Camila Domonoske

The body of a victim in the South Korean ferry disaster was retrieved Thursday, bringing the death toll to 289.

The remains were recovered 25 miles from the capsized vessel, according to The Associated Press. Fingerprints identified the body as that of a passenger who had been traveling with ...

The Central African Republic is an impoverished, troubled country. Yet many people have cell phones that are used to spread information, rumors — and to organize protests.

Authorities have now instructed cell phone providers to suspend all text message services, a ban prompted after a group attempted to organize a ...

A few days after posting a criticism of "open carry" rallies, the National Rifle Association says the statement reflected a staffer's opinion, not the stance of the organization, reports member station KERA.

The NRA statement, dated May 30, was posted on the website of the Institute for Legislative ...

A bridge on a major interstate in Delaware will remain closed indefinitely as engineers work to identify why four pairs of support pillars are tilting.

The I-495 bridge, part of an 11-mile bypass around Wilmington, Del., normally carries 90,000 vehicles a day. It was closed on Monday after transportation officials ...

An Irish community recently discovered the bodies of hundreds of children in a septic tank behind a former home for unmarried mothers. The home, located in the town of Tuam near Galway city, had been run by the Bon Secours nuns between 1925 and 1961.

The Irish Mail, drawing on ...

Toy stores in Australia have been hit by a series of high-dollar Lego heists, and a police detective thinks the thefts might be the work of a crime syndicate specifically targeting the toys.

During the past two weekends, thieves hit the same Toyworld in Victoria state. In the first heist, ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's troubled by the U.S. decision to maintain ties with the new Palestinian unity government, which includes the militant group Hamas.

"I'm deeply troubled by the announcement that the United States will work with the Palestinian government backed by Hamas," he told The ...

Syrians head to the polls today in a vote that's expected to keep President Bashar Assad in power.

"The election is widely condemned as a sham by Western governments but hailed by Syria's allies Russia and Iran," NPR's Deborah Amos tells our Newscast unit. She says only residents in areas ...

President Obama said today [Tuesday] that he wants to boost the U.S. military presence in Europe amid simmering tensions with Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

"Today I'm announcing a new initiative to bolster the security of our NATO allies here in Europe," he said in Warsaw, Poland, ...

Fabien Cousteau has been following in his grandfather Jacques Cousteau's flipper-steps for years — scuba diving around the world and making underwater documentaries of his own. Now he's seeking to break the elder oceanographer's record for the longest period of time spent underwater.

In 1963, Jacques Cousteau and a team ...

The L.A. Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Sunday, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in a dramatic Game 7 overtime win.

The Blackhawks, the defending Stanley Cup champions, scored the first two goals of the game and led through the first period. The Kings tied the score at ...

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

We all recognize the mantra of Snow White's evil stepmother. But what, exactly, is she asking? In the Grimm Brothers' German original, she asks who's the most beautiful in the land. But in English, it's a little more complicated.

Oops.

Someone dropped lime sherbet on the desert — and it's melting. Who's going to clean this up?

Nobody. Because this — believe it or not — is a plant. It may look like a glob of goo, but it's not at all gooey. It's solid to the touch — ...

Parliamentary elections in the world's largest democracy ended on Friday. The election took six weeks; more than 800 million citizens were eligible to vote.

Photos from the election make it clear that, as NPR's Julie McCarthy reported earlier this week, an election that massive requires a lot of logistical ...

I once read that when Napoleon invaded Russia, he lost most of his army not to the horrible Russian winter, horrible though it was. No, says this legend, Napoleon's army suffered from "button failure." The company that provided the army with coats made the buttons out of tin. Tin ...

As you might have gathered from our blog's title, the Code Switch team is kind of obsessed with the ways we speak to each other. Each week in "Word Watch," we'll dig into language that tells us something about the way race is lived in America today. (Interested in contributing? ...

Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas!

It lacks the stirring power of the Battle Cry of Freedom. It's not as enduring as When Johnny Comes Marching Home. As far as Civil War songs go, it certainly ain't no John Brown's Body. But Johnny Cash could make anything sound good:

Gouber ...

A few months ago, Organizing for Action (a nonprofit created to support President Obama's policy goals) introduced America to a cozy-looking young man with a message about the Affordable Care Act:

Alas, poor Pajama Boy! His plaid onesie was no protection from the barbs of social media. He was derided ...

April is National Poetry Month, and Code Switch is celebrating by writing about great poets of color and their poems that address issues of race, culture and ethnicity. We began the series with an invitation to our readers to help us build a collaborative poem. Today, we take ...

Help us make poetry!

April is National Poetry Month: 30 days set aside for the celebration of all things verse. Many of us here at Code Switch love poetry every month of the year, but we can't always make space for it in our coverage.

So this month, we're taking ...