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In 2000, Auliya Atrafi paid thousands of dollars and risked his life to escape Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. He spent 12 years in England, but recently returned to his homeland, where he is trying to readjust to — and change — life in a conservative society.

In a new poll, parents complain that their children are not getting nearly enough time for a basic school ritual: eating lunch. And that's worrying parents and administrators, given that about one-third of American kids are overweight or obese.

Railroads are increasingly becoming the preferred means of shipping the masses of oil being produced in North Dakota and surrounding states. The railroad industry is eager to fill in for the lack of pipeline capacity. But some say the train growth needs to slow down.

Actor Oscar Isaac disappears into the title role of the new Coen brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, a black comedy about a '60s folk singer who just can't make it, no matter what he does. He speaks with NPR's Melissa Block about playing the less-than-likable character.

Renee Montagne talks to Julia Reed, a contributor to the southern-lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun about how to keep spirits up at your holiday party by putting the right stuff in your punch bowl.

About Samsung's HD TV, one reviewer wrote, "I was going to send my kids to college but I had to do what was best for my family." Another reviewer added, glad it has "low energy costs, as I am on a very tight budget."

British couple Steve and Maureen Stevens are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary. The young RAF pilot was returning from a World War II bombing mission over Germany when a lovely voice came on his cockpit radio guiding him down. Rushing up to the control tower he found a glamorous member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

From his childhood as a herd boy, Nelson Mandela went on to lead the African National Congress' struggle against South Africa's racially oppressive apartheid regime. For his efforts, he spent 27 years behind bars as a political prisoner. In 1994, he became his country's first elected black leader. Mandela died on Thursday. He was 95.

NPR's former South Africa correspondent John Matisonn worked for Nelson Mandela, helping the leader improve his media savvy after he was released from prison on Robben Island. Matisonn remembers Mandela's keen intelligence and resilience. Matisonn tells Robert Siegel the Nobel Peace Prize recipient emphasized that he was an ordinary man, and insisted he was no saint.

The book lists the tax that importers have to pay on approximately every single thing in the universe — and raises a key question about the Planet Money T-shirt.