Search results for

The announcement Tuesday that Harvard University President Lawrence Summers is resigning points to the difficulties of running a high-profile university, and the need to balance many constituencies: alumni, governing board, faculty and students.

Tennessee is the first state to have a registry of those convicted of meth-related crimes, similar to registries states keep on convicted sex offenders. It allows people to learn if a meth lab or user is in their neighborhood.

Steve Inskeep talks to Stephen Cohen, senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, about the political impact of the massive earthquake that shook Pakistan over the weekend.

The Winter Olympics in Italy are just three weeks away. Usually these major international sports events unleash a wave of national euphoria. But in sports-crazy Italy, the winter games are being largely ignored.

Nobody won a big race across the desert in Nevada. To be more precise, a robot won that race. A Volkswagen controlled by computer, with nobody behind the wheel, finished first in a course across the desert. The Pentagon sponsored the 132-mile race to encourage new technology. The winning robot is called Stanley. And the Pentagon pays a $2 million prize to the people who created him -- or rather "it."

A group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has grabbed four oil workers and also attacked pipelines and platforms of Royal Dutch Shell. Shell is the biggest producer in the swamplands of the Niger River Delta. Financial Times reporter Dino Mahtani discusses developments with Steve Inskeep.

The captors of American journalist Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped in Iraq almost two weeks ago, say they will kill her Friday unless all Iraqi women prisoners are freed. Simultaneous suicide and roadside bombings on the same Baghdad street Thursday have killed at least 22 Iraqis.

The Pentagon is defending its use of a toxic agent called white phosphorus to smoke out and capture insurgents in last year's battle for Fallujah. If ignited particles of the chemical land on a human, they can burn through flesh and bone. John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org discusses the controversy.

Members of Congress wrap up work on spending and taxes before the Thanksgiving break. Early Friday morning, the Senate approved a $60 billion package of tax cuts, and the House narrowly approved $50 billion in spending cuts. But finding common ground in December won't be easy.

Seth Borenstein, national correspondent for Knight Ridder, talks about a report he co-wrote on the reduction of fines for mine safety violations imposed by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration since President Bush took office.