From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Risky travel, dangerous assignments, and government to the rescue.

Hello again, I'm Marvin Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most. Laura Ling and Yunali have been freed from North Korea, but three

other Americans are still being detained for crossing from Kurdistan into Iran. These are only

the latest in a series of international incidents created by U.S. citizens accused of entering

forbidden zones. Are foreign governments

justified in suspecting they might be spies? Do both tourists and journalists have an obligation

to stay out of trouble? Should the U.S. government always come to the rescue, whatever the diplomatic

tradeoffs might be? On reporter's notebook later on, snail mail is in trouble again. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alany, back with To the Point.

Two American journalists have been released by North Korea.

Three other Americans are in custody in Iran.

What are the rights and obligations of tourists, reporters,

and the governments on both sides of closed borders?

Will a new generation of travelers and journalists provoke more international incidents?

On reporter's notebook, the Postmaster General wants a break in retirement costs.

Would that be enough to keep hundreds of post offices from closing down?

First, this news update all over the country, members of Congress and other federal officials

are facing demonstrators stirred up about health care reform.

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