Krishnadev Calamur

Families of hostages killed by the self-described Islamic State militant group are reacting to the identification Thursday of "Jihadi John" as Mohammed Emzawi, a Kuwaiti-born British man who is seen in the group's videos appearing to behead the hostages.

Barak Barfi, spokesman for the family of U.S. ...

Updated at 1:16 p.m.

Actor Leonard Nimoy, best known for his role as Mr. Spock, the logical half-Vulcan, half-human in the original Star Trek series and several movies, has died at his home in Los Angeles, his granddaughter, Madeleine, told NPR. Nimoy was 83.

The cause was end-stage chronic obstructive ...

Rocker Gary Glitter, best known for the stadium rock anthem "Rock & Roll (Part 2)," was sentenced to 16 years in prison for sex offenses during the 1970s and '80s against three girls between the ages of 8 and 13.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was sentenced today ...

A Bangladeshi-American blogger, whose writings denounced fundamentalist thought and earned him death threats from Islamist groups, was hacked to death by two attackers in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. Avijit Roy's wife, Rafida Ahmed, who was with him during the attack late Thursday, was severely wounded.

Roy and Ahmed, Bangladeshi-born U.S. ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reportedly meet with Sens. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Harry Reid, D-Nev., the chamber's top Democrat, after his March 3 speech to Congress.

The announcement, which was reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which cited a senior Israeli official, came ...

Banksy's work is now in the Gaza Strip.

The artist, who uses public spaces for his often-provocative murals, posted images that he said were of art he created in the Gaza Strip, along with a two-minute video of life in the Palestinian territory, titled "Make this the year YOU discover ...

Loretta Lynch, President Obama's nominee for attorney general, cleared a major hurdle Thursday to succeed Eric Holder as the country's top law enforcement officer. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-8 to send the nomination to the full chamber, which is expected to confirm her nomination.

Three Republicans joined the panel's ...

Last month, an Argentine prosecutor who was due to testify about an alleged cover-up in the investigation into the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires was found dead.

Alberto Nisman had accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's government of covering up Iran's alleged role in the ...

Singer Madonna fell off the steps next to the stage while performing her song "Living for Love" at the Brit Awards in London. The 56-year-old singer picked herself up and continued her performance.

The fall at Wednesday's music awards show was apparently caused by a move that went wrong: A ...

Afghans celebrated on the streets of Kabul as their national cricket team, playing half a world away, won its first World Cup game.

Scotland, in its allotted 50 overs, scored 210 runs. In a nail-biting finish, the Afghans scraped past Scotland in Dunedin, New Zealand, by one wicket with three ...

Commercial fisherman John Yates and his crew were fishing for red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Cortez, Fla., in 2007. His vessel was boarded by John Jones, a state Fish and Wildlife officer who was working on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Updated at 5:45 p.m.

Secretary of State John Kerry sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "judgment" on talks with Iran on its nuclear program — the latest Obama administration official wading into the controversy stirred by the Israeli leader's planned talk to Congress on March 3 on the dangers ...

Updated at 4:04 p.m. ET

The White House has notified the Senate that President Obama has, as promised, vetoed congressional legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project.

"Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building ...

Finnish public broadcasting is reading the Quran — all of it, a half-hour at a time.

Radio 1, the radio arm of broadcaster Yle, will begin reading Islam's holy book on March 7 in 60 installments of a half-hour each.

The readings will begin with a discussion between Anas Hajjar, ...

European finance ministers have approved Greece's proposed economic reforms and agreed to extend financial assistance to the country by four months.

In a statement, the Eurogroup said it would begin "national procedures" – including parliamentary votes in some member states – to give the deal a final approval.

A panel within soccer's governing body has recommended that the FIFA World Cup in Qatar be played from late November to the end of December 2022, a period that coincides with the schedule of Europe's highly lucrative club season.

Soccer's World Cup is typically played over the summer, but temperatures ...

France has seized the passports of six of its citizens who it says were planning to travel to Syria to join Islamist groups fighting in that country's civil war. It's the first time the French government has used a measure that was approved in November to limit the number of ...

President Obama wants to change the way brokers and investment advisers offer financial advice, saying the current system leads to high fees that erode returns on investments.

At present, brokers work under the suitability standard. This, in essence, means that while making a recommendation, brokers must reasonably believe that ...

Christopher Abernathy spent nearly 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of 15-year-old Kristina Hickey in 1984. Today, Abernathy, now 48, was freed after DNA evidence cleared him of any connection to the crime in suburban Chicago.

Cook County Judge Frank Zelezinski agreed to vacate Abernathy's 1987 conviction ...

Updated at 5:44 p.m.

The House, in a bipartisan 270-152 vote today, approved the Keystone XL pipeline project and sent the measure to President Obama who has said he will veto it.

NPR's Juana Summers tells our Newscast unit this isn't likely to be the last standoff between the GOP-controlled ...