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Federal regulators are cracking down on banks that are offering services called deposit advances. Many argue that the service is the same as payday loans and could lead consumers into a cycle of debt.

Renee Montagne talks to Julia Reed, a contributor to the southern-lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun about how to keep spirits up at your holiday party by putting the right stuff in your punch bowl.

At least 20 people were killed in the violence, in which a gun battle followed a large explosion in Sanaa. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but several analysts have noted that it resembles the operations of al-Qaida.

The august medical journal JAMA created a kitsch masterpiece for the cover of its annual issue dedicated to medical education. A group of seven canine healers, some apparently in training, hover around a sick mutt sucking on a thermometer in a hospital bed. They look an awful lot like some poker-playing dogs from yesteryear.

New York City is home to more paintings by Johannes Vermeer — eight — than any other city. And until mid-January, it's playing host to one more: the world-renowned Girl with a Pearl Earring. Critic Lloyd Schwartz says, since the painting's 1994 restoration, "It's even more breathtaking than I remembered."

Can non-belief in God become a belief system itself? NPR's John Burnett has the story of the Texas indie band Quiet Company, who made a splash with a surprisingly positive album about frontman Taylor Muse's crisis of faith.

The transition from one role to the other is difficult, and many have failed making the attempt. Nelson Mandela was a rare example who succeeded in both jobs. In addition, he willingly stepped down after one term in office, setting an example for a young democracy.

From his childhood as a herd boy, Nelson Mandela went on to lead the African National Congress' struggle against South Africa's racially oppressive apartheid regime. For his efforts, he spent 27 years behind bars as a political prisoner. In 1994, he became his country's first elected black leader. Mandela died on Thursday. He was 95.

The Asia trip is generating the kind of video and headlines that could prove useful if the vice president decides to run for president in 2016.

There are two speeches delivered by the late Nelson Mandela that changed the course of history and cemented his legacy as one of the most revered leaders of our time.