Search results for

Gunmen release 26 women and small children held hostage at a school in southern Russia, but hundreds more remain inside. The militants have killed about a dozen people, mostly police officers, and rebuffed proposals to end the standoff. Hear NPR's Lawrence Sheets.

An apparent suicide car bomber kills at least 47 people, wounding more than 100. The blast occurred near a police station where recruits were lined up outside. A group suspected of ties to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

A pair of car bombings in Iraq kills more than 45 people and wounds some 200. Among the dead were 35 children, killed during a ceremony for the inauguration of a new sewage facility. U.S. troops were handing out candy at the opening. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

IRS investigators are cracking down on wealthy people who put their money into elaborately designed tax shelters. U.S. officials say tax avoidance schemes marketed to wealthy corporations and individuals exploded in the 1990s. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

President Bush has strengthened his pre-election advantage over Sen. John Kerry, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The survey of registered voters shows the president leading Sen. Kerry 48 to 40. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and Andrew Kohut of the Pew Center.

In another day of scattered violence in Iraq, a suicide bomber breached tight security around a Baghdad hotel and blew himself up where Sunni sheiks allied with the U.S. in the fight against al-Qaida were meeting. At least 12 people were killed.

A federal appeals court ruled that only people who can demonstrate that they've been spied on have the right to sue. But the records of who has been wiretapped are top secret, making it unlikely that anyone could rightfully file a lawsuit.

The plan to firm up a porous Southern border by sending in the National Guard suggests the White House sees illegal immigration as an emergency. But the real target of this administration's move may be in Washington, where Congress is debating what to do about people in the country illegally.

Malian singer-songwriter Salif Keita is a pioneer of African popular music who sings about racism and political struggle. Independent producer Reese Erlich goes to Bamako, Mali, to gauge the impact of Keita's music on the people of Mali and his role in the birth of the Afro-Pop sound.

Myanmar is struggling to cope with the devastating cyclone that killed at least 22,000 people over the weekend. Souheil Reich, head of a Doctors Without Borders mission in Yangon, says the government is slowly bringing in supplies but is wary about letting foreign workers into the country.