Bill Chappell

Scores of prisoners were freed from a prison in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, after Taliban militants armed with explosives and automatic weapons reportedly stormed the facility. At least nine people, including five guards, died in gun battles and other violence at the prison, according to multiple news outlets.

The attack ...

After a long talk with ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton says Morsi, who has been detained for nearly a month, is in good health.

"We talked for two hours; we talked in-depth. He has access to information, in terms of TV, newspapers — ...

At least 10 people suspected of committing Nazi war crimes were never deported from the U.S. despite losing the American citizenship they gained when they immigrated, The Associated Press reports. A main cause of the delay is simple: Their European homelands don't want them back.

"In the 34 years since ...

A series of fiery explosions ravaged a Blue Rhino propane gas plant in central Florida's Lake County late Monday night, forcing nearby residents to be evacuated. The detonations reportedly lasted for some 30 minutes and were heard as far as 10 miles away. A fire at the plant raged into ...

For more than an hour Sunday, the U.S. men's soccer team was stymied by Panama's efficient defense and their own tight play in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final. But less than one minute after substitute Brek Shea entered the game, he tapped the match's lone goal into the net and ...

Amazon.com plans to hire more than 5,000 full-time workers for its warehouse and order-fulfillment centers, the retailing giant said Monday. Many of the jobs will be at Amazon outposts that are spread across more than 10 states.

"Median pay inside Amazon fulfillment centers is 30 percent higher than that of ...

Gay people should be integrated into society instead of ostracized, Pope Francis told journalists after his weeklong trip to Brazil. Answering a question about reports of homosexuals in the clergy, the pope answered, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I ...

As it unveils its all-electric i3 compact sedan Monday, BMW also plans to offer buyers the option of booking a gas-powered SUV for a few weeks every year, according to reports. The move is part of BMW's efforts to ease customers' concerns about relying on an electric vehicle year-round, particularly ...

Investigators in southern Italy are examining the scene a day after a bus carrying nearly 50 people plummeted off a highway and into a ravine east of Naples. Italian news agencies say at least 38 people died Sunday night after the bus crashed through a guardrail and fell nearly 100 ...

More than a dozen car bombs exploded in Iraq early Monday, killing more than 50 people in Baghdad and other areas. At least 10 explosions were reported in the Iraqi capital during the morning rush hour.

Monday's bombings wounded more than 100 people, the BBC reports.

"Police and medical ...

A third death has been reported in the crash-landing of Asiana Airline flight 214, as San Francisco General Hospital said Friday that one of its patients who was injured in the accident has died. Hospital officials described the victim as a girl; they offered no further details about her.

"The ...

"It wasn't an option. It just had to be done."

That's the simple explanation offered by John Franklin Riggs, discussing his extraordinary effort to get help for his family after their boat capsized in the Chesapeake Bay on Tuesday night. Riggs swam for five hours in darkness before finding help ...

If mosquitoes used Yelp, they might look for their next meal by searching nearby for a heavy-breathing human with Type O blood, sporting a red shirt and more than a smattering of skin bacteria. Preferably either pregnant or holding a beer.

That's some of what we take away from a ...

One of the two Chinese teenagers who died in the crash-landing of an Asiana Airlines flight Saturday was hit by a firetruck responding to the scene on the runway, police officials in San Francisco said Friday. But it remains uncertain if that accident is what killed the girl.

The ...

A passenger train with several hundred people on board "has derailed in the southern Paris suburb of Brétigny, with authorities reporting 'many casualties,'" France 24 reports. Officials are still sorting through what French media are calling their country's worst rail accident in 25 years.

The BBC ...

Calling road cycling "one of the worst offenders" in gender inequity, four elite female athletes have created a petition to ask the sport's hallmark event, the Tour de France, to include women next year. Citing the inclusion of women at the world's top marathons, the petition's authors say, "After a ...

California lawmakers are calling for an investigation into allegations that 148 female prisoners underwent tubal ligation surgeries without the state's required approval. Some inmates said they had been pressured into undergoing the sterilization procedure, according to a report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

In a letter to ...

"On a recent trip to Afghanistan, I uncovered a potentially troubling example of waste that requires your immediate attention."

That's one of the opening lines of a letter the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction sent to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel this week. In it, Special Inspector General ...

The Boston Strangler's final victim has been identified, according to police who say DNA tests have linked Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to being the serial killer, to the death of Mary Sullivan in 1964. The authorities will exhume DeSalvo's body to get "a biological sample" that might provide a 100 ...

As one of the world's largest gatherings of hackers, the Def Con conference has long welcomed experts from the security industry and the U.S. government, along with academics and hackers. But this year, Def Con's leader is asking federal workers to skip the event, due to recent revelations about ...