Search results for

Bush administration officials confirm that, since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. government has been tracking terrorist finances by accessing a vast, international data base known as SWIFT. The officials defend the program as "legal, targeted and effective."

President Bush stops the purchase of crude oil this summer for the government's emergency reserve, making more available for public consumption. He is also suspending and easing some environmental rules in hope of increasing refining capacity.

April 25 is Yom Hashoah, an annual remembrance of the Holocaust. It is still used as a touchstone for modern-day genocide. For NPR's Jeffrey Katz, it is more than a day of remembrance

Babe Ruth gave the home run its status as a potent weapon in the game of baseball, the author of a new biography says. "Before [he] came along, the home run was kind of a mistake...," Leigh Montville says.

The deadline to enroll in Medicare's new prescription drug plan is Monday, but millions of seniors have yet to decide whether they plan to join the government program. It's the largest expansion of the Medicare program in more than 40 years -- and for many, the most confusing. Michele Norris talks with Alan Julius, a pharmacist in Cherokee, Iowa.

There are some ambitious plans to get many of the tens of thousands of homeless in Los Angeles County off the streets and into homes far away from the downtown area known as Skid Row. But many cities say they're already doing their part.

Many of those waiting to immigrate to the United States legally are hoping to join relatives already in America. But the system is so overwhelmed that some families, like the Lobos of the Philippines, end up being divided for years while they wait for visas to become available.

The Army interrogation manual, which was supposed to be released in May 2005, will set the standard for all services and include a classified annex with approved interrogation techniques. Sources say that the White House and Pentagon would like to have a two-track process with the techniques, one for legal combatants and another for illegal combatants. The latter would presumably be more "strenuous."

African agriculture is in crisis, and Africa's farmland is losing its fertility at an alarming rate. Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa don't produce enough food to feed their own people, while population growth is outpacing agricultural production.

Whirlpool Corporation says it is eliminating more than 4,000 jobs following the recent purchase of its rival, Maytag Corporation. Many of the cuts will come from the closing of plants in Newton, Iowa. Robert talks with Pete Slings, who has worked at Maytag for 20 years and owns a town sports bar.