Bill Chappell

Bringing winds that gust higher than 100 mph, Typhoon Neoguri is bearing down on the Okinawa island chain in southern Japan. More than 100,000 households are without power, and over a half-million people have reportedly been asked to evacuate.

As it neared the coast, the storm "weakened from its original ...

Updates at 5:32 p.m. ET

Israel said Tuesday it is expanding its operations against Hamas "and other terrorist organizations" in the Gaza Strip amid an escalation of violence that saw a barrage of rockets fired from the enclave toward Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other parts of the country.

"No other ...

Pope Francis spent parts of Sunday and Monday meeting with six people who had been sexually abused by priests, speaking with them about the lingering effects of their experiences and asking for their forgiveness.

The sessions brought the first official meetings with abuse survivors for Francis; his predecessor, Pope Benedict, ...

It's like sliding off the top of a 15-story building on nothing more than an air mattress. That's the experience promised by the Verrückt, the attraction called the world's tallest water slide by the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City.

The giant water slide stands at 168 feet tall, resembling ...

More than 60 women and girls who had been abducted by Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram have reportedly escaped to freedom, after their captors left for a raid. More than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April remain missing.

Nigerian officials say 68 women were abducted two weeks ago in the country's ...

Update at 4:54 p.m. ET

People flying to the U.S. on international flights may want to keep their cellphones charged: Under a new policy, these and other devices might not be allowed on the plane if they can't power up.

The Transportation Security Administration says its new guideline is aimed ...

The Islamic militant group Hamas says it will avenge the deaths of seven militants who reportedly were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. Israel says the strikes were retaliation for a burst of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel.

From Jerusalem, Daniel Estrin reports:

Former Soviet minister and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, who is credited with helping end the Cold War, died Monday after a long illness, his spokeswoman tells the media.

To remind you of the former leader's career, NPR's Corey Flintoff has this report for our Newscast unit:

"White-haired and dapper, ...

A "knit-in" was broken up in South Burlington on Wednesday, after five women who are unhappy with a Vermont Gas pipeline plan occupied the utility's waiting room — and occupied themselves by knitting.

One woman was bound off by police, taken away in what Vermont Public Radio says were ...

Basketball player Josiah Brown can dribble with either hand; he has a spin move and he regularly drains shots from outside the lane. But Brown, who lives in Wilmington, N.C., isn't a hot high school prospect, because he's only 4.

"People are asking me what AAU team he's playing for," ...

German lawmakers have approved a minimum hourly wage of 8.50 euros, backing a controversial proposal that would cover many workers starting next year. The amount is equal to more than $11.50 at today's exchange rate.

By comparison, the U.S. is debating raising its minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an ...

Analysts' expectations of continued growth in the jobs report for June were surpassed by federal data issued this morning, as the Labor Department says U.S. employers added 288,000 jobs last month. The government released the numbers one day early because of the July 4 holiday.

Update at 8:35 a.m. ET: ...

Evacuations are under way in parts of North Carolina, where Hurricane Arthur threatens to drench coastal areas today. The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm to a hurricane early this morning.

Arthur is now packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph; it could bring hurricane conditions to North Carolina tonight.

A plan to move immigrant detainees to a Border Patrol facility north of San Diego has set off protests and counterprotests this week, as residents and activists argue over how to treat people caught entering the U.S. illegally.

Three buses that were carrying nearly 140 migrants to a processing center ...

Just one week after Google Glass went on sale in the U.K., fears of piracy have led to calls to ban the eyewear from being worn in movie theaters.

Criticism of the Google device, which can allow those wearing it to record what they see, has come from the powerful ...

Blame it on the animal crackers. A plastic jar of the treats was too enticing for a young bear in New Jersey, which got its head irretrievably wedged in the container. When people approached it to help, the 28-pound bear cub got scared — and climbed 40 feet up a ...

After 238 years, the U.S. Navy has its first female four-star admiral. Michelle Howard attained that rank Tuesday, in a ceremony presided over by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

It's the latest "first" for Howard, 54, ...

After a wrenching loss to Belgium ended the U.S. team's World Cup run, fans are still touting the play of goalkeeper Tim Howard, Photoshopping his head onto U.S. currency and even (briefly) dubbing him Secretary of Defense on Wikipedia.

In Tuesday's game, Howard set a new World Cup record ...

Reacting to the discovery of a body believed to be that of an abducted Palestinian teenager, Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in Jerusalem Tuesday. The body was found in a forest, stoking tensions in a city still coping with the deaths of three abducted Israeli teens.

The slain Israeli teens ...

Today, players and fans of the U.S. and Belgium are building toward a decisive game that will send one team to the World Cup's quarterfinals and send the other packing. Two key questions are whether the U.S. can strike early, as it did against Ghana, and whether Belgium can pull ...