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The French port city of Marseilles is in the grip of gang warfare, as young men fight for control of drug trafficking, often using sophisticated weapons left over from the Balkan wars. The gangs are pushing professional criminals and syndicates aside. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley describes the mood with host Scott Simon.

President Obama celebrated Labor Day in Ohio with unionized auto workers — many of whom say they owe their jobs to the federal government's rescue of Chrysler and General Motors. The president also took some time out from politicking to visit a flood-damaged area in Louisiana that was hard hit by Hurricane Isaac.

Thor Hanson's new book looks at the evolutionary significance of feathers in birds. Hanson tells Fresh Air that he's amazed by birds' magnitude of feathers, how feathers grow and how they're the "most efficient insulation known."

http://66.225.205.104/JRD8.mp3The stakes are high in next week's Republican run-off for the 8th Congressional District. Newly-drawn boundaries for the…

The song, a bitterly articulate howl of scornful rage, is a national sensation across the pond.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney discarded his increasingly inert better-safe-than-sorry campaign strategy Saturday when he named budget hawk and Democratic bete noire Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. But the pick has handed Democrats a trove of material to use in an effort to weaken the GOP ticket's appeal among independent voters, women and senior citizens.

The London 2012 Olympics are officially over, but people are still buzzing about Sunday's closing ceremony. It included many of the highlights of British culture and history that weren't in London's opening ceremony. And in America, some viewers are angry about what was left out of the U.S. feed.

The gun-control debate has been framed as one between those who want to ban all guns and those who want to protect the right to own them. But digging into the numbers shows a complex relationship between ownership and crime. But some studies suggest stricter gun laws have not had a significant effect on crime rates.

http://66.225.205.104/JRD8.mp3The stakes are high in next week's Republican run-off for the 8th Congressional District. Newly-drawn boundaries for the…

The presidential race tightened in the week following the first debate. So, the stakes were high Thursday night when Vice President Joe Biden and…

The European Union was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Friday. Kristian Berg Harpviken closely follows the Norwegian Nobel Committee's process each year. He joins guest host Celeste Headlee to discuss why he thinks the committee chose the EU.

Given North Dakota's Republican leanings, it was assumed that GOP Rep. Rick Berg would be virtually certain to win the state's open seat in the U.S. Senate. But the most recent poll shows a tossup between Berg and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has taken responsibility for security lapses at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in a terrorist attack last month.

Weekend Edition host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Tom Goldman about the week in sports, including the NHL lockout, the San Francisco Giants and Lance Armstrong's rough week.

In the developing world, where many people lack bank accounts or credit cards, banks may hesitate to loan them money. But researchers say cellphones can help determine people's creditworthiness.

The groups' targets? Democrats undecided on whether to accept or reject the deal when they vote this fall. The campaigns include tens of millions of dollars spent on TV ads in nearly two dozen states.

Secretary of State Kerry goes to Cuba to see the flag raised at the U.S. embassy in Havana. Among the guests are former Marines who took the U.S. flag down in 1961 when the countries broke relations.

Anne Richard, the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, tells NPR's Scott Simon the Obama administration wants to ramp up the number of Syrian war refugees it takes in.

Migrants from as far away as Afghanistan have been placed behind barbed wire in detention camps in Hungary. NPR's Lauren Frayer visits a camp where the numbers — and the frustrations — keep growing.

As Congress debates the Iran nuclear deal, the presidential candidates — from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump — weigh in on the agreement and expose the political fault lines on national security.