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NPR's Jennifer Ludden talks with Frontline reporter Lowell Bergman about The Secret History of the Credit Card, a new documentary by PBS and The New York Times. The film traces the rise of America's credit card industry and raises concerns about some if its business practices.

Only about half of America's high school students think newspapers should be allowed to publish freely, without government approval of their stories. Host Jennifer Ludden talks with Hodding Carter III, the president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, about the findings of the findings of a recent study, "The Future of the First Amendment."

Jennifer Haigh's new novel, The Condition, is about a girl who has a genetic disorder that stops her development just before puberty. The "condition" gives her family an excuse to resist facing each other and fall apart.

The Bush campaign is elated about the president's performance at Friday's town-hall meeting with Sen. John Kerry. But Kerry campaign aides are also pleased -- especially with post-debate poll results. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden, NPR's Don Gonyea and NPR's Scott Horsley.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on an effort by the West African nation of Burkina Faso to tax the black market. Ninety percent of this desperately poor country's economy is on the black market, so it's a huge source of potential government revenue. It's unclear how successful the effort has been, but it could serve as a model for other poverty-stricken nations.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Kinshasa on the growing anxiety among Zaire's wealthy elite, as anti-government rebels continue their relentless advance towards the capital. Some of the rich are beginning to hide their belongings--and their families--in anticipation of an eventual rebel victory. There is tremendous popular resentment of the wealthy, who have prospered under President Mobutu Sese Seko's corrupt dictatorship for the past three decades.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden explores how Zairean rebels are running Kisangani, their biggest prize in the war so far. The guerrillas captured Kisangani, Zaire's third-largest city, earlier this month. Despite their leader's Marxist past, the rebels are promoting the private sector and have held rudimentary elections for local offices. While many of the city's residents fled before the rebels' arrived, life in many ways has returned to normal.

Attention to border security has increased dramatically since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A crackdown along the Texas border has closed illegal crossing points, making life hard for two towns on opposite sides of the Rio Grande. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Lajitas, Texas.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Jerusalem reports on the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence, including a series of bomb blasts in central Israel that left dozens injured. The bloodshed came amid US efforts to broker a breakthrough with the two sides for a final Middle East peace settlement. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is now expected to fly to Washington for talks with President Clinton this week.

Today in a West Bank town, Binyamin Kahane, son of the slain Rabbi and militant Jewish settler Meir Kahane, was shot to death along with his wife, and five of his six children were wounded. Then a local head of Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party was gunned down in what appears to be a revenge attack, according to Palestinians. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem on the latest violence.