Every American is now vividly aware of the threat of terrorism. As the U.S. government struggles to close the security gaps at airports, concerns are rising about a range of other potential dangers. How prepared are local, state and federal agencies to deal with the possibility of a large-scale biological or nuclear attack?
How could the 19 suspected hijackers -- and whoever may have helped them -- hide in plain sight in the weeks and months before September 11, fooling everyone to such deadly effect? Investigators from the United States and throughout the world are now faced with that question and many more as they try to trace the trail of terrorism.
In the second installment of America's Best, CNN and TIME looked at the brilliant individuals, combining passion and obsession, who are still pushing the boundaries of of science and medicine, often by questioning or ignoring the conventional wisdom. CNN Presents profiled pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, AIDS researcher Anthony Fauci, neurobiologist Patricia Goldman-Rakic, paleontologist Andrew Knoll and climatologist Lonnie Thompson.
Three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland have left more than 3,000 people dead, pitted Catholic against Protestant and turned neighbor against neighbor. CNN's Nic Robertson examines the battle for peace with a look at the most controversial politician in the U.K.: IRA commander-turned-peacemaker Martin McGuinness.
African journalist Sorious Samura fled the violence in his country in search of a better life and later returned to document the violence there in the award-winning documentary "Cry Freetown." Samura has now turned his focus on the arduous trek that Africans are making and why they risk their lives for an uncertain future.
Thousands of people seek asylum in America each year, fleeing racial, religious, political or other types of persecution in countries around the world. For the first time, cameras were allowed to record the closed and confidential asylum proceedings inside the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has struck Africa with horrific force -- more 3.8 million people infected in 2000. Many of these people will die within a decade. CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault takes a look at the lives of six South Africans who illuminate the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic sweeping the continent.