Hsi-Chang Lin

American and European diplomats are meeting in Geneva today in hopes of building a framework for future talks on tempering Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But yesterday, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced that it had produced yellowcake uranium from domestically-mined ore — a breakthrough that eliminates Iran's reliance on imports for their nuclear goals.

President Obama made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Friday. The trip comes one year after ordering a surge of 30,000 additional troops into the fray; but also on the heels of the the deadliest year to date for U.S. forces in the region. In 2010 over 450 U.S. troops were killed, pushing the total number of forces killed to over 1,300. This has lead many to wonder: can we  win the war in Afghanistan? And what does "win" mean in the current conflict?

We speak with Colin Firth about his latest film, “The King’s Speech,” which centers on Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI. Firth plays Albert George, unexpectedly forced to take the throne after the death of his father and abdication of his older brother. As World War II looms, George must overcome his lifelong stuttering problem and address the nation.

The arrest of 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, in connection with a failed plot to detonate a car bomb in Portland, Oregon, has brought attention to the nation’s growing Somali community. Even before Mohamud's arrest, young Somalis have often become the focus of negative media attention — often linked to gang violence, stories of radicalization and drug or sex trafficking.

It's easy to think of the Civil War and remember only the big battles and major lessons we learned in grade school: the nation in its worst period of polarization, and an unseasoned president, Abraham Lincoln, struggling to mend a nation literally, not just rhetorically, at war with itself.

But imagine being able to experience the events and elections that led up to the Civil War in real time, at the day-by-day pace at which they originally happened. That's what Jamie Malanowski is making a reality. 

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet…  but what about a song in any other key? Could the Beatles’ guitar gently weep if it were written in a major key? For that matter, would Eric Satie’s nocturnes evoke the same sense of loneliness had the tempo been increased by a few beats per minute?  

Love them or hate them, the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform have released their draft proposals to slow the quickly growing national debt. Many politicians say the ideas will never, ever be approved by any future Congress. With proposals that call for major cuts in domestic and military spending, bumping the age to qualify for (decreased) Social Security benefits, and a simplified but much broader tax base with fewer exemptions, the plan is guaranteed to be unpopular among politicians and voters alike. But as unpalatable as these notions are to politicians, is it time to start getting serious about painful cuts?    

President Obama arrived in Indonesia this morning, for the second stop on his 10-day trip in Asia. As he meets with world leaders in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, the President will talk about global security, international trade and economics, improving cultural ties, diplomatic efforts and preventing terrorism. But some issues will be conspicuously missing from his public agenda.

Four days away from the mid-term elections, there remain a few unpredictable Senate and Congressional races that could shift the national balance of political power. As the hours tick by, what will bring out the critical voters in states like Washington, West Virginia or Illinois?  

Only one week away from the highly anticipated mid-term elections, states across the country are inundated by political messages that often pull at voters' heartstrings rather than deal with political and practical realities. But just how much do modern politicians get away with as they bend, fold, spindle and mutilate the truth in these ads?

By this point, everyone's seen the headlines. It seems like a huge number of football players are getting seriously injured this season. People are asking whether the game has become more violent than ever.

At what point can we properly judge a president’s legacy? Is it after the first term, the first 100 days, or the first 100 years after they've left the Oval Office?

Over the weekend, our partner, The New York Times, will run "The Education of a President," by Peter Baker. The article begins with an American public poised to hand the president a mid-semester report card, in the form of November mid-term election votes. No matter which way they vote, says Baker, a very new presidential administration will emerge.

Peter Baker writes that “for all intents and purposes the first chapter of Obama’s presidency has ended. On Election Day, the next chapter begins.”

On Sunday, Australia will have its own saint when Mary MacKillop, an Australian nun who died in 1909, is sanctified by the Vatican. We speak with former Newsweek religion editor Kenneth Woodward about Catholic hagiography, the process of becoming a saint, and why it took over 100 years for MacKillop. Woodward is the author of "Making Saints: How The Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes A Saint, Who Doesn't, And Why."

President Obama will award the Medal of Honor today to the parents of Staff Sergeant Robbie Miller, who was killed in Afghanistan. This will be only the third time the Medal of Honor has been awarded, in what has become the U.S.'s longest war. Yesterday we talked about why so few Medals of Honor have been awarded during recent wars. Takeaway listener and Vietnam War veteran George J. Robinson explains why he believes many more servicemembers deserve this recognition.

In a recession economy, all of us – including government agencies – are doing what we can to make ends meet, and that includes states' legal systems. A new report released by NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice reveals that states are imposing new court fees for individuals with criminal convictions. The fees are described as “user fees,” as they are not the traditional obligations levied for punishment, deterrence, or rehabilitation. Instead, these fees serve only to pay back the court system as it attempts to recoup operational costs.

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, will soon stand before the nation’s top court to argue for their constitutional right to protest outside soldiers’ funerals. In their view, American deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for the country’s acceptance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder is the plaintiff in the case; his son, U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq in 2006. The WBC went to Snyder's funeral in Maryland, holding signs that read “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and other fiery epithets. Snyder fought the group and won in a lower court, arguing the church deliberately sought to inflict emotional distress, but that decision was overturned at a higher court. The Supreme Court has traditionally been very reluctant to impose limits on our freedom of speech, even offensive speech: will this case qualify?

JP Morgan Chase has suspended the legal proceedings around 50,000 foreclosures because the documents involved may have been processed incorrectly.

Overwhelmed by the housing crisis, mortgage companies hired employees to process foreclosure documents as quickly as possible, without ever reading, reviewing or verifying the cases before them. The process is called "robo-signing," and it accounts for an alarming number of seized homes. By some reports, these hired clerks were approving ten thousand foreclosures a month—some of them in error.

For many years, an integral part of the American dream has involved making it to the middle class. We associate the phrase with steady, secure work, home ownership and providing for a comfortable — if not lavish — lifestyle for our family. But has middle class America fundamentally changed since the Great Recession hit? Do people that once saw themselves as solidly middle class see themselves differently now?

Soon, there will be several changes at the top levels of the Obama administration. Following the November elections, the White House’s top economic advisor, Larry Summers, will return to his position as a professor at Harvard University; Herbert Allison also announced he would step down as the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for financial stability. Perhaps less surprising is the much rumored, though finally announced, departure of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, in October.

We've come a long way, baby...

The Macondo well may be sealed and "dead," but the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is going to be felt for some time to come. We're spending the whole hour wrestling with some of the unanswered questions and lingering issues that the BP oil spill has left in its wake. To help us navigate these dirty waters, Robert Hernan, author of "This Borrowed Earth: Lessons from the Fifteen Worst Environmental Disasters Around the World" joins us for the hour.

Also, check out our timeline of the entire disaster, spanning from the Deepwater Horizon's construction in 1998 through when it was declared "dead" on Sunday.