WAMU-FM: WAMU: The Diane Rehm Show Podcast

The state of Guererro, Mexico, is one of the most dangerous places on earth. Poverty and violence abound in an area long ravaged by the drug wars. This is the setting for a new novel by Jennifer Clement, who was born in the U.S. but raised in Mexico. It's the story of a young girl growing up on a mountain in Guerrero with an alcoholic mother and an absent father. She's forced to cut her hair and dress like a boy to make her less attractive to marauding drug lords. And she and her friends hide from kidnappers in holes dug by their mothers. Diane talks with Jennifer Clement about her American fiction debut, "Prayers for the Stolen."

Ski resorts often depend on snow making machines to provide what nature has not: snow, but snow making equipment can't work if temperatures rise above the freezing mark and the world is getting warmer. Climatologists report that since 1970 the rate of warming per decade is three times what it was for the previous seventy five years. In a recent piece for the New York Times journalist and skier Porter Fox writes about 'A World Without Snow', but as farmers and other California residents are painfully aware, it's not just skiers who have a lot on the line in a changing climate: Please join us to discuss implications of a warmer world

One hundred million adults in America live with chronic pain, yet only four medical schools require students to take a course on the subject. Judy Foreman draws on her personal experience with chronic pain and her background as an award-winning health journalist to present what she calls a practical plan of action. Her suggestions include enhancing pain education in medical schools, rethinking traditional and alternative treatments and federal policy reform.

The National Institutes of Health is joining forces with private industry to find better treatments for some of our most intractable diseases. This unusual team effort will target Alzheimer's, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Another research partnership was also announced last week. Two U.S. foundations and one Canadian said they will offer joint research grants to examine the similarities between Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Diane talks with the director of the NIH, Dr. Francis Collins, about the promise of collaboration to fight disease.

The U.S. agrees to limit drone strikes in Pakistan. A U.N. panel criticizes the Vatican over child sex abuse. And the Winter Olympics begin in Sochi. A panel of journalists join Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.

The Farm Bill passes Congress after a two-year stand-off. CVS says it will stop selling tobacco products this fall. And the Labor Department releases its January jobs report. A panel of journalists join Diane for analysis of the week's top national news.

Russia has spent an estimated $50 billion on construction and infrastructure projects for the upcoming winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, making it the most expensive games ever. Russia's President Vladimir Putin and many Russians hope the Olympics will showcase the beauty and power of Russia. Yet Sochi is also highlighting the nation's problems: the terrorist threat within its borders, state corruption, anti-gay laws and press censorship. As criticism mounted leading up to the games, Putin released hundreds of prisoners. Diane and a panel of guests discuss security and human rights in Russia.

Hormone use by men has risen dramatically in recent years. But a new study shows older men taking testosterone could be at greater risk for heart attacks and strokes. The safety of prescribing testosterone.

For years, China has been driven by one thing: growing its economy. Now the country looks to translate its economic might into global influence. In "The Contest of the Century," journalist Geoff Dyer describes China's push into international politics and explains why the United States is in a strong position to come out on top.

President Barack Obama said when nominating Thomas Perez as U.S. Labor Secretary that his career exemplified the American success story. The son of Dominican immigrants, Perez worked his way through Brown and Harvard Universities as a garbage collector and warehouse worker. He's served as a federal prosecutor, Maryland labor secretary and an assistant attorney general at the U.S. Justice Department. Because of his record at the Justice Department, Perez is considered one of the most aggressive civil rights advocates to head the Labor Department — one whose confirmation vote was the closest of any of Obama's second-term cabinet nominees. Join Diane for her conversation with Labor Secretary Thomas Perez.

Dolphin hunting is legal in many parts of the world, including the Solomon Islands, parts of Denmark and Peru. But the largest dolphin hunt in the world takes place in Taiji, Japan. Every year, more than 700 wild dolphins are killed by fishermen, their bodies sold as meat to stores in Japan. Hundreds more dolphins are captured and sold to aquariums around the world. In a recent tweet, U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy called the Taiji dolphin hunt "inhumane." The Japanese government says it's an integral part of their tradition and culture. For this month's Environmental Outlook, Diane and guests discuss the controversy over dolphin hunting in Japan.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's death from an apparent heroin overdose shocked us all. What's behind the sharp rise in heroin use in the U.S. and debate over what to do about it.

Twenty-seven years ago, Irish author Roddy Doyle published his first novel "The Commitments." The book starred Jimmy Rabbitte, a young working class kid from Dublin who wants to bring soul music to his hometown so he puts together a band made up of other scrappy Dubliners. The book was a hit, as was the movie that was made just a few years later. Now Doyle has brought his protagonist back in his latest book, "The Guts." Today, Jimmy is middle-aged, married with kids, living in the Dublin suburbs and struggling to come to terms with his newly-diagnosed cancer. Roddy Doyle joins Diane to talk about writing about his hometown, his love of music and returning to his earliest work.

The Keystone XL oil pipeline has cleared a critical hurdle. A long-awaited State Department analysis says the 1,700-mile pipeline probably would not increase the amount of oil removed from the Canadian tar sands. That finding suggests the politically divisive project would have little impact on climate change, a condition that could allow President Barack Obama to approve it. The State Department report is not the final word on Keystone: Secretary John Kerry must decide whether building the Canada-to-Texas pipeline serves the national interest before advising the president. Diane and her guests discuss what's next in the ongoing saga of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Ukraine's prime minister and cabinet resign amid continued unrest. The trial of former President Mohamed Morsi begins in Egypt. And Syria talks wind down in Switzerland. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.