Bill Chappell

Concerned by game times that have bloated beyond three hours, Major League Baseball is putting baseball on a diet for the 2015 season. In upcoming games, timers will regulate the pause between innings, and hitters must now keep one foot in the batter's box nearly all the time.

"The most ...

A federal judge has sentenced Maureen McDonnell, the wife of former Gov. Bob McDonnell, to 12 months in prison, plus one day. Last fall, a jury found the McDonnells guilty in a corruption trial that charged them with taking gifts and loans from a vitamin entrepreneur in exchange for favors.

A member of Canada's House of Commons has earned laughs and toasts from his colleagues, after he blamed his absence during a vote on tight underwear that makes him uncomfortable.

MP Pat Martin of Winnipeg Centre gave the explanation to foil an attempt to have his vote thrown out because, ...

Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET

After lengthy negotiations, Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to extend Greece's financial rescue package, removing the immediate risk of a default that could have forced Athens out of the grouping's common currency.

"It's done. For four months," one of the finance ministers was quoted ...

Looking to take back a city that has high strategic and symbolic value, the Iraqi military will launch an offensive against fighters from the self-proclaimed Islamic State in the coming months, a senior U.S. military official says.

NPR's Tom Bowman reports:

"A U.S. Central Command official told reporters at ...

Pitchers and catchers have reported for Major League Baseball's spring training in Florida and Arizona. But for defending champions the San Francisco Giants, the excitement is being tempered by concern for manager Bruce Bochy, who underwent heart surgery Thursday.

The procedure, in which doctors inserted heart stents, came one day ...

"The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie and all of us — regardless of our faith — have a responsibility to reject it," President Obama said Thursday, at a summit on defusing violent extremism.

The statement echoes the president's remarks from Wednesday, when ...

Move over, hot cross buns — here come the hot KISS buns. They're spicy and black, and starting next week, a limited number will be sold in stores in Japan, marking the rock group's 40th anniversary world tour. The bun's official name: Spicy Chili Tomatoman.

The steamed bun's black exterior ...

Thailand's attorney general filed criminal charges against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Thursday. The former leader, who was forced out of office last May, could be jailed for 10 years if she's found guilty.

From Chiang Rai, Thailand, Michael Sullivan reports for our Newscast unit:

"Yingluck was charged with ...

Trying to salvage a cease-fire that has not stopped the fighting in eastern Ukraine, the leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia held a conference call Thursday in which they called for full implementation of the truce's terms.

Ukraine says that in the past 24 hours alone, 14 of ...

With the bailout package that has kept Greece's economy afloat set to expire in just over a week, the country has formally asked Eurozone members for a six-month extension. Finance ministers will hold an emergency meeting Friday to consider the proposal.

The new request will face opposition, with Deutsche ...

Four months after he was brought back to an agency that was struggling to cope with a series of embarrassing missteps, Joseph Clancy was named the permanent director of the Secret Service on Wednesday.

Clancy has been the agency's acting head since the service's director, Julia Pierson, resigned in ...

The household spending of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a political issue in Israel, where the attorney general is now considering whether to open an official inquiry over allegations of excessive spending and related crimes.

From Jerusalem, NPR's Emily Harris reports:

"Israel's comptroller general issued a report on ...

It started with frustration at Christmas, says Connor McLeod, 13. Blind since birth, he couldn't tell how much money he'd been given. So he started a petition — and now the Reserve Bank of Australia says it will create bank notes with tactile features to help visually impaired people tell ...

Seeking to spare civilians from deadly fighting, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for the Syria crisis, says that he's gotten President Bashar al-Assad's government to promise that it won't carry out airstrikes or shelling on Aleppo — if the rebel opposition also halts its attacks in the city.

Prosecutors in Geneva conducted a search of HSBC bank's Swiss headquarters Wednesday, looking for signs of what they termed "aggravated money laundering." The bank, recently accused of helping wealthy clients hide money from tax collectors, says it is cooperating.

Part of a criminal probe, the raid comes a week after ...

Following heavy shelling in what had been a Ukraine-controlled city, the central government's force is retreating from Debaltseve, a key railroad and transportation hub. Ukraine says it has now withdrawn 80 percent of its armed forces from the city.

"I can say now that the Ukrainian armed forces and the ...

After showing herself to be in the elite class of female runners at the Austin Marathon, Kenyan Hyvon Ngetich hit the wall — hard. She didn't win, despite leading for most of the day. But the way Ngetich finished the race is being celebrated, because she did it by crawling, ...

The cold and snow that walloped Washington overnight didn't stop Ashton Carter from reporting for work Tuesday. Carter was sworn in as the 25th U.S. Secretary of Defense after starting his day with meetings at the Pentagon.

Sworn in by Vice President Biden at the White House Tuesday, Carter formally ...

In what could be the end of a headline-grabbing trial, a prosecutor in France has asked that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, be acquitted of charges that he procured prostitutes for orgies.

The move comes after several prostitutes dropped their allegations against Strauss-Kahn, who had ...