Eyder Peralta

For its "Astronomy Picture of the Day," NASA is featuring a time-lapse video of what Earth looked like from the Messenger spacecraft as it left its home planet in August of 2005 for its mission to Mercury, our solar system's innermost planet:

NASA explains:

"Earth can be seen ...

Here's a bit of news that has been making the rounds in Costa Rica for more than a week but is just now picking up steam stateside: Saying it's time for a more natural experience, Costa Rica's minister for energy and environment said they would get rid of caged animals ...

(We most recently updated this post at 6:48 p.m. ET.)

New York Yankees' slugger Alex Rodriguez, one of baseball's brightest stars and its highest-paid player, will be suspended through the 2014 regular season because he violated parts of baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the league said today.

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Police in Massachusetts arrested a man they say poisoned Stephen "Stippo" Rakes, who was a potential witness in the case against notorious Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.

The important detail: The Boston Globe reports Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said they believe William Camuti, 69, "acted alone" and ...

The House of Representatives voted Friday to suppress President Obama's signature legislative accomplishment for the 40th time since the law was passed in 2010.

The vote to gut the Affordable Care Act — or Obamacare — was a near-party-line 232-185 vote. And like the previous 39 times, this is ...

We'll get back to the real news, soon enough. But right now, we're pausing for a moment of cute.

The Fort Worth Zoo is celebrating the "biggest baby in town," a less-than-month-old, 300-pound baby elephant named Belle. (It's the second elephant birth in the zoo's 104-year history.) Yesterday, with ...

One of the most anticipated testimonies in a criminal trial will not happen: James "Whitey" Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster, decided not to testify in his own defense, today.

The Boston Globe reports Bulger made his decision clear during a tense back-and-forth with U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. ...

The U.S. State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert because of an al-Qaida threat that is particularly significant in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus ...

Edward Snowden's father, Lonnie, had a dramatic change of heart this week: Back in June, he sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in which he told him that if the U.S. promised not to detain or silence Edward before a trial, his son would be willing to ...

The United States will close all of its embassies on Sunday because of security concerns, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Thursday.

AFP reports:

" 'The Department of State has instructed certain US embassies and consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday, August 4,' Harf ...

During a television interview Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States hopes to end drone strikes over Pakistan.

"The program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it," Kerry told Pakistan TV. "I think the president has a very real ...

A huge blast hit a weapons depot in the Syrian city of Homs on Thursday. Video of the blast has been posted to YouTube. It shows an explosion, followed by a plume of smoke rising hundreds of feet into the air.

Sky News quotes the British-based Syrian Observatory for ...

The director of the National Security Agency faced a tough crowd at the premier yearly gathering of hackers in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Army Gen. Keith Alexander gave the keynote address at the Black Hat USA convention on the same day the British newspaper The Guardian published more ...

According to several news reports, Major League Baseball has given the players union a list of those facing suspensions because of doping.

In truth, this is another pit stop in the long march toward what is rumored to be the suspension of some of baseball's A-listers. Of course, the ...

After a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve said it will continue to buy $85 billion in bonds every month and will leave the federal funds rate at the historic rate of near zero.

Of course, when the Fed releases its statement, the markets and ...

In its latest report stemming from leaked documents provided by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, The Guardian newspaper outlines a tool that gives intelligence analysts access to a wide range of data collected on the Internet.

From what we can glean — and keep in mind there are ...

The National Security Agency declassified more documents that shed light on formerly secret programs that collect a vast amount of metadata on the phone calls made in the United States, as well as the electronic communication of foreigners.

In a statement, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the ...

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge he faced. So what's the message for America's fugitive leaker? Both cases explore the line between whistle-blowers a...

The charge was the most serious against the Army private, who admitted releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents. Manning, however, was found guilty of other serious off...

President Obama personally met with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, this morning, a White House official tells NPR's Ari Shapiro.

The official called it a "quick check-in," but this is significant because Obama — at least publicly — has largely stayed out of the process, instead letting Secretary of State John ...