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This coming week, the U.S. Agency for International Development plans to announce a new monitoring program that is designed to keep track of the aid dollars being spent in Afghanistan. NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Larry Sampler, head of USAID programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Humanitarian workers continue to try to evacuate civilians from the besieged Syrian city of Homs as negotiators in Geneva prepare for the next round of peace talks. NPR's Rachel Martin gets the latest from reporter Alice Fordham in Geneva.

In a near flawless run, Jamie Anderson took the medal a day after teammate Sage Kotsenburg clinched the men's gold.

British graphic designer Nick Hudson bicycled 500 miles along the Hudson River valley, striking up conversations with local artists and craftspeople as he went. Those stories — from maple syrup producers, sculptors, boat restorers and more — have been collected in a new book, Conversations on the Hudson.

The San Francisco Bay area has gotten about 3 inches so far this season, but normally it should have received 14.5 inches.

The U.S. and Russian teams are fending off accusations from a French sports website that they are colluding to help each other win medals.

The referendum was approved by just 50.5 percent of the vote. It effectively ends a "free movement agreement" with the European Union.

There was a time when secretaries of state were seen as little more than functionaries. That view changed in 2000's Florida presidential election recount, which starred Katherine Harris. Now, secretaries of state are involved in implementing new state laws that have been making it either easier or harder for non-traditional voters to cast ballots — with decidedly partisan implications.

In 2007, Missouri repealed a law requiring gun buyers to obtain a license demonstrating they'd first passed a background check. In the years that followed, the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research tracked the results. In the forthcoming issue of Journal of Urban Health, the center will release it's findings: The law's repeal was associated with an additional 55 to 63 murders per year in Missouri between 2008 and 2012. For more on the report, Audie Cornish speaks with Daniel Webster, the director of the center.

The men's team is stacked, built — whatever you call it, their biceps are busting out of their shirt sleeves. And it's not just the Canadians; the world's elite curlers are extremely fit.