Bill Chappell

Taking a new step toward holding bishops accountable for not protecting children who were sexually abused by priests, Pope Francis has set up a tribunal that will hear cases against senior clergy. But a victims' group says the Vatican isn't going far enough.

The move establishes "a new Judicial Section ...

A federal appeals court has upheld sweeping abortion restrictions in Texas, in the latest swing in a back-and-forth battle in the state. The court has backed key parts of a controversial 2013 law that critics say would put some clinics at risk of closing.

The ruling by the 5th Circuit ...

Updated at 6:51 p.m. ET:

Cpl. Eric Casebolt has resigned from the McKinney, Texas, police department, following actions responding to a party on Friday that police Chief Greg Conley described as "out of control" and "indefensible," the Dallas Morning News reports.

At a press conference Tuesday evening, Conley ...

Giving at least a temporary victory to opponents of the plan to close Sweet Briar College, the Virginia Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to review its rejection of a request for a temporary injunction that would freeze the process of closing the school.

"While Virginia Supreme Court had ...

Former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who pivoted from the courtroom to writing, has died at age 80. After the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate and six others thrust Bugliosi into the spotlight, he won convictions against Charles Manson and several of his followers.

Bugliosi's son tells The ...

There was a moment, listening to Gardens & Villa's new song "Fixations," that I was transported back to 1974 and hearing Brian Eno's "Third Uncle" from that brilliant album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). It's all in the way Chris Lynch and Adam Rasmussen blend buzzy synths, guitars and vocals ...

Instead of turning in a $2 ticket that would pay $3.80 for American Pharoah winning the Belmont Stakes, most people who bought the tickets are hanging on to them as keepsakes — or even investments.

American Pharoah became the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the venerable Triple ...

It's a big day for NASA: The agency's new "flying saucer" is getting a crucial test, part of a plan to land on Mars someday. A giant balloon is carrying the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator to an altitude of 120,000 feet. Then it'll go even higher — and engineers hope its ...

Days after a dramatic video surfaced of a Texas police officer pulling a gun and screaming at young people at a community pool, the teenage girl he forced to the ground has spoken out. So have local residents who back the police.

The officer who briefly pulled a gun ...

Despite being among the best-paid public workers in Spain, the country's air traffic controllers started a strike Monday. Their union is protesting the punishment of dozens of controllers who were involved in a 2010 strike that sparked a national state of alarm.

"Some 5,300 flights to and from Spain are ...

A day after news emerged that soccer's world body paid Ireland not to protest a blatant handball by France's Thierry Henry in 2009, the Football Association of Ireland is releasing more details about the arrangement — including a copy of a signed deal.

FIFA paid the FAI more than 5 ...

It started with a joke: On Facebook, Adam Armstrong listed his name as Adam West, the actor who played Batman in the 1960s. But then his girlfriend's stepfather bought him a plane ticket with the West name on it — and the airline wanted $336 to change it.

Adam, who ...

#NPRreads is a new 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, ...

In a televised address titled "The Gloves Are Off," former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner says he told his lawyers to contact law enforcement, and that he has proof FIFA and its leader, Sepp Blatter, influenced Trinidad and Tobago's election in 2010.

Warner, who posted bail after being arrested over ...

In the NFL, something that behaves like Pluto's football-shaped moons might be called a wobbly duck. NASA simply calls them astonishing.

Instead of steadily rotating through their orbits, two of Pluto's moons "wobble unpredictably," the space agency says, citing new analysis of data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The ...

There are still only 14 survivors of Monday's cruise ship disaster in China's Yangtze River. Rescue teams have now cut holes through parts of the overturned ship's hull, but they've found no more survivors from the ship that carried more than 450 people.

Cutting into the Eastern Star's hull is ...

A New Hampshire police sergeant broke departmental rules by not refusing an elderly woman's offer to leave him her riverfront house, a review panel says. Sgt. Aaron Goodwin received $2.7 million in property and stocks in an estate case that's still being disputed.

The case has set off debates in ...

One day after FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced his resignation, Interpol has issued "red notices" for two former senior FIFA officials and several executives who were indicted on U.S. criminal charges. And South Africa has denied that it issued millions in bribes related to the 2010 World Cup.

Blatter will ...

Update, 12:50 p.m. ET:

As expected, the death toll from the capsizing of a cruise ship on China's Yangtze River began rising dramatically late Wednesday, as Reuters reported that the number of bodies recovered had jumped to 65.

More than 370 people remain missing from the ship. Rescuers ...

Nearly 100 years after their heroic deeds, two World War I Army veterans were awarded the Medal of Honor, America's highest military honor, on Tuesday. Historians say Sgts. William Shemin and Henry Johnson hadn't been properly recognized for their bravery under fire.

President Obama made the posthumous awards in the ...