Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday fired the Navy’s top official, ending a stunning clash between President Donald Trump and top military leadership over the fate of a SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq. Esper said he had lost confidence in Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and alleged that Spencer proposed a deal with the White House behind his back...

A 14-ton tree is going to make Rockefeller Center its home this holiday season, and you can bet that thousands of revelers will flock to New York City to see it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2019 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been chosen.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded Monday to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for pioneering new ways to alleviate global poverty. Banerjee and Duflo are at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Kremer is at Harvard University. The three have often worked together. Duflo, who phoned into the news conference where the prize was announced, said...

Nobel Prizes for literature were awarded Thursday to two writers enmeshed in Europe’s social and political fault lines: a liberal Pole who has irked her country’s conservative government and an Austrian accused by many liberals of being an apologist for Serbian war crimes. The rare double announcement — with the 2018 prize going to Poland’s Olga Tokarczuk and the 2019...

If you’re reading this on a cellphone or laptop computer, you might thank this year’s three winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on lithium-ion batteries. The batteries developed by the British, American and Japanese winners are far more revolutionary than just for on-the-go computing and calling. The breakthroughs they achieved also made storing energy from renewable...

A Canadian-American cosmologist and two Swiss scientists won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work in understanding how the universe has evolved from the Big Bang and the blockbuster discovery of the first known planet outside our solar system. Canadian-born James Peebles, 84, of Princeton University, was credited for “theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” and Switzerland’s...

Taylor Swift fans, get ready. The songwriting superstar on Tuesday announced tour dates for 2020, including two shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass that are among her only concerts in the United States for the year.

Amid global concern about raging fires in the Amazon, Brazil’s government complained Thursday that it is being targeted in smear campaign by critics who contend President Jair Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb widespread deforestation. The threat to what some call “the lungs of the planet” has ignited a bitter dispute about who is to blame during the tenure...

Brazil’s official monitoring agency is reporting a sharp increase in wildfires this year, and President Jair Bolsonaro suggested Wednesday, without citing evidence, that non-governmental organizations could be setting them to make him look bad. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, a federal agency monitoring deforestation and wildfires, said the country has seen a record number of wildfires this year, counting...

The U.S. has opened up secret communications with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as members of President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face retribution if they cede to growing demands to remove him, a senior U.S. administration official has told The Associated Press. Diosdado Cabello, who is considered the most-powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro, met last month...

Spain tested the United States like no other team at the Women’s World Cup. The U.S. looked disorganized at times facing Spain’s aggressive and physical style before pulling out a 2-1 victory Monday night. It could have been just what the Americans needed: France is waiting.

As the Cameroon players protested and play was delayed, England’s staff and players watched in disbelief. “I didn’t know what was going on,” England coach Phil Neville said. “Are they going to walk off?” Twice, the English couldn’t be sure if Sunday’s Women’s World Cup last-16 game would resume as the opposition lost its cool in the humidity of northern...

Ingrid Hjelmseth proved to be a shootout hero once again as Norway beat Australia on penalties Saturday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup. Hjelmseth saved Emily Gielnik’s kick and Ingrid Engen, who is playing in her first World Cup, hit the decisive penalty as Norway won the shootout 4-1 after the match had finished 1-1....

Marta set a record for men and women with her 17th career World Cup goal in Brazil’s 1-0 victory over Italy on Tuesday night at Valenciennes that advanced the Selecao to the knockout rounds for the sixth straight time. The 33-year-old forward, playing in her fifth World Cup, scored on a penalty kick in the 74th minute at Stade du...

What happens if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese goods that he hasn’t already hit with 25% import taxes? The administration, in the midst of the trade war it began with Beijing, had asked for comments on its plan to extend 25% tariffs to everything China ships to the...

Iran has chosen to “step back and recalculate” after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said Thursday. In an interview with three reporters accompanying him to the Gulf, Gen. Frank McKenzie said...

Three stars on their uniform, one for each conquest, distinguish the U.S. women’s national soccer team as three-time FIFA World Cup champions. Of the 24 participants in the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France, which begins Friday, the U.S. is the only team that boasts so many feats. But this year they’ll have to face two strong lineups in group...

Three stars on their uniform, one for each conquest, distinguish the U.S. women’s national soccer team as three-time FIFA World Cup champions. Of the 24 participants in the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France, which begins Friday, the U.S. is the only team that boasts so many feats. But this year they’ll have to face two strong lineups in group...