NPR News

When things go wrong at a nuclear plant like the one in Fukushima, workers may have to risk their lives to put it right. In Chernobyl, that job was a suicide mission for dozens of workers. At Three Mile Island, no one was lost. But both events offer hints about what workers at the Dai-ichi plant may be going through.

Removing menthol cigarettes from the market would benefit public health because the minty flavoring has led to an increase in smokers and makes quitting harder, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said Friday.

The agency's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee stopped short of recommending an outright ban. The FDA should consider other factors, the advisers said, including that a ban could increase counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes.

The monument in Bahrain's main square has been destroyed. The army tore down a soaring, 300-foot tower that was — until Friday — topped by a cement pearl honoring the country's celebrated pearl industry. Robert Siegel has more.

Every other day, it seems, some new buzzword has been punched out by a blogger to describe similar sounds or attempt to fit them into neat genres. In the last month I've seen shows in niches labeled as horrorcore, theatrical post-wave and nu-rave, though I'm sure that some of the artists themselves would argue with these terms. These labels pop up all of the time, and most develop in a specific geographical locations. Moombahton is different.

Now that the United States, Britain, France and other major powers have decided they will take military action, if necessary, in an effort to end the killing in Libya, where Col. Moammar Gadhafi has been attempting to crush those in his country who are demanding the end to his regime, many are asking this question: