This month, NPR is examining the many ways China is expanding its reach in the world — through investments, infrastructure, military power and more.

China has capitalized on the financial crisis to expand its influence in Europe, promising to buy Greek, Spanish and Portuguese bonds. But its most important infrastructure deal in Europe has been its investment in the Greek port of Piraeus.

Through such deals, Chinese influence is changing more than just the financial landscape in Greece — with ramifications for the rest of Europe.

Two Iraqi men are due in court in Kentucky on Wednesday to face charges that they tried to send missiles to al-Qaida. The men moved to the U.S. as part of a program to resettle thousands of refugees from Iraq. But national security experts say their presence here has exposed an alarming gap in the screening process.

Waad Alwan arrived in Bowling Green, Ky., two years ago to build a new life. But when he applied to a refugee program for Iraqis, Homeland Security officials didn't know the military had lifted his fingerprints from a bomb designed to hurt U.S. troops in Iraq.

Many American history students learn of a concept called the Frontier Thesis, the idea that the American experience on the frontier shaped the American character. Pakistanis have their own common experiences, from mass migration to war. NPR wanted to know how those experiences affect the country, and posed the question to two Pakistani thinkers Najam Sethi, a leading newspaper editor, and Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani writer and development consultant.

Sethi tells NPR's Steve Inskeep his compatriots are both hospitable to visitors and suspicious of them.

Martha Stewart may sell the company that bears her name, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Stewart has long enjoyed a reputation as a canny businesswoman as well as a decorator, cook and TV personality.

After going to jail in 2004, she resuscitated her career. But her company has been losing money, and is looking for a path back to profitability — possibly by being sold.

In 2010, Martha Stewart sold almost $43 million worth of products. But when the year ended, her company had lost almost $10 million. In fact, it's lost money seven out of the last eight years.

On Monday, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) announced he had tweeted to the world a lewd photo of himself he had meant to send to one woman privately.

For many, the reaction to Weiner's lewd photo texts has been disgust and bewilderment. But the phenomenon is more common than you may think. Even the AARP has covered the trend, with the headline: "Sexting Not Just for Kids."

As sure as death and no new taxes, American sports fans are always convinced that the people who run sports here are dimwits. Well, yes, we have occasionally had some real nincompoops in charge of various professional American sports, and not even Pericles could successfully manage the NCAA, but in point of fact, our domestic sports are a paragon of efficiency and integrity compared with the way international athletic organizations are managed.

Today was the official start of E3 in Los Angeles. The biggest announcement of the day — and likely the week — was the new Nintendo console. The Japanese gaming company changed the way people play video games with its last console, the Wii. The Wii brought millions of casual gamers into an entertainment format many had never tried before. The company looks to bring serious gamers back with the new system.

Kentucky lawmakers want to know more about aviation needs, including aircraft owned and operated by the state.  The Department of Aviation has 35 employees and an annual budget of around $10 million. The department oversees three fixed-wing aircraft and one helicopter. Two other planes under the department's control were sold at auction last month.

There's a lot of hand waving in economics. People make big-picture arguments and throw around equations, but often there's not much good evidence to work with.

MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo want to change that. They study global poverty, and their goal isn't so much to make big, sweeping statements as to find clear answers to specific questions.

In other words, they're economists who actually do experiments in the real world.

Last Friday, the Iranian women's soccer team got some pretty disheartening news in their quest to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.