Scott Neuman

What's to be done about Edward Snowden?

As the courts consider whether the National Security Agency's surveillance practices are constitutional, NPR's Morning Edition is speaking to individuals making the case for and against granting clemency for the man whose leaks cast a spotlight on U.S. spying.

Host David Greene ...

The White House has approved NASA's call for four more years for the International Space Station, ensuring that the orbiting science laboratory will keep going for another decade, according to documents obtained by The Orlando Sentinel.

The newspaper writes:

"The decision follows years of pressure by top NASA ...

This post was updated at 11:20 a.m. ET.

Last year ended on a high note for U.S. employment, with December ticking off 238,000 new private-sector jobs, topping the previous month for the best showing of 2013, according to the latest data from the ADP National Employment Report.

The survey ...

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a book due out later this month, describes President Obama as "a man of personal integrity" who nonetheless was skeptical of his administration's "surge" strategy in Afghanistan and openly distrustful of the military leadership, The Washington Post and The New York Times ...

The United Nations says it can no longer verify the death toll in Syria's civil war and, as of Tuesday, will leave the figure at 100,000, where it stood in late July.

"It was always a very difficult figure," Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. Office ...

In a combative interview from North Korea, former NBA star Dennis Rodman defended his "basketball diplomacy" in the repressive country and seemed to imply that he believes American businessman Kenneth Bae, sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for allegedly trying to overthrow the Kim Jong Un regime, is guilty.

This post was updated at 12:00 p.m. ET.

A three-month extension of federal unemployment benefits for 1.3 million jobless Americans won a key procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday.

The 60-37 vote indicates there's enough Republican support to move the Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which expired on Dec. 28, forward ...

Plans for a Christian theme park in Northern Kentucky featuring a 510-foot-long replica of Noah's Ark are likely to sink unless the project raises millions of dollars from investors in the coming weeks.

The Courier-Journal reports that the project, undertaken by the Christian non-profit Answers in Genesis, has ...

Panama's president on Monday expressed confidence that a multi-billion dollar Panama Canal expansion will get back on track after a European-led consortium threatened to halt construction unless it gets paid for massive cost overruns.

As we reported last week, Spanish builder Sacyr, the leader of a consortium known ...

Boeing delivered a record 648 commercial jetliners last year, including 65 of its newest 787s and also had a record backlog of 5,080 unfulfilled orders.

The 2013 deliveries were expected to keep Boeing in the No. 1 slot for the second year, nudging out rival Airbus, which is expecting ...

Cost overruns are threatening to shut down a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Panama Canal aimed at allowing the world's largest ships to pass through the short-cut between the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.

A European consortium funding the project says it won't continue the work until Panama coughs ...

Police have a suspect in custody in connection with the murder of a popular priest in northern California whose body was found on New Year's Day with unmistakable signs of "blunt-force trauma," authorities say.

Gary Lee Bullock, 43, of Redway was arrested by Humboldt County deputies on Thursday, police said ...

These words from The New York Times about former NSA contractor Edward Snowden:

"Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a ...

A Chinese balloonist has been rescued by the Japanese Coast Guard after coming down in the East China Sea short of his intended destination — a tiny island chain that's part of a territorial tug of war between Beijing and Tokyo.

Japan Times writes:

"Xu Shuaijun, a 35-year-old ...

California's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an undocumented immigrant from Mexico should receive a license to practice law in accordance with a new state law.

The ruling in favor of Sergio Garcia, 36, comes after California lawmakers passed a bill in October authorizing qualified applicants into the state bar, regardless ...

It's not been a very good holiday season for Target.

First, it was the pre-Christmas announcement that 40 million credit and debit card accounts used for purchases at the retail chain had been hacked, even though the company later said the "strongly encrypted PIN data" that were breached

U.S. stocks in 2013 posted their best showing since 1997, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up 26.5 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 29.6 percent and the Nasdaq up 38 percent.

NPR's Jim Zarroli says Wall Street's stellar performance was set against the backdrop of ...

A federal judge has largely upheld New York's tough gun control law passed in the weeks after the Sandy Hook school shooting.

Judge William Skretny in Buffalo rejected arguments from opponents that its ban on large-capacity magazines and the sale of semi-automatic rifles infringed on Second Amendment rights.

He ...

A judge has extended life support for a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy operation earlier this month.

The order, issued by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo, grants the family's eleventh-hour appeal to keep Jahi McMath on a ventilator at least until ...