Mark Memmott

Miley Cyrus isn't responsible, though this week she certainly did introduce a lot of us old folks to "twerking":

"Twerk" is one of several dozen words or phrases that Oxford Dictionaries Online has added to it website.

Oxford's definition for the verb: "Dance to popular music ...

The huge "Rim Fire" in and around California's Yosemite National Park hasn't yet caused problems at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir that provides water to 2.6 million people in the Bay Area. There have been fears that falling ash will pollute the water there.

But now, the San Francisco ...

The New York Times' website isn't working for us, and many other users, again this morning. As All Tech Considered reported Tuesday evening, the Times appears to be the victim of another hacking by the Syrian Electronic Army — a pro-Assad organization that has previously taken over the ...

Some of the latest developments related to the crisis in Syria and the increasing likelihood that the U.S. and its allies will soon launch missile strikes on targets there in response to last week's alleged use of chemical weapons by the regime of President Bashar Assad:

-- U.N. Security Council. ...

The real-life garage in Arlington, Va., where Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward met with his secret source "Deep Throat" as the Watergate scandal unfolded is likely to be demolished sometime in the next few years.

A local blog, ARLnow, writes that:

"Monday Properties plans to tear down ...

A one-time aide in the Washington office of Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann "will have a theft charge against him dropped if he completes 32 hours of community service over several months," The Associated Press writes.

The Hill adds that Javier Sanchez "reached a deferred prosecution ...

Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning is willing to pay for estrogen treatments that would lead to breast development and other female characteristics, the lawyer for the former Bradley Manning tells The Associated Press.

According to the wire service:

"Attorney David Coombs told The Associated Press on Monday that ...

Two key economic indicators — home prices and consumer confidence — both seem to signal that slow, steady economic growth lies ahead.

Tuesday's reports:

-- Confidence. The Conference Board's widely watched consumer confidence index increased only slightly in August, to 81.5 from 81 in July, the business research ...

Did "NSA leaker" Edward Snowden really surprise Russian officials when he showed up at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on June 23?

Maybe not.

The Associated Press writes that, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, a Russian goverment official says that "Snowden appeared at the Russian ...

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Crisis In Syria: U.S. Likely To Act Soon, AP Reports.

-- STUNNING VIDEO: Pilots' View Of California's Rim Fire.

Other news:

-- "U.S. Ready To Launch Syria Strike" If Ordered, Defense Secretary Hagel Says. (BBC News)

-- "German ...

While we tap away on our keyboards, "Book News" blogger Annalissa Quinn remains on vacation. We're not jealous, of course.

As we've said, Annalisa may have her feet up relaxing in some exotic locale, but she asks that "hot tips, scurrilous attacks and existential questions" be directed to

The view from space is amazing.

But perhaps even more impressive is the view from the cockpits of California Air National Guard as crews battle the huge Rim Fire burning near Yosemite National Park.

Our colleagues at KQED's News Fix blog have posted a series of ...

(We added a new top to this post at 1:15 p.m. ET.)

"Anyone who approaches this logically" would conclude that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad is responsible for last week's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that reportedly left hundreds dead and thousands more injured, White House spokesman Jay ...

"There is no second chance ... there is no margin of error whatsoever."

That's why, says Dr. Omer Mei-Dan, he and others who enjoy base jumping and wingsuit flying are grieving but aren't surprised by the recent deaths of two high-profile extreme sports enthusiasts.

Mark Sutton, the English ...

"I didn't do this to do any hating on anyone. I did this to be funny. I did it to be a joke," says Tuffy Gessling, the rodeo clown behind a skit at the Missouri State Fair earlier this month that sparked outrage when a masked "President Obama" ...

Sarah Murnaghan, whose plight prompted a national debate about transplant policies when she came close to dying while waiting for new lungs, could leave a Philadelphia hospital as soon as Tuesday, CNN says.

Sarah has turned 11 since we last checked in on her. ...

Newly declassified CIA documents "combined with exclusive interviews with former intelligence officials, reveal new details about the depth of the United States' knowledge of how and when Iraq" used chemical weapons against Iran in the 1980s, Foreign Policy reports.

According to the magazine:

"In 1988, during the ...

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Talk Of Strike On Syria Moves From 'Will It Happen?' To When.

-- Pain, Loss And Tears Come With Medal Of Honor.

-- 'Fire Tracker': Online Tool To Monitor Blaze Near Yosemite.

-- Did Miley Cyrus ...

You may have to turn off your television today if you wish to avoid seeing clips of one-time squeaky clean Disney star Miley Cyrus as she "twerked and gyrated, stripped and swayed," Sunday night at the MTV Video Music Awards.

In what's become something of an annual attempt ...

Hundreds of firefighters are "digging trenches, clearing brush and starting back blazes to keep a wildfire raging north of Yosemite National Park out of several mountain hamlets," The Associated Press writes Monday morning in its latest update on the huge "Rim Fire" that is threatening some of the ...