Search results for

Three U.N. workers kidnapped in Afghanistan are freed. Afghan Interior Minister Ahmad Jalali made the announcement Tuesday. The workers were helping with the Afghan election won by incumbent President Hamid Karzai. Hear NPR's Paul Brown.

Health officials are urging a crackdown on candies and snacks imported from Mexico because many brands are contaminated by trace levels of lead. But the ban might prove difficult to enforce, because kids love the tart-hot-sweet flavors of Mexican snacks, and street vendors are difficult to regulate.

The Filbert Steps create a steep spine that runs up and down San Francisco's historic Telegraph Hill, leading visitors past some of the city's oldest houses and most sublime, secret gardens. The gardens are heavy with blossoms -- and local history. NPR's Ketzel Levine reports.

To receive a Rhodes Scholarship is to be recognized as one of the best and brightest in the world. NPR's Tony Cox speaks with one of this year's recipients, Rachel Mazyck, who plans to use her scholarship to study academic achievement gaps between minority and white students.

Oscar Peterson learned piano from his father, beginning a career in which he became world famous for his strong technique and powerful sense of swing. He is best known for the trios he put together in the 1950s and 1960s. On this album, The Peterson Trio shows why it ranks with some of the best small groups in jazz.

A new play about Iraq is drawing strong reviews in New York. Nine Parts of Desire is a solo performance by Iraqi-American actor Heather Raffo, who gives voice to nine different Iraqi women. NPR's Deborah Amos reports.

As Jay Allison — curator of the "Quest for Hidden Kitchens" — says, "If there is a single unifying theme to the hours of phone messages we've received, it's not about food, but fellowship." We end the year by sharing some of the hundreds of messages that have come in to the Hidden Kitchens phone line.

The strongest earthquake in 40 years hit Southeast Asia Sunday morning, setting off tsunamis that killed thousands. Measured at 8.9, the earthquake is the most powerful recorded since a 9.2 quake hit Alaska in 1964.

NPR's Noah Adams reports on a bottleneck at the biggest port in the United States. Demand for cheap goods from Asia has never been higher, but container ships sometimes have to wait in long lines to unload their goods.

NPR's Joe Palca speaks with John Lancaster, South Asian bureau chief for The Washington Post reporting from Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, about disaster relief strategy in that country following Sunday's deadly tsunami.