Bill Chappell

An emotional Oscar Pistorius broke down soon after taking the witness stand Monday at his murder trial in South Africa, saying he has nightmares about the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in which he wakes up to the smell of blood. He's charged with killing her after an argument ...

Calling it the "most promising lead" so far, the leader of the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner says ships have again detected a signal on the same frequency used by "black box" emergency beacons. But Angus Houston also reiterated that it's too early to draw conclusions.

Houston, a ...

Dozens of injuries were reported and more than 100 people were arrested in California Saturday, after people who had been attending a street party clashed with police. After the annual party near the University of California, Santa Barbara turned violent last night, hundreds of law enforcement officers were sent in ...

Seeking to advance the cause of equal pay for women, President Obama plans to sign an executive order Tuesday barring federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss their salaries with each other.

Federal contractors would also be forced to give the Labor Department data about their employees' pay along ...

Two undefeated teams are still alive in the women's NCAA basketball tournament – and they could meet in a record-setting final Tuesday, if Connecticut and Notre Dame can get past Stanford and Maryland, respectively, on Sunday. The four programs have all won national championships in the past.

The teams will ...

The archbishop of Atlanta is apologizing for building a multimillion-dollar home with money earmarked for charitable use. Anger erupted over Archbishop Wilton Gregory's $2.2 million mansion last month. The Tudor-style mansion is in Buckhead, one of the city's priciest neighborhoods.

From Atlanta, member station WABE's Jim Burress reports:

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It's been two weeks since the massive mudslide came down on a tiny mountain community in Washington state. The disaster killed 30 people; 13 are still missing. The tragedy prompted an outpouring of donations — and officials in Oso say they don't have room for more items.

Federal disaster relief ...

Ships and search planes are being sent to investigate a pulse signal that a Chinese patrol ship outfitted with a black-box detector picked up twice this weekend, says Australia's Angus Houston, who is leading the international search effort for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. But he adds that it's too ...

Author Peter Matthiessen, who used fiction and nonfiction to explore how man relates to nature, has died at 86. The revered naturalist and novelist had been suffering from leukemia; he died Saturday afternoon, his publisher confirmed.

In a career that began in the 1950s, Matthiessen connected readers to people and ...

The image comes from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who gained fans last year when he he tweeted photos from the International Space Station, along with his refreshingly wide-eyed excitement at being in orbit.

Hadfield tweeted an image of an unusually shaped cloud with a question: "We all see ...

The soldier who is believed to have killed three people in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, had argued with fellow soldiers over paperwork shortly before violence erupted Wednesday, according to numerous accounts.

Base commander Lt. Gen. Mark Milley said Friday that the mental state of Spc. Ivan A. ...

March Madness lives on into April. There are only four teams left in the men's NCAA bracket, as Kentucky, Connecticut, Florida, and Wisconsin vie for spots in Monday night's championship game.

Here are the tip-off times for today's Final Four; the two games will air on TBS (all times Eastern):

France's ban keeping stores from being open late at night does not run afoul of the country's constitution, a top court has ruled. Cosmetics retailer Sephora had hoped to keep its flagship Paris store open until midnight. Instead, the shop must observe the traditional closing time of 9 p.m., according ...

A Chinese Coast Guard ship has detected an ultrasonic pulse on a frequency used by black box recorders, according to China's state news agency, fueling new hope that searchers might be closing in on a beacon from the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that vanished weeks ago. The ship found the pulse ...

Millions of Afghans lined up to vote for a new president Saturday, despite warnings of violence from the Taliban.

Saturday's historic vote begins what would be the first democratic transfer of power for Afghanistan; President Hamid Karzai has served for two terms and is not allowed to run for a ...

In a hearing before the House Oversight and Investigations panel, GM CEO Mary Barra and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator David Friedman testify Tuesday on concerns surrounding GM's recall of a faulty ignition switch that's been linked to more than a dozen deaths.

The recall, which now ...

The jerseys America's soccer players will wear at this summer's World Cup are out – and they're attracting attention with their striking departure from previous designs. The uniforms use large swaths of red, white, and blue, in a combination some are comparing to the French national flag. Others say ...

In his first show since a controversy erupted over a Comedy Central tweet about one of his skits last week, Stephen Colbert poked fun at the media, his network and himself Monday night, declaring that despite a #CancelColbert campaign against his show on Twitter, "I'm still here."

The tweet in ...

Ukraine's presidential election season took an interesting turn over the weekend, as Darth Vader declared his candidacy for the nation's highest office, promising that he knows what it takes to rebuild an empire.

"I alone can make an empire out of a republic to restore former glory, to return lost ...

Hobie Alter, whose innovations helped thousands of people go surfing and sailing, died in California on Saturday at age 80. In the 1950s, Alter helped perfect a foam-core surfboard that revolutionized the sport. A decade later, his iconic Hobie Cat catamaran design opened the world of sailing to a wider ...