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For Top-Flight Animators, The Gag Is An Art All Its Own

In the animated world, just about anything goes: Toys talk, mice are chefs, and pandas do kung fu. In animation, the sky's the limit. In this encore broadcast, we learn about the hundreds of people working on big studio features who spend their days figuring out how to manufacture this silliness from the ground up. (This story originally aired on All Things Considered on Nov. 27, 2013.)

Is Early Sochi Criticism Par For The Course?

The Sochi Olympics have been criticized for poor preparation, security concerns, and Russia's policies on human and animal rights. The Russians aren't pleased. But host-bashing is a popular pastime.

Iranian Navy destroyer Shahid Naqdi is pictured at Port Sudan, in October 2012.

Iran: Warships Will Steam Close To U.S. Waters As 'A Message'

An admiral in charge of Iran's 'Northern Navy' said 'fleets' are already making way for Atlantic waters, but he did not say the number or type of vessels.

Independent Olympic participant Shiva Keshavan makes a run during the men's luge training session ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Sanki Sliding Center on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia.

Sochi Games Expose Indian Corruption And Redemption

Luger Shiva Keshavan faces an uphill battle not only to train for the Olympics, but even to carry his country's flag. He and fellow Indian athletes are officially "stateless" at the games.

Locals working for a UNDP cash-for-work program clear debris in one of the neighborhoods worst affected by the typhoon that hit Tacloban, Philippines, last November. Tim Walsh runs the program, which he hopes will help keep the local economy going.

Turning A Million Cubic Yards Of Post-Typhoon Trash Into Jobs

Some call Tim Walsh the disaster garbage man, but he prefers waste management specialist. After major natural disasters, the Briton comes to clean up and put people to work. Amid destruction he's seen from Indonesia to the Philippines, he's learned that there's opportunity, and hope, even in a dump.

New Criminal Sentencing Efforts Aim To Reduce Prison Crowding

This week the Justice Department encouraged people sent to prison under tough old drug laws to apply for clemency. The Senate Judiciary Committee also advanced a bill that advocates call the biggest sentencing reform in decades. Justice correspondent Carrie Johnson speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin.

Birth Control And Blood Clots: Women Still Weighing The Risks

The drug company Merck has agreed to settle with thousands of claimants who sued over the contraceptive NuvaRing. When it comes to side effects, so how do women make a decision that works for them?

Infrastructure used for oil and gas may be making more earthquakes. In Texas, there 10 times the number of earthquakes now than a few years ago.

Oil, Gas Drilling Seems To Make The Earth Slip And Go Boom

People who have never experienced earthquakes are starting to feel rumbles, which scientists say may be linked to the rise in oil and gas activity. Along with the quakes are shockingly loud noises that can put residents on edge.

Members of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) cheer after the results after winning a narrow vote on an anti-immigration referendum on Sunday.

Swiss Narrowly Approve Rollback Of Immigration Allowances

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

Sky, an Australian shepherd, runs the weave poles with the intensity of an Olympian during the Masters Agility Championship at Westminster on Saturday.

Four-Legged Athletes Compete With Olympic-Sized Heart

Sure, Sochi has competitors who perform feats of superhuman strength and skill. But the agility contest at the Westminster Dog Show had nothing but cheerful contestants and good sports.

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