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In this first installment of a three-part series on Social Security, NPR's John Ydstie examines the system's shortfalls and possible ways to extend its long-term solvency. Among the remedies: raising the retirement age; raising the tax that workers and employers pay into the system; and mandating that all federal and state workers take part in the national retirement program.

Twenty-five years ago, the U-S hockey team defeated a superstar Soviet team at the Lake Placid Olympics. The victory was a stunning upset on the ice -- and on the world stage, amid chilly relations between two Cold War superpowers. Three New York friends remember being part of history that day.

In Egypt, reformers were gratified when the government approved a new, liberal political party last year, hoping there might be a loosening of President Hosni Mubarak's hold on office. But the Tomorrow party's push for a true multi-party vote was met with a government crackdown.

A top Palestinian official says he's hopeful that a "small window" of opportunity exists for peace with Israel in the wake of this month's cease-fire agreement. But Nabil Shaath, foreign minister for the Palestinian Authority, says Israel is moving too slowly on several issues.

Want a bigger house, a svelte figure or a gender change? It's possible in the online game "Second Life," where residents trade real money for virtual land, designer clothes and other trappings of a fantasy life.

Thoughts on the life of boxer Max Schmeling, whose fights with Joe Louis became a symbol of a looming confrontation between the United States and Nazi Germany. Schmeling fought in Hitler's army, but quietly helped save two Jewish teens and later befriended a needy Louis. Schmeling has died at age 99.

Marine Lt. Gen. Mike Mattis caused an uproar at a recent public appearance by declaring that war can be "a hell of a hoot." Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill and a journalist who was embedded with Mattis' platoon in Iraq, joins NPR's Alex Chadwick to discuss the comment.

In Sunday's election in Iraq, Shiite voters are expected to come to the polls in large numbers. In the city of Basra, in southern Iraq, many hope the power of the ballot box will improve the standard of living.

Washington, D.C., saw its homicide rate fall to 198 murders in 2004, down from 248 murders in the previous year. While the nation's capital and other cities have seen a drop in the annual number of murders, others have not.

Millions of Iraqis defied death threats and violence to vote in the country's first contested election in a half century. Polling was marred by several suicide bombings around Baghdad, and a government official reported 30 people killed around Iraq. NPR's Emily Harris reports.