Search results for

Considering that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, there are a lot of questions about how — and whether — states and jurisdictions would enforce strict abortion laws.

Women's rights in Iraq are a subject of growing alarm for activists and some secular groups. The widely accepted and seldom prosecuted practice of "honor killings" -- in which family members of women who have had extramarital sex have a right to kill her -- is of particular concern.

As millions of gallons of floodwater are pumped out of New Orleans and into Lake Pontchartrain, state and federal officials grapple with questions about what contaminants are in the water and how they'll affect people and the environment.

Historian Alice Kaplan's new book The Interpreter describes the disproportionately large number of black World War II soldiers publicly executed by the U.S. military in Europe.

The book takes place at the start of the Cultural Revolution in China.

President Bush is on his way to Asia, where he will visit Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia. All Things Considered producer Charlie Mayer, who is spending a year in Mongolia, says that when the president gets there he might find that it feels a little familiar. Mongolia, Mayer notes, is the Texas of Asia.

Before Hurricane Katrina hit land, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FEMA Director Michael Brown and other top agency officials received e-mails warning that Katrina posed a dire threat to New Orleans and other areas. Yet one FEMA official tells NPR little was done.

The U.S. Supreme Court hands down split decisions in two closely watched cases regarding the display of the Ten Commandments in public areas. The court ruled against their display in Kentucky courthouses. But it said a monument on the grounds of Texas' capitol did not violate the Constitution.

Wesley Brown graduated from the Naval Academy in 1949 — the first African American to do so. Others had tried, but were forced out by racism and even violence. Brown and author Robert J. Schneller, Jr., tell John Ydstie about efforts to integrate the Academy.

The Hollywood Sign was originally constructed in 1923. After several incarnations, the most recent version has become an unmistakable American landmark. This year the Los Angeles icon is getting a makeover. NPR’s Melissa Jaeger-Miller reports from the precarious hillside scene.