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House and Senate negotiators said late Thursday that they reached a budget deal. The agreement would restore some of the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, and includes some relatively small deficit reduction over the next two years. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., hammered out the deal, which they characterized as a step in the right direction that would avoid another government shutdown in mid-January if both the House and Senate approve the budget.

South Africans are paying their respects at a hilltop amphitheater in Pretoria, the spot where Mandela was sworn in as the country's first black president nearly 20 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions, are expected to come over the next three days.

The new pope has pulled the papacy "out of the palace and into the streets," Time says. The 2013 runner-up is NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Was Francis the right choice?

Fish can absorb toxic chemicals that have been dumped into waterways, but they can also get them from eating plastic. And there's a lot of plastic in the open ocean, which scientists say can act like a sponge, soaking up the chemicals already out there.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn has lived in and covered Asia for the past two decades. He fielded questions about pollution in China, North Korean intrigue, the most fun he's had while reporting, his favorite Asian culinary discovery, and more during his Reddit Ask Me Anything.

Standing just a few feet away from President Obama and other world leaders, a man on stage at Tuesday's memorial service for Nelson Mandela made what members of the deaf community say were meaningless gestures, not sign language. Now there's word that he's faced murder and other charges in the past.

Thanks to films like 'Twelve Years A Slave,' 'Lee Daniels' The Butler' and 'Fruitvale Station,' it's been said that 2013 was the 'Year of the Black film.' But do the Golden Globe nominations support that? Host Michel Martin finds out more from Grantland's film critic Wesley Morris.

Host Michel Martin and editor Ammad Omar crack open the listener inbox for Backtalk. This week, listeners spar over parents and grandparents sending mixed messages.

Authorities have arrested a 58-year-old avionics technician whom they accuse of trying to blow up the Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita. The alleged plot was thwarted by undercover officials.

The storm dubbed Alexa has blown tents down in Syrian refugee camps and flooded parts of the Gaza Strip. It has also given Jerusalem its heaviest snowfall in 50 years, and Cairo its first snow in decades.