State and National News

More than 100 people are dead after an overcrowded river ferry sank in India today. The AFP reports the ferry sank after being split into two by a storm.

The AFP adds that about 100 others were missing:

"As rescuers struggled in heavy rain to find survivors weeping relatives lined the shores of the fast-flowing Brahmaputra river in Assam state, desperate for news of family members on board the vessel.

Five years ago today, NPR brought listeners a new kind of midday-talk program: one charged with offering candid examinations of the way we intersect, and often collide, in a culturally diverse world.

As earlier reported by Politico, the pro-Romney SuperPAC Restore Our Future has removed most of the ads it produced during the primary campaign from its YouTube channel.

Should women in their 40s routinely get mammograms to detect breast cancer?

Two studies released Monday aim to help resolve that question, which is one of the most intense debates in women's health. The studies identify which women in their 40s are most likely to benefit from routine mammograms.

For years, the mantra was that regular mammograms save lives. So many people were stunned in 2009 when an influential panel of experts questioned that assumption.

Audie Cornish talks to ESPN commentator Kevin Blackistone about the NBA playoffs.

As the U.S. and China seek a solution to the case involving a prominent Chinese activist, it's worth remembering this isn't the first time the two countries have waged this kind of negotiation.

Chen Guangcheng, an activist who's been blind since he was a small boy, escaped house arrest in an eastern Chinese village and was taken to Beijing, where he's believed to be under U.S. protection.

A similar, high-profile case took place in 1989, when astrophysicist Fang Lizhi and his wife took refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Today is International Jazz Day, as decreed by Herbie Hancock and UNESCO. The centerpiece events are two all-star concerts, held at sunrise and sunset. The sunrise show was held in Congo Square in New Orleans, seemingly a nod to the dawn of jazz. Tonight's evening program takes the "international" part of International Jazz Day quite literally: