Eyder Peralta

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

• The organization WaterisLife is developing a "Drinkable Book" that not only teaches water safety but can actually be used to treat drinking water. Each page, coated in bacteria-killing silver nanoparticles, can be torn out and used as ...

Harvard University Extension School's Cultural Studies Club has ignited a maelstrom of criticism over its plans to reenact a black mass on Monday.

The university and the Catholic Church have condemned it, but the club says the Satanic mass is simply for educational purposes.

The AP reports:

"The ...

Where the Federal Communications Commission ends up on net neutrality seems to be up in the air: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Washington Post are reporting that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is revising a proposal that would allow Internet providers to sell fast lanes ...

Over the weekend, scientists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution confirmed that Nereus, one of only four submersibles to have reached the depths of the Mariana Trench, suffered a catastrophic implosion.

The unmanned vehicle was on day 30 of a 40-day mission to explore the Kermadec Trench northeast of ...

With all the talk in contemporary American politics about game changers ... what about name changers?

Through the years there have been elected officials who were born with different names from the ones that were on the ballots. The politicians changed their names for all kinds of reasons.

...

If you were just starting to forget the pretty gruesome winter season we just lived through, remember that our friends in the west are not out of the woods: More than a foot of heavy, wet snow blanketed parts of Colorado and Wyoming Sunday into Monday.

The AP reports ...

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

• Misha Defonseca, the author of a fabricated Holocaust memoir that describes her hunt for her missing parents, her adoption by wolves, and her killing of a Nazi soldier, has been ordered to pay back $22.5 million ...

The journalist, who received a cache of highly classified documents, says no one disputes that the security agency should be reading emails from al-Qaida, but the system has become too powerful.

Shelly Sterling, the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling, tells ABC News she will "absolutely" fight any NBA attempt to oust her as owner.

Shelly owns half of Los Angeles Clippers.

ABC News adds:

"These comments come nearly two weeks after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced a ...

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says he's open to reviewing the military's ban on transgender service members.

In an interview with ABC News, Hagel said while the issue is more complicated than allowing gays in the military because it requires medical support, the policies "continually should be reviewed."

ABC ...

There are a few special days we relish watching unfold on social media. The first day of school is one. Mother's Day is another. We like them because social feeds are filled with photographs that gives us an intimate peek at a very special human connection that resonates across the ...

A cease-fire deal that was hailed by the international community was broken two days later by more fighting in South Sudan on Sunday.

Quoting a United Nations official, Reuters reports fighting broke out in the town of Bentiu, where both sides fired.

Reuters adds:

"President Salva Kiir ...

After being drafted by the St. Louis Rams, Michael Sam is poised to become the first openly gay player in the NFL.

NPR's Steve Mullis already covered the news. But the historic moment was also captured by ESPN cameras. It was an emotional moment that culminated in a kiss ...

A Florida rabble-rouser wants the city of Deerfield Beach to allow him to say a satanist prayer at the beginning of a council meeting.

Of course, Chaz Stevens' request comes after the Supreme Court ruled that sectarian prayer before a government meeting does not necessarily violate the Constitution's Establishment ...

As a heavy fog lifted through the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, a procession began.

Vehicles from the FDNY, the Port Authority and NYPD carried three flag-draped coffins filled with the unidentified remains of some Sept. 11 victims.

The procession began at a medical examiner's office and passed by Ladder Co. ...

Two U.S. embassy officers in Yemen shot and killed two armed men in Sanaa last month.

"The Embassy officers are no longer in Yemen," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said in a written statement. "Per standard procedure for any such incident involving embassy officers overseas, this matter is under review."

...

South Sudan's president has signed an agreement with a rebel leader that calls for the "immediate cessation of hostilities."

As NPR's Gregory Warner has been reporting, a political tug of war between two rivals has spiraled into "tit-for-tat ethnic killing" that has threatened to tear apart the world's youngest ...

(This post was updated at 9:45 p.m. ET.)

Two people are dead and another is missing after a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed near Doswell, Va., on Friday night.

The family has identified the missing woman as Natalie Lewis, a University of Richmond women's basketball team staff ...

In her first solo weekly address, first lady Michelle Obama said the U.S. is committed to standing up for the more than 200 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped from their school weeks ago.

"In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters," she said. "We see their hopes and ...

The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has filed for an initial public offering in the United States.

The company runs the largest online and mobile commerce site in the world, controlling a huge portion of the Chinese market. Its intent to go public marks the biggest IPO of the Internet ...