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Illinois' pension gap is estimated at $83 billion — and it costs $12.6 million more every day the state does nothing to address the crisis. The state can't readily come up with the money, and while politicians say they want to help, they're unlikely to act during an election year.

German Catholics are facing a stark choice: Pay a church tax or forget about receiving the sacraments, including baptisms, weddings and funerals. Germany taxes registered Catholics, Protestants and Jews. In 2011, the tax raised $6.5 billion for the Catholic Church alone. Many progressives and conservatives are up in arms over the German bishops' decree.

More than 6,000 people have signed up for Ishqr since the app launched over a year ago. Ishq is an Arabic word for love; the "r" at the end was added to make it sound more hip.

Millions of Syrians are crowding into Jordan and Lebanon as well as Turkey. Aid efforts there are already at the breaking point.

The new designations protect nearly 1.8 million acres of public lands that include Southern California's highest peak, thousands of Native American rock carvings, endangered animals and a ghost town.

Those opposed to taxes and big government are putting their money where their mouths are in the state. A food drive there was put together by libertarians and anarchists, and they say they privately funded, voluntary charity is superior to the welfare system.

Annual forecasts are brimming with good cheer for 2014: Jobs will come back, stock prices will keep heading higher, and consumer spending will continue to improve, economists predict.

In the past few years, major food manufacturers have introduced more healthful versions of their products, such as low-fat ice cream and "light" soups. These efforts have slashed 6.4 trillion calories from packaged foods sold in 2012, a study finds. But does that calorie drop help shrink Americans' growing waistlines?

The canal is being widened to handle much larger ships. But after five years of building, the project is expected to cost at least $1.6 billion more than planned. The builders and the canal operators both say the other side should pay.

The court's 6-3 decision reverses a lower court ruling on what has been a hotly contested issue. Aereo lets subscribers watch TV programming that it routes onto the Internet.