To the Point

If Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the nominees of their political parties, gender will be a major issue for the first time in a presidential campaign. We hear how it's starting to play out. 

The Obama Administration says drones can eliminate specific terrorist targets with a minimum of "collateral damage." But available numbers show conventional airstrikes take out fewer "civilians." We hear what it's like to kill people by operating a computer 8000 miles away.

Radio and TV gave presidents direct access to the American public. Now social media make controlling the message easier than ever. We hear what that means for the White House Press Corps and its role of telling American voters what they need to know about the policies and the actions of America's chief executive. 

Cheating on tests for diesel engine emissions will cost Volkswagen billions of dollars. It's also helping to boost the development for alternatives to the internal combustion engine… and electric cars look like the wave of the future.

In the aftermath of yesterday's primaries in five northeastern states, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both claiming the presidential nominations have been decided. We hear what that means for Democrats and Republicans before the conventions as the primaries continue.

President Obama was back in Europe this week, trying to restore his former popularity and shore up a troubled European Union. We hear what he had to say and how he was received.

Five years later, the "Arab Spring" is more often called the "Arab Uprising." Instead of producing new democracies, rebellions have led to renewed repression in some places and chaos in others. But, we hear why it may be too soon to declare "failure."

This week nations from around the world gathered at the United Nations to agree on a new global drug policy. The meeting is the first since 1998, when the war on drugs was at its height. World leaders agree those policies failed, and that the way forward includes a softer approach to drug users. But there's little consensus on whether to legalize or decriminalize illicit substances.

Houston is still reeling from floods which killed eight people this week. It's just one in a series of storms recently to hit the Gulf Coast and many Red States in the South, where Republican mayors of hard­-hit cities are calling for their party to stop dismissing climate change science and to combat rising seas. Will the Republican top brass come around?

Frustration with New York's closed primary and a record number of complaints about voting glitches yesterday raise questions about the health of our election system. Fair voting advocates are predicting even more cases of voters being shut out of the polls in November by strict new voter ID laws ­­ We look at the myriad fears about access to the ballot.