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Actor Ossie Davis has died at 87. He was found this morning in a hotel room in Miami, where he was making a film called Retirement. The cause of death was not immediately known. Davis was a distinguished presence on stage, on screen, and as an activist taking on racial injustice.

In this first installment of a three-part series on Social Security, NPR's John Ydstie examines the system's shortfalls and possible ways to extend its long-term solvency. Among the remedies: raising the retirement age; raising the tax that workers and employers pay into the system; and mandating that all federal and state workers take part in the national retirement program.

Thoughts on the life of boxer Max Schmeling, whose fights with Joe Louis became a symbol of a looming confrontation between the United States and Nazi Germany. Schmeling fought in Hitler's army, but quietly helped save two Jewish teens and later befriended a needy Louis. Schmeling has died at age 99.

The Israeli cabinet approves the dismantling of 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the Gaza pullout will begin in July and take 12 weeks.

Twenty-five years ago, the U-S hockey team defeated a superstar Soviet team at the Lake Placid Olympics. The victory was a stunning upset on the ice -- and on the world stage, amid chilly relations between two Cold War superpowers. Three New York friends remember being part of history that day.

A top Palestinian official says he's hopeful that a "small window" of opportunity exists for peace with Israel in the wake of this month's cease-fire agreement. But Nabil Shaath, foreign minister for the Palestinian Authority, says Israel is moving too slowly on several issues.

Want a bigger house, a svelte figure or a gender change? It's possible in the online game "Second Life," where residents trade real money for virtual land, designer clothes and other trappings of a fantasy life.

In Egypt, reformers were gratified when the government approved a new, liberal political party last year, hoping there might be a loosening of President Hosni Mubarak's hold on office. But the Tomorrow party's push for a true multi-party vote was met with a government crackdown.

Alison Krauss and her band will start a tune again and again until it sounds as good as they imagine it. Krauss and members of Union Station perform at NPR.

Preparations are underway for Medicare, the program for the elderly, to launch a new prescription drug benefit in 2006. Meanwhile, Medicaid -- the federal and state program for the poor -- takes center stage in what's expected to be a major budget fight. Hear NPR's Julie Rovner.