National / International News

Japan says an auxiliary battery was improperly connected to the main battery that overheated, forcing an emergency landing.

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A stone marking the Hertfordshire resting place of a feral German child, invited to England by George I, is Grade II listed.

Two farm workers die in a fruit storage building on a Tory peer's country estate in east Hampshire.

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the controversial question of campaign finance once again. On Tuesday, the court announced it will take up a case challenging limits on how much individuals can contribute directly to candidates or political parties within an two-year election cycle. Congress put the limits in place in the 1970s in response to the Watergate scandal, as an effort to curb corruption through large political donations. 

A conservative Alabama businessman named Shaun McCutcheon brought the case that the Supreme Court has decided to take up. McCutcheon recently wanted to make contributions to more candidates and more Republican Party committees than is allowed under current limits. He and the Republican National Committee are asking the Supreme Court to consider lifting those limits, on the grounds that they are unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs also argue that in the wake of the court’s ruling in Citizens United three years ago, which removed independent political spending limits on corporations and individuals, more money is now being siphoned away from candidates and political parties and into outside super PACS which are less transparent and harder to hold accountable. They say removing limits on direct contributions to candidates and parties could level the playing field.

That approach amounts to “fighting fire with fire,” says Tara Malloy of the Campaign Legal Center, a proponent of campaign finance restrictions. Malloy has calculated that without limits on direct contributions, a single person could give almost $3.5 million to a party and its candidates, in total.

“I don’t think a single person can give an eye-popping sum like $3.5 million without raising very serious concerns about what type of influence that person will have over the party and the office holders of that party,” she says.

Bert Johnson, a political science Professor at Middlebury College, says one person giving such vast sums of money is a pretty rare hypothetical. What’s really at stake in this case, Johnson says, is the principal of limiting direct campaign contributions in the first place.

When Congress passed limits after Watergate, Johnson says the country was “worried about corruption and the appearance of corruption, and the Supreme Court said our worries are a good enough reason to limit the contributions to candidates and parties.”

But in recent years, the court has been increasing their scrutiny of campaign contribution limits, and Johnson says the McCutcheon case could signal a further change in the high court's views. 

With the Citizens United case three years ago, the court threw out limits on outside, independent spending for political causes. With this case, the court will consider lifting limits on giving directly to candidates and their parties. And that’s something the court has, until now, been reluctant to do.   

The Zambian government takes over the running of a troubled Chinese-owned coal mine after revoking its licence because of safety lapses.

Americans don't need assault-style weapons to protect their homes, says the vice president. He tells Parents magazine that he's advised Jill Biden to just fire off a couple blasts from their double-barreled shotgun if there are intruders on the property of their Delaware home.

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Nick Clegg refuses to reveal government estimates of the number of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants expected in the UK when work restrictions are lifted.

Scientists say the time-honored calorie is too flawed to give people a good measure of what they're eating. But many nutritionists say calories are still the most useful tool for keeping tabs on food intake and maintaining healthy weight.

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The pace of home building slowed in January, falling 8.5 percent from December. Despite the decrease, January was still the third best month for house construction since 2008.

The Daytona 500 is this Sunday, but fewer and fewer of us are taking the time to sit through NASCAR races. NASCAR wants to change that with a new ad campaign it’s unveiling this weekend.

When you go out to eat at a restaurant and pay by credit card, what should you do with your receipts? Leave them on the table or throw them away? Here are six tips to protect yourself from restaurant tip theft.

And finally, the financially troubled U.S. Postal Service is launching a new line of clothing. According to the Washington Post, it'll be called "Rain Heat & Snow". The clothes will be available in department stores and speciality stores starting next year -- just don't ask them to FedEx it to you.

The Pope is considering changes to Catholic Church rules, which may speed up the process to select his successor, the Vatican says.

A Syrian footballer has been killed in a mortar strike near a stadium in the capital, Damascus, a state news outlet says.

A royal penguin is being cared for at a Wellington Zoo after washing up on the coast of New Zealand, 2,000km (1,240 miles) from its Antarctic home.

Renee Montagne gets an update from New York Times correspondent Lydia Polgreen on the bail hearing for South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius. He is charged with murdering his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

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Four people are arrested by police investigating human trafficking and exploitation of workers in Flintshire.

The son of Rev. Jesse Jackson was accused of using $750,000 of campaign funds on personal expenses and to buy things such as a $43,000 watch and a hat once worn by Michael Jackson.

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In the world of office supplies, two players exist that sound so similar you might think they're the same company: Office Depot and OfficeMax.

This morning, the companies confirmed that they're merging to better compete in the marketplace.

"Online retail is [looming] over everyone's head, I don't think they want to go down the road of the [bookstores]," says Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the retail group at Prudential Douglas Elliman.

As many as 600 stores could be closed or sold as a result of the deal, which could dampen real estate values at roadside malls and cost jobs.

Yet, Consolo believes growth in other business areas, such as the food sector, will make up for the consolidation.

"The Whole Foods of the world are constantly seeking more space,” Consolo says. “In the long term this will give good opportunities to other retailers.”

 

 

 

Opponents accuse Italy's former PM Silvio Berlusconi of trying to buy votes in Sunday's election by sending letters promising a tax rebate.

A former policeman is being investigated over claims he "acted on behalf" of Jimmy Savile before the late TV presenter was interviewed about sexual assault allegations.

The pace of home building slowed in January, falling 8.5 percent from December. Despite the decrease, January was still the third best month for house construction since 2008.

Gus Faucher, senior economist with the PNC Financial Services, joined Marketplace Morning Report host Jeremy Hobson to break down the numbers and give insight into what's ahead for the economy as the March 1 sequester deadline approaches.

Scientists from the University of Birmingham have been working with space agency Nasa to use high-flying robot drones to study the Earth's atmosphere.