Scott Neuman

The House passed a measure to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone records, approving a scaled-back version of legislation that was prompted by leaks from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The 303-121 vote, however "sent an unambiguous signal that both parties are no longer comfortable with giving ...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday put off the execution of Russell Bucklew, a Missouri inmate who has maintained that his rare congenital medical condition would make the lethal injection procedure excessively painful.

Bucklew had been scheduled to be put to death at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for a 1996 murder, but ...

A woman in Southern California who was reportedly abducted a decade ago has been found alive, and her alleged kidnapper has been arrested, Santa Ana police say.

The unidentified victim was reported missing by her mother in 2004, when she was 15. Police say Isidro Garcia, 41, was taken into ...

Officials in New York say they have arrested 71 people for possessing and trading child pornography via the Internet in what's being described as the largest-ever such operation in the city.

Member station WNYC's Annemarie Fertoli reports that the five-week investigation, called Operation Caireen, was led by U.S. Immigration ...

President Obama on Wednesday informed House Speaker John Boehner that 80 U.S. military personnel had been sent to the central African nation of Chad as part of efforts to help locate nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militants in Nigeria last month.

Chad borders Nigeria, where members of Boko Haram ...

In an agreement reminiscent of the early days of the Cold War, Russia has agreed to supply China with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of natural gas via a pipeline from Siberia pipeline to begin pumping in four years.

NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Shanghai that in 2018, Russia ...

The White House will reportedly comply with a court order to release a secret memorandum describing the legal justification for the 2011 drone strike against three Americans in Yemen, including Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaida leader born in the U.S.

NPR's Scott Horsley reports that "the document had become a stumbling ...

Updated 5:00 a.m. ET Wednesday:

A U.S. Supreme Court Justice has temporarily halted the execution of a Missouri inmate who had been scheduled to die just after midnight Tuesday. Samuel Alito did not explain why he order the suspension of Russell Bucklew's execution.

Original Post:

A federal appeals court has ...

Royal Caribbean says it's offering a 53-day voyage from the U.S. to China to inaugurate its newest giant luxury liner, the Quantum of the Seas, which is scheduled to begin cruises out of Shanghai next year.

The Quantum Global Odyssey cruise, set to begin May 2, 2015, will go ...

Despite Thailand's declaration of martial law in what the army said was an effort to end political unrest, most Thais were going about life as normal.

In many ways, it's business as usual for the country of 67 million, where the military has been in power at least as ...

Thailand's army has declared martial law less than two weeks after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was thrown out of office by the country's Constitutional Court.

The Associated Press reports:

"The army said in a statement that it had taken the action to 'keep peace and order,' and soldiers ...

Credit Suisse AG has pleaded guilty to helping wealthy Americans evade taxes in offshore havens, and the Swiss bank has agreed to pay U.S. authorities $2.6 billion in penalties, the Justice Department has announced.

Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference in Washington on Monday that the Swiss bank ...

The first person to sail single-handedly and nonstop around the world has joined others in urging the U.S. Coast Guard to resume a search for four missing British yachtsman who disappeared aboard a 40-foot sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last week.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who completed ...

NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden says that Russia's plan to end cooperation on the International Space Station after 2020 will not have an impact on the success of the orbital platform.

Speaking to reporters in Germany, Bolden said Monday that even if Russia withdrew, no one country "is indispensable" ...

This post was updated at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Federal judges in two states have ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, with a decision in Oregon overturning a ban on the practice and another in Utah ordering officials to recognize more than 1,000 marriages that had been thrown into legal limbo.

An Occupy Wall Street activist convicted of assaulting a police officer who was arresting her during a March 2012 protest has been sentenced to three months in jail.

"A civilized society must not allow an assault to be committed under the guise of civil disobedience," said Justice Ronald Zweibel. However, ...

Apple and Google have agreed to drop perhaps the highest-profile lawsuit in high-tech, ending litigation over smartphone patents.

"Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist directly between the two companies," the tech giants said in a joint statement on Friday. The two firms ...

The worst flooding in Bosnia and Serbia since records began 120 years ago has swept away homes, triggered dozens of landslides, cut off whole communities and killed at least four people.

Heavy rainfall has inundated the Balkans.

In a dramatic video, part of what appears to be a bridge ...

Same-sex marriage is off again in Arkansas.

The state's Supreme Court on Friday suspended a lower court's decision striking down a 2004 ban on gay marriage. So, no more marriage licenses will be issued to same-sex couples — at least for now.

Last week, Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Chris ...