Krishnadev Calamur

Former President George H.W. Bush is spending his 90th birthday doing what many of us might do. Wait — whom am I kidding? He jumped out of a helicopter.

The 41st president sent out this tweet today:

Bush, who can no longer use his legs, was harnessed to Sgt. 1st ...

We told you last week about an upcoming trial in Britain that's so secret that little is known about the case – except that it involves terrorism.

At issue are two men identified simply as AB and CD. AB is accused of "engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist ...

Update at 4:31 p.m. ET

And Brazil does recover, with a goal from star Neymar a few minutes later.

Update at 4:28 p.m. ET

The beautiful game is not so beautiful for Brazil in the early moments of the game: Croatia is ahead 1-0 after an own goal by the ...

Members of Congress say they are confident of sending a unified version of a bill to overhaul veterans' health care to the president by the end of the month.

The Senate voted Wednesday to approve the measure, which would make it possible for veterans to get a voucher for ...

Updated at 7:30 p.m. ET

The violence in Iraq has intensified today, with al-Qaida-linked Sunni militants moving into areas close to Baghdad after capturing the cities of Mosul and Tikrit.

NPR's Alice Fordham told Morning Edition that fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a ...

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's writings reveal the mind of a soldier who struggled with his presence in Afghanistan.

The writings were obtained by The Washington Post, which also reported, citing Bergdahl's friends, that he had previously been discharged by the Coast Guard for psychological reasons.

Bergdahl was freed by ...

One music teacher has used tablets to change life for students at a New York school. The members of the school's orchestra have learning disabilities. For some, the band has opened up their world.

Amid Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's testimony to a House panel about Bowe Bergdahl's release came this nugget: Was the deal under which the Army sergeant was swapped for senior Taliban members in Guantanamo Bay unprecedented?

At the time of the deal, it was noted that the Bergdahl exchange ...

Updated at 11:51 a.m. ET

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers today that an "extraordinary situation" with a "unique set of dynamics" prevented the White House from notifying Congress in advance about the deal to trade Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five high-level Taliban prisoners in ...

As recently as March, the Pakistani Taliban, which claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack on Karachi airport, announced a cease-fire with the government. A month later, that cease-fire was over amid accusations by the group that the government had killed militants during the period.

The Pakistani Taliban are ...

The CIA has probably been on Twitter before, but this was the agency's first tweet (or the first it has publicly acknowledged):

Much of the response to the clever tweet from the covert agency was, as you might expect, dripping with overt sarcasm. Here's a selection:

The CIA ...

World leaders are gathered in France to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the day some 150,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy and began the liberation of France and Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II.

NPR's Eleanor Beardsley called the area overlooking the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, where ...

One win away from the first Triple Crown in 36 years. We’ll look at horse racing now, and California Chrome.

California Chrome got his name for his flashy white markings on all four legs. Legs so powerful that the Cinderella story horse now prepping for the Belmont Stakes could soon ...

Pope Francis has replaced the Vatican's five-member financial watchdog with a new team from four countries.

Four experts from Italy, Singapore, Switzerland and the U.S. were named to the board of the Financial Information Authority. They are Juan Zarate, a former George W. Bush administration official who ...

There are terrorism-related trials with secret testimony and secret evidence, but an upcoming trial in Britain goes beyond all that. It's so secret that little is known about the case — except that it involves terrorism.

NPR's Ari Shapiro is reporting on the trial, which starts June 16, ...

In mid-May, many political observers in Washington and elsewhere were declaring the Tea Party dead after it had lost every major Republican primary it contested this spring. I know, I am one of them.

That judgment looked a bit rash at month's end, as a Tea Party favorite

If you're stuck while playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? it's probably a bad idea to call a world leader for the phone-a-friend option.

But that's precisely what Wolfgang Bosbach did. Twice.

Bosbach, a political ally of Angela Merkel, called the German chancellor when he was stuck on the ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's troubled by the U.S. decision to maintain ties with the new Palestinian unity government, which includes the militant group Hamas.

"I'm deeply troubled by the announcement that the United States will work with the Palestinian government backed by Hamas," he told The ...

Back in May, I posted a reflection on what we've learned from a year of discussing race, ethnicity and culture on Code Switch. I mentioned we'd hold a live chat on June 3 to talk about The Conversation On Race — or at least our version of it ...

Alexander Shulgin, the researcher who transformed MDMA from an obscure chemical to a party drug known as Ecstasy, has died at his home in Northern California. He was 88, and the cause was liver cancer, the BBC reported.

In a statement on Facebook, Shulgin's wife and collaborator, Ann ...