Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
How Barack Obama Sees the World's Challenges
Foreign policy advisor Susan Rice on the candidate's worldview.
ENERGY
T. Boone Pickens listens to opening statements on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 22,2008, prior to testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on his energy plan. (Gerald Herbert/AP)
T. Boone Pickens Is Wind Power's Best Hope
The Texas oilman's 'green conversion' is all about business.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Thanksgiving travelers at Ronald Reagan National Airport checking monitors for departure and arrival times. (Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR)
Collecting Data on Foreign Travelers
The department will try to gather biometric data on all departing foreigners.
ECONOMY
Customers line up in front of an IndyMac Bank branch in Santa Monica, California, July 14, 2008. Federally-seized IndyMac Bank was due to reopen Monday after suffering one of the biggest bank closures in US history, as the troubled US mortgage industry struggles to stem further meltdown.The regulatory Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) announced Friday it had placed the California-based bank, worth an estimated 32 billion dollars, under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The mortgage lender, which will reopen as IndyMac Federal Bank, marked the largest bank failure in a year of mortgage and foreclosure crisis highlighted by a surge in defaults and a plunge in housing prices which are rippling through the US economy. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)
Californians Report Economic Pain
In a poll, 63 percent say they are financially worse off than they were a year ago.
FOOD
An Afghan villager checks the quality of flour which was donated by the World Food Program during a flour distribution event in Kabul. (Musadeq Sadeq/AP)
Fuel Costs Cut Deeply Into Food Aid
Shipping costs rise 30 percent, adding to inefficiencies.
FOOD SAFETY
South Korean protesters march with a mockup symbolizing "US mad-cow" during a rally against US beef imports in Seoul on June 7, 2008. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak insisted he would not re-negotiate a deal on US beef imports that has triggered the biggest crisis yet to face his young administration. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)
South Koreans Worry About U.S. Beef
They distrust U.S. safety standards—and they eat more of the cow.
HISTORY
Photos and documents donated by John Milan Palik to the veterans oral history project at the Library of Congress . (Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR)
Why Don't More Colleges Teach Military History?
Despite its enduring public appeal, the subject gets little respect on campus.
HURRICANES
Cement foundations and empty streets are all that remains in parts of the once bustling Lower Ninth Ward.
A Quiet Progress in New Orleans
Three years after Katrina, residents are finding new reasons to hope.
VOTERS
Rick Shenkman, author of "Just How Stupid Are We?" (Scott Rensberger)
The Ignorant American Voter
Historian Rick Shenkman laments the breed in his new book, "Just How Stupid Are We?"
IMMIGRATION
Scenes from one of the marches, in Los Angeles, held across the nation, demonstrating for immigration reform. People stayed home from their jobs, students left school and stores closed for the day, to show the impact of immigrants on American society. (David Butow/Redux for USN&WR)
Mexican Immigrants Slow to Fit In
Why Mexicans assimilate at rates lower than other newcomers.
RELIGION
Scenes from the offices of Dr. James Dobson, a child psychologist and founder of Focus on the Family, an evangelical organization aimed at reversing such legalizations as abortion and same-sex marriage by influencing judicial appointments and supporting conservative candidates. Worshippers gather for a service. (Kevin Horan/Aurora for USN&WR)
Evangelical Manifesto: What It Means
An important new statement says theological principles should trump policy preferences.
