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NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution, and David Brooks of The New York Times, about New Zealand's gun reform and developments in the Middle East.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Scott Greer, political scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, about how states are reinventing federalism amid an absence of federal leadership.

In the next presidential election, voters might choose between the oldest would-be president ever, and the second oldest. NPR talked with seniors about electing a president their age.

William Dodd served for four years as the ambassador to Germany before resigning — after repeated clashes with both Nazi Party officials and the State Department. Erik Larson chronicles Dodd's time in Berlin in his new book, In the Garden of Beasts.

Jay-Z is one of the most successful hip-hop artists of all time. On Fresh Air, he discusses growing up in Brooklyn surrounded by drugs and violence, and the stories behind many of his famous songs.

A birthday and a spate of bad polls highlight the one weakness Biden cannot really address. He was 78 when he took office. He'd be 86 leaving a second term.

In the 40 years since the birth of the Internet on Oct. 29, 1969, the Web has transformed how we live our lives. It has also spawned a new class of celebrity: the blogger. Three bloggers — one in London, one in Shanghai, China, and one in Mumbai, India — share their stories. Philip Reeves Louisa Lim, Vickie Barker

Sophisticated criminals prey on the poor, luring them with false promises of lucrative jobs before depriving them of their organs. The "kidney mafias" benefit from powerful political connections.

Two centers of culture are in conflict on the banks of the Thames in London. One is the world renowned South Bank Center of the Arts, with four resident orchestras, including the London Philharmonic. It also has conservatories, the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The other cultural landmark is the Undercroft, a dark, concrete cavern, covered in graffiti, that lies beneath the Arts Center and looks out on to the Thames. It's the birthplace and temple of British skate boarding. For forty uninterrupted years it has been hallowed ground for those who regard skate boarding as an art form every bit as legitimate as anything performed in the concert halls above. But now the South Bank Arts Center is trying to force the skateboarders to a different location, so the Undercroft can be leased to restaurants. And the skate boarders are mobilizing to resist.

The president's review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan is due in the coming days. Even as the administration looks for a path out of the country, observers are casting doubt on progress so far -- and Afghans say the war in the country is a long struggle that has just begun.