| President Obama's 2015 State of the Union address: Live updates Posted: 20 Jan 2015 07:19 AM PST  The president is scheduled to give his penultimate State of the Union address on Tuesday. Yahoo News is providing live streaming coverage and analysis of the speech.
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| Obama in State of the Union: America is turning the page Posted: 20 Jan 2015 04:35 PM PST  President Barack Obama was set to urge Americans on Tuesday night to "turn the page" on years of economic troubles, terrorism and lengthy wars, arguing that his presidency had ushered in an era of smarter American leadership and a growing U.S. economy.
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| Paris mayor plans to sue Fox News over reports of Muslim 'no-go zones' Posted: 20 Jan 2015 12:59 PM PST  Anne Hidalgo says she intends to sue the American cable network over reports suggesting there are Muslim "no-go zones" in the French capital.
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| Time to 'turn the page' and help middle class, Obama to say Posted: 20 Jan 2015 05:06 PM PST  By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will challenge a skeptical Republican-led Congress on Tuesday to back tax increases on the wealthy to help lift up middle-class Americans in a State of the Union speech that will outline his vision for his last two years in office. On foreign policy, Obama will call on lawmakers to pass a new authorization of military force against Islamic State militants to replace powers that were given to President George W. Bush to prosecute the Iraq war. He will say the U.S.-led effort to stop Islamic State from advancing in Iraq and Syria is working without dragging the United States into another ground war in the Middle East. Obama will credit his "middle-class economics" for a surge in the U.S. economy and say it is time to "turn the page" from recession and war and to focus on growth for all, including the middle class, according to excerpts of his 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT Wednesday) televised speech released by the White House.
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| Jury selection starts in Colorado cinema massacre trial Posted: 20 Jan 2015 02:22 PM PST  By Keith Coffman and Daniel Wallis CENTENNIAL, Co. (Reuters) - A judge in Colorado began the process on Tuesday of choosing the jury for the murder trial of James Holmes, the former neuroscience graduate student who killed 12 people in July 2012 at a midnight screening of a Batman movie. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Jury selection may take up to four months as Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour seeks to narrow a field of some 9,000 possible jurors to a panel of 12 and 12 alternates. Each person will be questioned about views on topics such as insanity defenses and the death penalty.
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| Obama to visit Selma for 50th anniversary of civil rights marches Posted: 20 Jan 2015 02:36 PM PST  U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Selma, Alabama, in March to recognize the 50th anniversary of historic marches led by activists fighting against segregation and seeking to ensure African Americans' right to vote, a White House official said on Tuesday. Obama will visit the small southern town on March 7 as part of his administration's efforts to highlight the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the official said. The law, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson 50 years ago this August, banned literacy tests and other tactics used in the U.S. South to block racial minorities from voting. The White House official said more details of Obama's trip would be announced later.
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| How the U.S. Capitol gets ready for the State of the Union Posted: 20 Jan 2015 02:12 AM PST  It may only draw half the viewers it once did, but for staffers at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday night's annual State of the Union address by the president is their Super Bowl. It is the single most complex logistical undertaking held each year in the United States' more than 200-year-old central legislative building. Months of work by press gallery staff, the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and Capitol Police are required to stage the event properly for television cameras around the world.
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| French authorities arrest five suspected of preparing attack Posted: 20 Jan 2015 09:10 AM PST A group Chechens in southern France are in police custody. |
| Oil could hit $25 a barrel Posted: 20 Jan 2015 12:22 PM PST  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell as much as 5 percent on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global economic forecast and key producer Iran hinted prices could drop to $25 a barrel without supportive OPEC action. Genscape, an analytics firm that monitors U.S. oil stocks, reported a 2.6 million-barrel build last week in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. crude futures contract, adding to the market's bearish sentiment, traders said. Trade group American Petroleum Institute will issue its data on U.S. crude inventories for last week on Wednesday while the government's Energy Information Administration will release its stockpile tally on Thursday, both delayed a day by a holiday on Monday.
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| Houthis take Yemen presidential palace Posted: 20 Jan 2015 03:51 PM PST  The development follows some of the most intense fighting in Sanaa in years.
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| Kenyan officials condemn use of tear gas at children's protest Posted: 20 Jan 2015 08:03 AM PST  By Edith Honan NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan officials on Tuesday rushed to condemn the use of teargas against children at a Nairobi primary school who were protesting at the loss of their playground. Police were seen firing at least three canisters of tear gas just outside the Langata Primary School as several hundred tried to knock down a wall surrounding the playground in protest at what they called an illegal "land grab" to turn it into a car park. Children wearing green school uniforms were seen scampering away from the clouds of gas, coughing and choking. President Uhuru Kenyatta said he had censured the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission for failing to address the dispute sooner.
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| Jury selection begins in Colorado theater shooting case Posted: 20 Jan 2015 10:32 AM PST  The process of choosing the dozen jurors who will decide whether James Holmes was sane or insane at the time of the Colorado theater rampage in July 2012 began Tuesday afternoon, when the first wave of an unprecedented 7,000 prospective jurors reports to the Arapahoe County Justice Center.
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| Why Obama’s State of the Union still matters in the Twitter era Posted: 20 Jan 2015 02:10 AM PST  His team plans to use a complex social media blitz to make up for a shrinking TV audience.
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| Islamic State threatens two Japanese captives Posted: 20 Jan 2015 06:31 AM PST  ISIS is reportedly demanding $200 million for their release.
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| Officials: 1 dead, 1 injured in overpass collapse in Ohio Posted: 19 Jan 2015 11:14 PM PST  CINCINNATI (AP) — Officials say one person died and another person was injured when a highway overpass collapsed in Cincinnati.
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| Jindal: Muslims establish 'no-go zones' outside civic control Posted: 19 Jan 2015 05:47 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Some countries have allowed Muslims to establish autonomous neighborhoods in cities where they govern by a harsh version of Islamic law, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday during a speech in London.
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