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Ice balls melt slowly and impress everyone. Provide toothbrushes and bathrobes for overnight guests. And if your budget is tight, mac and cheese and a bottle of good wine can go a very long way.

President Obama kept a campaign promise Monday by overturning President Bush's restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. But the stem cell executive order — and a companion presidential memo intended to rebuild the wall between politics and science — aren't helping the administration's efforts to reach out to the pro-life community.

The Obama administration is setting deadlines for GM and Chrysler and trying to force them into a painful restructuring. GM has 60 days to extract concessions from its two main stakeholders: the union and bondholders. Chrysler has just half that much time to accomplish an even more challenging task.

Thousands of Marines have descended upon the Helmand River valley in Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold that is known for poppy growing. The Marines plan to stay, one of the first concrete examples of the Obama administration's new strategy for Afghanistan.

Catch up on key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Rivka Galchen's new story collection mashes up Heidegger and Will Ferrell in an off-kilter marriage that critic Alan Cheuse says practically defines the notion of eccentricity — but delightfully so.

Writer Tamim Ansary was born in Afghanistan, and his new book, Games Without Rules, traces the country's turbulent history over the past two centuries. The title refers both to the game played for control of Afghanistan and the popular sport of buzkashi, a sort of chaotic polo played with a goat carcass.

On Tuesday, 115 "cardinal electors" will be locked inside the Vatican to begin the secretive process of selecting the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. It's one of the more spectacular and intriguing theatrical dramas on the planet.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Daniel Fried of the Atlantic Council, about what Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch's testimony reveals about the backchannel diplomacy between the U.S. and Ukraine.

As renewables make up a bigger share of the nation's energy grid, some worry about blackouts when the wind doesn't blow. But grid operators say they're getting better at balancing energy resources.