Scott Neuman

This past summer, Montana resident Markus Kaarma pleaded not guilty to killing a 17-year-old German exchange student who had entered his garage. At the time, his lawyer said he would defend Kaarma using the state's version of the "castle doctrine," which says that a man's home is his castle ...

A former Texas justice of the peace has been found guilty of capital murder in the shooting deaths of a district attorney, the DA's wife and an assistant prosecutor in a rural suburb of Dallas last year.

Eric Williams, 47, faces a possible death sentence for killing Cynthia McLelland, the ...

China says it will halt the controversial practice of harvesting human organs for transplant from executed prisoners beginning on Jan. 1 in what The New York Times describes as "the firmest deadline given to date for ending" the practice.

Human Rights activists have long charged that taking organs ...

Update at 9:35 a.m. ET

NASA's Orion spacecraft, which could one day send astronauts to Mars, is stuck on terra firma for at least another day after the space agency's mission control was unable to satisfactorily resolve a number of issues before a 9:45 a.m. ET launch window closed.

The ...

In Hong Kong, thousands of pro-democracy protesters wearing hard hats and masks clashed with police as they attempted to storm the office of the territory's leader, who they have repeatedly demanded step down.

Chanting "Surround government headquarters!" and "Open the road!" students marched toward buildings in Admiralty, next to Hong ...

Kabul's police chief is stepping down after a series of deadly militant attacks on foreigners that have shaken the capital in recent days.

In a news briefing today, Gen. Zahir Zahir said that four people had died in an attack on a compound of Partnership in Academics and Development ...

Black Friday shopping at brick-and-mortar stores in the United States was down about 7 percent from a year ago, according to ShopperTrak, but more purchases on Thanksgiving Day nearly made up the difference. Meanwhile, online retailers recorded double-digit year-on-year increases in sales.

ShopperTrak says Friday store sales hit $9.1 ...

At least two people were reportedly killed in Cairo's Tahrir Square and 15 others wounded as police sought to disperse a rally protesting a court's decision to drop murder charges against former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The independent Daily News Egypt says "thousands" of people gathered in the square, ...

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET

The mayor of Ferguson, Mo., says he plans to launch a number of initiatives to calm tensions in the the city in the wake of the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

James Knowles, speaking at a news conference today, said the city was ...

Mark Strand, a former U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner whose verse is recognized for its wit and introspection, has died at age 80 from cancer, according to his daughter and a close family friend.

Strand, born in Canada and raised in the United States, was named poet laureate in ...

Taiwan's Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah has resigned his post after the ruling Kuomintang party (KMT) experienced a crushing defeat at the polls in local elections.

Saturday's polls, widely seen as a referendum on President Ma Ying-jeou ahead of presidential elections two years from now, resulted in the KMT losing key ...

For the second time in as many days, a foreign guesthouse in the Afghan capital came under attack by Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen.

NPR's Sean Carberry reports that police initially believed two or three militants entered the compound in Kabul's western Karte Seh district. He said one South African ...

As many as 13,000 people in the U.K. are victims of modern slavery, including sex trafficking, those "imprisoned" as domestic helpers, factory workers and on fishing boats, according to a new analysis release by Britain's Home Office.

According to the BBC, the Home Office says victims, including women and girls ...

Police in Ferguson, Mo., arrested 15 people overnight amid continued, though mostly peaceful, protests following a grand jury's decision earlier this week not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black youth Michael Brown.

Small protests were also held in Oakland, Calif., Seattle and ...

A court in Egypt dismissed murder charges against former President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of hundreds of anti-government protesters during a 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ousted the long-time strongman.

Citing a technicality, the appeals court overturned a 2012 conviction of Mubarak, now 86, his two sons, security ...

Roberto Gómez Bolaños, a popular Mexican comedic actor and screenwriter known by the nickname "Chespirito," has died at age 85 after a long illness, Latin Times reports.

The newspaper says Bolaños died of heart failure in Cancun.

The Associated Press notes: "His morning show was a staple for preschoolers, ...

Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET

Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was suspended indefinitely after a video surfaced earlier this year that showed him hitting his then-fiancee, has won an appeal and will be reinstated by the NFL.

In a statement issued by Rice later, he thanked ...

Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET

More than 60 people are dead and as many wounded in an attack on a mosque in northern Nigeria as worshipers were attending Friday prayers.

The BBC says three explosions were reported at the mosque in Kano, and that the attackers also turned gunfire ...

Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died Thursday from a “catastrophic” injury to his head, two days after being struck by a delivery during a match.

Australia captain Michael Clarke, trying to compose himself several times, read a brief statement on behalf of Hughes’ parents, brother and sister at a news conference ...

Updated at 1:00 p.m. ET

A gunman who fired more than 100 rounds into government buildings in Austin, Texas, and tried to set fire to the Mexican consulate early this morning is dead.

Kate McGee reports for member station KUT that initially officers thought the man might also ...