Building fire kills at least 17 people in Beijing

BEIJING (AP) -- An illegal garment shop in southern Beijing caught fire early Monday, killing 17 migrant workers and their family members who may not have been able to escape the four-story building because of bars on the windows.

The official Xinhua News Agency said people had to kick out the window bars or leap from the roof to escape.

Another 24 people were injured in the fire, which broke out at 1 a.m. (1 p.m. EST, 1700 GMT Sunday), the agency said. It did not specify the cause of the blaze.

Officials: Popular cop in Alaska Illegal immigrant

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- For years, the man known as Rafael Espinoza was widely respected as an exemplary police officer who was popular among his peers in Alaska's largest city.

All that ended this week when authorities discovered he was really Mexican national Rafael Mora-Lopez, who was in the U.S. illegally and stole another man's identity, officials charged.

"His reputation here is one of a hard-working officer, one who was very professional," Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew said Friday at a news conference announcing Mora-Lopez's arrest. "The problem, obviously, is he is not Rafael Espinoza."

Activists abandon oil rig after drilling protest

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Greenpeace activists climbed aboard a huge oil rig off Istanbul on Friday in a bid to prevent it from reaching Greenland to begin deep-water drilling in the Arctic, but later abandoned their protest because of bad weather.

The environmental group said eleven activists, some in rock-climbing gear, used speedboats to intercept and then climb atop the Leiv Eiriksson at dawn after it had left a port in Istanbul. They climbed the rig's derrick, unfurling a banner that read: "Stop Arctic destruction" and "Go Beyond Oil, Choose Clean Energy."

The platform, one of the world's largest, did not stop and continued on its course to Greenland's Baffin Bay, crossing through the Dardanelles strait and heading toward Greek waters, said Deniz Sozudogru, a Greenpeace spokeswoman for the Mediterranean region.

Libya's civil war shrinks Christian communities

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- With most of his flock having fled Libya's violence, Tripoli's Roman Catholic bishop now focuses on keeping the power struggle between Moammar Gadhafi and anti-government rebels out of his church.

But it's getting harder.

After a recent Mass, several Muslim women, all Gadhafi supporters, followed Bishop Giovanni Martinelli into the vestry, tearfully demanding that he call the Vatican to get the pope to halt NATO airstrikes.

Some of his parishioners, especially African migrant workers, have been using his St. Francis Church as a sanctuary, saying they dread going into the streets because they are frequently stopped and harassed by Gadhafi's security forces.

Health Insurance Plans Advantages

Health insurance plans could appear like an added fixed cost that you can not really want. However, health insurance can be helpful for a list of causes. You can seek through health insurance plans to get the better one for you, whether it is something that only covers the some and far-between doctor's visits you might want throughout the year, or disability coverage that takes into account any serious health issues that you might have. Health insurance, if it is the correct plan, can assist as a hugely good separate of maintaining you healthy.

`Tea-Paw?' Ex-Minn. governor courts tea partyers

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Republican Tim Pawlenty, "T-Paw" to his supporters, has increasingly tied himself to the new crop of grass-roots activists in the 2012 presidential campaign.

So maybe it's time to call the former Minnesota governor "Tea-Paw."

He says his aggressive outreach to tea party audiences is one important part of a strategy to assemble the diverse network of backers he needs to go national and win the GOP nomination. He's not focusing solely on this emerging force in party politics, he says, perhaps mindful not to alienate other Republican groups.

A Consumer's Guide to Health Care Overtake

The six-month day of remembrance] of the act of the health care overtake, more of the law's provisions will be effectively. Most consumers, even so, won't attend any alterations until later January 1, while their recently health insurance plan class starts.

Meantime, employees will be starting prepare for drops "open registration" point, once they choice their health coverage for the coming class. Additionally, people who buy their own health insurance will be researching their options. Medicare beneficiaries will be able to change their coverage later this year if they want.

Here's a deal how the law involves people who get their coverage at work, buy their own health insurance or are entered in Medicare.