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Egypt brokered a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Palestinian militants, after eight days of fighting in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. The Israeli blockade continues, both parties remain implacably opposed and talks on the fundamental issues appear no closer.

Why Even Tragedy Gets A Laugh — When comedian Tig Notaro found out she had breast cancer, she incorporated the grim news into her stand-up routine--and got quite a few laughs from the audience. Notaro and neuroscientist Robert Provine discuss the origins of laughter, what separates the amusing from the truly funny, and why even tragedy sometimes gets a laugh.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi authorized the military to secure the country ahead of a controversial referendum on a draft constitution — a move that some compared to martial law. The opposition is split over what to do — vote down the constitution or boycott the vote altogether.

Jurors in a New York federal court found a former New York City police officer guilty of plotting to kidnap and cook his wife and other women. The defense argued that Gilberto Valle never acted on his fantasies, and described the verdict as a case of thought prosecution.

There are now more than one million Syrians seeking refuge in camps and towns in neighboring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Many arrive without access to basic amenities, such as adequate shelter and clean water. Over two years of conflict has also left them with the mental scars of war.

The so-called "NIH superbug", a Klebsiella pneumoniae that resists most antibiotics, recently killed a seventh patient at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland. Similar outbreaks of heath care-associated infections spread in hospitals across the country every day.

Things that most people take for granted in surgery — the use of anesthesia, for example, or the way surgical tools are cleaned — were once cutting-edge discoveries in the profession. Dr. Atul Gawande and Dr. Sherwin Nuland discuss the changes they've seen over their long careers as surgeons.

As the Affordable Care Act rolls out and technology changes certain procedures, the role of doctors continues to shift. As part of TOTN's "Looking Ahead" series, Dr. Sherwin Nuland and Dr. Atul Gawande discuss the future of the practice and profession of medicine.

The United Nations released statistics estimating that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011. In his first public appearance in six months, President Bashar Assad addressed a crowd of supporters in Damascus Sunday to outline new structural reforms within the government.

A lawyer who lost her job. A single mom with HIV. A grandmother who thought she had enough money to get by. A onetime golf coach. They're among the millions now struggling to put meals on the table.

Violent protests erupted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia, fueled in part by reaction to the anti-Islam film that sparked violence in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere. Religion plays a key role in these protests, but many observers also cite politics, internal power struggles and history.

Some states, including North Carolina, allow children to be removed from their parents if they fail to pay the cost of foster care. But that can be hundreds of dollars a month, and it's often the poorest families who must pay.

In a new four-part television special based on his best-selling book, physicist Brian Greene takes on the nature of time and space, multiverses, and other hard-to-wrap-your-mind-around concepts in cosmology. Greene talks with guest host John Dankosky about the new series.

Candidates for the Town of Huntersville Board of Commissioners answered questions from WFAE about why they should be elected (or reelected).

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President Obama says Afghanistan is not Vietnam, but some are arguing that we're facing a "Vietnam moment" there. Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars, and Neil Sheehan, author of A Bright Shining Lie, talk about the parallels between the two wars, and the path ahead.

Nintendo and Ubisoft both return to form this Autumn, while massive games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Resident Evil 4 get new expansions. NPR rounds up the best and biggest new games of the season.

Former President Donald Trump continues to ratchet up his rhetoric on the campaign trail, but if someone doesn't follow Trump all the time, decoding his meaning can get confusing. We're here to help.

Chuck Coma was one of the thousands of people assaulted in federal prisons each year. His cellmate nearly killed him. But it's now up to his family to take care of him.

The internationally acclaimed horseman defied the conventional method of breaking horses and developed his own gentler approach — based on horses' non-verbal language. Roberts spoke with Fresh Air in 1997.