A bombing on a bus carrying female university students was followed by an attack on the hospital where the victims had been taken. The attacks came just hours after militants destroyed a historic residence that had once been used by the country's founding father.

NPR has learned that the Obama administration, under pressure to lift a cloak of secrecy, is considering whether to declassify a court order that gives the National Security Agency the power to gather phone call record information on millions of Americans.

NPR has learned that the Obama administration, under pressure to lift a cloak of secrecy, is considering whether to declassify a court order that gives the National Security Agency the power to gather phone call record information on millions of Americans.

The United Negro College Fund's new campaign shows just how much the way we talk about and around race has changed.

Nevertheless, the fire that started on Tuesday is being called the most destructive fire in Colorado's history.

The Turkish government has offered to avoid bulldozing the park, but protesters say other demands have not been met.

The infamous Boston mobster Whitey Bulger is on trial after decades of alleged crimes, including 19 murders. Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks with Dick Lehr, co-author of "Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mobster," about the trial.

Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks to award winning Turkish novelist Elif Shafak about the nature and deeper causes of the protests in Turkey, which erupted two weeks ago.

June 16th isn't just Father's Day; it's also National Fudge Day. The first batch of fudge was concocted in Baltimore in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, fudge-making arrived on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan, which today has a legitimate claim as the modern day fudge capital.

Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks with bioethicist Arthur Caplan of New York University about Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that isolated human genes may not be patented — and the implications for that ruling.

Last year Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talked with Music Man Murray in Los Angeles and his struggle to find a home for his huge vinyl album collection. Now Scott has an update, with a happy ending.

Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks with ESPN's Howard Bryant about sports. This week-- hockey's Stanley Cup finals are under way, and after a thrilling three-overtime first game, the Chicago Blackhawks lead the Boston Bruins one game to none. Plus, can the San Antonio Spurs find a way to put down the Miami Heat and win the NBA Championship?

This week the Obama administration announced it would send weapons to the Syrian rebels, because of credible evidence Syrian government forces had indeed used chemical weapons. Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Deborah Amos about how Syrians are reacting to the news.

Summers are swelteringly hot in Pakistan. So, when there's no power for up to 18 hours a day (and you can't afford a generator) what do you do? Head for the nearest lake. NPR's Philip Reeves reports from Lake View Park, on the edge of Islamabad's edge.

A replica of an 1862 canal schooner, is sailing historic waterways in Vermont, New York, and Quebec to commemorate the War of 1812.

Weekend Edition Saturday Scott Simon remembers the controversy when the first Automatic Teller Machines started popping up in the 1970s. Today there's an electronic transaction, and record of just about everything we say, read, purchase or do.

Lawmakers will head back to work next week to try to patch the state's $100 billion pension hole. Every day they don't act, the burden on Illinois taxpayers grows larger.

A secret court has issued a secret opinion that says yes. We asked legal scholars to look at the law and explain whether they think the National Security Agency's data-collection program is supported by the statute.

This week, the Internet radio broadcaster bought a radio station in Rapid City, S.D., in an effort to get the more favorable royalty rates given to terrestrial broadcasters. But the move has songwriters and composers up in arms.

National polls show a growing acceptance of gay men and women, but often the transgender community is left out of the discussion. Young transgender people face discrimination in all aspects of life, and many find themselves on the streets.