Greg Myre

They are a concise lesson in world history, reflecting wars won and lost, economic growth and decline and a country's overall standing in the world.

American women are poised to win far more medals than any other women's squad in Rio. As part of their relentless rise, they're also expected to outpace the U.S. men.

Russians have been banned in a host of sports at the Summer Games, with track and field, rowing and weightlifting hit the hardest.

Foreign policy is usually a campaign afterthought. But the next president will inherent a raft of global challenges, from ISIS to trade deals to a pivot to Asia.

You can't follow everything in Rio, but you want to catch the highlights. Here's a guide to the American athletes and events likely to produce the most memorable performances.

The Paralympic Committee said it's investigating 35 "disappearing positive samples" among disabled Russian athletes. The committee plans to announce by Aug. 1 whether it will ban Russia.

At the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the Russians traded dirty urine samples for clean ones by passing them through a hole drilled into the wall of the anti-doping lab, according to an official report.

Turkey's president named an elderly, reclusive cleric, Fethullah Gulen, as the man behind the uprising. But Gulen, who used to be a close to the president, denied any role.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government appeared to regain control Saturday after rebellious troops occupied parts of the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, the largest city.

The 2002 classified report was a source of speculation for years. It points to possible contact between Saudi officials and the Sept. 11 hijackers, but draws no conclusions.

After three major terror attacks and several near misses since last year, France now appears more vulnerable to extremists than any Western country.

The Americans and Russians are both waging air campaigns against the Islamic State. But the two powers are deeply suspicious of one another and have different goals for Syria's future.

Theresa May favors remaining in the European Union, but says she respects the will of the voters and will carry out the difficult negotiations of extracting the U.K. from the European grouping.

Turkey is currently battling Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Islamic State and Kurdish separatists in southeast Turkey. All the battles are draining the country, and none is going well.

The British prime minister was riding high after a sweeping election victory by his Conservative Party last year. But that campaign included a pledge to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership.

Britain was an outward-looking nation that built the world's largest empire. But it's been turning inward and Thursday's vote on leaving the European Union could further shrink its international role.

Some see the shooters as seeking maximum publicity. Others say the Islamic State is inspiring terrorist attacks in the U.S. and in Europe, and needs to be routed as quickly as possible.

The NPR photographer kept heading back to the front lines in Afghanistan to gauge how the Afghan military was faring against the Taliban. It's a story that has largely been ignored.

In a major foreign policy speech, Hillary Clinton stressed the importance of U.S. alliances and said electing Donald Trump would be a "historic mistake." Here's a breakdown of their key positions.

Kikue Takagi narrowly survived the atomic bomb that killed her classmates. Soon after she moved to California, where she worked for many years at Disneyland. Now in her 80s, she's back in Hiroshima.