Scott Neuman

This post was last updated at 6:40 p.m. ET.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 298 passengers and crew aboard has crashed in eastern Ukraine in an area of the country that has been wracked by a separatist insurgency.

The airline's senior vice president and European chief, Huib Gorter, told ...

Australia became the first country in the world to repeal a carbon tax on the nation's worst greenhouse gas polluters, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott made good on a campaign promise to get rid of the unpopular law.

The Senate voted 39 to 32 to eliminate the tax enacted by ...

This post updated at 10:15 a.m. ET.

A Ukrainian government spokesman says one of its warplanes was shot down in the country's east by a Russian air force jet, as the U.S. and Europe stepped up sanctions on Moscow over its support of separatist rebels.

Ukraine says a ground-attack

Calling the church sex abuse scandal a "leprosy in our house," Pope Francis tells an Italian newspaper that 1 in 50 Catholic clerics are pedophiles.

In an interview with Eugenio Scalfari, the 90-year-old founder of La Repubblica, Francis is quoted as saying that advisers in the Church "reassure me" that ...

Bathers at a beach in Novosibirsk, central Russia, went from a stifling 105F to 71F in a matter of seconds as a cold front swept over them, dropping what is described as golf-ball sized hail.

The freak storm was captured on video (above).

The Telegraph says:

"Some people ...

This post was updated at 2:05 p.m. ET.

Private space venture Orbital Sciences Corp. launched its second resupply mission to the International Space Station in a perfect launch from at Wallops Island, Va, after several delays.

The Antares rocket, carrying an unmanned Cygnus resupply capsule packed with 3,293 ...

Retired Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu, who describes as "disgraceful" the way former South African President Nelson Mandela was treated in his last, enfeebled days, has thrown his support behind a British assisted-dying bill.

"I have been fortunate to spend my life working for dignity for the living. Now I wish ...

Moscow says artillery shells fired from Ukrainian territory killed one person and wounded two others in a Russian border town. The Kremlin has been threatening Kiev with "irreversible consequences" over the incident, which Ukrainian officials have denied.

Reuters says that while both Russia and Ukraine have reported cross-border exchanges ...

This post was updated at 4:45 p.m. ET.

Thousands of people are fleeing a border town in the Gaza Strip after Israel dropped leaflets warning of stepped up attacks on the sixth day of an offensive. Meanwhile, an Israeli commando squad crossed into Gaza today to destroy a Hamas rocket-launching ...

Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates have agreed to a full recount of ballots cast last month, in a deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that's aimed at resolving a potentially damaging political deadlock.

The 100 percent recount is set to begin within 24 hours, and a presidential inauguration, ...

Comedian Tracy Morgan, who was seriously hurt last month when his limousine was hit by a Wal-Mart truck going 20 mph over the speed limit, is suing the retail giant for negligence.

The complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, says that Wal-Mart should have known ...

Citing an anthrax scare and other safety concerns, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has temporarily shut down two of its laboratories.

The announcement on Friday follows incidents in the past month that involved the possible exposure of dozens of lab workers to anthrax at facilities in Atlanta. ...

In an effort to shore up the front line, Iraq is airlifting some 4,000 volunteer fighters to the embattled city of Ramadi, where they are intended to bolster government forces against the Sunni insurgency.

The Associated Press says:

"Around 2,500 of the volunteers arrived in Ramadi, located 70 ...

Utah's attorney general says he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that same-sex couples must receive benefits following the overturning of the state's gay marriage ban.

In a statement issued late Friday, Attorney General Sean Reyes says the appeal will be filed in ...

Drummer Tommy Ramone, the last of the founding members of the seminal 1970s punk band The Ramones, has died. He was 65.

An announcement on the band's Facebook page said Ramone died on Friday at his home in Ridgewood, Queens, New York. Ramone had been in hospice care ...

At least 120 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed in Israeli airstrikes as both sides exchange fire across the tense border. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports that Israeli tanks and reserve troops are poised for a possible ground invasion.

Israel launched a campaign five days ago to halt the ...

John Seigenthaler, the legendary journalist who edited The Tennessean, was instrumental in shaping the editorial page of USA Today and worked as an assistant to Robert Kennedy, has died at 86.

A statement from his son, broadcast journalist John Seigenthaler Jr., said his father died "peacefully at home," where he ...

It's the biggest aggregation of anchovies seen in near-shore waters in three decades, according to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

We're a bit late picking up on this (the school was first noticed at Scripps Pier at La Jolla on Monday ...

This post updated at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Calling it a "critical moment" in Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a partial recount in the country's presidential elections amid alleged vote fraud.

"We are in a very, very critical moment for Afghanistan," Kerry told reporters. "Legitimacy hangs ...

Poachers in Thailand killed a 50-year-old elephant who appeared in Oliver Stone's 2004 film Alexander before crudely hacking off the animal's giant tusks, according to The Bangkok Post.

The Asian elephant, named Phlai Khlao, was used in scenes from the movie starring Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie. The ...