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Nigerian author Wole Soyinka talks about his new memoir with Renee Montagne. It is an intimate look into Nigeria's political turmoil in the last half century.

A California judge recently struck down a state law requiring high school students to pass an "exit exam" before graduating. A group sued the state to suspend the exam requirement after thousands of students failed. The fight about this issue mirrors a larger nationwide debate over how to make a high school diploma more meaningful.

Many Africans, enslaved in the colonies, were offered freedom by the British to fight their American masters. What became of the thousands who accepted? Historian Simon Schama tells the story in Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution.

Cretin is a word derived from an 18th century Swiss-French word meaning "Christian." The connection is basically pious, asserting that a mentally innocent person so-labeled is possessed of a Christian soul by way of baptism and is worthy of our mercy and pity.

Germany, the World Cup host country, lost 2-0 to Italy in a semi-final match Tuesday. The Italians scored twice in the match's waning moments after 118 minutes of scoreless play. The defeat left some German fans in a philosophical mood, looking forward to the next World Cup.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, in a tight runoff race with the state's current lieutenant governor to keep his post, vowed the city will be ready for the coming hurricane season and rebuffed claims that he was an ineffective leader as the storm ravaged the city last August.

Juan slipped across the U.S.-Mexico border in the middle of the night nine years ago. Now he's a student in New York. As part of the personal history project Crossing the Boulevard, he explains the challenges he has faced as an illegal immigrant.

When the World Cup begins in Germany next month, fans from England will be faced with the task of not being too rude to the host country. Part of the problem: a lingering bitterness about World War II. Comic actor and writer John Cleese has a song to help: "Don't Mention the War."

Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in northern Gaza leave one Israeli soldier and more than 20 Palestinians dead. Israel invaded Gaza with the stated goal of freeing a captive soldier and protecting its territory from Palestinian rockets.

Hezbollah militants continue to fire rockets from southern Lebanon into Israeli towns and cities across the border. Two Israelis were killed, and more than 100 wounded, in Katyusha rocket attacks on Thursday.