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Election 2012
11:01 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Attacking Super PACs Fueled By Anonymous Donors

Credit Restore Our Future, Inc.
A screen grab from an anti-Newt Gingrich ad from the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future.
National Security
11:01 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Critics Question Pentagon's New Strategy

For two decades, the Pentagon has maintained that it could fight two wars at the same time. But as the Obama administration releases its new military strategy Thursday, some question whether the Pentagon will abandon that long-held commitment.

An early draft of the Pentagon's new strategy, The New York Times reported, said the military would only be able to win one war and spoil an adversary's efforts in a second war.

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Author Interviews
11:01 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Growing Up Muslim And Midwestern In 'Dervish'

In American Dervish, playwright and author Ayad Akhtar draws from his own Midwestern childhood to tell the coming-of-age story of 10-year-old Hayat Shah, the son of Pakistani immigrants, whose humdrum world of baseball and video games is interrupted by the arrival of a family friend from Pakistan: the glamorous Mina, who's fleeing a disastrous marriage.

The spiritual and lively Mina lights up the glum Shah home, and Hayat falls under her thrall.

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The Two-Way
4:49 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Google Slaps Its Own Wrist Over Chrome Pay-For-Blogging Flap

Google is "downgrading the search result ranking of the company's own Web browser, Google Chrome, for 60 days," as PC World reports, because some bloggers ending up being paid to mention Chrome during a recent ad campaign.

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It's All Politics
3:55 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

GOP Candidates Laud Bachmann, Who Departs Without Endorsing A Former Rival

Credit Chris Carlson / AP
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., announces an end to her campaign for president on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa.

Originally published on Wed January 4, 2012 4:09 pm

Several former rivals of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann were quick to applaud the now-suspended campaign run by the only woman to have sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Jon Huntsman said Bachmann added an "energetic and passionate voice" to the campaign. Mitt Romney called Bachmann a friend with a "titanium spine." And Newt Gingrich extolled Bachmann's "considerable talent" and "great courage."

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The Two-Way
3:55 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Mom Kills Intruder, Dead Man's Alleged Accomplice Faces Murder Charge

The story of how 18-year-old Sarah Dawn McKinley shot and killed a man who authorities say was breaking into her house on Saturday has been getting lots of attention because of the 911 phone call she made and the already tragic circumstances surrounding the incident.

McKinley, of Blanchard, Okla., called 911 to say that a man was trying to get inside her mobile home and that she feared for her life and that of her 3-month-old son. She asked the 911 operator if she could shoot him if he got inside.

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The Two-Way
3:30 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Sickle Cell Trait Will Bench Steelers' Clark For Mile-High Game

Credit Christian Petersen / Getty Images
In the past two games, Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark has 18 tackles, 14 of them unassisted. But Clark won't be playing when the Steelers face Denver at Mile High Stadium Sunday, due to his sickle cell trait condition.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers start the NFL playoffs with a road game in Denver's Mile High Stadium Sunday, they'll do it without free safety Ryan Clark. That's because Clark, who has 100 tackles and the confidence of his coaches, also has sickle cell trait, which can cause severe complications at high altitudes.

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The Salt
3:30 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Feds To Rein In Use Of Some Antibiotics On Animals

Credit Buyenlarge/Getty Images
Chickens in a mechanized hatchery, in Monroe County, Alabama.

Originally published on Fri January 6, 2012 3:28 pm

The Food and Drug Administration is moving to stop the use of some antibiotics on animals. The agency wants to prevent overuse of these drugs so that bacteria don't develop resistance to them.

The announcement affects antibiotics called cephalosporins, drugs used widely to treat things like pneumonia or skin infections in people.

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Shots - Health Blog
3:08 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Gaps In Health Coverage Can Disrupt Preventive Care

Credit iStockphoto.com
Interruptions in insurance coverage can be enough to deter people from getting preventive care.

People without health insurance don't get enough preventive care — simple but important things like vaccinations and blood tests.

But surely having insurance every now and then is better than none at all, because people can get caught up on their tests when they are covered, right?

That's a widely held view, and one that would be good news to the millions of people who go on and off health insurance each year. Some of them are losing or changing jobs. Others slide on and off Medicaid as they take on temporary work, marry or divorce.

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Asia
3:00 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

In China, Curious Case Of Fraud Grows Stranger Still

The Da Vinci furniture company showroom in Shanghai looks like a salon in Versailles. The price tag on a gilt-covered, Italian-made grandfather clock: more than $40,000.

So it was big news last summer when China Central Television — the government's flagship network known as CCTV — reported that some of Da Vinci's ornate furniture didn't come from Italy, but from a common factory in South China.

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