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Mobile apps are aggressively placing unwanted ads on phones. Lookout, a mobile security firm in San Francisco, tested mobile apps and found some disturbing practices. Those include transmitting consumer phone numbers and email addresses and transmitting to third parties and placing ads on the mobile phone's desktop.

The growing sectarian nature of the battle in Syria has turned out to be tailor made for followers of al-Qaida in Iraq. A top U.S. counterterrorism official says the group's possible move into Syria is no surprise as it gravitates toward chaos.

Foreign policy hasn't been a major focus this election season, but whoever wins will face a delicate tangle of issues in the region. On top of a major decision about Iran, the U.S. must deal with a new government in Egypt, an intensifying war in Syria, and nervous allies in the Persian Gulf.

A New Jersey teenager who launched a campaign to get Hasbro to make a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven is expected to meet with the toy company Monday afternoon. Her campaign seems to be part of heightened gender messaging awareness in toys this holiday season.

Some top-tier business schools — Duke, UCLA, MIT and Stanford — are teaching improv as a way for students to increase collaboration, creativity and risk taking. An instructor at MIT says success in business, as in improvisation, can hinge on your ability to rebound.

His fall from grace began when a local police chief told authorities about the murder of a British businessman. Bo's wife was convicted, and he's been connected to the handling of the case and other alleged corruption.

The Justice Department and the intelligence community say reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, which expires at the end of the year, is their top national security priority. But an interesting mix of senators are sounding alarms about whether the government is secretly gathering too much information on innocent Americans, and keeping it for far too long. They cite a newly declassified letter that exposes an incident where even the Obama administration acknowledges it went too far.

The top court in Pakistan ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani is not eligible to hold office because of an earlier contempt conviction. For more on this development, Steve Inskeep speaks to Declan Walsh of The New York Times.

Adding Rep. Paul Ryan to the Republican presidential ticket will likely elevate issues like Medicare and Medicaid to the top of the election agenda. Ryan's presence will present the public with a dramatic choice about the role the government should play in health care.

Rebels appear to be in control of large parts of the city of Aleppo. Government forces responded with heavy fire, killing dozens of civilians. But rights groups criticized rebels after a video reportedly showed they summarily killed four government loyalists. NPR's Anthony Kuhn talks to Steve Inskeep about the latest.