Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Blue spotted salamanders have been seen walking across snow and new research suggests how they get by in the cold.

Mail theft can happen around the holidays, but sometimes, instead of getting a new iPad, the thief swipes a mail order medicine. Here's what to do about it.

The DOJ released tens of thousands of new documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Guard must stay out of Chicago.

The United States and Ukraine have reached a consensus on several critical issues, but sensitive issues around territorial control in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland remain unresolved.

The Atlantic hurricane season produced a normal number of storms, compared to more frequent storms in recent years. But the storms that did form were huge.

Religious leaders started getting together after Oct. 7, 2023, in the hope of preventing a repeat of Arab-Jewish violence that erupted after a previous conflict in Gaza two years earlier.

Today, people consider "Yule" synonymous with "Christmas." But centuries ago, Yule meant something different — a pagan mid-winter festival, dating back to pre-Christian Germanic people.

DHS's handling of the incident raises questions about the department's oversight mechanisms to investigate employee misconduct.

Crime rates dropped across much of the U.S. in 2025. That was true for both property and violent crime. And it declined nearly everywhere: In big cities and small towns, and in red and blue states.

On the key question of Ukraine's eastern Donbas, Zelensky says a "free economic zone" is a potential option.

The Trump administration bans five people who have called for tech regulation from entering the country.

There are more questions for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the latest documents from the Epstein files.

A U-turn on inheritance tax plans for farmers raises more questions about political judgement in government.

The boat, which is a family's home, will be refloated in the new year.

Tributes have been paid to the boy who has been named by a local basketball club as Alfie Hallett.

UK health agency says drop is encouraging news, but warns flu could still bounce back in new year.

Christmas is a difficult time if you suffer from a reduced tolerance to sounds, but there are ways to make it easier.

Passengers travelling on Christmas Eve are forecast to be the highest on record.

Ben Stokes said he is going through his "toughest time" as England captain, as the tourists' awful Ashes series is dogged by reports of excessive drinking.

Crooks used platform to scoop up and store banking credentials for big-money thefts

The US says it has shut down a platform used by cybercriminals to break into Americans' bank accounts.…

Meanwhile, new outages, linked to storms, are pelting the area

Waymo says it is rolling out updates to its US fleet to counter future disruption caused by power outages like the one that hit San Francisco last week.…

Reg reader introduces newborn to Microsoft ugly sweater. Child not amused

Microsoft's latest line of festive knitwear has been frightening babies, if the experience of the winner of The Register's 2025 Christmas competition is anything to go by.…

Stuck in pilot purgatory? Confused about returns? You're not alone

Feature Every company today is doing AI. From boardrooms to marketing campaigns, companies proudly showcase new generative AI pilots and chatbot integrations. Enterprise investments in GenAI are growing to about $30-40 billion, yet research indicates 95 percent of organizations report zero measurable returns on these efforts.…

A newspaper misprint began a Christmas Eve tradition joining holiday cheer with military technology

Seventy years ago, a child phoned the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) looking for Santa Claus – and found him, or at least some kindly military personnel who were willing to play along by helping the youngster to track Santa's location as he zipped around the globe.…

Time running out for savin' MAVEN as stricken spacecraft still silent as Mars solar conjunction nears

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is continuing to evade attempts by engineers to make contact as the solar conjunction nears, halting contact with any Mars missions until January 16, 2026.…

Practical steps to make an aging operating system usable into 2026

Part 1 You can switch to running mostly FOSS without switching to Linux. First, though, give your OS a bit of TLC. We'll come back to what to do next in part two.…

Plans move to Rust, with help from AI

Microsoft wants to translate its codebase to Rust, and is hiring people to make it happen.…

VMware's main challenger already embraces multiple storage options

Amazon Web Services has given Nutanix a lovely Christmas present: Support for its AHV hypervisor in hybrid cloud storage rigs.…

President Trump previously threatened 100 percent tariffs, administration now plans something else starting in 2027

World War Fee The United States will impose tariffs on semiconductors imported from China, starting in 2027.…

The bill would significantly curtail scope of the federal environmental review process.

Netflix and Apple TV dominate this year's list with thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, and murder.

From compression tricks to multi-agent teamwork, here's what makes them tick.

The launch laid "an important foundation for subsequent launches and reliable recovery."

It's purportedly the first of four planned teasers, one per week, showing before Avatar: Fire and Ash.

US drone makers are happy—US drone hobbyists, not so much.

Incident reports spiked during the first six months of 2025.

Redditor jokes LimeWire is now a "champion against the darkness."

A loophole in the rules might have given Mercedes and Red Bull a big advantage.

Splay can be a monitor and takes a lot of the stress out of projectors, too.