A boy uses the cannon of a destroyed Iraqi army tank as a swing on March 18, 2006, near Basra. Defeating the Iraqi military turned out to be easier than bringing peace and stability back to the country after the invasion.
Mike Shuster is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent and roving foreign correspondent for NPR News. He is based at NPR West, in Culver City, CA. When not traveling outside the U.S., Shuster covers issues of nuclear non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and the Pacific Rim.
The sudden death last week of 27-year-old rapper Mohbad has led to an outpouring of grief and anger across Nigeria, and put the treatment of musicians by powerful labels into sharper focus.
What began as a movement of farmers opposed to environmental rules is now one of the country's dominant political parties. The nation's agricultural exports are second only to the United States.