Hanging caused death of wife of Robert Kennedy Jr.: autopsy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. died from asphyxiation due to hanging, an autopsy revealed on Thursday, in an apparent suicide at the family's suburban New York home.

New York police plan changes to "stop and frisk"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Police Department announced changes on Thursday to its controversial crime-fighting tactic known as "stop and frisk," saying it would revise the way it trains officers and make clear to them that its policy prohibits racial profiling.

U.S. implements new rules to prevent prison rape

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. prisons and other facilities where residents are forcibly confined must put in place standards to prevent thousands of incidents of sexual abuse every year, the White House and U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.

Safety inspections don't hurt businesses-study

BOSTON (Reuters) - Random inspections of U.S. industrial workplaces lower the risk of workers being injured on the job and have no measurable negative effect on the companies inspected, according to a study in the journal Science.

USPS to close or consolidate 140 mail sites

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service will move ahead with a plan to shut or consolidate mail-processing facilities as part of its cost-cutting effort but will spread out the closings to maintain overnight delivery of local mail.

Top Republican boosts pressure for U.S. tax rewrite

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Republican lawmaker on Thursday stepped up pressure to force action next year on a rewrite of the U.S. tax code, which both major political parties agree has become overly complicated and inefficient.

Key witness in Clemens' trial faces more questioning

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former trainer to Roger Clemens will undergo more key cross-examination in the baseball star's perjury trial on Thursday, with the defense expected to attack inconsistencies in the trainer's story.

More minority babies than whites in U.S.: Census Bureau

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that officially confirm what has been a long-growing trend.

Arguments due in ex-US Senator Edwards' campaign finance case

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Attorneys are scheduled to give their closing arguments on Thursday in former U.S. Senator John Edwards' federal campaign finance trial on charges he accepted excessive political funds to conceal his extramarital affair while he ran for president.

Weather Watch: Rain showers here and there in U.S. Midwest

Showers expected in Minnesota, northern Iowa, northern Nebraska and the Dakotas this weekend, bringing 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches of rain to those areas, said Joel Widenor, meteorologist with Commodity Weather Group.