Cruz made 2016 announcement speech without a teleprompter  —  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made his speech announcing that he would run for the presidency without the assistance of a teleprompter, his spokesman said Monday.  —  Cruz delivered his roughly half-hour announcement speech at evangelical Liberty University in Virginia.

In Clinton Emails on Benghazi, a Rare Glimpse at Her Concerns  —  WASHINGTON — It was a grueling hearing.  A month after the September 2012 attack on the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, House Republicans grilled a top State Department official about security lapses at the outpost.

Wisconsin Voter-ID Law Stands as Supreme Court Rejects Appeal  —  (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Wisconsin to implement a voter-identification law that opponents say is one of the strictest in the nation.  —  Rejecting without comment an appeal by civil rights groups …

U.S. will not take floor at U.N. rights debate on Israel, Palestinians  —  (Reuters) - The United States will not take the floor at the main U.N. human rights forum on Monday during the annual debate on violations committed in the Palestinian territories, a U.S. spokesman told Reuters.

Reconsidering My August Post on Ferguson and ‘Conflicting Accounts’  —  In the heat of a very hot news moment last summer, I criticized a Times story about the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.  —  Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I want to acknowledge that I misjudged an important element of that story.

An Interview With George Zimmerman - March 2015  —  In an interview conducted in Orlando by Howard Iken, George Zimmerman discusses his viewpoint on events now that the Justice Department has declined to file charges against him  —  Duplication without prior permission prohibited.

Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC  —  The oil-and-gas super company is just the latest big firm to leave the conservative group in recent months.  —  Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest …

Argentine archaeologists find secret Nazi lair in jungle  —  Stone structures in the remote region of Misiones are thought to be the ruins of a hideout build by Nazis, in case their leaders needed to flee Germany  —  A team of Argentine archaeologists investigating a series of ruins in the jungle …

Is A Confederate Flag License Plate Free Speech?  —  The U.S. Supreme Court is tackling a question of great interest to America's auto-loving public: Whose speech is that on your specialty license plate?  Specifically, when the government issues specialty tags at the behest of private groups or individuals …

Any Republicans who vote against higher defense spending should be fired  —  Let's talk a bit about which House Republican incumbents are going to draw primary opponents in 2016.  Make a note: Those GOP representatives who vote against upping Pentagon spending this week are at the top of a list …

Obamacare is 5 years old, and Americans are still worried about death panels  —  When Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, they knew it wasn't popular — poll after poll showed pluralities, if not majorities, opposed to the legislation after the bruising national fight that led to its passage.

PHOTOS  —  ... and other souvenirs.  Nearby are exhibits about ramen in Europe , regional ramen around Japan and historic ramen-making ..... search of ramen's origins.  " The food stands include Italian pasta, Vietnamese pho, and dishes from Kazakhstan , China ...

‘Kill the Jews!’:  New fears stoked as drunken mob attacks London synagogue  —  A drunken mob stormed into a London synagogue where worshippers were marking the end of the Sabbath early Sunday, shouting “Kill the Jews,” attacking people, vandalizing the building and stoking fears of rising anti-Semitism.

Charlottesville police find no evidence in U-Va. sexual assault case  —  Police say that an investigation has found no evidence to support a discredited Rolling Stone story about a gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on the campus of the University of Virginia.  (Reuters)

Britain's Terrible, No-Good Economic Discourse  —  The 2016 election is still 19 mind-numbing, soul-killing months away.  There is, however, another important election in just six weeks, as Britain goes to the polls.  And many of the same issues are on the table.

High school accused of massive grade-fixing scheme  —  Teaching kids takes so much effort, staffers at John Dewey HS in Brooklyn have found a quicker way to fix persistent failure rates, sources said: Just let them pass.  —  Investigators are probing accusations of a massive grade-fixing scheme …