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Road bowling has been played in Ireland for over 300 years. David Powell saw the game on TV and brought it back to Ireland, West Virginia. Bowlers hurl an iron and steel ball down a country road. Like golf, the player or team who reaches the finish line in the fewest shots wins.

At 26, Liang Wang is new on the job as principal oboe with the New York Philharmonic. He makes his own reeds, spending hours each day hand-crafting the essential equipment with incredible precision.

One year after a group of Somali Bantu settled in Columbia, S.C., the refugees are still learning to adapt to life in America. But, as a new generation is born in the United States, a community is pitching in to help the Bantu integrate.

Poland could be the most pro-American country in Europe. Poland was one of the most outspoken countries supporting the United States in the war in Iraq, and the nation's pro-American feelings have deep roots. Now a NATO member and poised to enter the European Union, Poland is torn between allegiance to America and its desire to be more European. The series "America Seen Through European Eyes" concludes with an examination of this country's current views of the United States. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Differences over the war in Iraq have plunged U.S.-French relations to a low point. In Part Two of our series "America Seen Through European Eyes," examines the history of French anti-Americanism, and France's contradictory reactions to America today. Hear NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.

As part of a year-long series on low wage workers, NPR's Noah Adams profiles a single mom in Maine. She works two jobs and earns about 12,000 a year. She gets support from family and after-school child care through a privately funded program, but there's never much room for anything above the basics.

A new poll for NPR shows that among likely voters, a majority believe the country is on the wrong track. Americans also say they are less confident in President Bush's job performance. Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and Republican pollster Bill McInturff asked people for their views of President Bush, the war in Iraq and the state of the country. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

Promises to MAHA voters are coming into direct conflict with other Republican priorities. Food policy professionals aren't surprised.

The novel Adama relates a teenager's impressions of Saudi Arabia in the 1960s and 70s as he transforms from home boy to questioning intellectual. Author Turki al-Hamad's book, first published in 1998, has been banned in several Middle Eastern countries; it is al-Hamad's first work to be translated into English. Alan Cheuse has a review.

In Germany, robotic AI dogs with the faces of tech's most powerful men are on the loose — courtesy of American artist Beeple.

In the past decade, an increasing number of U.S. companies have been radically cutting costs by sending manufacturing and customer service jobs overseas. NPR's Howard Berkes profiles a firm in Arkansas hoping to reverse that trend, connecting local high-tech workers with global clients.

UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup says we have too many parking spaces in this country, especially the cheap and free kind. He argues that we pay the price for it in many different ways. Shoup's point is made in a new book, The High Cost of Free Parking.