Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Obama on the phone yesterday to talk about a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis. It’s too soon to know whether Putin has blinked in the international standoff. Diplomats will meet to talk …

Search Focuses: New mages from French satellites show what could be jet debris in the general area where an intense search is underway for the remains of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, 1500 miles west of Perth. Along with sightings by …

Objects Spotted: A Chinese satellite has spotted a large floating object in the Southern Indian Ocean about 75 miles from two objects earlier seen by a commercial satellite. The new object spotted Tuesday is estimated to be 73 feet by …

The Big Melt: All that snow and ice that crippled the East Coast from Atlanta to Boston is melting today. Atlanta, 43, Washington, 40, NYC, 36. But a new storm is moving in over the weekend. The Deal: Comcast is …

Hoffman Bust: Three men and a woman were arrested in New York yesterday in connection with the heroin death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Police confiscated 350 bags of heroin, but none were marked similar to the bags found in …

Syria: Peace talks in Switzerland immediately stumbled over the continued tenure of President Bashar al-Assad. Secy. of State John Kerry said Assad could not be part of a negotiated interim government and that, “The right to lead a country does …

The Gavel: A federal judge in Oklahoma has struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, but hold the wedding bells. The judge set aside his own order to give the state a chance to appeal. The decision was not …

Jersey Shore: Federal examiners are looking into whether Gov. Chris Christie’s administration improperly used a portion of $25 million given the state to promote tourism following Hurricane Sandy. The winning bid of $4.7 million for an advertising campaign was $2 …

Lane Change: Documents released by the New Jersey legislature reveal a concerted effort by state officials to cover up a plot to snarl traffic entering the George Washington Bridge last September.   In an act of political revenge on the Democratic …

Bridge Collapse: Leaked emails indicate that Gov. Chris Christie’s staff helped engineer a traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge last September in an act of retribution against the Democratic mayor of Ft. Lee, NJ. An Aug. 13 email from …