National / International News

Every dog owner in England will have to microchip their animal from 2016 under plans intended to cut a rise in strays - but will it work?

England boss Roy Hodgson says midfielder Jack Wilshere lived up to high expectations during the 2-1 win over Brazil.

Fierce fighting breaks out between rebels and pro-government troops in the Syrian capital, as bombings hit a central town and peace talk hopes fade.

Five other hospitals are to be investigated over their high death rates in the wake of the public inquiry into failings at Stafford Hospital.

Gordon Strachan admits managing Scotland for the first time was the most nerve-wracking experience he has had in football.

A 48-acre area in California that housed more than 200 species of birds was stripped bare by the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the land. The Corps says the clearing was necessary to improve flood control and discourage homeless camps and drug dealing, but some are questioning whether the agency violated rules that protect wetlands and waterfowl.

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The US tightens existing sanctions on Iran - targeting oil revenue and media - over its alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Rubio is part of a bipartisan group of senators working on immigration reform legislation. He'll deliver his speech in English and Spanish.

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Tunisia's prime minister has called for new elections, after thousands of protesters took to the streets following the assassination of a senior opposition leader, Chokri Belaid.

One hundred days after Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast, many residents still don’t have permanent homes to return to. They are staying wherever they can find a bed, whether it’s hotels, rentals or crashing with friends and family.

Instant relocation is hard enough. Imagine doing it with four kids and number five on the way. That’s the situation Jennifer Dady and her family face. Their home in Broad Channel, a Queens area on the water, was heavily damaged and is under repair. After a carousel of temporary living arrangements, they finally found a suitable rental in the Rockaways, not far from their neighborhood.

“It’s helpful that I’m close. The kids can stay in their school, so that’s good,” she says as her children, aged 2 to 10, hover loudly. “I can keep an eye on my house. It’s easier. It’s definitely easier.”

She’s moving into a newly renovated building. Its developer Ron Moelis, principal at L+M Development Partners, has been working with the city to provide priority access to displaced people. Now that work is gradually finishing on the roughly 300 units in the Queens building, interest is strong from Sandy victims. That was not the case for apartments he offered through the Sandy housing program in the Bronx and northern Manhattan.

“I don’t think we had any takers outside the affected areas, which was a little bit of a surprise,” Moelis says.

Sandy’s victims wanted to stay close to home, where their family, friends and schools are. Federal Emergency Management Agency official Mike Byrne leads Sandy relief here. A former New York firefighter raised in New York public housing, he understands those ties.

“These neighborhoods are the center of their family lives, their cultural lives,” Byrne stresses. “In many cases, it’s where people speak their language. We have 25 different languages we have to translate our material into.”

Not to mention that New York’s a dense urban area where many lack cars. You can move just a mile and be a world away. The housing challenge is quite different than the tornado-stricken small towns FEMA regularly responds to. All this underscores why some residents forced out of their homes by storm damage have more waiting ahead.

As for Queens mother Jennifer Dady, she wants her family back in their home before her next child is born. Her due date is July. She’s not optimistic.

Kai Ryssdal: Today makes it 100 days since Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Northeast. And a lot of New Yorkers and New Jerseyites still don't have permanent homes to return to. So they're staying wherever they can find a bed -- hotels, rentals or crashing with friends and family.

Marketplace's Mark Garrison reports on the enduring housing challenge.

Mark Garrison: Instant relocation is hard enough. Try doing it with four kids and number five on the way.

Jennifer Dady: It’s hard for them. It’s just, it’s a lot of work.

That’s the situation Jennifer Dady and her family are in. Their Queens home is heavily damaged and under repair. They’ve bounced around staying with family and friends. They finally found a rental in the Rockaways, near their house.

Dady: It’s helpful that I’m close. The kids can stay in their school, so that’s good. You know, I can keep an eye on my house. It’s easier. It’s definitely easier.

She’s moving into a newly renovated building. Ron Moelis is the developer. He has a deal with the City to provide priority access to displaced people. Interest is strong, unlike apartments he offered elsewhere, like the Bronx.

Ron Moelis: I don’t think we had any takers outside the affected areas, which was a little bit of a surprise.

Sandy’s victims wanted to stay close to home, where their family, friends and schools are. FEMA’s Mike Byrne leads Sandy relief here. A native New Yorker, he understands those ties.

Mike Byrne: These neighborhoods are the center of their family lives, their cultural lives. In many cases, it’s where people speak their language. We have 25 different languages we have to translate our material into.

Not to mention that New York’s a dense urban area where many lack cars. You can move just a mile and be a world away. As for Jennifer Dady in Queens, she wants her family back in their home before her next child is born. Her due date is July. She’s not optimistic. In New York, I'm Mark Garrison, for Marketplace.

The Obama administration wanted to keep the existence of the base secret. It has been used to target al-Qaida members in Yemen.

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News Corporation has reported a more-than-doubling in profits to $2.38bn, but spent another $56m to cover costs related to the defunct News of the World.

Burkina Faso reach their first Africa Cup of Nations final, beating Ghana on penalties in a controversial game in Nelspruit.

Minnesota has a Democratic governor, two Democratic senators, and Democrats control both houses of its Legislature. President Obama went there to rally support for his proposals to reduce gun violence. But even in Minnesota, there's considerable resistance to placing further restrictions on guns.

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The long-suffering, and all-but-bankrupt United States Postal Service, said today that starting in August, it will stop stuffing home mailboxes on Saturdays. The USPS figures to save $2 billion a year.

The postal service is losing $25 million a day delivering our mail, but what’s in our mail these days? If you look in your mailbox, you might see a magazine or two, some bank statements and, of course, junk. But mostly, it's what is called first-class mail. Postal industry analyst John Callan says the category is made mostly of business mail -- billing statements and checks.

“If they’re still paying checks in the mail," he says.

Callan says deliveries of first-class envelopes have been declining and with that, so too has the postal service’s revenue. Junk mail, or what the industry calls standard or advertising mail, now makes up half of the mail’s volume but brings in much less money. And even that is declining. You can expect 3 percent less junk mail in your mailbox this year.

But don’t think this is a foreshadowing of the beginning of the end of your mail. Rick Geddes, who teaches in the department of policy analysis and management at Cornell, says your mail deliveries for the foreseeable future, are safe. And he’s not basing that statement on raw optimism.

“But on the experience in other countries that have made their postal services more commercial, more like real companies, more entrepreneurial and more innovative,” he says.

Like UPS and FedEx, those private sector models of speed and efficiency. But even these companies rely on the postal service for some of their deliveries.

Gareth Bale and Sam Vokes score as Wales beat Austria to give manager Chris Coleman his second win since taking charge.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he would seek to expand the state's Medicaid program under the terms of the Affordable Care Act a day after Ohio Gov. John Kasich effectively said the same thing when he unveiled his proposed budget.

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The NRA's public list of corporations and individuals it says have "lent monetary, grassroots or some other type of direct support to anti-gun organizations" has some groups you'd expect, like the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. But at more than 500 names deep, it includes others that may come as a surprise.

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Scotland get off to a winning start under their new manager Gordon Strachan by beating Estonia at Pittodrie

Prosecutors are calling for lengthy sentences, describing the group's hair shearing of fellow Amish as terrorist acts. The defense is asking for leniency, saying no serious physical harm was done. But legal experts predict it won't be a soft sentencing.

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