NPR Top Stories
Advocates Want Bush Abortion Policies Reversed
Abortion-rights backers want quick action from the president-elect, although they may not press for sweeping changes. Obama has said he is looking to find common ground on reproductive health issues.
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Tracking A 'Missing' Man By Virtual Bread Crumbs
Evan Ratliff eschewed his identity and picked up a new one, challenging Wired readers to find him in 30 days in a contest sponsored by the magazine. Lured by a cash price, readers mobilized online in a mad dash to locate Ratliff — who got a little too cocksure for his own good.
Military Unaware Of Hasan E-Mails To Radical Cleric
Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said there may be additional e-mails that could have tipped off law enforcement or military officials to the alleged Fort Hood shooter before the deadly rampage.
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Feds To Drop Charges Against Blackwater Guard
The Justice Department intends to drop manslaughter and weapons charges against one of the Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, prosecutors said in court documents Friday.
Leader Of Sears Tower Plot Sentenced To 13 Years
Narseal Batiste, who faced a maximum of 70 years in prison, was convicted in May of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida, plotting to blow up buildings and conspiracy to wage war against the U.S. Officials acknowledged the plot never got past the discussion stage and the group never acquired the means to carry it out.
Museum: Galileo's Fingers, Tooth Found
Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again, a Florence museum said Friday.
Socialite's School Brings Hope To Brazilian Slum
Brazil's ghettos are poverty stricken and violent. But there are people fighting against the odds to turn things around for the poor children of Rio de Janeiro. Among them is an unusual apostle: a Rio socialite who founded a school for slum-dwelling children and views education as an equalizer.
Marines Reflect On Duty, Death In Afghanistan
When the Marines of "America's Battalion" first arrived in Afghanistan, they were eager to get into the fight against the Taliban. Now, as they wrap up their seven-month deployment — and after the loss of a dozen comrades — they see warfare in a different light.
Evidence-Based Medicine: Hard For Some To Swallow
Based on studies, two panels of medical experts this week recommended fewer screening tests for breast and cervical cancer. But people don't always want to do what the data say to do.
Obscured By War, Water Crisis Looms In Yemen
News from Yemen has been dominated recently by an escalating rebellion along the border with Saudi Arabia. But the country has been making news for decades because of its severe overuse of a rapidly disappearing water supply, the result of natural and political causes.
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'Botax' In Senate Health Bill Upsets Plastic Surgeons
Levies on liposuction, breast augmentation and other cosmetic procedures would generate billions of dollars to help cover the uninsured.
Record Rainfall Wreaks Havoc In Britain, Ireland
Raging floods engulfed northern England's Lake District on Friday, killing a police officer and trapping dozens in their swamped homes. In Ireland, more than 3 feet of water shut down the center of the country's second-largest city, Cork, and more than a dozen other towns and villages.
Peruvian Police Say Gang Killed People For Their Fat
Police arrested three members of a gang in the Peruvian jungle that allegedly has been killing people and draining fat from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in cosmetics. Medical experts expressed doubt about an international black market for human fat, though it does have cosmetic applications.
In Massillon, High School Football Is 'Who We Are'
The Ohio school has a 20,000-seat stadium, a $3 million indoor practice facility and a live tiger for a mascot. Massillon teams have won 22 state championships and they're in the running for another one. It's football "sunup to sundown," the head coach says.
Senate Ethics Committee: No Punishment For Burris
The Senate Ethics Committee on Friday admonished Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., for making "inconsistent, misleading or incomplete" statements about the circumstances surrounding his appointment to the seat once held by Barack Obama. The committee didn't recommend any punishment.
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Hard Lessons From Two Mass Killings In Texas
The Senate is conducting hearings into the recent shootings at Fort Hood — a tragedy that took place just miles from the site of a deadly 1991 attack. That episode, in which a gunman killed 23 people at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, reshaped how police, medical and psychological personnel respond to such tragedies.
Flood Of Immigrants To Long Island Sparks Tension
People born and raised in Suffolk County, N.Y., complain about dozens of people living in single-family homes; immigrants complain that they are victimized by locals. An Ecuadorean day laborer was murdered last year, allegedly by teenagers who said they regularly looked for immigrants to bash.
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New Weekly Jobless Claims Unchanged
New jobless claims were unchanged last week at 505,000, matching analysts' expectations, but the four-week moving average of claims dropped to its lowest in almost a year, the Labor Department said Thursday.
New Karzai Term, But Same Old Problems
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated in Kabul on Thursday for a new term amid tight security and ceremonial flourishes. But his second term is already beset by severe doubts that he will be any more effective at tackling the country's rampant corruption.
GOP Governors Meeting Decidely Upbeat
The Republican Governors Association is holding its annual meeting this week in Austin, Texas. Thanks to recent election victories in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans are feeling good again. They plan to use those wins to help the party rebound in 2010.
