HOLIDAYS WEEKENDS

Police said four men abducted the pair from their vehicle at gunpoint last week and demanded $500,000 in ransom.

Record rainfalls over the past two weeks have killed people across 13 provinces. Forecasters expect heavy rain to continue over the next few days, forcing the evacuation of regions bordering Iraq.

Park officials said all that was left at the scene were “a human skull and a pair of pants.” Many on social media have called the incident karma.

Some 800,000 Rwandans, mostly from the country’s Tutsi minority, were killed in the mass slaughter. President Kagame said the country is “wounded and heartbroken, yes. But unvanquished.”

The prime minister’s move appears to be aimed at galvanizing support among his nationalist base and right-wing political allies before Tuesday’s election.

Kwame Onwuachi’s new memoir, Notes From A Young Black Chef, isn’t just about his rise from poverty to celebrated restaurateur. It’s also a meditation on being a black man in a rarefied world.

The mayor of Brownsville, Texas, was told to expect close to 6,000 migrants released in the Rio Grande Valley this week. A local shelter has been taking in hundreds each day.

Victims are still stigmatized; many keep their trauma a secret. A new shop offers survivors an income stream, sometimes for the first time in their lives, by selling their homemade traditional foods.

Celina, Tenn., has long lured retirees, with its scenic hills and affordability. These newcomers help fuel the local economy. But a recent hospital closure makes the town a harder sell.

Last month, surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital made a medical breakthrough when they transplanted a kidney from Nina Martinez, who has HIV, to an HIV-positive person.

President Trump has since backed off his threat, but as border officials scramble to deal with an unprecedented flow of migrants, there are disruptions at the border and increasingly long wait times.

More than 50 animals were found in the tomb, along with mummies of a woman and a young boy. It’s “one of the most exciting discoveries ever,” Mostafa Waziri of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said.

Both the Libyan National Army, led by strongman Khalifa Haftar, and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli are supported by various militias. Many are worried about a major military showdown.

People who want to start businesses in lower-income neighborhoods often have trouble getting bank loans. But some investors are looking specifically to help businesses in those areas.

Hollings, who died early Saturday, served more than 38 years in the U.S. Senate, making him the eighth longest-serving senator in the country’s history.

Israelis go to the polls this Tuesday, April 9. A win by Netanyahu could make him the country’s longest-serving prime minister — and take Israel further to the right.

In “Perilous Bodies,” a new exhibit at the Ford Foundation Gallery, artists share their vision of the injustice, from the rickety boats of migrants to missiles that look like a flock of blackbirds.

Democrats running for president have endorsed proposals to abolish the Electoral College and expand the number of Supreme Court justices. Some voters want them to go even further.

The first-ever NPR Student Podcast challenge has closed, with nearly 6,000 entries from all 50 states. As you might expect, students these days have a lot to say.

In an era of red and blue polarization, purple congregations are increasingly rare and a challenge to maintain. They learn to avoid some subjects to maintain congregational harmony.

The company says it isn’t planning layoffs. In recent months, two 737 Max planes have fatally crashed, as the pilots struggled to pull the jets out of nose dives.

Prosecutors say it was an elaborate deception that involved roping in friends and family, while using nonsensical pseudonyms and a slew of mailing addresses. The plot seems to have come from China.

The 10-week trial of five executives from Insys Therapeutics wrapped up in Boston on Friday. The executives are accused of bribing doctors and deceiving insurance companies to boost opioid sales.

It’s down to the incumbent president and a comedian who plays a president on TV. The two remaining candidates took alcohol and drug tests on Friday, and may debate each other in a stadium.

Facebook is beginning to enforce a ban on white nationalist content this week. The move comes as Australia, Germany and other countries pass tough laws to curb hate speech.

Even though they might not be as eager to please as dogs, cats can learn to fetch. And some even enjoy the game.

A new report from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association estimates it will take more than 80 years to fix all of the nation’s deficient bridges.

Bangladesh wants a million Rohingya refugees to go back to Myanmar. But 18 months after most of them fled violence, they are too afraid to go back and are making new lives for themselves in camps.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office has previously said it found reasonable basis to think that U.S. personnel “committed acts of torture” and other crimes in Afghanistan.

A report from Johns Hopkins University and Human Rights Watch finds an alarming decline in the quality of health care across the country.

The device was detonated as part of a mission to better understand the origins of planets.

In a speech before the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, Biden assured the audience that he had permission to embrace a union worker and put his arm around a child onstage.

Plans to use the 2020 census to ask about U.S. citizenship status suffered another major blow. A ruling in Maryland joins earlier ones in New York and California blocking the citizenship question.

Claire Denis’ sci-fi thriller is like no outer space movie you’ve seen; it opens with an astronaut caring for a baby in space — then flashes back to reveal the strange story behind their journey.