Scott Neuman

President Obama departed the venue of the annual G20 summit in Australia today, declaring it had been a "strong week for American leadership."

The gathering wrapped up by promising to fight climate change and work toward boosting economic growth even as leaders made it clear that new sanctions would ...

Updated at 4:45 p.m. ET

The White House has confirmed that a video released by the self-declared Islamic State that shows the beheading of hostage Peter Kassig, an American aid worker in Syria who was kidnapped in 2013, is authentic.

The radical jihadist group posted the video on social media ...

A surgeon who became infected with Ebola while in Sierra Leone, the West Africa country hard-hit by the virus, has arrived in Nebraska for treatment.

Dr. Martin Salia, 44, was being transported to the Nebraska Medical Center after landing at an Air Force base in Omaha.

Salia was diagnosed on ...

Boko Haram, the Nigerian rebel group that kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in April, has seized the northeastern town where the girls were abducted.

The Guardian reports:

"The militants attacked at about 4pm on Thursday, destroying communications masts and forcing residents to flee, according to witnesses. One described running ...

President Obama and other Western leaders gave Russian leader Vladimir Putin an earful at the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, today.

Obama said the United States is on the forefront of "opposing Russia's aggression against Ukraine," and referenced the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine — ...

A group of Hong Kong pro-democracy student leaders were turned away at the airport as they sought to board a flight to Beijing in hopes of meeting with mainland officials to discuss greater freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.

The South China Morning Post says that an airline staff ...

In an NPR interview with Bill Cosby that aired today on Weekend Edition Saturday, the comedian discusses the loan of 62 pieces of African Art for an exhibition in Washington, D.C.

But there's one thing the 77-year-old actor would not comment on: accusations of sexual assault that have been ...

Chicago's Shedd Aquarium has a new resident — an orphaned southern sea otter that was rescued from the California coast north of Monterey.

Someone apparently heard the week-old pup's plaintive squeal on a stroll along Coastaways Beach between San Mateo and Santa Cruz, Calif., in late September and informed ...

Sweden says it's now sure that a foreign submarine illegally entered its territorial waters last month, but it still can't say which country is responsible.

As we reported last month, the Swedish government launched its largest submarine hunt since the Cold War, dispatching helicopters and stealth ships to hunt ...

The likelihood of getting struck by lightning has long been a metaphor for something with an exceedingly remote probability.

But that could be changing.

A new study in the journal Science says that temperature increases due to climate change are ushering in a new era that could mean by ...

Updated at 10:25 a.m. ET

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today that the Pentagon is aiming to invest about 10 percent more over the next five years to upgrade the nation's nuclear deterrent, following reviews that uncovered "systemic problems" in the system.

Hagel said the U.S. was "probably looking at ...

Musicians and management at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra have reached agreement on a new labor contract after months of negotiations and a lockout, setting the stage for the ensemble's 70th anniversary season to start on Thursday. Appropriately enough, the first concert will feature Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

Management announced Saturday ...

The boyfriend of Kaci Hickox, the nurse who defiantly refused to self-quarantine after she returned from West Africa, says the couple will move out of Maine this week after a state court order restricting their movement expires.

Ted Wilbur withdrew from a nursing program at the University of Maine ...

The fiercest fighting in weeks has broken in eastern Ukraine, in a clear violation of a Sept. 5 ceasefire deal, as artillery and rocket fire rained down in and around the airport in the contested city of Donetsk.

Pro-Russian separatists appear to have renewed a push to seize the airport, ...

Update at 11:45 p.m. E.T. with preliminary election results.

Hundreds of thousands of Catalans cast ballots Sunday in a non-binding referendum on whether to split with Spain — a move opposed by Madrid, which fears that even an informal vote could stoke desires for independence.

With 88 percent of the ...

A quarter-century after the Berlin Wall that split East and West Germany came down, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said its destruction shows that dreams can come true and "nothing has to stay as it is."

The Wall was built in 1961, closing off access to West Germany to stop people ...

A fifth teenager has died from wounds sustained in a Washington state school shooting two weeks ago.

Andrew Fryberg, 15, died Friday, according to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he has been treated since the Oct. 24 shooting.

The Associated Press says Fryberg was a cousin of shooter Jaylen ...

Updated at 3:30 p.m. ET

President Obama today officially announced his nomination of Loretta Lynch, a two-time United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.

"It's pretty hard to be more qualified for this job than Loretta Lynch," the president ...

Updated at 4:45 a.m. ET Sunday

Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller, held for months in North Korea, received a joyful homecoming Saturday as their plane set down at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.

Bae, 45, a Korean-American missionary and tour guide from Lynnwood, Wash., thanked ...

Nations attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing have agreed to cooperate on the extradition of corrupt officials, a move backed by the U.S. and pushed by China, which has been on a drive to clean up bribery and money laundering in its Communist Party.

Secretary of State ...