Eyder Peralta

Pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine shot down a military transport plane as it made an approach to Lugansk Airport on Saturday. All 49 people on board were killed.

The Kyiv Post reports this marks the deadliest day in the conflict between the central government in Kiev and pro-Russian rebels.

Just hours after another school shooting left two dead and one injured, President Obama was asked what he's going to do about these kinds of incidents.

"The country has to do some soul searching about this," Obama said. "This is becoming the norm, and we take it for granted ...

A shooter entered an Oregon high school with a rifle today and killed one student and injured a teacher, authorities said.

Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson said the shooter was later found dead, but he provided no detail as to how the shooter died. Anderson said they've identified the shooter ...

Illinois became the first state in the union to ban microbeads, the tiny bits of plastic found in consumer products like skin exfoliants and soap.

As NPR's Cheryl Corley reports, environmentalists say that when microbeads wash down the drain, they're usually missed by filtration systems, which means they become food ...

Overnight in Iraq, the al-Qaida splinter group ISIS overtook large parts of Mosul, one of the country's most populous cities. According to various media reports, insurgents overran government buildings, TV stations and military bases, forcing Iraqi soldiers and police to apparently flee their posts.

While the Islamic State of Iraq ...

(This post was updated at 3:24 p.m. ET.)

President Obama signed an order on Monday that expands the number of Americans whose student loan payments will be capped at 10 percent of their monthly incomes.

CNN reports the new order would allow an additional 5 million borrowers to take ...

A nationwide audit of hundreds of medical facilities run by the Veterans Affairs Department finds that more than 57,000 veterans have been waiting 90 days or longer for an initial medical appointment.

Perhaps more stunning, the internal audit found that 13 percent of schedulers said they received instructions from ...

Digging into the nitty gritty of immigration law, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that some immigrant children who turn 21 while their parents' immigration application is still pending have to go to the back of the line and start over.

The Associated Press explains:

"The justices on Monday ...

A day after a deadly shootout, police in Las Vegas are beefing up patrols.

On Sunday, two police officers were killed after they were ambushed by a couple of shooters at a pizza restaurant in a local strip mall. The violence then spilled over to a Wal-Mart, where a civilian ...

It's happened again: Three inmates at a Canadian prison have escaped using a helicopter.

The CBC reports:

"A Sûreté du Québec spokesperson confirmed to CBC News that the prison break occurred at 7:45 p.m. ET from Orsainville Detention Centre and the inmates fled westbound in a green helicopter.

...

The New York Times and the Associated Press are reporting details about how Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was treated by his Taliban captors.

The AP reports that Bergdahl, who was freed after almost five years when the U.S. agreed to trade five Taliban prisoners in exchange for the ...

Chicago had another rough few days this weekend: By the Chicago Tribune's count, at least 19 were wounded and three were killed in shootings that spanned the city from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning.

The Tribune reports that two police officers were also hurt during two of the shootings.

The leftist rebels in Colombia have announced a unilateral cease-fire that covers the the period before the June 15 presidential elections.

Correspondent John Otis tells our Newscast unit that the cease-fire comes amid intense peace negotiations between the rebels and the Colombian government in Havana, Cuba.

John sent this report:

U.S. diplomats will meet with their Iranian counterparts on Monday and Tuesday in Geneva to try to seal a deal over Iran's nuclear program.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports the diplomats are racing to try to work out a deal before the July 20th deadline that was set by an ...

This morning at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., family, friends and dignitaries gathered to pay their final respects to author and poet Maya Angelou, who died last week.

President Clinton and Oprah were two of the featured speakers. She was remembered remembered as humanist who taught others the ...

Petro Poroshenko, the billionaire chocolatier, was sworn in as Ukraine's new president on Saturday.

Poroshenko called on separatists to lay down their weapons, but he also offered amnesty to those without "blood on their hands."

The Associated Press reports:

"Poroshenko also insisted that Ukrainian would remain the sole ...

We're a bit late to this. But it's so stunning, we'll share it anyway: Thursday night, the remnants of a strong storm and a sunset came together at just the right time to form a beautiful celestial treat: a red sky, double rainbow spanning the city of Atlanta.

Associated Press ...

Tracy Morgan, the former Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star, was injured in a six-car accident early on Saturday, Sgt. Gregory Williams of the New Jersey State Police says.

The accident, Williams said, happened at about 1 a.m. ET., near Trenton.

CNN reports Morgan is in "critical" condition, ...

Because of the big news about the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, we missed another big story on Saturday that was published by The New York Times: Based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the paper reports the U.S. spy agency is collecting millions ...

The 2014 Atlantic hurricane season is now officially upon us. And it comes in the midst of a historic lull.

Time explains that it's been 3,142 days since a Category 3 hurricane or stronger made landfall in the United States. The last one was Hurricane Wilma, which at its ...