Mark Memmott

There was a strong increase in sales of existing homes in July, the National Association of Realtors reports, in yet another sign that the important housing sector is back on its feet.

In fact, says The Associated Press, sales approached "a healthy level for the first time since November 2009."

An Egyptian court has ordered that former President Hosni Mubarak be released from custody while he awaits a retrial on charges related to the killing of protesters during the 2011 protests that led to the toppling of his government, NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Cairo.

Peter adds that even though ...

What's been a relatively amusing trend in New England — the theft in the past year of more than 550 advertising signs featuring actor David Hasselhoff — isn't funny anymore.

A clerk who works at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Shelton, Conn., "remains in critical condition after falling while ...

Update at 10:18 a.m. ET. 35 Years:

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who was responsible for the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history, was sentenced by a military judge to 35 years in prison Wednesday, according to reporters covering the trial at Fort Meade, Md. He'll get ...

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- New Reports Of Chemical Weapons In Syria; Dozens May Be Dead.

-- School Clerk In Georgia Persuaded Gunman To Lay Down Weapons.

-- Kodak Reinvents Itself, Judge Approves Bankruptcy Exit.

-- Book News: Barnes & Noble ...

Tuesday's terrifying incident at an elementary school near Atlanta — in which a gunman with an assault rifle and other weapons entered the building — ended with no one being hurt after a school clerk apparently spent about an hour talking to the young man. She says she ...

(We most recently updated this post at 9:10 a.m. ET.)

"Two Syrian pro-opposition groups are claiming that dozens of people were killed Wednesday in a poisonous gas attack near Damascus," NPR's Jean Cochran reported earlier this morning on our Newscast. The groups are blaming the attack on government ...

Elmore Leonard, the crime novelist whose best-sellers included Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky and Maximum Bob, died Tuesday morning at his Detroit-area home, according to statements from his longtime researcher Gregg Sutter on Twitter and to The Detroit News.

He was 87 and was recently hospitalized after ...

We're glad to report that 87-year-old comic actor Dick Van Dyke is alive and well after some scary moments Monday on a Los Angeles freeway.

We're also glad to be able to say that he's still got his sense of humor.

"Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!!"

When Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev arrived at the city's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on April 19 he had "multiple gunshot wounds, the most severe of which appears to have entered through the left side inside of his mouth and exited the left face," ...

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Egypt: U.S. Aid 'Secretly' Cut; Brotherhood Leader Arrested.

-- History Made With Charges Against Pakistan's Musharraf.

-- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz To Renounce Canadian Citizenship.

-- Book News: Albert Murray, Opponent Of Black Separatism, Dies At ...

For all you royal watchers:

"Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge have bypassed professional photographers and chosen family snapshots for the first official images of their new son, Prince George," as The Associated Press writes.

"Royal officials on Tuesday released photos of Kate holding the swaddled ...

The indictment Tuesday of former Pakistani President and army chief Pervez Musharraf on murder charges connected to the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is an unprecedented exercise of power by a civilian court in a country long dominated by the nation's military, NPR's ...

(We put a new top on this post at 11:50 a.m. ET and added a new development being reported by the AP at 2 p.m. ET.)

The Obama administration is still reviewing U.S. assistance to Egypt and it's incorrect to say that such aid has been "secretly" put on hold, ...

After fewer than 21 months on the job, NPR CEO Gary Knell announced at mid-day Monday that he's leaving the organization to become president and CEO at the National Geographic Society.

In a message to a surprised staff, Knell said he was "approached by the organization recently and ...

There was high drama Sunday night at Boston's Fenway Park. In the second inning, Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster threw four straight pitches that sure seemed to be designed to hit New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, of course, is appealing a 211-game suspension for allegedly ...

Cedar Walton, a National Endowment for the Arts "jazz master" known as "one of the great hard bop pianists," died early Monday at his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to WBGO's The Checkout. He was 79.

His NEA bio page says that:

"Walton ...

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Attacks, Reprisals And Church Burnings As Egypt Teeters

-- Reports: Mubarak Might Be Freed While Awaiting New Trial

-- 'U.K. Puppets' Detained His Partner, NSA Leak Reporter Says

-- Has Voyager 1 Left The Solar System?

As fears of civil war rise in Egypt, there are these reports that:

-- "Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president overthrown in an uprising in 2011, will be released from jail soon after a prosecutor cleared him in a corruption case, his lawyer and a judicial source said ...

The detention for nine hours Sunday of journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner by authorities at London's Heathrow Airport was an attack "on the news-gathering process and journalism," Greenwald writes on The Guardian's website.

Greenwald, one of the correspondents who in June brought "NSA leaker" Edward Snowden's secrets ...