Places & Travel

The most frightening thing the United States could do to Iran, short of attacking it, is to leave Iraq, says New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The second most frightening thing for Iran, he says, would be a U.S. success in Iraq.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, it also disrupted the education of thousands of students. While many schools remain closed, Benjamin Franklin High School is one of the few operating charter schools in New Orleans. We talk with two teachers.

Guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure of Mali died March 7 at the age of 66. Farka Toure was a booster of Mali's march toward independence.

The Six-Day War of 1967 left Israel with a dilemma: what to do with the land it had taken in the process of winning a conflict that also involved Egypt, Syria and Jordan. A new book, The Accidental Empire, looks at what came next.

A new Hamas-led government; protests against cartoons of Muhammad; a re-started nuclear program in Iran: It's a busy time for journalists specializing in the Middle East. Christopher Dickey is the regional editor for Newsweek.

The recent Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections has left many wondering what repercussions the change will bring in the Middle East. Reporter Greg Myre is the Jerusalem correspondent for The New York Times.

Iran's attempts to restart its nuclear program in defiance of the International Atomic Energy Agency is a game of nuclear chicken, says Joseph Cirincione, the director for non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The legendary soul scene in Miami that had its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s is the subject of a new retrospective. Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label the imprint that discovered Betty Wright, Paul Kelly, and Clarence "Blowfly" Reid.

Actor and director Albert Brooks trolls for laughs in Asia and the Middle East in Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. Playing a version of himself, Brooks is recruited by the U.S. government to help foster a deeper understanding of the region. A comedy tour ensues.

Albert Brooks has a new movie: Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. In it, he plays himself — and the comedian is sent to India and Pakistan by the State Department to find out what makes Muslims laugh.

For his latest release, producer and troubadour Joe Henry worked with giants in soul music, from Allen Toussaint to Mavis Staples. It was quite a departure for Henry, whose songs include "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation."

The newsroom Jim Amoss leads was widely praised for its unflinching coverage of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. In a piece one month ago, Amoss said "New Orleans has become two cities -- an enclave of survivors clustered along the Mississippi River's crescent and a vast and sprawling shadow city where the water stood, devoid of power and people."

Journalist Scott McCartney, who follows the airline industry, writes the weekly column "The Middle Seat" for the Wall Street Journal. McCartney is the journal's travel editor and deputy bureau chief in Dallas, Texas.

The new film version of King Kong, the story of a lovelorn giant ape taken from his island home, was directed by Peter Jackson. It's the first release for Jackson since his trilogy of Lord of the Ring films.

A new Showtime cable miniseries tells the story of Muslim terrorists in America. The controversial thriller Sleeper Cell premieres Sunday night.

The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate was written by Marjorie Williams. Williams died last year of cancer.

The new film The Weatherman stars Nicholas Cage and Michael Caine. Film critic Daivd Edelstein has a review.

A need for foreign workers in Iraq -- and the flood of American dollars into the country -- have created a labor network that critics call misleading, illegal and even dangerous. Chicago Tribune correspondent Cam Simpson retraced the fatal journey of 12 men from Nepal.

As a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations, Richard A. Clarke often had to imagine worst-case scenarios. His first novel — a thriller — does just that: set five years in the future, it envisions the United States on the verge of another war in the Middle East.

Actress Claire Danes is starring in the new film Shopgirl opposite Steve Martin, who wrote the screenplay for the film and the novel it's based on.