News

A chance discovery by a NASA rover on Mars shows that the red planet has a form of lightning, which researchers had suspected for decades but never seen.

(Image credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/University of Arizona)

Thirteen people were killed in a fire that spread across seven high-rise apartment buildings in a Hong Kong housing complex. About 700 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters.

(Image credit: Chan Long Hei)

We invited you to share acts of kindness. The topics include new shoes, a basket of berries that aren't very tasty and an unexpected twist for someone treating the person behind them in line.

(Image credit: Ana Caroline de Lima)

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Leaked call transcripts between special envoy Steve Witkoff and a Putin advisor could derail Trump's progress on peace in Ukraine. And, air travel is back to normal just in time for Thanksgiving.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

A new study finds that about half of the physical variation seen in modern dogs existed during the Stone Age.

(Image credit: Stephanie Keith)

Much of the turkey's early history is shrouded in uncertainty, historians and etymologists say — which is particularly true of how the bird got its name.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)

Even amid rising grocery prices and increased sensitivity to environmental issues, Americans still trash once-edible food at alarming rates.

(Image credit: Keren Carrion)

Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon, amid Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history's first American pope on the road.

(Image credit: Alessandra Tarantino)

Italy's parliament on Tuesday approved a law that punishes femicide with life in prison. The vote coincided with the international day for the elimination of violence against women.

(Image credit: Roberto Monaldo)

The National Park Service says it is going to start charging international tourists an extra $100 to enter popular parks. They will be left out of fee-free days, reserved for American residents.

(Image credit: Ross D. Franklin)

President Trump brought grievances to the Thanksgiving pardoning ceremony on Tuesday. He joked about sending the turkeys to a prison in El Salvador, and claimed that last year's turkey pardons were invalid.

(Image credit: Evan Vucci)

Louisiana's surgeon general Dr. Ralph Abraham, who has praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s tenure as health secretary and called COVID vaccines "dangerous," will become the second-highest ranking official at the CDC.

(Image credit: Gerald Herbert)

Landlords could no longer rely on rent-pricing software to quietly track each other's moves and push rents higher using confidential data, under a settlement between RealPage Inc. and federal prosecutors.

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein)

No one knows exactly when Gramma was born. But if the estimated birth year of 1884 is accurate, Chester Arthur occupied the Oval Office and there were only 39 states at the time.

(Image credit: San Diego Zoo/YouTube)

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and other congressional Democrats released a video last week letting service members know they can refuse illegal orders. Kelly is now being investigated for misconduct.

(Image credit: Zayrha Rodriguez)

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Luke Goldstein of The Lever, who wrote about the rise of private equity control of youth hockey facilities.

A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's cases against James Comey and Letitia James, saying the prosecutor who led them was unlawfully appointed. Here's what to know about her.

(Image credit: Jacquelyn Martin)

Joyce Vance, author of Giving Up Is Unforgivable, discusses recent impactful decisions by courts and the Justice Department, and how her son helped her understand Gen Z's view of defending democracy.

Fighters have settled across northern Syria, surprising displaced Syrians who've tried to return to their homes. Nearly a year after the war's end, sorting out property ownership remains a pressing issue.

(Image credit: Emily Feng)