As the end of the second week approaches in the George Zimmerman trial, Seminole Court Judge Debra Nelson asked the defendant whether he will testify as part of the courtroom drama. After consultation with his defense team, Zimmerman decided that he will not take the stand. His defense team also planned to rest later on Wednesday afternoon.
Canada's Rail World CEO Edward Burkhardt has blamed a local engineer for a runaway train that derailed and exploded in a Quebec town, killing at least 15, saying he does not believe the last engineer's protestations. Sixty people are known to be dead or missing after Saturday morning's crash. Also, 30 buildings were razed by the fireball from the explosion, news reports also said. Burkhardt said the engineer has been suspended without pay.
The Obama administration has quietly notified healthcare insurers, who happen to be smokers that they may get a delay from tobacco-use penalties that could have made their premiums unaffordable. A computer glitch is the cause of the postponement delay, and a fix will take at least a year to put in place.
Among the three nations that have offered National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden political asylum, the Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, who broke the story, said that Venezuela is the "obvious choice," but he added that figuring out how to get Snowden from Moscow into Caracas could still take weeks.
