With Democrats still at odds over the size and scope of a sweeping social spending package, President Biden will attempt to help bridge the divide in a pair of meetings with moderate and progressive factions of the party.

The Tuesday afternoon meetings come less than two weeks ahead of a self-imposed Oct 31. deadline to pass Biden's Build Back Better plan, which includes changes to the social safety net and major investments in climate and education.

A Thomas Jefferson statue is on its way out of New York's City Council Chamber, after members of the Public Design Commission agreed to take the nation's third president and well-known slaveowner off of his pedestal.

The statue currently occupies a prominent spot near the chamber's main dais, where Jefferson has towered over council members for more than 100 years.

JEONGEUP COUNTY, South Korea — A pig's head sits on an offering table. Men in light-green robes and black hats pour liquor and light incense.

They are venerating a ninth century scholar and poet, Choe Chi-won, at a Confucian academy established in his honor over 300 years ago.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized in person to Indigenous leaders after skipping a remembrance for victims and survivors of residential schools.

The Orionid meteor shower, which appears in the night sky around this time each year, is predicted to peak Thursday morning, according to NASA.

But don't get your hopes up for a cosmic show just yet.

This year's Orionid shower coincides with a full moon, whose bright glow will make it hard for us here on Earth to see the meteors.

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is officially now "Ye."

A Los Angeles judge approved his petition for a name change on Monday, Deadline reported. He had filed the paperwork back in August, citing "personal reasons."

In Mombasa on the coast of Kenya is a place called Haller Park. People flock there to see 180 indigenous species of plants and trees, and a variety of animals including hippos and giraffes.

U.S. women's volleyball is second to none, sitting atop the world rankings. The game is thriving from the youth level up to the Olympics. But every year, the top U.S. women head to international leagues after college.

That's because the rest of the world has something the U.S. does not: dozens of women's pro volleyball leagues that are crucial for players to reach the highest level of their sport.

"We have 400 girls that have to go abroad if they want to continue in the world of volleyball," Katlyn Gao, the CEO of a new pro league called League One Volleyball, told NPR.

Elizabeth Strout's latest, her eighth book, had me at the first line: "I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William." The forthright, plainspoken speaker is Lucy Barton, who we came to love in My Name is Lucy Barton (2016) and Anything is Possible (2017), where we learned how she overcame a traumatic, impoverished childhood in Amgash, Illinois, to become a successful writer living in New York City.