Bill Chappell

In a country whose laws don't allow for the death penalty, the case of a Belgian man who sees himself as a threat to society — and wants to die — is putting new focus on Belgium's health care and justice system, as well as its laws allowing euthanasia.

After ...

Hurricane Odile is now a tropical storm, but it's still bringing heavy rainfall and power outages to the Baja Peninsula and surrounding areas. And a second storm could threaten the western coast of Mexico and the U.S. later this week.

Odile is still carrying sustained winds of more than 50 ...

A new program to encourage guests to tip the housekeeping staff at Marriott hotels is meant to make it easier for people to show their gratitude to workers. But the plan, part of an initiative from Maria Shriver's group A Woman's Nation, is raising questions over how the company pays ...

Days after he was arrested and benched over charges that he abused his 4-year-old son by punishing him with a wooden switch, NFL star running back Adrian Peterson has been reinstated. The Minnesota Vikings announced the move Monday, as Peterson released a statement defending himself.

Peterson did not go into ...

With voter opinion polls showing single-digit margins over the call for Scotland to break away from the U.K., two of England's most visible leaders — Prime Minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth II — are speaking about the issue. Today, Cameron told Scots not to vote out of frustration, saying, ...

If one goal of the uniforms for a women's cycling team from Colombia is to attract attention, they're a smashing success.

Some observers are calling the outfits — which in photos seem to feature a swatch of flesh-tone-colored fabric in their lower region — "rude," "wrong" and a "disaster." But ...

Despite a conviction for culpable homicide and the looming possibility of a prison sentence, Oscar Pistorius would be free to compete in the Olympics, according to the head of South Africa's Olympic committee.

From The Associated Press:

"South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee chief executive Tubby Reddy tells ...

On a weekend that saw extremist group the Islamic State release a video showing the murder of a Western hostage, support for a coalition to fight the group is building. Several Arab states are reportedly willing to participate in strikes on the group, and Australia has offered to send hundreds ...

This has been called a long and tough week for the NFL. But ESPN's Hannah Storm asked some tough questions on Sunday's SportsCenter that show how hard the week has been for the league's fans — especially for parents who struggle to reconcile their love for the game with its ...

In a move seen as a way to fight off a potential takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev, large brewer SABMiller has reportedly offered to buy Heineken. The family that controls the Dutch-based brewer rejected the idea, according to Bloomberg News.

Citing "people with knowledge of the matter," the business news agency ...

Posting photos this weekend that show him recovering from a chainsaw accident, Australian golfer Greg Norman says he's a lucky man. Norman says he hurt his left hand while cutting branches off a tree at his home in Florida.

Norman, 59, a former world No. 1 player who went on ...

Billboard's album sales chart has a new entry in its No. 5 spot: Legend, the greatest hits record by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It's the highest spot ever for Marley. And while the 30-year-old album has sold millions of copies over the years, it only reached No. 54 ...

The cease-fire in eastern Ukraine is being tested Sunday, with intense fighting reported near the airport in Donetsk Saturday and Sunday. An NPR team in that city was forced to flee the shelling.

Reporting from Donetsk, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley says she was with members of the international monitoring group the ...

Vowing justice for murdered aid worker David Haines, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron says his killing by extremist group the Islamic State is "an act of pure evil." A video purporting to show Haines' beheading was released Saturday.

That video was released on the same weekend that Haines' family ...

After being accused of working against North Korea's government, American citizen Matthew Miller was sentenced to six years of hard labor Sunday, after a trial at North Korea's Supreme Court in Pyongyang. Miller, of Bakersfield, Calif., had entered the country on a tourist visa in April.

From Seoul, Jason Strother ...

News that San Diego Unified School District has acquired an MRAP, or mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle, is adding a new facet to discussions about the practice of giving surplus military equipment to civilian agencies.

The six-wheel Caiman MRAP has an official value of around $733,000. But the San Diego school ...

Joe Sample, a composer and keyboard player who connected the world of jazz to many other musical traditions, has died at age 75. He died in his hometown of Houston. Sample was a founder of the band the Jazz Crusaders; he also reportedly played with musicians from Miles Davis and ...

Overcoming an injury to their star center, the Phoenix Mercury won its third WNBA title last night, beating the Chicago Sky in three games. An eye injury suffered in game two forced Phoenix center Brittney Griner to sit out.

"Phoenix got 24 points each from Candice Dupree and the sublime ...

Rocket fire tested — but didn't break — a week-old cease-fire between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists Friday night. The deal has brought the release of dozens of prisoners and cut the number of casualties from fighting, even as both sides have reportedly violated its rules in skirmishes.

Russia has sent ...

The sky danced with bands of green, yellow and other colors last night, as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, dazzled viewers in the upper Northern Hemisphere. The light show was sparked by a powerful solar flare that erupted from the sun Wednesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's