In the news

Walter Slonopas, 52, a Tennessee maintenance worker who has twice before tangled with his employer after being assigned the number 666 to clock in, said he quit his job at Contech Casting LLC because his W-2 was stamped with the number, adding: “If you accept that number, you sell your soul to the devil.”

William “Mo” Cowan, 43, a Massachusetts Democrat, has been sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden to temporarily fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Rev. Rob Morris of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Newtown, Conn., has been reprimanded by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod for participating in an interfaith vigil after the Sandy Hook massacre, after church officials found he inadvertently gave the impression he condoned joint worship by offering the benediction at the event with other religious leaders for the elementary school shooting victims.

Robert Coleman, a Philadelphia judge, declared a mistrial in an assault trial against Matthew Brunelli after John Huttick’s prosthetic eye popped out as he tearfully testified about the August 2011 bar fight that robbed him of one eye.

Wesley Daniel, 24, a fire-blowing stilt-walker with the Lyric Opera of Chicago who suffered second-degree burns during a dress rehearsal, has been released from Loyola University Medical Center, where doctors predicted he would heal within two weeks.

Reggie Walton, a U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C., has been appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts as the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the special court that oversees warrants for government surveillance in spy and terrorism cases.

Owen Paterson, Britain’s environment secretary, announced that all dogs in England must be fitted with microchips by 2016 and owners who refused could be fined up to $800.

Anas Awwad, 26, has been sentenced in a Palestinian court to a year in jail for “cursing the president,” Mahmoud Abbas, on Facebook.

Xi Jinping, China’s new leader, said the ruling Communist Party should tolerate “sharp” outside criticism, telling a gathering of non-Communist Party groups that their members “should have the courage to speak the truth, give advice even if it is unpleasant, and accurately reflect the voice of the public.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/08/2013

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