Edward Snowden asking 15 countries for asylum, Russian official says  —  Passengers sleep outside Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport on June 29, 2013.  (Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA / June 29, 2013)  —  MOSCOW — Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor …

Fast-Moving Blaze Kills 19 Firefighters in Central Arizona  —  CONGRESS, Ariz. — Nineteen firefighters were killed on Sunday battling a fast-moving wildfire menacing a small town in central Arizona.  —  The firefighters died fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire near the town of Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix.

Brotherhood HQ in Cairo stormed  —  Anti-government protesters in Egypt have stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.  —  People are reported to have ransacked the building in the capital's Moqattam district, throwing objects out of its windows, before setting it on fire.

GOP could pay price for gerrymandering  —  No one disputes Republicans used the once-a-decade redistricting process to lock in their House majority — almost certainly through 2014 and possibly until the next round of line-drawing in 2020.  —  But the party could pay a steep price for that dominance.

Surrounded By Men, Ohio Governor Signs Stringent Abortion Restrictions Into Law  —  Gov. John Kasich (R) signs the two-year budget bill on Sunday.  (Credit: Karen Kasler)  —  Flanked by a group of other male officials, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a contentious two-year budget bill into law on Sunday evening.

They said the sequester would be scary.  Mostly, they were wrong.  —  Before “sequestration” took effect, the Obama administration issued specific — and alarming — predictions about what it would bring.  There would be one-hour waits at airport security.  Four-hour waits at border crossings.

EPA sends climate rule to White House  —  EPA just hit the accelerator in its push to fulfill President Barack Obama's climate promises.  —  The agency has sent the White House a new draft of its proposed greenhouse gas rule for future power plants, POLITICO learned Monday …

War On the Unemployed  —  Is life too easy for the unemployed?  You may not think so, and I certainly don't think so.  But that, remarkably, is what many and perhaps most Republicans believe.  And they're acting on that belief: there's a nationwide movement under way to punish the unemployed …

Misinformation on classified NSA programs includes statements by senior U.S. officials  —  Amid the cascading disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs, the top lawyer in the U.S. intelligence community opened his remarks at a rare public appearance last week with a lament …

Google Reader dies today.  Here's why I'm not replacing it.  —  Google Reader will die tonight.  And I'm going to miss it terribly.  But I'm not going to replace it.  I'm going back to plain old bookmarks.  —  Goodbye Google Reader.  My conflicted feelings about your loss are represented by this moody photograph.

Bush AIDS policies shadow Obama in Africa  —  CAPE TOWN, South Africa — As President Obama's motorcade pulled up on Sunday to a community health center run by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in this picturesque coastal city, people on the streets held signs that read “Thanks PEPFAR.”

A Republican Case for Immigration Reform  —  While the Senate bill can be improved, it would welcome more skilled workers and lead to faster economic growth.  —  Now that the Senate has passed comprehensive immigration reform, the action shifts to the House of Representatives.

Worries Swirl Over California's Initiatives  —  Supreme Court's Dismissal of State's Gay-Marriage Ban Raises Concerns that the Move Sets Precedent Limiting Voter Power  —  LOS ANGELES—Even as gay-rights advocates in California spent the weekend celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing …

JFK Airport security supervisor axed after accidentally sending XXX photo of his genitals in mass email blast  —  A JFK Airport security supervisor has been fired for mistakenly sending out a mass e-mail blast — of his genitals — to nearly two dozen shocked underlings, supervisors and Port Authority executives.

Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees  —  A growing number of American workers are confronting a frustrating predicament on payday: to get their wages, they must first pay a fee.  —  For these largely hourly workers, paper paychecks and even direct deposit have been replaced by prepaid cards issued by their employers.

American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World  —  LACONIA, N.H. — Seven months pregnant, at a time when most expectant couples are stockpiling diapers and choosing car seats, Renée Martin was struggling with bigger purchases.  —  At a prenatal class in March, she was told …