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Women The Latest Target Of Bahrain's Crackdown

Bahraini protesters hold up flowers toward riot police near the Pearl Roundabout in February. On March 18, the government demolished the monument, which had become a prominent gathering place for opposition protesters. Hasan Jamali/AP hide caption

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Hasan Jamali/AP

Middle East

Women The Latest Target Of Bahrain's Crackdown

In the wake of massive protests, the government has cracked down brutally on opposition figures. Authorities detained thousands of men — and then went after the women. "They took me from my work," one woman says. "And from the beginning they slapped me on my face, on my head, shoulder."

Europe

Germany Moves To Shutter Nuclear Power Stations

The German government has decided to close all the country's nuclear power stations by 2022. The decision marks a U-turn for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who only last year had forced through legislation that would have extended the working life of the power plants. Anti-nuclear feeling has grown in Germany following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. And in March, Merkel's Christian Democrats party lost a crucial regional election that was fought largely on environmental issues. NPR's Eric Westervelt talks to Robert Siegel from Berlin.

Middle East

Islamist Parties Gain Traction In Tunisia, Egypt

Elections in Tunisia and Egypt will be taking place over the next couple of months. The Islamist parties in both countries, which had previously been banned, are becoming powerful political forces of the post-revolutionary landscape. Robert Siegel talks with Michele Dunne, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin, about who these groups are — and how they might perform in the elections.

Al-Qaida's Paper Trail: A 'Treasure Trove' For U.S.

Al-Qaida is known to keep meticulous records. Experts say that's the influence of Osama bin Laden, shown in 1998, who was obsessed with documenting everything. Rahimullah Yousafzai/AP hide caption

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Rahimullah Yousafzai/AP

Osama Bin Laden Killed

Al-Qaida's Paper Trail: A 'Treasure Trove' For U.S.

From its earliest days, al-Qaida leaders insisted on receipts for everything from floppy disks to explosives. Experts say that was the influence of Osama bin Laden, who earned an undergraduate degree in economics and public administration. That obsession with record-keeping has come back to haunt the organization.

El Salvador Grapples With Upswing In Drug Traffic

Members of the Salvadoran police squad "The Hawks" search suspected gang members in San Salvador. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

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Jason Beaubien/NPR

Latin America

El Salvador Grapples With Upswing In Drug Traffic

Mexican drug cartels are expanding into El Salvador, using local gang members as hit men, police say. The Salvadoran president calls the cartels a "very powerful enemy," but his government says the problem isn't out of hand. Others say if the cartels aren't stopped soon, it may be too late for El Salvador.

Al-Qaida Killed Two CIA Officers 13 Years Ago

Molly Huckaby Hardy and Tom Shah were among more than 200 people killed in 1998 when al-Qaida bombed the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. And now, 13 years after their deaths, their CIA affiliation has been revealed. The U.S. government said the two were State Department employees. But both Hardy and Shah were working undercover for the CIA, according to Associated Press reporter Matt Apuzzo, who tells NPR's Melissa Block what he discovered.

Protesters, Police Clash Over Mladic Arrest

A protestor holds a picture of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic as she attends a demonstration in front of Serbian Parliament on May 29, 2011 in Belgrade. Andrej Isakovic/Getty Images hide caption

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Andrej Isakovic/Getty Images

Protesters, Police Clash Over Mladic Arrest

Ultranationalists gathered outside parliament in Belgrade Sunday waving posters of Ratko Mladic, who was captured last week after nearly 16 years as a fugitive. Mladic's lawyer says he is too sick to stand trial but Serbian authorities are determined to extradite him to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague to be tried for the execution of thousands at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war.

National

Gates: Defense Cuts Will Shrink U.S. Role Worldwide

Defense secretary Robert Gates is expected to step down next month. In what may have been his final policy speech last week, he leveled a warning to Congress and the White House — deep cuts in the Pentagon's budget will mean both a smaller military, and a diminished U.S. role around the world. In a column at ForeignPolicy.com, Stephen Walt argued, that's not necessarily a bad thing: "We should be focusing a lot more attention on long-term capacity building than fighting costly wars in places that don't matter very much (like Afghanistan)."