NPR News

Top Pentagon officials are set to testify Tuesday for the first time since the completion of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in what is expected to be a confrontational hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie are slated to testify.

The hearing is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET. Watch live here.

TOKYO — Japan's government says the coronavirus state of emergency will end Thursday so the economy can be reactivated as infections slow.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Tuesday that virus restrictions will be eased gradually.

With the lifting, Japan will be entirely free of emergency requirements for the first time in more than six months. Government officials are preparing for the relaxed restrictions by instituting other plans such as vaccine passports and virus tests.

A judge in Maryland is poised to announce what's expected to be a lengthy prison sentence for Jarrod Ramos, who admitted to killing five people in the Capital Gazette's newsroom in 2018. A jury found Ramos criminally responsible for the massacre in July.

Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters died in the attack.

The multibillion-dollar bankruptcy settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family is grounded in an opioid crisis that has injured or killed an untold number of Americans.

Popular game maker Activision Blizzard reached an $18 million settlement with the U.S. government over allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against female employees at the company.

Activision Blizzard, which is behind the hugely popular game franchises Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush, confirmed the deal was reached with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Monday. Earlier that day, the agency filed a civil rights lawsuit against the company in federal court in California.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea early Tuesday, its neighboring countries said, in the latest weapon tests by North Korea that has raised questions about the sincerity of its recent offer for talks with South Korea.

An Arizona judge ruled that a ban on public school mask mandates, as well as a variety of other laws shoehorned into the state budget by Republican lawmakers, is unconstitutional.

The ruling frees public school leaders across Arizona to require students, staff and visitors to wear masks on campus. The law banning that authority was scheduled to take effect on Wednesday.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a ... fireball?

The federal government is on the brink of a partial shutdown after Senate Republicans blocked debate on legislation that would have simultaneously funded the government and suspended the nation's borrowing limit.

The bill, which needed 60 votes to proceed, failed 48-50, as Republicans followed through on a threat to block the spending measure over objections to an unrelated spending package currently being negotiated by Democrats.

Dozens of Massachusetts State Police troopers have put in their resignation papers following the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the State Police Association of Massachusetts said.

Under Gov. Charlie Baker's executive order issued last month, all executive department employees are required to show proof of vaccination on or before Oct. 17, or they will be fired.