NPR News

There's been an explosion followed by the sound of gunfire in Kabul, NPR's Sean Carberry and other journalists report from the Afghan capital.

Reuters says the explosion occurred "at about 4 p.m. local time in a downtown district. ... There was no word on any casualties." The BBC reports gunfire can be heard near the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service.

Representatives of President Bashar Assad's regime have agreed "in principle" to attend an international peace conference aimed at ending more than two years of brutal warfare in Syria, Russia's foreign ministry said Friday.

As the residents of Moore, Okla., and surrounding communities continue to recover from Monday's devastating tornado that killed at least 24 people and injured more than 375, we're keeping an eye on the news from there:

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

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Miracle is the word that comes to Dan Sligh's mind after he and his wife, Sally, survived a plunge off a highway bridge in Washington State on Thursday evening.

Some photos on Twitter ended Anthony Weiner's congressional career. The latest online image was not quite as damaging. Weiner has launched his campaign to be mayor of New York City. A gorgeous city skyline showed up on his homepage. But it wasn't of New York. It was Pittsburgh's skyline.

Fracking is a way of bringing up natural gas by pumping water and chemicals into the ground. Germany's powerful beer industry is worried that fracking would pollute groundwater.

At the McDonald's annual shareholders meeting in Chicago Thursday, Hannah Robertson told CEO Don Thompson, "It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time." Hannah and her mother were part of a contingent from a watchdog group.

The U.S. stock market indices are up 15 percent so far this year. Renee Montagne talks to David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, about the week in stocks. What's behind the broader rally this year, and why did things get rocky this week?

In Massachusetts, what's been a relatively lackluster campaign to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry is heating up. Veteran Democratic Rep. Ed Markey is running against Republican Gabriel Gomez, a businessman and former Navy SEAL. Gomez is a political newcomer.

President Obama discussed America's counter-terrorism strategy — including the use of drones and the prison at Guantanamo Bay — during an address at the National Defense University on Thursday. He rejected the idea that the country can fight an open-ended "global war on terror."

In a key test of the federal health law's ability to draw competitive bids from health insurance companies, California has unveiled plans and prices that will be available next year to millions of residents shopping for individual coverage on its new insurance marketplace.

A.G. Lafley will replace Bob McDonald immediately. Procter & Gamble is behind names like Crest toothpaste and Tide laundry detergent. The 175-year-old company has been struggling to grow in emerging markets.

The collapse sent people and vehicles into the water Thursday night. Authorities say there were no fatalities. The bridge, about an hour north of Seattle, lost its northernmost span — taking out all lanes in both directions.