same-sex marriages. Since December, bans on gay marriage also have been overturned by courts in Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Virginia, but appeals have put those cases on hold.

Obama arrives for talks with Saudi king on US Middle East role - Jerusalem Post Posted: 28 Mar 2014 08:38 AM PDT RIYADH - US President Barack Obama arrived in Riyadh on Friday, aiming to persuade King Abdullah Saudi Arabian concerns that America is slowly disengaging from the Middle East are unfounded. Obama, on his first visit to the kingdom since 2009, was due to meet Abdullah and other senior princes of the ruling al-Saud family in the monarch's desert farm at Rawdat Khuraim northeast of the capital Riyadh. Obama descended to a red carpet, where he was welcomed by a group of Saudi princes. Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice followed Obama down the stairs and into the receiving line. While Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, supplies less petroleum to the United States than in the past, safeguarding its energy output remains important to Washington, as does its cooperation in combating al Qaeda. Saudi rulers are hoping for the United States to shift its position on support for Syrian rebels, whom Riyadh has backed in their battle to oust President Bashar al-Assad. They have previously fretted about Washington's reluctance to allow the supply of surface-to-air missiles, sometimes known as manpads, for fear they could end up in the hands of militants outside of Syria. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said coordination with the kingdom on Syria policy, particularly regarding providing assistance to the Syrian rebels, had improved. "That's part of the reason why I think our relationship with the Saudis is in a stronger place today than it was in the fall when we had some tactical differences about our Syria policy," he told reporters on Air Force One. But he added Washington still had concerns over the supply of manpads to rebels, and that one of the main topics Obama and Abdullah would discuss would be how to empower the moderate opposition to counter Assad and isolate extremist groups. Jerusalem Post Annual Conference. Buy it now, Special offer. Come meet Israel's top leaders

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Chris Christie advisers had a 'personal relationship' involved ahead of ... - New York Daily News Posted: 27 Mar 2014 09:25 AM PDT A romance between two top advisers to Gov. Chris Christie hit the breakdown lane in the weeks before Bridgegate. Fired deputy chief of staff Bridget Ann Kelly and ex-campaign manager Bill Stepien shared a "personal relationship" that ended about a month before the four-day George Washington Bridge traffic jams, according to a report released Thursday. Kelly, whose email launched the government-generated gridlock, became "personally involved" with Stepien at some point after April 2013, the report says. The mention of the spring fling, which had ended by early August 2013, was included in a 344-page report after a $1 million, taxpayer-funded "Bridgegate" probe — conducted by Christie's hired attorney. Unsurprisingly, lawyer Randy Mastro found Christie without blame in the scandal. "Our investigation found that Gov. Christie did not know of the lane realignment beforehand and had no involvement in the decision to realign the lanes," the report declares. Neither Kelly nor Stepien was interviewed during the Mastro probe. Both were cut loose by the governor in January when word of the punitive lane closings became public. If I were a cynical person, I would think that's a rather blatant attempt to deflect attention from more important matters. Stepien's attorney was perplexed by the inclusion of the relationship between two single adults in a report about the governor's role in the scandal. "If I were a cynical person, I would think that's a rather blatant attempt to deflect attention from more important matters," said Kevin Marino, attorney for Stepien. "Since I'm not, I'll say I can't imagine the relevance. At least we know that the impulse to exalt anything remotely salacious, however irrelevant, is paramount." Michael Critchley, attorney for Kelly, did not immediately return a call for comment. Marino said the two staffers shared "a brief dating relationship," and the report says Stepien broke it off. "By early August 2013, their personal relationship had cooled ... and they largely stopped speaking," the report said. The report implicates Kelly and former Port Authority executive David Wildstein, a Christie appointee, in the lane closings that targeted Fort Lee, N.J., Mayor Mark Sokolich. "As to whether anyone else may have knowingly participated in this plan ... our investigation has not found any evidence of anyone else's involvement," the report declares. esandoval@nydailynews.com

Obama meets Pope Francis at the Vatican - Irish Times Posted: 27 Mar 2014 09:30 AM PDT Was there a certain chill in the Vatican air? When Pope Francis and US president Barak Obama stood to pose for the cameras in the Vatican Library this morning, it was hard not to notice that one man, Mr Obama, was all smiles and grins whilst his interlocutor, Pope Francis, remained sombre, serious and impassive. Reading the Vatican tea leaves can be an overrated sport and it may well be that the very different body language from both men meant relatively little but it sure as hell did not look that way. Curiously, however, this had seemed to be a very successful visit. For a start, the two men had a 50-minute meeting in the Apostolic Library, an unusually long encounter which would suggest at the very least that they had plenty to say to one another. For a second, the day had begun on an auspicious note with an interview in Milan daily, Corriere Della Sera, in which the US president was full of praise for Francis, calling him a "great moral authority" whose words carry "enormous weight". He added: "The Holy Father has inspired me and people all over the world with his strong commitment to social justice and with his message of love and compassion, particularly for those among us who are poor and vulnerable. "He does not just preach the Gospel, he lives it. We have all been struck and moved by his humility and his acts of compassion." Mr Obama also suggested that, even if he did not agree with everything that Pope Francis said, he nonetheless had great respect for the pope's "courage" when it came to addressing "the great social and economic issues of our time". "I am convinced that his is a voice to which the whole world should listen. He challenges us. He calls on us to think of those people, especially those less well-off, whose lives are conditioned by the decisions we take." When he was greeted by the pope in the Apostolic Library in the papal palace, Mr Obama more than once said how glad he was to be there, thanking the pope for receiving him. "It's a great honour to be here, thank you for receiving me. I bring greetings from my family. The last time, I brought my family with me." All of that certainly sounds as if the two men are on the same page or at least close to it. Furthermore, they are likely to share the same concerns and worries about major international issues such as the civil war in Syria, the Russia-Ukraine crisis over Crimea and any number of conflagrations in African. The sweetness and light, however, may have ended when Pope Francis questioned the president about his healthcare policies, about US abortion services and also about the president's public approval for same-sex marriage. You would also have to concede that the two men are certainly not on the same page when it comes to their transport arrangements. Whilst Francis likes to use an ordinary Ford Focus or indeed the Vatican bus when he moves outside the Holy See, the US president turned up for his audience with the classic 50 car strong motorcade that may well meet security requirements but which, frankly, borders on the ridiculous. Mr Obama, who was accompanied today by secretary of state John Kerry, was making his second official visit to the Vatican following a meeting with Pope Benedict in 2009. Mr Obama is just the last in a long line of US presidents, starting with Woodrow Wilson just after the first World War and including Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush senior and junior and Bill Clinton who have all met with the pope of the day, nearly always in the Vatican. PA

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Bin Laden's son-in-law convicted of conspiring to kill Americans - Los Angeles Times Posted: 26 Mar 2014 08:55 AM PDT after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Sulaiman abu Ghaith, 48, faces life is prison when he is sentenced Sept. 8. The case has given the public its first and possibly only chance to watch a terrorism trial related to the 2001 attacks unfold in civilian court. Unlike other high-profile terrorism suspects accused of crimes arising from the attacks, Abu Ghaith bypassed the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after his arrest last year. Instead, he was brought directly to New York, where his trial began March 5 just blocks from where the World Trade Center towers once stood. The case hinged in part on the importance of Abu Ghaith's role as a spokesman for the terror group. Prosecutors maintained it was an important one. "This man was not Osama bin Laden's puppet," said Jonathan Cronan, an assistant U.S. attorney, as he pointed his finger at Abu Ghaith during the trial "He was not a robot." Cronan insisted Abu Ghaith was a high-ranking Al Qaeda leader who was summoned to Bin Laden's cave in the mountains outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001. There, Abu Ghaith was asked to deliver a rousing speech heralding the killings and urging young Muslims to stage more attacks, Cronan said. "Al Qaeda's purpose was to murder Americans, and the defendant was all in," Cronan said as Abu Ghaith listened through an interpreter. But Abu Ghaith's defense attorney, Stanley Cohen, dismissed the government's case as based not on evidence but on recordings and videos, including one showing hijacked jets slamming into the World Trade Center towers and the buildings enveloped in black smoke. "It was intended to sweep you away ... in anguish and pain," said Cohen, comparing the prosecution's case to a movie. "The movie's over, the lights are back on, and we've walked out of the theater. Let's look at the evidence," he said, before dismissing the government's allegations as "speculation" and its witnesses as liars or frauds. Also shown repeatedly to the jury during the trial were frames of a video made Sept. 12, 2001, that showed Abu Ghaith seated next to Bin Laden and two other top Al Qaeda leaders as they tried to justify the attacks. Jurors deliberated roughly five hours before convicting Abu Ghaith of conspiring to kill Americans, providing material support to terrorists; and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Follow LA Times National on Facebook ALSO: Washington's deadly mudslide: A survivor's story Washington mudslide's confirmed death toll rises to 16 Girl who goes bald to support pal with cancer gets dress code waiver

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: China demands satellite data used to conclude ... - CBS News Posted: 26 Mar 2014 08:31 AM PDT Last Updated Mar 25, 2014 4:15 PM EDT KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- China demanded Tuesday that Malaysia turn over the satellite data used to conclude that a Malaysia Airlines jetliner had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, killing all 239 on board. Officials sharply narrowed the search area as a result of that assessment, but the zone remains as large as Texas and Oklahoma combined. Australia said improved weather would allow the hunt for the plane to resume Wednesday after gale-force winds and heavy rain forced a daylong delay. Searchers face a daunting task of combing a vast expanse of choppy seas for suspected remnants of the aircraft sighted earlier. "We're not searching for a needle in a haystack -- we're still trying to define where the haystack is," Australia's deputy defense chief, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, told reporters in Perth at a military base as idled planes remained parked behind him. In remarks to the Malaysian Parliament, Prime Minister Najib Razak also cautioned that the search will take a long time and "we will have to face unexpected and extraordinary challenges." Late Monday, Najib announced that the Boeing 777 had gone down in the sea with no survivors. But that's all that investigators and the Malaysian government have been able to say with certainty about Flight 370's fate since it disappeared on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Left unanswered are many troubling questions about why it was so far off-course -- the plane essentially back-tracked its route over Malaysia and then traveled in the opposite direction in the Indian Ocean. Investigators will be looking at various possibilities including possible mechanical or electrical failure, hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board. "We do not know why. We do not know how. We do not how the terrible tragedy happened," the airline's chief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, told reporters. Monday night's e announcement unleashed a storm of sorrow and anger among the families of the plane's 239 passengers and crew - two-thirds of them Chinese. Family members of the missing passengers have complained bitterly about a lack of reliable information and some say they are not being told the whole truth. Nearly 100 relatives and their supporters marched on the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, where they threw plastic water bottles, tried to rush the gate and chanted, "Liars!" Many wore white T-shirts that read "Let's pray for MH370" as they held banners and shouted, "Tell the truth! Return our relatives!" There was a heavy police presence at the embassy and there was a brief scuffle between police and a group of relatives who tried to approach journalists. Relatives of Chinese passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, flight MH370, hold signs in protest outside the Malaysia Embassy in Beijing, China, March 25, 2014. CBS Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng told Malaysia's ambassador to Beijing late Monday that China wanted to know exactly what led Najib to announce that the plane had been lost, a statement on the ministry's website said. Xu Dengwang, whose wife was a passenger on Flight 370, was reeling from the shock Monday in his room at the Lido hotel in Beijing, where many family members have been waiting for days for news. "I learned the news from television. I couldn't handle it. I fainted," Xu told CBS News, speaking through a translator. "How can you announce this news to the world without providing evidence?" Some relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the flight read out an emotional statement Monday, calling for Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia's government to be held accountable, CBS News Shannon Van Sant reported from Beijing. "Malaysia Airlines, the government of Malaysia... and the military forces of Malaysia have concealed, delayed and hid the truth from the relatives and the peoples of the world," the statement said. "This despicable act aimed to fool the relatives of the 154 Chinese passengers have devastated us physically and mentally, while misleading and delaying the rescue operation, wasting a lot of manpower, material resources and leading to the loss of precious rescue time." Malaysia Airlines Chairman Mohammed Nor Mohammed Yusof said at a news conference Tuesday that it may take time for further answers to come clear. "This has been an unprecedented event requiring an unprecedented response," he said. "The investigation still underway may yet prove to be even longer and more complex than it has been since March 8th." He added that even though no wreckage has been found, there was no doubt it had crashed. "This by the evidence given to us, and by rational deduction, we could only arrive at that conclusion: That is, for Malaysia Airlines to declare that it has lost its plane, and by extension, the people in the plane," he said. The conclusions were based on a more thorough analysis of the brief signals the plane sent every hour to a satellite belonging to Inmarsat, a British company, even after other communication systems on the jetliner shut down for unknown reasons. Najib said that an unparalleled study of the jet's last-known signals to a satellite showed that the missing plane veered "to a remote location, far from any possible landing sites" in the southern Indian ocean. Although there have been an increasing number of apparent leads, there has been no definitive identification of any debris. For several days now, search planes have been scouring seas 1,550 miles southwest of Perth, and have spotted several floating objects, but none have been retrieved or proven to be from the missing plane. "It is impossible to predict how long this will take. But after 17 days, the announcement made last night and shared with the families is the reality which we must now accept," Ahmad Jauhari, the airline's chief executive, said. The latest satellite information cannot provide an exact location but just a rough estimate of where the jet crashed into the sea. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had spoken to Najib to offer help with the ongoing search and investigation. "What up until now has been a search, moves into a recovery and investigation phase," Abbott said. "I have offered Malaysia, as the country legally responsible for this, every assistance and cooperation from Australia." Several countries had already been moving specialized equipment into the area to prepare for a possible search for the plane and its black boxes, the common name for the cockpit voice and data recorders - needed to help determine what happened to the jetliner. CBS There is a race against the clock to find any trace of the plane that could lead them to the location of the black boxes, whose battery-powered "pinger" could stop sending signals within two weeks. The batteries are designed to last at least a month and can last longer. An Australian navy support vessel, the Ocean Shield, equipped with acoustic detection equipment, was expected to arrive in several days in the search zone. And the U.S. Pacific Command said it was sending a black box locator to the region in case a debris field is located. The U.S. Navy has also sent an unmanned underwater vehicle to Perth that could be used if debris is located, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. The Bluefin-21, expected to arrive in Perth on Wednesday, has side-scanning sonar and what is called a "multi-beam echo sounder" that can be used to take a closer look at objects under water, he added. It can operate at a depth of 14,700 feet. The search for the wreckage and the plane's recorders could take years because the ocean can extend to up to 23,000 feet deep in some parts. It took two years to find the black box from an Air France jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009, and searchers knew within days where the crash site was. "We've got to get lucky," said John Goglia, a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. "It's a race to get to the area in time to catch the black box pinger while it's still working." © 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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