Scott Neuman

The Planetary Society says it has regained contact with its LightSail satellite. Last week fears arose that the organization had permanently lost touch with the tiny spacecraft, which launched earlier this month to lay the groundwork for testing a solar sail in Earth orbit.

The private organization, headed by Bill ...

It's a semi-annual alignment of sun and skyscrapers in downtown New York and it's happening tonight at 8:12 p.m. ET.

Clouds on Friday night masked the phenomenon of Manhattanhenge (#Manhattanhenge), as the sun casts a shaft of light between the buildings.

Tonight, the "full sun" Manhattanhenge will be ...

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was due to be arraigned in federal court next week on charges he paid hush money — reportedly to keep silent allegations of sexual abuse that date from his days as a high school teacher and coach in rural Illinois.

Hastert, a Republican, led the ...

Updated at 11:25 a.m. ET

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley announced today that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president, joining front-runner Hillary Clinton and dark horse candidate Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary race.

Speaking at a rally in Baltimore, where O'Malley served as mayor before becoming governor, ...

Officials are warning of more rain this weekend in Texas and Oklahoma, compounding severe flooding in the region that began last weekend and has been blamed for the deaths of at least 28 people.

Forecasters warn that the Colorado River at Wharton, Texas, could crest today, causing major flooding in ...

Updated at 9:45 a.m. ET

A dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen who spent nearly two years in prison after being swept up in a crackdown on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement has been released and will be deported to the United States.

Mohamed Soltan, 27, was sentenced for helping finance anti-government protests ...

Update, 12:15 a.m. ET:

Defense Secretary Ash Carter told top defense officials from Asian countries on Friday night that the U.S. opposes any further militarization of islands in the South China Sea, and that surfacing new land and building airfields didn't create sovereignty for China, the Associated Press ...

It turns out that the harsh winter and a growing trade deficit made a bigger dent in the U.S. economy in the first three months of the year than previously thought — with revised first-quarter GDP actually shrinking by 0.7 percent, according to the Commerce Department.

Commerce had earlier estimated ...

Updated at 1:20 p.m. ET

The U.S. State Department announced Friday that Cuba has been dropped from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

"The rescission of Cuba's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism reflects our assessment that Cuba meets the statutory criteria for rescission," the department said in ...

The Saudi branch of the self-declared Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a second suicide bomb attack in as many weeks on a Shiite mosque in the kingdom.

At least four people — including the person thought to be the driver of the car bomb — were killed in the ...

Defense Secretary Ash Carter says that Iraqi forces lack the "will to fight" the self-declared Islamic State and that they lost western Anbar province to the extremist group despite outnumbering their opponents.

Speaking on CNN's State of the Union, Carter said that although Iraqi forces, or ISF, "vastly outnumber" ISIS ...

Malaysian authorities say they've discovered numerous gravesites in at least 17 abandoned camps used by human smugglers along the Thai-Malay border. The dozens or possibly hundreds of bodies are thought to be migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Voice of America quotes Malaysia's Home Minister Zahid Hamidi as telling reporters ...

Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET

John Forbes Nash, Jr., the Nobel laureate known for his groundbreaking work on game theory and differential equations, was killed along with his wife in a taxi crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, police say. He was 86.

His death was first reported by NJ.com ...

Greece is warning that unless it can reach a deal with its creditors, it will be unable to make a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund next month.

Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis, speaking on Greek television, said bluntly that four installments totaling 1.6 billion euros ($1.76 billion) "will not ...

Hundreds of villagers in Nepal have fled to higher ground after a landslide today cut off the flow of a major river, creating a dam that could burst at any time, inundating towns downstream.

NPR's Julie McCarthy, reporting from New Delhi, reports that authorities are warning residents that the blockage ...

The ceremony for Oscar Romero — who was gunned down during mass in the capital, San Salvador, in 1980 — is the last step before being declared a saint by the Vatican.

In what is being described as an embarrassing release of a confidential email, the Bank of England may have inadvertently revealed that it is making financial plans for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, should that ever come to pass.

Earlier this month, the newly reelected British Prime ...

The verdicts for Officer Michael Brelo came on allegations of voluntary manslaughter and lesser charges, stemming from a 2012 police shooting of an unarmed couple. Brelo had fired 49 shots at the couple following a car chase. Reporter Nick Castele of member-station WCPN speaks with host Scott Simon about the ...

Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET

A judge handed down a verdict of not guilty on two counts of voluntary manslaughter against a Cleveland officer charged in the 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams — unarmed suspects who were caught in a 137-shot hail of police gunfire following

Our panelists predict what will be the surprise solution to the California water crisis.