Disaster: At least 238 people are dead in a coalmine explosion and fire in Turkey. About 120 miners are still trapped inside. Turkey’s energy minister said 787 people were working at the mine 155 miles south of Istanbul when the …

The Big Melt: An enormous portion of the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting and it may be irreversible, according to scientific reports released yesterday. Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine said, “It has passed the …

Ukraine: Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine say voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots yesterday in favor of independence from Ukraine. They said the vote was 90 percent in Donetsk and 96 percent in Luhansk, although the election was conducted in some …

Spring in Korea: About 100 Artillery shells from a North Korean live fire exercise landed in waters claimed by South Korea and the South Koreans returned fire, lobbing about 300 shells into northern waters. All the shells landed in the …

The Finish Line: New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio won 73% of the vote to be elected the city’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years. He ran against Mayor Bloomberg’s detested “stop and frisk” police techniques, but his …

Day Four: Gunfire and explosions can still be heard from inside the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi as the Kenyan army continues to hunt for militants. Despite announcements yesterday that the situation is under control and the siege was over, …

Musharref Charged: A Pakistani court today indicted former President Pervez Musharraf for murder in connection with the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf was an army general who took power and his indictment is considered a bold …

 National: The stock market is down this morning on news that the US added only 88,000 jobs in March, compared to 268,000 in February. Even so, the unemployment rate ticked down from 7.7% to 7.6%. President Obama will offer a …

National: South Dakota became the first state to enact a law to allow public school teachers and school employees to carry guns to work. The National Rifle Association lobbied in favor of the bill. The law leaves it up to …