Krishnadev Calamur

Four mathematicians were today awarded the Fields Medal, including Iranian Maryam Mirzakhani, the first female mathematician to be given the honor that's often called math's equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Mirzakhani, 37, is a professor at Stanford University and was honored in Seoul, South Korea, for her ...

This post was updated at 8:10 p.m. ET.

Palestinian factions have agreed to a cease-fire, NPR's Alice Fordham reports. But there are reports of more hostilities on both sides.

"Israel says four rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel just before the last 72-hour truce ended," Fordham tells our Newscast ...

A three-day truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to hold for a second day today as negotiators planned to meet in Cairo for indirect talks on prospects of a lasting cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

The two sides attended the Egypt-mediated talks Monday in Cairo, but The Associated Press ...

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

• The dispute between publisher Hachette and online retailer Amazon has escalated yet again, with dueling petitions and a debate over the interpretation of a George Orwell quote. On Sunday, the group Authors United ran a full-page ...

A 72-hour truce, mediated by Egypt, between Israel and Hamas that began shortly after midnight today appeared to hold but the two sides seemed no closer to a settlement to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip that has left nearly 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 67 Israelis, ...

The head of the World Health Organization told leaders of the African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak that the deadly virus is "moving faster than our efforts to control it."

"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe ...

In 2003, Russia arrested the country's richest man, seized his main asset, Yukos Oil, broke it up and sold it. More than a decade later, a three-judge arbitration panel in The Hague ordered Moscow to pay the shareholders of the now-defunct oil giant more than $50 billion.

The ...

Ukraine's prime minister announced today that he is resigning after two parties said they were withdrawing from the ruling coalition.

"I am announcing my resignation in connection with the collapse of the coalition," Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said, adding Parliament could no longer do its work.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled today that Poland broke the European human rights convention by allowing the CIA to imprison and torture two terrorism suspects in secret prisons on its soil.

"The Court found that Poland had cooperated in the preparation and execution of the CIA rendition, ...

A judge in Philadelphia issued an order today granting a request for a former Nazi camp guard to be extradited to Germany, but 89-year-old Johann "Hans" Breyer died Tuesday, his lawyer told The Associated Press.

Attorney Dennis Boyle told the news agency that Breyer died Tuesday night at a Philadelphia ...

Britain has ordered a public inquiry into the death in 2006 of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko by radiation poisoning.

In a statement to Parliament today, Home Secretary Theresa May said the independent Home Office inquiry will be headed by Robert Owen, a senior judge who is the coroner ...

Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo won 53 percent of the vote in Indonesia's presidential election, according to a final tally released Tuesday by the country's Election Commission.

Widodo, a former furniture maker who entered national politics only two years ago, received 70,997,859 votes of the nearly 133 million valid ballots cast; ...

At least 47 people have been killed in fighting over the past 24 hours between rival Libyan militias battling for control of Tripoli's international airport.

The country's health ministry said late Sunday that the fighting also wounded 120 people. The Associated Press reports:

"The weeklong battle over the airport ...

One dewy morning back in May 2013, a dozen children gathered in an elementary school courtyard to play soccer in Addis Ababa. Seven-year-old Sisay Gudeta stood alone on the balcony above them.

Sisay poked his head through the arms of a rusty, blue guard rail, staring down at his classmates ...

This post was updated at 6:15 p.m. ET:

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to the Middle East on Saturday in hopes of finding a way to stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

"Israel has legitimate security concerns, and we condemn the indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel ...

Sam Wilson will carry Captain America's shield.

It's the second major announcement from comics publisher Marvel, which also said this week that the new Thor will be female.

Sam Wilson, as you might (or might not) know, is the Falcon, one of Captain America's major allies. (He was ...

A court in the Netherlands ruled today that the country's government was partly liable for the deaths of 300 Bosnian Muslims whom Dutch peacekeepers failed to protect in Srebrenica in 1995.

But The Associated Press notes that the court decision clears the government of liability in the deaths of ...

Syrian President Bashar Assad was sworn in Wednesday for a third seven-year term amid a brutal civil war that has split his country.

National television broadcast what it called the live swearing-in ceremony from the presidential palace in the capital, Damascus.

"Syrians, three years ...

The Mighty Thor, the Son of Odin, the God of Thunder, the comic book god with the hammer is a woman.

Not quite — but here's the tweet announcing the new Thor:

"No longer is the classic Thunder God able to hold the mighty hammer, Mjölnir, and a brand new ...

Update at 11:59 p.m. ET

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is returning to Washington today to brief President Obama on talks with Iran about its nuclear program, and about the possible need to extend negotiations past a July 20 deadline.

NPR's Peter Kenyon, who is reporting on the talks ...