National / International News

The volunteering spirit seen during the Olympic Games is in danger of "fizzling out", a group of MPs warns.

How the super rich have changed over the past 25 years

In parts of Damascus, life appears almost normal, but it is a different story towards the edges of the city, as the BBC's Jeremy Bowen reports.

The former president of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf has been rushed away from the country's high court after judges ordered his arrest.

A late goal by captain Corinne Yorston gives Bristol Academy a 4-3 win over Everton in the Women's Super League.

At least eight people are killed in an attack on a hotel by a group of armed men in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa.

An Irish nanny in Boston is charged with violently assaulting a baby who later died, US authorities said.

BBC football expert Mark Lawrenson takes on six-time London Marathon winner David Weir

The chairman of the circuit which will host this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix believes the event is "absolutely" safe.

Fresh clashes erupt in Bahrain ahead of this Sunday's Formula 1 motor race, as activists call for the race to be cancelled.

If it seems perplexing why an idea that has broad support nationally could fail to pass the U.S. Senate, here's an important reminder: The Senate is not a democratic institution. In fact, it was structured to give sparsely populated states the ability to stop the majority's will. And that's what happened on background checks.

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There's a lot the rest of America needs to understand about the Texas economy says Erica Grieder, author of "Big, Hot, Cheap and Right: What America Can Learn from the Strange Genius of Texas."

It's a big claim, "but I think we are big enough to support it," she jokes.

Grieder is a senior editor at Texas Monthly. She says the state's success stems from their staunch support of business. "It's a model that emphasizes growth."

It may seem simple, but many outside of Texas don't understand how much the state supports business through subsidies and incentives.

"If you're talking about an issue in Texas, any issue -- it could be totally unrelated or seemingly unrelated to the economy, Texans always put it in terms of the economy."

For example, spending on the arts: "Here [in Texas], we'd say, arts contribute $6 billion a year to the economy, therefore, support the arts," she says.

Grieder acknowledges the challenges that come with the pro-business attitude. The state has a high rate of poverty, but she says that's always been true, even in the very earliest days of its founding.

"It's not the case that we've driven half the state into poverty while the other half gets rich," she says. "It's a state that's had a high level of poverty and still does."

That could change in the future, she says, with social investments.

You probably can't talk about Texas and the economy without talking about oil. "If not for oil, the state wouldn't have the boost that it had, certainly in the beginning of the century," she says.

By now, Texas is really about energy -- not just oil. They've diversified their portfolio with developments in wind energy and shale gas.

It's not just the oil boom in the early 1900s that laid the groundwork for a pro-business state.

In Texas, "people have always seen business as kind of a friend to their cause." Infrastructure was built slowly in Texas so it was necessary to turn to external forces -- like private enterprise -- to do things the government couldn't do.

Business continues to shape politics in the state. Grieder points to the Republican Party that runs the state.

"I think the Tea Party people would like to cut the budget even further in Texas," she says, "and the business community at the moment is the one saying, 'actually, we can't really gut the schools because then we won't have any workers to hire."

Following the Senate's rejection Wednesday of a range of gun control measures, including universal background checks, many in Newtown, Conn., are reacting with surprise and disappointment. Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse was one of those killed, says Wednesday was "a shameful day for Washington."

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Ma said he thought of the piece as "a struggle for hope," capturing the feeling in Boston perfectly.

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US President Barack Obama tells mourners that the Boston marathon bombers will face justice, as footage of two potential suspects is identified.

At least 27 people, including two children, have been killed and scores hurt in a bomb attack on a cafe in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials say.

The three planets are not only in what's considered to be the "habitable" zone, but they are also near Earth-sized.

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A former Texas justice of the peace is charged with the murder of two prosecutors and a spouse, a day after his wife implicated him in the killings.

Scientists say the sun is now in an active period, creating more space weather that could interfere with the satellites we depend on for TV, cellphones and weather forecasts. From member station KQED, Lauren Sommer reports that researchers are taking advantage of the weather to learn more about the Earth's magnetic field.

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In what has been described as a revenge plot, Eric Williams and his wife are charged with the murders of a Kaufman County district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor. Williams is already in custody for allegedly making a terroristic threat.

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