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WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is encouraging last-minute signups for health care under President Barack Obama's law, saying Americans are "going to be better off for it." Biden greeted people visiting a Washington help center today. He says as long as applicants are in line by the midnight deadline, they'll be allowed to finish their application. Meanwhile, there have been HealthCare.gov glitches as a flood of people have been trying to sign up.
DARRINGTON, Wash. (AP) — The sheriff's office in Snohomish County, Wash., has released the names of the 22 people officials believe are still missing in a mudslide that's killed at least 24 people. The missing range from a 2-year-old girl to a 91-year-old woman. Meanwhile, officials say they've positively identified 18 of the 24 victims in the official death toll. The remains of three other victims were recovered today, but they haven't yet been added to that death toll.
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (AP) — Russia says it's pulling a battalion of several hundred troops away from the Ukrainian border but is keeping tens of thousands in place. But the U.S. is reacting cautiously to the Russian troop movement, saying there's still "a tremendous buildup" along the border. Ukraine's foreign ministry says it has information that while some Russian troops are moving away from the border, others are moving forward, which the ministry says has Ukraine worried.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is in the Mideast, where he's holding talks in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Then he'll head to the West Bank town of Ramallah to meet with Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS'). Kerry has been working frantically in recent days to try to salvage the embattled peace process. American mediators have been holding urgent talks to resolve a standoff over a promised Israeli prisoner release.
NEW YORK (AP) — A Venezuelan tourist who says she was wrongfully accused of shoplifting at Macy's flagship store in New York City has been acquitted. It's one of several cases in which minority shoppers have complained that they were targeted by security and sometimes held for hours. Business owner Maria Paez (PEYE'-ehz) says she was just carrying items around the store in a Macy's bag in September. She soon found herself handcuffed, held in a store detention cell for hours, and pressed to sign a confession and pay $500, while her young son remained on the store floor, unaware of where she had gone.
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