In Austria one of the strangest fights for religious freedom has come to an end: Niko Alm, a self-described "Pastafarian," fought for three years for the right to wear a pasta strainer on his head in his driver's license photo.

His argument? Alm claimed he belonged to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and wearing the strainer was part of his religion.

The BBC reports:

The Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington, D.C., is in transition. Shiny new condos have sprouted up in recent years, attracting a rush of new restaurants and national retail chains — Target, Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond.

The building boom almost swallows up the pockets of poverty. An austere cement medical building — which predates all the recent gentrification — is one of those pockets.

It's a health center run by Unity Health Care. The majority of patients here are uninsured or receive Medicare, and more than 90 percent live below the poverty line.

President Obama raised a whopping $86 million in the last quarter for his re-election committee and the national Democratic Party.

On Wednesday, News Corp announced it is withdrawing its bid for full control of British broadcaster BSkyB. The announcement came as Parliament debated the Murdoch newspaper scandal and prepared to vote across party lines against the BSkyB deal. Prime Minister David Cameron strongly condemned News Corp practices and announced an inquiry into the hacking scandal, police corruption, and Murdoch's influence on the political establishment — an influence that is now greatly diminished.

Representative Peter Roskam (IL-R) talks to Robert Siegel about the deficit-reduction talks — and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's proposal for breaking the impasse.

The Professional Car Society is not for professional car collectors. It's for people who love cars that were built for a profession: things like hearses, limos and ambulances. A good number of its members are funeral directors and EMTs who worked with these cars when they were new.

High-level military and intelligence officers from the U.S. and Pakistan are meeting Wednesday, both here and there, trying to ratchet down tensions in a troubled relationship between two allies. The U.S. has suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan. That came after Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lent credence to reports that Pakistani authorities sanctioned the murder of a journalist who was critical of the Pakistani intelligence service.

A new report has confirmed that coal ash is contaminating the homes of residents who live near a Louisville power plant. Residents have complained about dust from the Cane Run Power Station traveling onto their properties.A study commissioned by Louisville Gas & Electric took six samples off of nearby homes, and all came back showing significant amounts of coal ash.

Some members of the Louisville Orchestra’s musicians union are staging a protest at the orchestra’s headquarters this afternoon as their contract impasse continues. The musicians had already said they would reject management’s latest contract offer. They had until today to consider a proposal that outlines specific expectations for rehearsal and performance attendance.

Embattled Lexington Fire Chief Robert Hendricks will have to wait a while longer to learn whether he will receive a disability pension from the city. On Wednesday, the Lexington Police and Fire pension board said it needed clarification regarding discrepancies between the two medical evaluation reports presented to the panel. By law, Hendricks is required to be evaluated by two physicians before the board can vote to approve or deny his application.