In December 1993, President Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law. Presidential candidate Ross Perot predicted Americans would hear a "giant sucking sound" as Mexico vacuumed up U.S. jobs. Economists say that the worst of Perot's fears never materialized. But opponents still see downsides.

Freezing rain is creeping across Tennessee on its way to the mid-Atlantic as the stunning cold, snow and ice that gripped Texas and the west on Saturday makes its advance eastward.

The high-tech system can essentially override human error and slow a train that is going too fast. Congress mandated that all trains have it by 2015, but only a few passenger and freight railroads will be ready by then. And after a deadly train crash in New York, few in Congress may be willing to vote for a delay.

U.S. civil rights leaders were among the first Americans to shine an international light on apartheid in South Africa. But calls for economic sanctions eventually led to wider actions, from college campuses to Wall Street. Richard Knight, project director of the African Activist Archive, remembers the role the U.S. indirectly played in South Africa's struggle.

Newman was deported by North Korea on Friday, days after he appeared on state TV reading an apology for alleged war crimes.

Earlier efforts to use gene therapy to treat a rare immune disorder in young children failed when some of the children got leukemia. Scientists say they think they may have figured it out, with eight children now living normal toddler lives.

The U.S. State Department unveiled a tribute poem written by Dr. Maya Angelou for Mandela "on behalf of the American people."

Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, almost 100 volunteer decorators show up at the White House. They spend the next five days stringing garlands and hanging ornaments, making the White House sparkle for the holidays. NPR has a related tradition, and it's about to end.

After several years of declining shrimp stocks, regulators have imposed a moratorium on shrimping in New England waters. The closure could hurt commercial fisherman and future demand for the Gulf of Maine shrimp, but scientists say the move may be the only way to prevent the population from collapsing.

The U.S. and Afghanistan have been at odds over a security agreement that allows U.S. troops to remain in the country past 2014. Hagel also met with leaders of Gulf nations to assure them the U.S. is not abandoning those ties in favor of a nuclear deal with Iran.

Fissures in the Republican Party have drawn a great deal of attention over the last year. But this week, the Democrats' economic disagreements came into full view. When it comes to Social Security, not all Democrats think expanding the program is a good idea.

To an African-American coming of age in the late 1970s, there seemed two certainties: Nelson Mandela would die in prison in apartheid South Africa and no black person would become U.S. president in his lifetime. So much for youthful predictions.

Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old veteran of the Korean War who was arrested by authorities in Pyongyang after a tour of the North, reportedly issued an apology for his "hostile acts."