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Grand jury indictments are anticipated for two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers who were taken into custody Thursday. It will be the first time Wall Street executives have been charged with crimes related to the subprime mortgage crisis.

The debut short-story collection by Nigerian writer and Jesuit priest Uwem Akpan offers a sobering view of a world in which atrocity is commonplace, and the unthinkable is the everyday.

Nearly a third of Americans were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings. In Nevada, Arizona and California, desert temperatures could soar, in parts, past 120 F.

The Louisiana Legislature has proclaimed the Sazerac — a potent mix of rye whiskey, bitters and absinthe — New Orleans' official cocktail. A local bar chef explains the appeal and shares the secret to making the iconic drink.

The Supreme Court for the first time ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to own a gun. The 5-4 opinion said the justices expect new cases to test the boundaries of government limits on those lawfully held guns.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Washington D.C. handgun ban is unconstitutional. Chris Cox, legislative director for the National Rifle Association discusses what the decision means for gun owners across the country.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Second Amendment of the Constitution guarantees an individual right to bear arms. That's a huge shift in constitutional law; it's been almost 70 years since the high court ruled on the amendment. The decision came in a challenge to Washington, D.C.'s gun ban.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday for the first time that the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual's right to own a gun. Gun rights advocates say there will be a flood of lawsuits attempting to ease regulations on gun ownership. Big city mayors and police chiefs predict an increase in gun violence.

An ancient fraternity of assassins, a timid accountant, and Angelina Jolie — in a summer-movie mishmash from the director of the head-trippy vampire opus Night Watch.

The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is home to the biggest subpolar ice field in North America, and nine of the 16 highest peaks in the U.S. Smitty Parratt, the park's chief interpreter, talks about the largest U.S. national park.

President Bush Thursday lifts trade sanctions against North Korea and moves to remove it from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The move comes after Pyongyang hands over accounting of its nuclear work to Chinese officials.

Pixar has always focused on loss, decay, and the dark side of materialism. Here that theme extends to the ruination of the planet — and Wall-E ranks among the most sublime feature-length works of animation ever made in this country.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to weigh in Thursday on the constitutional meaning of the right to bear arms. It will be the last decision of the term.

Critics of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say the mortgage giants are too big and far too willing to take risks. They also say the companies have too close a relationship with Washington lawmakers, and that the entities shielded themselves from tighter regulation.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson spent Thursday on an apology tour after making crude remarks about Sen. Barack Obama's approach to faith-based initiatives and the black community. Veteran pollster Ron Lester and Laura Washington, of The Chicago Sun-Times, discuss the issues behind Jackson's comments and the fallout.

A U.S. government plan to restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would temporarily raise the Treasury Department's credit line to the two mortgage financiers. The idea is to shore up the companies' finances and keep money flowing to the mortgage market. What does this mean for mortgage holders and taxpayers?

Homeowners might think of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as just the big dogs of the mortgage business, but in Washington, D.C., they're known as big players in lobbying. The two companies managed to stave off government regulation for years by lobbying hard — and spending generously.

Customers are lining up to withdraw their money from IndyMac, the failed bank taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation late Friday. It reopened Monday as IndyMac Federal Bank. The FDIC says depositors have nothing to worry about.

The U.S. government has pledged to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to boost confidence in the nation's largest mortgage finance companies. Business Week's Atlanta bureau chief and a business columnist for The New York Times talk about what it means for the housing market.

The nation's two largest mortgage finance companies are in major trouble. With housing prices down and foreclosures up, they've lost about $11 billion in recent months, and all indications are that they will continue to lose much more. Joe Nocera, columnist for the New York Times, explains.

Videotape of the interrogation of Guntanamo detainee Omar Khadr has been released by his lawyers. Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was 16 at the time he was questioned in 2003. He is accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a hand grenade in 2002.

Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday that stabilizing the financial markets is a top priority for the Federal Reserve as a weak housing market, tight credit and rising oil prices threaten the U.S. economy.

The day before the Thanksgiving holiday is among the busiest travel days of the year in the U.S. According to AAA, some 39 million Americans are due to travel at least 50 miles. Many will be in crowded airports where flights are bound to be either delayed or cancelled.

Ministries raise millions of dollars with little oversight. One Senate lawmaker wonders whether the lavish lifestyles of the ministers violate the churches' tax-exempt status. Six megachurches have been asked to respond by Dec. 6 to questions about their spending.

All of the major Democratic presidential candidates met on Tuesday for a debate hosted by NPR in Des Moines, Iowa. In this edition of the Political Junkie, Ken Rudin, NPR's political editor, talks about the candidates' answers, and looks ahead to Mitt Romney's upcoming speech about his faith.