No women ages 10 to 50 have been able to reach the temple since the ruling in September. “I’ll block younger women with my own body if I have to,” says a woman who waited until age 53 to visit.

America’s Santa industry has long been a male-dominated one. But, increasingly, Santa’s better half is breaking loose.

“We must rush to elevate the sport to global levels,” North Korea’s official newspaper reportedly stated this week. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a well-known love for the sport.

The European Space Agency’s new images show a 51-mile-wide ice-filled depression in the surface of Mars caused by the impact of a meteorite or other celestial body.

Here’s why the drone tormenting Gatwick’s airport remains at large.

No public Christmas displays. No celebrations. No holiday socks or Santa costumes sold by vendors. What’s behind this seemingly Grinch-like stance?

An art as much as it is a sport, parkour’s urban ethic is one of bold, practiced risk-taking. Now its adherents say it is having to fight against encroachment by powerful interests.

Sussex Police say they have two people in custody in connection with harassment of the U.K.’s second-largest airport. It was shut down for hours for parts of three days in the holiday travel period.

The test program could lead to drone-delivered vaccines for children in hard-to-reach places around the globe.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed the special counsel, continues to oversee the Russia investigation and says it will be handled appropriately no matter who is in charge.

With striking blue eyes and white hair, Alba was rescued last year by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation — which calls her “the only albino orangutan ever recorded.”

The temporary suspension comes three days after a report from NPR exposed concern from veterans that their caregivers were arbitrarily cut, despite no change in their status.

Short of complications in recovery, doctors say prospects look good for a full recovery for Ginsburg, 85. She hopes to be back on the court for the start of the new term in early January.

“Of course, this is not an open-ended waiting process,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan added, saying he still intends to launch an operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

The Senate will take up the House-passed funding bill with money for a border wall, but Democrats who oppose the $5 billion the president demanded are expected to block it.

“I am, with the grace of almighty Allah, a successful role model for women,” Suhai Aziz Talpur says. The senior police official led an operation against militants who attacked the Chinese consulate.

Priests who sexually abuse children are like Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ, Pope Francis told a gathering of cardinals on Friday.

Rosogolla is a classic Indian sweet, so loved that a new film tells its “bittersweet” origin story. But that story comes with its own version of a political birther controversy.

This week, Christmas gifts and decorations were swiped in Pennsylvania, Idaho and Florida.

Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress praised the retired Marine Corps general and expressed concern over the direction of Trump’s military and foreign policy once Mattis is gone.

Research suggests the winter blues are triggered by specialized light-sensing cells in the retina that communicate directly with brain areas involved in mood.

It’s the holiday edition of everyone’s favorite trope! A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll tracks cultural changes in shopping and celebrating. But why not keep attributing them to generational whims?

On Wednesday, the Senate approved legislation that, if enacted, would make lynching a federal crime for the first time in U.S. history.

Trump administration efforts to undo Obama-era health insurance rules have helped increase sales of limited health plans that cost consumers less than traditional coverage.

The retired Marine general had been granted a rare waiver to run the Pentagon as he had been out of uniform for only three years, but his relationship with President Trump eventually turned cold.

The Trump administration has taken another step toward selling leases to drill oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The famous cathedral was damaged seven years ago in an earthquake. Master stone masons are still working to repair the intricate Gothic stonework on its iconic towers.

The incident reportedly happened in Germany after the customer sent Amazon a request for his own data. “This unfortunate case was the result of a human error and an isolated single case,” Amazon said.

Earlier this year, Japan unsuccessfully lobbied members of the International Whaling Commission to drop the organization’s ban on commercial whaling.

NPR asked teachers for stories of standout gifts — and they delivered. From laugh-out-loud funny to touching and thoughtful to just plain weird, here are a few of our favorites.

In a year of big headlines, Fresh Air dove deep on topics ranging from the magnificent to the microscopic. Listen back to our conversations with scientists, comedians, authors, journalists and more.

Democrats will hold 12 presidential primary debates. The Democratic National Committee says it will have about one a month through the process.