Scott Neuman

More than a week after a deadly attack by an Islamic extremist at a Tunisian beachfront resort that killed 38 foreign tourists, the president of the North African country has declared a state of emergency.

President Beji Caid Essebsi's office says in a statement that he needed the powers that ...

Three cheers for Lawrence Herkimer, who did more than anyone to transform cheerleading into an art, a science and a multi-million dollar business.

He died of heart failure on Wednesday in Dallas at age 89, according to his family.

Herkimer, who was frequently referred to as the grandfather of modern ...

Greece's finance minister has accused his nation's creditors of "terrorism" for trying to "instill fear in people" ahead of a referendum on whether to accept the harsh terms of an international bailout designed to keep Athens in the eurozone.

Yanis Varoufakis, in an interview with the Spanish daily El ...

#NPRreads is a weekly feature on Twitter and on The Two-Way. The premise is simple: Correspondents, editors and producers throughout our newsroom share pieces that have kept them reading. They share tidbits using the #NPRreads hashtag — and on Fridays, we highlight some of the best stories.

This week, ...

A sun-powered airplane has landed in Hawaii after a five-day journey from Japan that smashed the previous record of 76 hours for the longest duration nonstop solo flight.

Pilot André Borschberg set the Solar Impulse 2 down on the tarmac at Kalaeloa Airport outside Honolulu after flying for 120 ...

Iceland's minority Pirate Party has its first major legislative victory — repealing a 75-year-old blasphemy law that made it a crime to "ridicule or insult" the teachings of a legally recognized religious community.

The law, established in 1940, came under fire after the Jan. 7 attack on the ...

In what could prove the largest-ever merger in the insurance industry, Aetna has announced a $37 billion deal to acquire rival Humana.

The agreement, announced by the Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna, "would bolster Aetna's presence in the state- and federally funded Medicaid program and Tricare coverage for military ...

Updated at 10:05 a.m. ET

Syrian forces have carried out airstrikes to push back what is being described as a major offensive by militants affiliated with al-Qaida to seize the key northern city of Aleppo.

As NPR's Deborah Amos reports from the Turkish border, the battle surprised the regime, but ...

Updated at 1:10 p.m. ET

Greece's prime minister has put his political clout behind the "no" camp in a referendum to decide whether the country should accept the terms of an international bailout. But the people appear to be evenly split on the issue, according to two new opinion polls.

A Russian rocket filled with much-needed supplies for the International Space Station lifted off from a pad in Kazakhstan early today after two previous re-supply missions failed.

NPR's Corey Flintoff reports that the successful launch of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, known as the Progress 60P, which is set to ...

The self-declared Islamic State has released photos purportedly of its fighters destroying an ancient artifact in the Syrian city of Palmyra weeks after the Islamist extremists captured the city.

A "priceless" 2,000-year-old statue of a lion dating from the city's Roman heritage is seen being smashed in what Syrian antiquities ...

Former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb has become the fifth Democrat to announce he is seeking the party's nomination for president.

"[Our] country needs a fresh approach to solving the problems that confront us and too often unnecessarily divide us," Webb said in a statement. "We need to shake the hold ...

"Wow, pulled back wrong side throttle."

Those were the words spoken in Chinese on the cockpit voice recorder just eight seconds before a Taiwanese airliner crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 43 people, according to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder released by investigators.

Dramatic video taken from vehicle ...

Updated at 12:27 p.m. ET

The Washington, D.C., Police Department has issued an "all clear" at the Washington Navy Yard, the scene of a 2013 mass shooting, where there was a report today of possible gunshots.

"At this time, there is no evidence of gunshots. There is no evidence of ...

Updated at 7:40 p.m. ET

David Sweat, one of two inmates who escaped from a prison in upstate New York earlier this month, has been shot but taken alive just days after his accomplice, Richard Matt, was killed by police.

After three weeks on the run, Sweat was captured ...

For the second time in as many days, a swimmer off North Carolina's Outer Banks has been attacked by a shark.

The Associated Press says that the latest victim was an 18-year-old man who was left in critical condition after the attack, which occurred Saturday afternoon on a beach ...

Updated at 4:55 p.m. ET

An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket experienced what the private space launch company calls "some type of anomaly in first-stage flight" about two and a half minutes into its flight.

NASA commentator George Diller confirmed that "the vehicle has broken up."

Pieces could be seen ...

The suicide bomber who attacked a Shiite mosque in Kuwait last week, killing 27 people, was a Saudi national who flew into the neighboring Gulf nation hours before carrying out his deadly mission, Kuwaiti officials say. The self-declared Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Associated Press ...

Updated at 2:40 p.m. ET

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced Sunday that banks will be closed and capital controls imposed in order to stave off a run on the euro after negotiations with the country's international lenders broke down.

He said the Athens stock market would also be closed.

Police in France are questioning a suspect they believe was responsible for an explosion and the beheading of a man at a factory near Lyon on Friday. Officials reportedly say he took a "selfie" with the slain victim — his boss at the plant — and sent it to ...