Scott Neuman

Updated at 10:20 a.m. ET

President Obama is set to meet congressional leaders this afternoon to outline his strategy for confronting the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq and Syria. He is scheduled to address the nation on Wednesday to make that strategy public. It comes as a new poll by ...

An initial investigation by Dutch experts appears to support the long-held theory of what happened to MH17 over eastern Ukraine: the Malaysian airliner was brought down by multiple "high-energy objects from outside the aircraft."

Although the preliminary technical report by the Dutch Safety Board did not directly say the ...

Harvard is set to receive $350 million — its largest-ever single donation — from a foundation run by a wealthy Hong Kong family led by alumnus and longtime benefactor Gerald L. Chan.

The Harvard Crimson reports: "In recognition of the gift, the University will rename the school the Harvard ...

Updated at 11:45 p.m. ET

There was an unexpected crash landing near the international airport in the Nicaraguan capital over the weekend, but luckily no one was hurt: A small meteor, thought to have broken off from an Earth-passing asteroid, left a 40-foot-wide crater.

The meteorite — which experts say ...

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby is calling on the organization's members for a "comprehensive confrontation" of Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria in apparent support of U.S. plans to build a coalition to stop the militants.

Elaraby said a "clear and firm decision for a comprehensive confrontation" was needed ...

Updated at 1:00 p.m. ET

Ukraine's president, on a visit to embattled Mariupol in the country's east, proclaimed "this city was, is and will be Ukrainian."

Petro Poroshenko, in a fiery speech in the city, which has been surrounded for days by pro-Russia separatists, also said that 1,200 Ukrainian POWs ...

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child.

The BBC reports:

"Kensington Palace said the Queen and members of both families were delighted with the news.

"The palace said that — as when she was pregnant with Prince George — the duchess was suffering from ...

The Coast Guard says it has called off a search for the pilot of a single-engine prop plane that drifted into restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., forcing fighter jets to scramble an intercept. The apparently unconscious pilot of the small aircraft later ran out of fuel and plunged into the ...

The sinkhole that swallowed up eight cars at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kent., in February quickly became a favorite exhibit for museum visitors, but that's not enough to head off a decision to fill in the 60-foot wide, 40-foot-deep orifice in the floor.

Reuters reports:

...

Islamic militiamen in the Libyan capital have reportedly seized part of the U.S. embassy compound, which was evacuated more than a month ago amid concerns over the safety of diplomatic staff.

The Associated Press says one of its journalists "walked through the compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an ...

Pro-democracy activists have taken to the streets in Hong Kong to protest China's rejection of pleas that the territory hold an open election for its next chief executive three years from now.

As NPR's Frank Langfitt reports, the protesters say they will attempt to paralyze the city's financial district with ...

Update at 10:35 a.m. ET

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for "meaningful talks" to end the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, reiterating that the Kremlin, which is said to have allowed thousands of its soldiers to join the rebels, views the situation as an internal dispute.

"Substantive, meaningful talks ...

Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite militias and U.S. airstrikes have reportedly entered the northern town of Amerli, where Islamic State militants have laid siege to the town for weeks, prompting fears of a sectarian massacre.

Reuters and BBC report that Iraqi Army and volunteer fighters entered the town on ...

Update at 6 p.m. ET

Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted to an NFL team, has been released by the St. Louis Rams, the team has announced.

ESPN.com writes:

"Sam's efforts to become the first openly gay player in NFL history came up just short ...

South Africa has condemned an apparent coup in Lesotho, an independent kingdom within its borders where the army appears to have seized power, driving out the prime minister. Lesotho's defense forces, however, have denied a takeover.

Lesotho's military seized two police stations Saturday as gunfire rang out in the capital ...

Dozens of besieged United Nations peacekeepers were safely extracted after being surrounded for days on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

After rebels of the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front seized 44 Fijian peacekeepers on Thursday, they laid siege to two encampments of Filipino peacekeepers totaling more than 70 soldiers.

The ...

Rescue workers in Nicaragua were trying to reach four trapped miners in the gold and silver mine in the country's south-central city of Bonanza, after 22 others were freed.

The Associated Press quotes the country's first lady Rosario Murillo as saying 20 of the miners were rescued on Friday, ...

John A. Walker Jr., a former U.S. Navy officer convicted in the 1980s of running a spy network that for years passed classified communications to the Soviet Union, has died in federal prison at age 77.

Reuters writes:

"Walker began his Cold War-era espionage scheme while working as ...

Dave and Phil Alvin talk about singing together again; Adam Rogers discusses his book Proof: The Science of Booze; Benjamin Booker's debut album is raw yet disciplined.

Speaking at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, the Ukrainian president says Kiev is "close to the point of no return," over Moscow's direct support of separatists.