Scout’s Honor: The Mormon church is threatening to disconnect from the Boy Scouts of America after the organization ended it ban on gay Scout leaders. The Scouts had left a loophole for religiously affiliated chapters to choose leaders according to …

Permawar: The US, Turkey, and Syrian rebels plan military action to clear Islamic State fighters out of a 60-mile strip of Syria along Turkey’s southern border. The area would be established as a safe zone for Syrians escaping their country’s …

Out of Africa: President Obama delivered a flattering but tough speech in Nairobi today, telling Kenyans they’ve come a long way in the world but that they still need to clean out corruption, shore up their shaky democracy, and end …

Permawar: For the second day Turkish warplanes have hit Islamic State targets inside Syria as well as Kurdish PKK militants inside northern Iraq. Striking the Kurds complicates matters because they’ve been working with the coalition fighting the Islamic State, but …

Theater Shooting: A 58-year old man opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, last night, killing two people and wounding nine before shooting himself. It happened at about 7 pm during a showing of the movie “Trainwreck.” Coincidentally, …

Nation: The sheriff in charge of the Texas jail where a 28-year-old woman died after her arrest in a traffic stop said Sandra Bland told officers she had previously tried to kill herself. Despite that the jail staff did not …

Nation: The release of a dashcam video showing the arrest of a 28-year-old Texas woman who died three days later in jail has only compounded questions about her death. Sandra Bland was stopped for failure to signal and was arrested …

Nation: The young man who shot up a Chattanooga Naval reserve office, killing five people, had suffered from depression as well as drug abuse. He kept notes about suicide and martyrdom as long ago as 2013, according to news reports …

Greece: Banks opened today after three weeks of closure and Greeks woke up to a stiffly higher Value Added Tax of 23 percent on goods and services. The daily cash withdrawal limit of $65 has been raised to a weekly …

In His Own Words: The NY Times has obtained transcripts from a sexual assault lawsuit against Bill Cosby dating back to 2005 and 2006 in which the fatherly comedian admitted to being a prolific philanderer who used drugs, flattery, sympathy, …