Krishnadev Calamur

We're getting word late Thursday that an American woman has been killed in Syria while fighting alongside rebel forces against the Assad regime.

Family members told the Detroit Free Press that Nicole Lynn Mansfield, 33, had converted to Islam after meeting an Arab immigrant. The newspaper reports:

...

The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon, Wash., collapsed Thursday, leaving an unknown number of people and vehicles in the water.

The Skagit Valley Herald reports: "Rescue crews have swarmed to the area to redirect traffic around the site and look for people still in ...

Iran's powerful Guardian Council has disqualified two key candidates — a former president and a top aide to the current president — from running in the June 14 presidential election.

The Guardian Council, which vets all candidates, approved eight names Tuesday but left out former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and ...

Pakistanis have coped with — even rioted — over the country's frequent power cuts. Now, the government is feeling the impact, too. The country's caretaker prime minister has banned air conditioners in government offices and instituted a dress code for civil servants. Among his recommendations: no socks.

"There shall be ...

Tech giant Apple used a "complex web of offshore entities" to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes in the U.S., a congressional investigation has found.

In a statement Monday, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said:

"Apple's claim[ed] ... three key offshore companies are not tax residents ...

Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and a founding member of The Doors, died Monday in Germany. He was 74.

A statement from publicist Heidi Ellen Robinson-Fitzgerald said Manzarek died in Rosenheim, Germany, after a long battle with bile duct cancer.

Manzarek and Jim Morrison founded the iconic band after ...

Dozens of people are dead in heavy fighting around the Syrian rebel-held city of Qusair where troops loyal to President Bashar Assad are making a strong push.

News reports say as many as 50 people are dead.

NPR's Jonathan Blakley, who is in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, is reporting on ...

Venezuelans may be used to a dearth of medicine, milk and sugar, but there's a new shortage that's, shall we say, a bit more problematic: toilet paper.

The government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced this week that it would import 50 million rolls of toilet paper to meet ...

A Honolulu jury has convicted a man of second-degree murder for a 2011 shooting spree in Hawaii that left one person dead and two wounded.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is following the story:

"[T]he jury refused to convict [Toby] Stangel, 30, of Wahiawa on first-degree attempted murder charges ...

The manager of the sexual-assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., has been arrested in a domestic dispute and has been relieved of his post.

The Associated Press reports:

"Lt. Col. Darin Haas turned himself in to police late Wednesday on charges of violating an order of ...

A jury has found Jodi Arias, the Arizona woman found guilty last week of first-degree murder for killing her onetime boyfriend in a fit of rage, eligible for the death penalty.

The Associated Press reports: "The decision came after a day of testimony Wednesday during which prosecutors had to ...

An Army sergeant who was part of the Fort Hood, Texas, sexual-assault response office is under investigation for abusive sexual contact.

NPR's Larry Abramson is reporting on the story for our Newscast unit:

"The Army refused to release the name of the sergeant first class, who was part of ...

The Philadelphia abortion provider who was found guilty of first-degree murder in three illegally performed late-term abortions will be spared the death penalty.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted Monday, agreed Tuesday to give up his right to an appeal. He faces life in prison.

The Associated ...

Comedian Seth Meyers will replace Jimmy Fallon on NBC's Late Night, the network announced Sunday.

Meyers, the longtime SNL cast member who anchors the show's "Weekend Update" segment, will take the 12:35 a.m. segment from Fallon, who's replacing Jay Leno as host of the Tonight show.

The New ...

You might remember the story of the uproar earlier this year over a piece of art by the mysterious graffiti artist Banksy that disappeared from its home on a wall in north London and ended up on the auction block in Miami.

That auction was canceled, and residents ...

The death toll in last month's collapse in Bangladesh of an eight-story building that housed garment factories has surpassed 1,000.

Officials said 1,021 bodies had been pulled from the rubble, according to The Associated Press. It's unclear what the final toll will be from the April 24 disaster ...

British physicist Stephen Hawking has stepped into a political black hole.

He announced this week that he was withdrawing from a conference in Israel to protest that country's treatment of Palestinians, throwing his weight behind an academic boycott of the Jewish state. The Guardian reports:

"Hawking, 71, the ...

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling could have his more than 24-year prison sentence reduced by as many as 10 years under a deal announced Wednesday by the Justice Department.

The agreement with Skilling's lawyers, which still needs the approval of a federal judge, would reduce the former Enron chief's ...

"Margaret Groening died peacefully in her sleep on April 22, 2013, in Portland."

That paid obituary, which ran Monday in The Oregonian, marked the life of the woman who served as the inspiration for one of the best-known characters on television and arguably pop culture: the beehive-coiffed Marge Simpson.

Crews in Southern California are battling a fast-moving wildfire that has forced evacuations of hundreds of homes.

NPR's Kirk Seigler is reporting on the blaze for our Newscast unit:

"The blaze is burning in the rugged foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains about 50 miles west of Los Angeles, ...