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Serena Williams will take on Victoria Azarenka in the U.S. Open final. Host Scott Simon talks to NPR's Tom Goldman about tennis, as well as the season opener of the NFL.

There are many ways to look at civil war: ethnic factions, economic divides and religions differences. But increasingly, some say we should also look at climate change as a factor as well, as it is often what forces internal migrations in nations already simmering with ethnic and sectarian tensions.

When the swirling, howling winds of the 1930s Dust Bowl gobbled up farmland from Texas to the Dakotas, the federal government planted 100 million trees to act like a giant windbreak. It worked. But now, after years of drought, those old trees are dying.

Norman Rush's newest novel takes a geographic hiatus from Botswana, his usual literary location. Instead, reviewer Drew Toal says the book is instead full of irritating intellectuals, postmortem scandal, and a group of collegiate clowns who come together after the death of an old friend.

A exhibit at L.A's Architecture and Design Museum focuses on eye-popping buildings and structures that were imagined for the City of Angels — but never actually built.

One word: oversupply. Too many ships were built before the 2008 global economic crisis. This drove down shipping rates, forcing the industry to scale back. The effects are still being felt. This week, a Finnish shipbuilder said it would close a yard that employed 700 workers.

China runs the largest censorship machine in human history, researchers say. But Harvard studies of Internet postings in China suggest that even vitriolic criticisms of leaders and state policies are not what officials want to censor.

When Congress left on its August break five weeks ago, members knew they had a string of fiscal deadlines coming up upon their return — from the budget bill funding the government to a debt ceiling increase. The Syria debate has overshadowed all of that.

The America's Cup is winding down and many in San Francisco say it has fallen short of expectation — on and off the water. The defending champions Oracle Team USA, the hometown favorites, are close to defeat by Emirates Team New Zealand. The regatta will likely be remembered for failing to live up to its hype.

The group that claimed responsibility for the attack on the mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, began as a militia fighting in Somalia. But it has evolved into an al-Qaida affiliate that views Somalia as a front in the war against the West.