WASHINGTON -- There is a backlog of 745,000 people awaiting hearings with U.S. Social Security officials regarding disabilities claims. With a large increase in the number of people making disability claims, the wait for a hearing averaged a record 17 months through June, USA Today reported Monday. In some parts of the country, the wait for a hearing is 31 months, said Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. "People have died waiting for a hearing," Astrue ... [full story]

PHOENIX -- Police in Phoenix are investigating the death of a man who grappled with officers as he attempted an exorcism on his 3-year-old granddaughter. Police Sgt. Joel Tranter told The Arizona Republic the incident happened Saturday when officers were tipped off by a relative an exorcism was being performed on the child. Police heard shouting inside the house, broke in and found Ronald Marquez, 48, holding the unidentified girl in a headlock and squeezing ... [full story]

PORTAGE, Alaska -- A kayaker escaped with mild hypothermia after being rescued by helicopter from a violent whirlpool off the coast of Alaska. Sean Hickey, 19, was thrown from his boat Sunday by a wall of water caused by rapidly shifting tides in Turnagain Arm near Portage, The Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News reported. A state police helicopter checking the popular tourist area spotted Hickey waving frantically from a whirlpool, the newspaper said. "He was a ... [full story]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Police said they are seeking the safe return of a 9-year-old Florida boy who failed to return home after visiting a family he had just met. Isaiah Thompson last was seen by his mother, Jasmure Sanders, July 21 when he left his home in Fort Lauderdale to spend the night in Miami with a boy he met while visiting Orlando, Fla., in June, police said. Sanders, who doesn't have a car, ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- With national immigration reform stalled in the U.S. Congress, legislators have begun filing bills on behalf of individuals, The Washington Post reported. There are about 60 private bills pending debate in Congress that would prevent the deportation of individuals, the Post said. Among them is one filed by Sen. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich., on behalf of Genevieve Vang, her husband and two children. The Laotian family has been living in Dearborn, Mich., for ... [full story]

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 2-month-old Florida baby was found unharmed after a man stole a car with the baby inside, police said. The car was found about 100 yards from where it was stolen, WKMG-TV in Orlando reported Monday. The man may have ditched the car in a nearby neighborhood when he realized the baby was in the backseat, police said. "The baby was sitting back there calm like babies do," Orlando police Officer Noah ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., may be on a collision course with organized labor over the issue of outsourcing of U.S. jobs and temporary visas. The front-runner for the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination has been wooing wealthy Indian-Americans who are interested in protecting outsourcing laws and expanding access to worker visas, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. Four years ago Clinton announced that the Indian giant Tata Consultancy Services was opening a ... [full story]

LOS ANGELES -- Warm temperatures and extremely dry conditions in parts of California sparked a new fire and caused a previously contained blaze to reignite. Authorities say the Zaca fire in Los Padres National Forest became active again during the weekend and started to spread, The Los Angeles Times reported Monday. According to a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, the Zaca fire east of Santa Barbara County's wine country is only 70 percent contained ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Islamic militants, in an incident similar to one that caused a conflict at the Red Mosque in Islamabad, have taken over a mosque in Pakistan's tribal area. The BBC reported Monday about 70 pro-Taliban militants occupied the Haji Sahib Turangzai shrine in Pakistan's Northwest Province, near the border with Afghanistan, after driving out the shrine officials. The site was renamed the Red Mosque after the complex in Islamabad that the Pakistani army ... [full story]

TOKYO -- Japan's LDP-led coalition has lost its majority in Parliament's upper house, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was allowed Monday to stay on as party head. Results of the election to the 242-seat upper house showed Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition holds 105 seats compared to the opposition's 137 -- the first such loss of majority since 1998. Abe had owned up to the impending bad news. "This humiliating setback is my responsibility," he ... [full story]