As the Syrian conflict deepens, increasingly, the violence appears to be spilling beyond the country’s borders. Some of the worst fighting in recent days has been centered around the city of Qusayr, where the death toll for Hezbollah fighters supporting President Bashar al-Assad has been steadily rising. 

New details are emerging about about a Justice Department investigation into Fox news correspondent James Rosen, raising questions about how often journalists have been investigated what investigations like this one mean for freedom of the American press. David Sanger is Chief Washington Correspondent for our partner The New York Times, and can speak to this issue from personal experience. In the past, he himself was the subject of an investigation.

How long will the war on terror last?  Another five years? Or ten years? That question was put to a senior Pentagon official by Congress last week during hearings by the Senate Armed Services Committee over whether to revise the AUMF, the Authorization to Use Military Force. Fred Kaplan, Slate's "War Stories" columnist and author of the book, “The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War,” explains what the AUMF means and why its extension matters.

Next week when the fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is released it's expected to bring with it new debate on the definition of illness itself -- about what's a disorder and what's just another kind of normal. This is a question that interests David Blistein, author of “David’s Inferno: My Journey through the Dark Wood of Depression.”  His book chronicles his struggle with debilitating depression.  That process that made him consider that maybe depression is more than just an illness.

In 1992, a young Navy lieutenant named Paula Coughlin stepped forward to make a startling allegation. She said she and many other women had been sexually assaulted at the Navy's annual Tailhook Symposium in Las Vegas. It appeared that Paula's story had shifted something fundamental in the military. But more than 20 years later, the statistics tell a different story.

The news that actress Angelina Jolie underwent a double mastectomy after learning that she carried BRCA1 -- gene linked to breast cancer -- elicited a range of responses from Takeaway listeners. er.

Between the year 2000 and 2010, the number of people using the internet around the world increased from 350 million to more than 2 billion.  That number, of course, is only expected to increase further in the coming years. According to Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, the hyperconnectivity of the future is a good thing. 

As the Affordable Care Act comes back into focus over the next few months, it's worth remembering that the real nitty gritty of health care takes place in doctors' offices and hospitals, among real people with real needs. In his new book, "12 Patients," Dr. Eric Manheimer chronicles the health care experiences of various patients, from a Vietnam war vet to a child in foster care.

This weekend saw historic elections in Pakistan. Despite the violence in the run-up to the elections, which saw regular bomb blasts and the kidnapping of the son of a former Prime Minister, Saturday's vote marked the first time the country has transitioned from one democratically elected government to another. Arif Rafiq, the writer behind the Pakistan Policy Blog and president of Vizier Consulting, LLC, describes what kind of coalition might emerge from this vote.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act is the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services. However, in a controversial move, the federal government has turned to private sources to help with the marketing and information campaign for the ACA. What is not in dispute, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is that the marketing and information campaign is an essential first step in getting the health care law up and running.

Last week, 44 year old Kenneth Bae became the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. His sentence is the most severe punishment to date. He faces 15 years of hard labor for committing “hostile acts” against the North Korean government. Now, the U.S. is faced with a diplomacy choice. With tensions between the U.S. and North Korea already high, what should be the course of action this time?

On a recent visit to Damascus, New York Times Beirut Bureau Chief Anne Barnard and photographer Andrea Bruce were invited to interview seven prisoners by the Syrian government: five Syrians, a Palestinian and an Iraqi. "We are crazy and al Qaeda made us more crazy," one of the prisoners told the journalists. That explanation and others seemed to fit neatly into the Assad regime's story about the conflict.  Not all the prisoners' confessions stuck to the official script, though.

On Monday, New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee introduced a bill that would allow the US to provide weapons to the Syrian opposition.  He spoke to Takeaway Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich about the proposed legislation.

As Congress debates immigration reform, industries across the country want a piece of the pie. While tech companies lobby for programs to bring scientists and engineers to the US, farmers are looking to expand guest worker programs for more agricultural hands in the field. But how do these programs affect American workers?

New Yorkers keep company with their thoughts as they make their way through the city's streets.  But what are they thinking? A project called "New York Stories: The Lives of Other Citizens" attempts to map those inner thoughts of ordinary people. Andrew Irving, Anthropology Professor at the University of Manchester simply approached strangers on the street and asked them if they would wear a small microphone and narrate their thoughts as they walked through the city.

Sixteen years ago, producer Joe Richman gave group of teenagers tape recorders and asked them to report on their own lives. Armed with recording equipment, they told their stories, and "Teenage Diaries" -- compelling radio that gave listeners an unexpected lens into the lives of ordinary teens -- was born.

After 9/11, the Bush administration vowed to do everything in its power to prevent another attack. But more than a decade later -- and after billions of dollars have been spent on counter-terrorism efforts -- are we safer? "Top Secret America: 9/11 to the Boston Bombings," a FRONTLINE documentary airing tonight, explores this question. The documentary follows the reporting of Dana Priest, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The Washington Post.  

April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate the occasion, our friends at WLRN have been asking for local poetry that captures the texture of their city: Miami, Florida. Scott Cunningham, co-founder the city's biennial poetry festival, "O, Miami," talks about hometown pride, and finding poetry in everyday exchanges.

We've been talking this week about the importance of getting to know your neighbors. Why is it important to know our neighbors? And how does it help us become a better society? Peter Lovenheim, author of the book "In the Neighborhood," set out to answer those questions in an intensive study of his own neighborhood.

Earlier this month, Florida celebrated the 500th anniversary of explorer Ponce de León’s discovery of the state. In new book, "Finding Florida," T. D. Allman takes a critical look at the forces that shaped that state — starting with Ponce de Leon.