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The latest entrant in the arsenal of advanced cyber packages deployed by governments or corporations for use against their adversaries is a piece of malicious software dubbed "Flame." The malware contains a wide variety of espionage tools, including a feature that activates the internal microphone in personal computers and enables the user to monitor a target's conversation. In terms of sophistication, Flame has been compared to the Stuxnet worm, which can physically destroy industrial equipment. But experts say Flame is not a cyber weapon and its emergence as another espionage tool is not without precedent.

The CIA took considerable heat over Iraq, where no weapons of mass destruction were found. Now, as the agency assesses Iran and its nuclear program, it invites an NPR correspondent to its headquarters for a rare chat about its analysis of Iran and Iraq intelligence.

The United States has stopped buying Iranian oil, and the European Union is set to do so at the end of next month. There are sanctions on Iran's central bank and punishments for companies that help Iran ship its oil. Experts says Iran's oil exports are now in serious jeopardy.

NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten talks about the status of the international intervention in Libya and how it compares with Bosnia.

The Bacardi Rum Company was once a model of industry in pre-Revolutionary Cuba. Find out what happened to Bacardi after Castro came to power, and the role rum has played in Cuban politics over the years. Tom Gjelten is the author of Bacardi and the Long Fight ...