NPR

The Arab-Israeli conflict has not been high on President Bush's agenda until now. A conference in Annapolis, Md., is seen as a "relaunch" of a process meant to move the two sides toward peace. Ghaith Al-Omari and Daniel Levy of the New America Foundation discuss prospects for progress at the summit. ...

For the complete story, please visit the NPR website. Listen to the interview here and please visit the American Strategy Program's special… more

MICHELE NORRIS, host: The formal invitations are just now going out for the Bush administration's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis next week. The idea of the gathering is to formalize final status peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians and get the blessings of key players, especially from the Arab world. …

MICHELE KELEMEN, correspondent: There were initially high expectations that the Israelis and Palestinians would set out their end game in Annapolis. But despite numerous trips by Secretary of… more

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that the U.S. will review its aid to Pakistan after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended the nation's constitution on Saturday. ...

NEAL CONAN (Host): Peter Bergen is a terrorism analyst and author of two books on Osama bin Laden, also a senior fellow at the New America Foundation here in Washington. Today, he joins us from the studios of the BBC in Oxford in England. ... And it… more

JACKI LYDEN, NPR host: As we mentioned, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today the United States is reviewing financial aid to Pakistan including all assistance programs. At the same time, she stressed that the situation is complicated.

Secretary CONDOLEEZZA RICE (U.S. Department of State): The president has an obligation to protect the United States, to protect Americans. That means that we have to be very cognizant of the counter-terrorism operations that we are involved in. We have to be… more

ALEX COHEN: On MORNING EDITION today, Steve Inskeep spoke with President Bush's media adviser and friend, Karen Hughes. She is leaving her state department job promoting this country to the world. Karen Hughes acknowledged the standing of the U.S. has slipped. But she said the terrorist leadership of al-Qaida is even more reviled.

CHADWICK: She is missing the point - that's what journalist Peter Bergen argues in The New Republic magazine. He writes frequently about terrorism. Last year, he published the… more

SIMON: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Thursday, announced new sanctions on the Quds division of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and on banks with links to the guard. The administration and the U.S. Congress have labeled the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. Flynt Leverett is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation where he directs the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative. In government, he worked on Middle East affairs at the State Department and at the National… more

Tough rhetoric from the Bush administration toward Iran over the past few months was matched today by sweeping new sanctions, punishment for what the administration regards as Iran's nuclear weapons program, for its shipping of weapons into Iraq, and for support of international terrorism. The move follow talks in Rome between Iran and a delegation from the European Union over Iran's nuclear ambitions, talks which appeared to have produced little movement. President Bush insists he remains committed to diplomacy… more

From "Talk of the Nation: Science Friday":

IRA FLATOW: Up next, when medicine can become too much of a good thing. Is your health care killing you? In her new book, my next guest argues that our health care system delivers a lot of care that we really don't need. It does not improve the health of patients. A lot of it is based on, not on sound science. In some cases, it might actually leave patients worse off than they… more

"The United States is one of the biggest weapons dealers in the world, with client countries on every continent, including government's accused of human rights violations.

U.S. officials have sold weapons and military systems to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Columbia. Iraq, alone, has ordered $2.3 billion worth of military equipment.

Bill Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, says Iraq plans to pay for its purchases — small arms, ammunition and… more

Shannon Brownlee discusses direct-to-consumer drug marketing and the media...

BROOKE GLADSTONE: How do the drug companies make use of the press?

SHANNON BROWNLEE: Let me answer the question by kind of going at it from the perspective of the media, who are bombarded with information from a variety of sources.

One of those sources is The National Sleep Foundation, which sends out its poll and wants us to write about the results of that poll.

Number two,… more