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Despite the Federal Reserve cutting the interest rate to near zero percent, U.S. stock indexes plunged sharply from the opening bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down nearly 3,000 points.

NPR's A Martinez talks with Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz about the lessons that can be learned from the 1980 actors strike as a new strike is now underway.

This week, the Obama administration unveiled its plan to help banks get so-called toxic assets off their books. While it's unclear how far the plan will need to go, Christina Romer, the head of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, says getting a trillion dollars' worth off the banks' balance sheets will be "unbelievably helpful."

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has become an international problem — and an international business. The issues of criminality and the potential for violence aside, a closer look at the "business model" of piracy reveals that the plan makes economic sense.

It's been a roller-coaster day on Wall Street. New York Stock Exchange floor trader Ted Weisberg, who is president of Seaport Securities, says it has been like a camel's hump — the Dow Jones industrial average was up, then down, then up again before closing nearly 200 points down.

The Emmy-winning actor is lesser known for his work writing for children. But he calls his book series, about the adventures and struggles of a dyslexic child, his proudest accomplishment.

In the 16th century, Hernando Colón assembled one of the greatest print-media collections the world had ever known. For centuries, its reference book was missing — until it turned up in Denmark.

In his latest book, Pakistan on the Brink, journalist Ahmed Rashid writes that he fears Pakistan is on the verge of a "meltdown." Rashid explains some of the challenges facing the country, as well as the complicated relationship both Pakistan and Afghanistan have with the United States.

Irish writer Colm Toibin's novella recounts familiar stories of the New Testament, as seen through the eyes of Jesus' mother. But this isn't the iconic blushing virgin you're used to seeing. Toibin's Mary is modeled after the fierce heroines of Greek tragedies — and she is filled with anger.

Shereen El Feki spent five years traveling across the Arab region asking people about sex: what they do, what they don't, what they think and why. Her ambition was to learn about the intimate lives of people in the Middle East, and how the sexual aspects of their lives reflect larger shifts.