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Long before some best-selling memoirs were unmasked as heavily embellished fictions, the writer Clive James embraced the concept. In the preface to his first memoir, which is being rereleased after three decades, he wrote, "Most first novels are disguised autobiographies. This autobiography is a disguised novel."

On May 19, 1989, a tearful Zhao Ziyang, one of the Communist Party's top officials, addressed student protesters in Tiananmen Square. After that speech, Zhao was put on house arrest, where he remained until his death in 2005. Editor Bao Pu talks about a new book of Zhao's memoirs.

A lawyer for Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she has been charged with violating terms of her house arrest and could face a prison term of up to five years. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday.

A Congressional subcommittee on Wednesday had a hearing with two witnesses who warned the Bush administration against harsh interrogation techniques. One is Ali Soufan, the FBI agent who interrogated Abu Zubaydah. The other is Philip Zelikow, the State Department official who protested that there was no legal basis for justifying the techniques.

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday with a witness who warned the Bush administration against harsh interrogation techniques. Former FBI agent Ali Soufan interrogated Abu Zubaydah. He called the harsh methods ineffective.

Hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka have been killed recently. Aid officials believe many were victims of shelling by the Sri Lankan army fighting against the Tamil Tigers, who are using civilians as human shields. The Sri Lankan government is ignoring international appeals for a pause in the fighting. The military has its sights set on one man.

The 2009 Social Security and Medicare Trustees report released Tuesday showed the funds will be exhausted a couple of years sooner than expected. That's largely because high unemployment rates mean a lower level of payroll tax receipts being paid in to both programs. David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal talks with Steve Inskeep about the financial future of the programs.

American journalist Roxana Saberi was released Monday from an Iranian prison, where she had been held since January. Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, where Saberi grew up, says the Iranian government has rectified a "terrible miscarriage of justice," and officials said she is now free to leave the country.

The federal government has ordered some of the nation's largest banks to raise a total of $75 billion. The Treasury Department revealed the results of its so called "stress tests" to assess the health of the financial system. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and others will be required to raise more capital.

How can the banks that need to raise more capital do it? David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal talks with Renee Montagne about what the financial institutions can do to raise the money.