Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, was nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize by two Norwegian politicians who said his disclosures of secret U.S. documents have contributed to world peace.
Rob Ford, the Toronto mayor who acknowledged last year that he had smoked crack and who has rebuffed pressure to resign, is being sued by his sister’s ex-boyfriend who alleges that the mayor conspired to have him beaten in jail to prevent him from exposing Ford’s illicit behavior.
Raulie Casteel, 44, of Wixom, Mich., who said he opened fire on motorists along a Michigan highway because he believed they were part of a government conspiracy against him, was convicted of terrorism, assault and other charges and faces up to life in prison.
Merrill Nelson, a GOP state lawmaker in Utah, proposed a bill that would give residents the option of donating a part of their income-tax refunds to the state’s fight against gay marriage.
Michael Grimm, a GOP congressman from Staten Island, has apologized to reporter Michael Scotto of NY1 for telling him he would hurl him from a U.S.Capitol balcony, having been enraged when Scotto asked him after the State of the Union speech about a federal investigation into his fundraising.
William Buchman, 53, a California schoolteacher, was arrested after hundreds of living and dead pythons in plastic bins were found stacked floor to ceiling in his stench-filled home in suburban Orange County.
Trey Radel, the Florida Republican who resigned from Congress after pleading guilty to cocaine-possession charges, will not face a House Ethics Committee investigation anymore because an investigative subcommittee no longer has jurisdiction over him.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor whose cellphone had been under surveillance by the National Security Agency, said America’s standing in the world has been endangered by U.S. spy programs that have violated the freedom of the individual, a value for which the U.S. has been admired abroad.
Bawer Aksal, a New Jersey man who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman by reaching around from the seat behind her on a flight, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
La’Cori Johnson, 28, resigned as a Dallas police officer after being accused of forcing a woman to have sex with him to avoid jail.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/30/2014