Eyder Peralta

The former University of California police officer, who gained international notoriety for pepper spraying student protesters almost two years ago, is back in the news: Today, the university said it would pay John Pike $38,059 in workers' compensation.

Pike claimed that the death threats that followed the incident caused ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called President Obama today to tell him that any spying on her communications were "completely unacceptable."

The New York Times reports that Germany said that it had received information that the U.S. had intercepted calls Merkel made on her cellphone. The paper adds:

"Steffen ...

Over the past week, two children were taken from Roma families in Ireland. Authorities said they suspected the blond-haired and blue-eyed children might had been abducted because they did not look like their parents.

Today, we get news that after a DNA test and other proof was presented to authorities, ...

We told you earlier this week about how smog choked the northeast Chinese city of Harbin, which is home to 11 million people.

Today, we get a stunning look at just how bad the problem is from an image taken by the Suomi NPP satellite on Tuesday. That murky ...

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino dropped another fly ball: On Tuesday, a day before the first game of the World Series, he mixed his sports references, proving once again that he is no sports fan.

"Tomorrow night, the never (say) die Red Sox, play in their third World Series in the ...

The Sultan of Brunei said his country would soon be ruled by a set of strict Islamic criminal laws, making Brunei the first Southeast Asian country to institute Sharia Law at a national level.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

"Islam has long been the official religion of this ...

If you were one of those Americans who just can't wait to file your taxes because you're owed a handsome refund, the Internal Revenue Service has news for you: You're going to have to wait.

The IRS said today that the 16-day federal shutdown means it will delay the start ...

Over the past year, Americans' support for legalizing pot has surged 10 percentage points.

That's according to Gallup, which has been asking the question since 1969. That means that 58 percent of Americans — a clear majority for the first time in more than 40 years — support legalizing ...

The U.S. Capitol Dome is about to undergo a $60 million restoration. Construction is scheduled to begin in November and last for two years.

"From a distance the dome looks magnificent, thanks to the hard-work of our employees," the Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers says in a statement. ...

A group of Haitian activists, including author Edwidge Danticat, had a message for the U.S. government today: The migrants who survived a capsized boat in the Atlantic have suffered enough, so they should be released.

"We believe these refugees were traumatized," Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, ...

Every once in a while, a student newspaper scores a great scoop: That's the case with the story dropped today by The GW Hatchet, the independent student newspaper of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

The paper reports that for years the university has been misrepresenting its admissions ...

Students got a smog day, traffic was slowed and the airport was shut down because of the thick smog that developed in the northeast Chinese city of Harbin, home of 11 million people.

The New York Times reports:

"'You can't see your own fingers in front of you,' ...

Russian authorities say a female suicide bomber from Dagestan detonated a bomb in a passenger bus near the southern city of Volgograd.

A dashcam posted on YouTube shows the bus traveling at a good clip on a three-lane highway, when it's suddenly rocked by a massive explosion that fills the ...

The reclusive British street artist Banksy has unleashed an interesting experiment on New York City.

As WNYC's Stephen Nessen explained last week on All Things Considered, for the entire month of October, he's sprinkling graffiti and pieces of mobile art throughout the city. On his Instagram feed, ...

Two Bay-Area transit workers performing a track inspection were killed by an out-of-service train on Saturday, the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said.

The accident comes amid a strike that has paralyzed the system. The New York Times reports:

"One of the workers was an employee and the ...

The Obama administration has started to confront the many technological problems that have hampered the roll out of the new health care law.

"I think that there's no one more frustrated than the president at the difficulty in the website," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Meet the Press ...

Authorities in Australia say major wildfires that have already scorched about 200 homes and 269,000 acres, could get worse.

CNN reports:

"'These conditions that we are looking at are a whole new ballgame and in a league of their own,' said the commissioner of rural fire services, Shane ...

The Boston Red Sox clinched the American League pennant last night during a 5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

That means the World Series matchup is set: It'll be the Red Sox vs. the St. Louis Cardinals beginning Wednesday in ...

Negotiations to try to broker a political solution to Syria's bloody civil war will begin in Geneva on Nov. 23.

That's according to Arab League chief Nabil el-Araby, who spoke to reporters after meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria.

These meetings have been a long ...

The driver reportedly tried to ram a security barrier outside the White House, sparking the chase that ended in gunfire and a congressional lockdown. The driver was killed, a federal ...