Search results for

Federal authorities charged a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man with conspiring to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan Wednesday. But authorities say no one was in any danger because the young man was using dummy explosives provided by the FBI.

The majority of the nation's pears grow in the Pacific Northwest, and this year's harvest is predicted to be one of the largest in history. But farmers are facing a shortfall that's been plaguing many agricultural industries: not enough workers to pick the fruit.

Set in London in the early 1930s, the five-part miniseries is about a black jazz band trying to crack the dance halls and radio playlists. Critic David Bianculli says this music-centered show features full, unpredictable characters and some exceptionally intriguing performances.

Jeff L. Lieberman's documentary explores the story of 30,000 Nigerians who claim a Jewish heritage dating back centuries — and who have carved out a singular culture amid the post-colonial turmoil that still affects their country.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that limits cooperation with federal authorities that want immigration holds on undocumented people arrested for minor infractions. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has a more extensive proposal to ban virtually all cooperation with the feds. On immigration issues, California appears to be headed in the opposite direction of states like Arizona.

The digital currency Bitcoin is becoming more prevalent, both for benign purchases and as a way for criminals to conduct illicit transactions. Bitcoins have been used on underground websites to facilitate sales of narcotics and child pornography. But even those most concerned about criminal activity agree that the emerging digital currency has arrived and can have beneficial uses.

Melissa Block speaks with New York Times reporter Karla Zabludovsky about El Salvador's national policy restricting abortions under any circumstances — a decision that puts one 22-year-old at particularly high risk.

The State Department is keeping many of its embassies and consulates in the Muslim world closed this week "out of an abundance of caution." U.S. intelligence sources have been raising concerns about threats "emanating from the Arabian Peninsula." Britain and France are also concerned and have temporarily closed their embassies in Yemen. The U.S. list of closures is longer in part because the threats aren't specific enough, but the State Department is also far more cautious in the wake of last year attack in Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others were killed.

Opponents argue that admitting Sergio Garcia to the bar would violate a federal law prohibiting entities funded with state money from granting undocumented immigrants professional licenses. The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on Wednesday.

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Jane Ferguson, a special correspondent for PBS NewsHour, regarding the situation at the airport in Kabul, where a firefight broke out.