Eyder Peralta

Camels belong in the desert. That's what we've learned since grade school.

Today, NPR's Melissa Block talked to Natalia Rybczynski, a paleobiologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, who tells Melissa that fossils she has unearthed tell a different story.

The fossils, found on a frigid ridge in Canada's High ...

A coffin holding the body of Hugo Chávez moved through the streets of Caracas, today.

The 58-year-old leader died yesterday after a battle with cancer. The flag-draped casket was moved from the military hospital where Chávez died to a military academy, where he will lie in state. The whole ...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, has died, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced in a televised statement.

Chávez died at a military hospital in Caracas at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday. He was 58.

In power since 1999, the former military commander became an icon of socialist policies in Latin America. With his country's ...

Update at 4:09 p.m. ET. A New Record:

The Dow Industrials finished in record territory today. Gaining 89 points, it closed at 14,253.77, its highest level since Oct. 9,2007.

That is, the Dow has recovered all the losses it suffered during the Great Recession.

"It really does represent an achievement ...

By a vote of 12 to 3, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved the nomination of John Brennan as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The nomination now goes to the full Senate for their confirmation. Reuters reports that timing of that vote is still unknown.

As we've reported, ...

Following the lead of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the White House said yesterday that it believed users should be allowed to unlock their cellphones without breaking the law.

The White House made the statement in response to an online petition signed by more than 114,000 people. R. David ...

During a long, fiery speech, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro said the country had expelled American diplomat David del Monaco because of what Maduro said was his work trying to "destabilize the country."

"Mr. David del Monaco has 24 hours to pick up his bags and leave the country," Maduro ...

At the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday, Volkswagen introduced a futuristic-looking car that the company says is the "world's most efficient."

VW's XL1 is a two seater, plug-in, diesel hybrid that the company says gets 261 miles per gallon "with an all-electric driving range of a little over 30 miles," ...

The government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced today that they would try to merge some of the operations the two companies currently perform separately.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

"Edward DeMarco, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the agency would begin forming ...

Batman has apparently given up Gotham for a stint in the northern English town of Bradford.

West Yorkshire Police, today, released a photograph of a man dressed in a Batman costume turning in a wanted man. According to the BBC, after Batman turned the man in, the caped superhero ...

The historic presidential election in Kenya turned violent in two polling stations near the border with Somalia on Monday.

NPR's Gregory Warner reports from Nairobi that the attack marred what had been an otherwise peaceful day. He filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"Separate attacks in the morning ...

The sweeping anti-immigration law passed by Arizona in 2010, received another buffet today: A panel of the the San Francisco-based U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stood with a lower court, ruling that a ban on drivers soliciting day laborers violates the constitution's free speech guarantee.

Bloomberg News does ...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect on Friday are already causing headaches at the nation's airports.

"Now that we are having to reduce or eliminate basically overtime both for TSA and for customs, now that we have instituted a hiring freeze... we ...

Czech President Vaclav Klaus is due to leave office this week. But, today, the country's upper house of Parliament handed him quite a going-away gift: They impeached him for treason and referred his case to the Constitutional Court.

Reuters reports that his left-wing opponents are angry because he granted ...

The judge overseeing the Apple/Samsung patent case decided to throw out about half of the $1 billion in damages awarded by the jury in a trial last August.

All Things D explains:

"Judge Lucy Koh ordered a new trial to determine damages for certain of the products in ...

Update at 4:08 p.m. ET. Report Released:

The State Department, which is ultimately charged with approving or denying TransCanada's plans to build a 1,700 mile pipeline from Canada and through the U.S., has released a draft report that details the potential environmental impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The ...

Saying it was a "sad day," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a financial emergency in the city of Detroit. He said that while it would not be appropriate to appoint an emergency manager, now, he would think about doing so after March 12. That's the day set aside for a ...

We'll get back to the real news in a little bit, but first some amazing footage from Stanford University.

As the school tweeted, it shows mathematics undergrad Ravi Fernando "solving a Rubik's Cube while juggling." Here's the video — warning, there's a curse word:

Fernando, by the way, is ...

Update at 6:44 p.m. ET. Limited Gay Marriage Right:

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to end a ban on gay marriage in California.

But NPR's Nina Totenberg tells our Newscast unit that the government is arguing for limited gay marriage rights.

"The position that the ...

Update at 5:52 p.m. ET. Judge Accepts Plea:

A military judge in Fort Meade, Md. accepted 10 guilty pleas from Army Pfc. Bradley Manning on Thursday.

Manning pleaded guilty to lesser charges, but he is still facing a court martial over the charge of aiding the enemy.

NPR's Carrie ...