[News Update] AIRASIA INDONESIA FLIGHT QZ8501  —  AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.  —  At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status …

Hey GQ, can't find any crazy Democrats?  Here's 16  —  Photo: Getty Images; AP; WireImage; Getty Images; Getty Images; Reuters  —  In a survey of the “Craziest Politicians of 2014,” GQ had difficulty locating any Democrats.  Seventeen out of 20 on the list were Republicans …

Pope Francis's edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches  —  Pontiff hopes to inspire action at next year's UN meeting in Paris in December after visits to Philippines and New York  —  He has been called the “superman pope”, and it would be hard to deny that Pope Francis has had a good December.

Nothing funny about ‘The Interview’  —  Just when did assassination become a subject for American humor?  —  This is a nation which still mourns Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, and Martin Luther King — all assassinated.  It is living through a period of renewed racial violence …

Can Carter make a defense difference?  —  He will face the likely return of sequestration.  —  Ash Carter faces a double-barreled challenge if he's the next Defense secretary: leading a Pentagon handicapped by a Congress unwilling to go along with military-proposed spending reforms …

5,200 Days in Space  —  An exploration of life aboard the International Space Station, and the surprising reasons the mission is still worthwhile  —  When humans move to space, we are the aliens, the extraterrestrials.  And so, living in space, the oddness never quite goes away.

Arizona Gov. Brewer leaving legacy of battling Washington  —  PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer fought President Barack Obama on immigration and border security for most of her tenure, earning national prominence by enacting tough laws that were mainly struck down by the courts …

A bigger tent?  GOP faces minority challenge  —  Associated Press 1 hr ago  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The faces of the Republican Party's most ambitious members are changing.  —  Long criticized as the party of old white men, the GOP's next class of presidential contenders may include two Hispanic senators …

Protester who advocates peace charged with setting fire at Berkeley QT  —  One of the most frequently quoted and photographed Ferguson protesters was charged Saturday with setting fire to a Berkeley convenience store last week.  —  St. Louis County police arrested Joshua Williams, 19 …

De Blasio Delivers Quiet Eulogy to Crowd of Unfriendly Faces, and Many Backs  —  He sat stoically in the church's front pew, his wife at his side, watching as the vice president spoke in booming tones and the governor told jokes that earned some chuckles, even on this painful day.