Today's news round-up

Good News

• Turkey gives go-ahead for first new church in century This is fine, but it's really just a baby step if Turkey wants to join the EU.
• Federal judge allows gay marriages to begin across Florida

Bad News

• Islamic State kills 14 Libyan soldiers, official government says
• Idaho's governor appeals to Supreme Court to reinstate ban on gay marriage
• Gasoline-Tax Increase Finds Little Support
• At least 15 killed in 'Boko Haram' attack on Cameroon bus: sources
• Islamic State seeking bases inside Lebanon: Lebanon security chief
• Libya Islamists abduct 20 Egypt Christians: govt

Micro movie review

Selma A movie based on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1965 campaign for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. Powerful? Definitely. Accurate history? Uh, maybe not so much.

Recent news round-up

Good News

• Supreme Court Plans to Provide Briefs and Filings Electronically
• California leaders set for high-speed rail groundbreaking Tuesday
• Saudi IS cleric killed in northern Syria
• Bid in New York to extend legal rights to chimps fails, again
• Busted: Alleged Lizard Squad Hacker Arrested
• Publisher pulls atlas that omits Israel
• U.S. court approves Condé Nast $5.85 mln intern pay settlement

Bad News

• Census Bureau’s Plan to Cut Marriage and Divorce Questions Has Academics Up in Arms
• Some Florida counties halt all courthouse marriages as gay weddings loom
• Suspected Islamists abduct 40 people in northeast Nigeria
• IS seizes dozens in northern Iraq

Micro movie review

Mr. Turner A long bio-pic of British painter J.M.W. Turner. It's much more of a biography of the man than of the painter. Unfortunately, he was a rather boring man.

Today's news round-up

Good News

• Ferguson police spokesman suspended after 'trash' remark
• Woman turned away from 1958 Rose Parade because of race to ride in 2015 parade

Bad News

• Cuomo and Christie, Defying Legislatures, Reject Bill to Overhaul Port Authority
• Hamas bars Gaza children from Israel trip
• Islamic State executed nearly 2,000 people in six months: monitor

Animal headline of the day

Hippo jumps from moving truck in Taiwan, startling locals