Scott Neuman

New abortion restrictions passed by the Texas Legislature are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Monday in a divisive case the state has already vowed to appeal.

In an opinion issued Monday, District Judge Lee Yeakel said the state's effort to regulate abortions violated the rights of doctors who perform the ...

The Syrian Electronic Army – a shadowy group of hackers acting in support of the Assad regime – has hit Twitter and Facebook accounts linked to President Obama.

When users clicked a link on some tweets originating from "Organizing for Action" – a non-profit organization that advocates for President ...

What's being described as the worst storm in years hit Britain before moving across the English Channel to lash the Netherlands, France and Germany. It's claimed as many as 13 lives, The Associated Press reports, and has caused flooding as it whips the region with wind gusts of nearly 100 ...

Penn State has reached a $59.7 million settlement with 26 young men who accused former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse, the university confirmed Monday.

"We hope this is another step forward in the healing process for those hurt by Mr. Sandusky, and another step forward for Penn ...

A subcontractor that built a portion of the HealthCare.gov website that's now working relatively well is being promoted to oversee a thorough revamping of the entire glitch-prone portal, and work will be done by the end of next month, the White House says.

QSSI apparently will replace Centers ...

One official was fired and another reprimanded in China for allowing an unauthorized "restoration" of Qing Dynasty frescoes in a Buddhist temple that produced results described as "cartoons."

The botched restoration in the 270-year-old Yunjie temple in Chaoyang, northeast of Beijing, was exposed by a Chinese blogger, who complained that ...

Nearly 17 years after the still-unsolved murder of 6-year-old pageant star JonBenet Ramsey in Boulder, Colo., documents produced by a 1999 grand jury have finally been unsealed.

They reveal that the grand jury decided to indict parents John and Patsy Ramsey on two counts each of child abuse, but that ...

Rebels in Nigeria are reportedly in contact with pirates holding two U.S. crewmen seized earlier this week from the offshore supply vessel C-Retriever, The Associated Press reports.

According to the AP, an email reportedly from the rebel group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says the men were ...

Norway has turned down a U.S. request to take on the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, saying it lacks the capabilities to carry out the task.

The country's foreign ministry said it had given "serious and thorough consideration" to the U.S. query but that "due to time constraints and external ...

This post was updated at 10:15 a.m.

A day after reports surfaced that the NSA may have spied on dozens of world leaders, France and Germany are offering to hold talks with the U.S. to establish new rules on surveillance.

"What is at stake is preserving our relations with the ...

"Please Release Him."

That was the simple but startling front-page headline on Wednesday in New Express, a cutting-edge newspaper based in China's southern city of Guangzhou. "Him" is Chen Yongzhou, one of the paper's investigative journalists who New Express says was taken away by police after reporting "problems with ...

Iran's justice minister says a convicted drug smuggler who survived an attempted execution by hanging earlier this month shouldn't go back to the gallows.

As we reported last week, the 37-year-old man, identified as Alireza M, was found alive in the morgue by his family following a 12-minute hanging. ...

Archimedes would be proud of the town of Rjukan, Norway. So would Sam Eyde.

Rjukan, home to about 3,500 residents and situated about 70 miles west of the capital, Oslo, has installed a trio of giant mountaintop mirrors to focus light into the valley town's square during the cold ...

If you can't afford a trip into orbit as a space tourist aboard a cramped Russian Soyuz capsule (about $35 million) or a reservation on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipOne (price tag: $250,000), World View Enterprises just might have the ticket: a leisurely high-altitude balloon ride for a less-than-stratospheric ...

The NAACP has selected Lorraine Miller, a former clerk at the House of Representatives, to the post of interim president and CEO to replace Benjamin Jealous.

The organization, the nation's largest and oldest civil rights group, made the announcement of Miller's appointment at its board meeting over the weekend.

Miller, ...

Michael Landsberry, the 45-year-old middle school math teacher and Afghan War veteran who was killed Monday trying to talk down a student shooter at a Nevada middle school, is being remembered as a hero.

Witnesses at Sparks Middle School in the city of Sparks, near Reno, described how Landsberry approached ...

A staff member at a Nevada middle school was fatally shot by a student, who was also killed, apparently by a self-inflicted wound. Two other students, both 12-years-old — were wounded but are now in stable condition, law enforcement says.

The shooting occurred on the campus of Sparks Middle School ...

If you tried to post a status update on Facebook or "like" someone else's Monday morning, you probably got a message like this:

"There was a problem updating your status. Please try again later."

You are not alone. The Miami Herald reports:

"Facebook users are reporting trouble ...

Amnesty International is urging Iranian authorities not to go ahead with the execution of a convicted drug smuggler after the man survived a botched hanging last week.

The 37-year-old man, identified as Alireza M, was found alive in a morgue after he was hanged at a jail in the northeast ...

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 ...