National and World News from NPR

Pages

The Two-Way
12:10 pm
Thu March 8, 2012

While Controversial, 'Kony 2012' Has Put Focus On Atrocities

Credit Stuart Price / AP
The leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, in 2006.
The Two-Way
12:03 pm
Thu March 8, 2012

A Scoop, Really? BuzzFeed, Breitbart.com Spar For Credit On Obama Video

Credit Frontline
A still frame from a video shot in 1990.

Last night a bewildering debate broke out on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight over video posted online yesterday of a young Barack Obama speaking at a student protest at Harvard Law School more than two decades ago.

The debate focused on whether the new BuzzFeed website or Breitbart.com deserved credit for the scoop.

My bewilderment stemmed from the question of why anyone would consider this video to be a scoop at all.

Read more
Afghanistan
11:43 am
Thu March 8, 2012

For Afghan Policewomen, Sex Abuse Is A Job Hazard

Originally published on Thu March 8, 2012 5:33 pm

The image of Afghan women wearing police and army uniforms is meant to inspire pride and hope for a future where the rights of women will be protected in Afghanistan.

So why would female police officers in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif be ashamed to admit they wear the badge?

"Except my very close family members, no one really knows that I am a police officer," said one woman at a NATO training session.

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
10:56 am
Thu March 8, 2012

Detailed Genetic Tests Reveal Cancer's Complexity

Credit Wikimedia Commons
A study of kidney cancer patients finds the complexity of tumors may thwart simple attempts to personalize treatment.

Cancer may be even more complicated than everybody already thought. And that's why a single tissue sample taken from a single tumor may not be the best way to figure out a course of treatment.

British researchers took multiple samples within kidney tumors (before and after drug treatment) and also got samples from tumors that had spread from the original cancers in four patients.

They performed all kinds of genetic tests, including detailed DNA sequencing, on the cancers and found wide variations in some key traits.

Read more
The Two-Way
10:55 am
Thu March 8, 2012

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei Gives Rare — If Brief — Praise For U.S.

Credit AFP/Getty Images
A handout photo provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him addressing a meeting with members of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran on Thursday.

Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he welcomed President Obama's comments that attempted to cool off tensions between the West and Iran.

The Christian Science Monitor calls it an "unprecedented praise."

Read more
The Two-Way
10:36 am
Thu March 8, 2012

Solar Storm Goes Easy On Earth — But More Are Sure To Come, NASA Says

Credit NASA/JPL
The sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft captured this image of filaments erupting off the sun's surface and magnetic plasma blasting into space. The field of view of this image, seen in ultraviolet light, extends some 1.243 million miles from the solar surface.

Originally published on Fri March 9, 2012 9:07 am

Around the Nation
10:00 am
Thu March 8, 2012

Ethnic Mapping: Prophylactic Or Offensive?

After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, some law enforcement agencies adapted crime mapping tactics into what is known as ethnic mapping. Some Muslims welcome ethnic mapping as a useful approach to preventing terrorism. Others say the surveillance amounts to domestic spying and racial profiling.

Africa
10:00 am
Thu March 8, 2012

Fact Checking The 'Kony 2012' Viral Video

Kony 2012 is not your usual viral video. A thirty-minute film by the nonprofit group Invisible Children, it hopes to raise support for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army. Freelance reporter Michael Wilkerson fact checks the film and explains the controversy.

On Aging
10:00 am
Thu March 8, 2012

'Gray Divorce': Over 50, And Splitting Up

The divorce rate among people 50 and older has doubled in the past 20 years, according to research by Bowling Green State University sociologists Susan Brown and I-Fen Lin. Their paper, "The Gray Divorce Revolution," examines the factors driving the trend.

Pages