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Now You Don't See Them, Now You Do: Pelosi Defends Doctored Photo   Four of the women who are members of the House were a little late to a group photo Thursday. So Pelosi's office digitally added them later. It's a "historic record of who the Democratic women of Congress are," the minority leader says. |
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It's Official: Electoral Votes Are Counted; Obama & Biden Won At a joint session of Congress, the Electoral College votes from each state were read aloud. |
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As Norovirus Rages, A Robot Named 'Vomiting Larry' Gets His Closeup  Developed by British researchers, Larry the robot has helped scientists see that a little vomit can go a long way. He vomits on command. And his barf can be tagged with fluorescent dye that makes it easy for scientists to track. |
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How A Community Created A Garden From Sadness Mourners left flowers and plants after the 2011 Tucson shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13. Instead of sending the shrines to a landfill after they were taken down, volunteers sorted through everything, replanted what they could and composted the rest. |
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Olympic Cyclist Dies After Being Hit By Taxi In South Africa Burry Stander, one of the world's elite mountain bikers, was killed Thursday as he rode his bike in his native South Africa. Stander, 25, a two-time Olympian who placed fifth in his event at the London 2012 Olympics, was reportedly struck by a taxi van as he rode near his home in Shelley Beach. |
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After Outsourcing Boom, An 'Insourcing' Comeback? Following years of moving jobs overseas, some companies are deciding there are benefits to manufacturing products here at home. Guest host Celeste Headlee discusses the latest jobs numbers and the new trend called "insourcing." Headlee talks with Wall Street Journal reporter Sudeep Reddy and journalist Charles Fishman. |
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In Australia, Trees Made Famous By Aboriginal Artist Fall To Suspected Arsonist The "ghost gum" trees painted by Albert Namatjira became symbols of Australian identity and were soon to be put on the nation's historic register. |
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Update: Senate Joins House In Passing Sandy Aid Bill A second, larger chunk of aid for those devastated in the late October storm will be voted on later this month. There has been bipartisan outrage this week that the House had not acted sooner. |
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FDA Releases Rules To Strengthen Safety Of Food Supply Two years after a food safety bill became law, the FDA issues a rule to prevent foodborne illness in produce and one to require food manufacturers to have plans in place to prevent contamination. Foodborne illness sickens about 48 million Americans each year. |
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Secretary Clinton Now Expected Back In Her Office Next Week The former first lady hasn't been at her desk since early last month. She's suffered from a stomach virus, a concussion and has been treated for a blood clot discovered behind her right ear. |
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In NFL Football, As In Hollywood, Does Anybody Know Anything? When coaches are getting fired left and right based on fewer games in a whole season than a baseball team plays in the playoffs, how much does anybody really know in the NFL? |
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155,000 Jobs Added In December, Jobless Rate At 7.8 Percent Growth was in line with expectations and adds to the evidence that the nation continues to add jobs at a modest pace. |
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In War-Torn Northern Syria, Children 'Only Paint In Red' Fighting has raged in Syria since March 2011. The U.N. estimates that more than 60,000 people have died. The effect on children is heart-breaking. Some can't draw pictures of people without showing blood coming out of them. |
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Malala Released From Hospital; Taliban's Attack On Teen Sparked Outrage  Three months after being shot in the head because she had been speaking out against efforts to bar girls from going to school, the Pakistani girl is well enough to leave the U.K. hospital where she's been treated. She still faces more surgery, however. |
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Did Hiring Pick Up As 2012 Ended? We'll Find Out Shortly The December employment report is due. Economists expect to hear that the jobless rate remained at 7.7 percent and that about 150,000 jobs were added to payrolls. If there is a surprise, some analysts say, it's likely to be better-than-expected news. |
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Old Greek Blasphemy Laws Stir Up Modern Drama The laws date to the 1850s, but have rarely been invoked. However, two recent cases have put the law in the spotlight, and critics say the measure is being abused. |
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Bargain Over Fiscal Cliff Brings Changes To Health Care Health care has been a major focus in recent budget battles. New legislation provides a temporary fix in payments for doctors, but it will be paid for by a decade of cuts to hospitals. And a program for long-term-care insurance won't ever get off the ground. |
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Outspoken Alan Grayson Gets Another Chance In Congress The Florida Democrat known for his biting comments targeting Republicans was among the House freshmen sworn in this week. He started serving in Congress four years ago but lost a bid for re-election. Now he's back and shows no signs of softening his tone. |
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From Canada To Latin America, The Christmas Bird Count Is On Since 1900, citizen scientists across the Americas have braved bad weather and lack of sleep to participate in the yearly count — essentially, a bird-watching marathon. In the process, these birds have created the world's longest-running database in ornithology and given scientists a great tool for assessing the health of bird populations. |
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Drilling For Facts Under The 'Promised Land' Fiction In the film, opening in theaters across the country Friday, Matt Damon's character pitches natural gas drilling to a rural community. Even with a number of inaccuracies, the film explores real-life issues confronting towns that are promised wealth but have to weigh potential environmental impacts of drilling. |
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Budget Deal Provides Tax Breaks For Green Energy Whether you're a homeowner who bought an energy-saving refrigerator last year or a company hoping to build a wind farm, the tax package Congress just approved may give you a reason to cheer. |
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Leader Of U.S. Movie-Pirating Group Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison A man who admitted to being the leader of the IMAGiNE Group, which released unauthorized versions of theatrical films online, has been sentenced to serve 60 months in prison — reportedly a record for an American web piracy sentence. |
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Kansas Presses Sperm Donor To Pay Child Support A Kansas man's decision to donate sperm to help a lesbian couple conceive a child in 2009 has landed him in a complicated legal case, as a state agency is now pursuing him for child support payments. William Marotta, 46, signed away his parental rights in 2009. Now he's asking a judge to dismiss the state's case, which has grabbed national attention. |
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You Can't See It, But You'll Be A Different Person In 10 Years People generally fail to appreciate how much their personality and values will change in the years ahead — even though they recognize that they have changed in the past, according to fresh research. |
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Wind Industry Secures Tax Credit, But Damage May Be Done Uncertainty over the credit had lingered for a while, causing the industry to put off long-term planning. So while the now-approved tax credit revives prospects for an industry facing tens of thousands of layoffs, don't expect to see many new turbines coming up soon. |
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After Fighting To Go To School, A Pakistani Woman Builds Her Own  Humaira Bachal's father thought it was a waste of time for her to go to middle school. For years, she had to sneak out of the house to attend. When he found out, he was furious. Now, at 25, she runs a school serving more than 1,000 kids in a Karachi slum. |
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Utah And 6 Other States Get Feds' OK To Run Insurance Exchanges Utah's unorthodox health insurance exchange got conditional approval from the Obama administration. Six other states with more conventional approaches to running health insurance marketplaces also received provisional OKs. |
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DNA Links Bloody Handkerchief To French King's Execution In France, a team of scientists says that a piece of cloth dipped that was reputedly dipped in the blood of Louis XVI is genuine. The monarch was executed 220 years ago this month, during the French Revolution. |
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Hit-And-Run Deaths Increase, But Culprits Hard To Capture In Los Angeles, where the car is the major mode of transportation, hit-and-run accidents involving pedestrians occur almost daily. But these crimes can be the most difficult for law enforcement to investigate and solve. |
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For Many Kids, Winter Break Means Hungry Holidays Most kids look forward to their school's winter break. But millions of students in the U.S. get free or reduced-price meals at school, and when school is closed, many of those children eat less until classes are back in session. |
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Drought Puts The Squeeze On Already Struggling Fish Farms The year's dry, hot weather forced aquaculturists to spend a lot more to keep their fish healthy and fed. For US catfish farmers, though, already suffering from competition with Asia, the drought has been an especially hard blow. |
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The Phantom Tax That Made The Deficit Look Better Congress finally made a permanent fix to the alternative minimum tax, which threatened to boost the tax bills of millions of Americans each year. But the AMT also created a "useful fiction," as one analyst says, by appearing to shrink future budget deficits. |
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Pap Tests For Cervical Cancer Are Often Wasted Too many women who don't need regular Pap tests are still getting them. Other women who could benefit from the tests aren't getting them, often those are women without health insurance. |
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Transocean To Pay $1.4 Billion In Gulf Oil Spill Settlement The owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig where 11 men died in April 2010 has agreed to pay criminal and civil penalties to resolve Justice Department allegations over its role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. |
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Hold That Mini-Burger: Restaurants Forecast Food For 2013 Peruvian food, iPad menus and artisan cheese are all on the menu for 2013, but woe to the gazpacho. According to a survey by the National Restaurant Association, the tangy soup and those teeny sliders are on the way out. |
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Northern Mali: A Violent Islamist Stronghold Adam Nossiter, the West Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, is one of the few reporters covering the situation in northern Mali, where Islamist extremists allied with al-Qaida have taken control after a coup destabilized the country in April. |
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FTC Closes Google Inquiry; Tech Giant Makes Changes And Avoids Antitrust Charges Google has agreed to change some of its business practices, in an agreement made with the Federal Trade Commission that will end the U.S. agency's antitrust probe of the search and technology company. |
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Boehner Re-Elected Speaker Of The House The Ohio Republican will again hold the top post in the House. He challenged House members Thursday to come to their jobs humbled. "If you have come here to see your name in lights or to pass off political victory as some accomplishment, you have come to the wrong place," Boehner said. |
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Will Congress Get Along In 2013? A new Congress takes office today, after a nail-biting end to the last term. There were reports of choice words from House Speaker John Boehner to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but Congress came together on a budget agreement. Guest host Celeste Headlee asks how congressional deals are made, and what to expect from the freshman class. |
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The brutal rape and death of a young student in New Delhi is raising concerns about violence against women in India. To find out more about the challenges women face in the world's largest democracy, guest host Celeste Headlee speaks to a women's rights advocate and an Indian author. |
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Latinos Shifting Political Trends Tensions between different Latino ethnic groups might be changing local politics on the east and west coasts. Host Michel Martin speaks with Columbia University adjunct professor Ed Morales, who says shifting Latino demographics are the driving force behind it all. |
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Nice Moment: Sen. Mark Kirk Returns To Capitol One Year After Stroke The Illinois Republican's climb up the steps of the Capitol was cheered by colleagues from both sides of the aisle. Kirk, 53, is an inspiration to other stroke survivors. |
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Fire Risk Leads Praxair To Recall Grab 'n Go Oxygen Tanks Praxair has recalled its Grab 'n Go Vantage portable oxygen units. Turns out that if these cylinders get kicked or knocked over they can sometimes catch fire. The company is replacing o-rings between the built-in pressure valve and gas tank. |
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Putin Offers French Actor Depardieu Russian Citizenship Gerard Depardieu has complained about high taxes in his native land. Meanwhile, he has befriended some of Russia's allies and is an acting icon in that nation. Also, the Russian leader may see a chance to tweak the West by claiming one of its wealthier citizens. |
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Apes Have Food, Will Share For A Social Payoff Humans have a long tradition of sharing food with strangers, and it turns out bonobos do it, too. In fact, the bonobos in a recent experiment were more likely to offer fruit and nuts to a stranger than to a familiar ape. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're altruistic. |
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NPR's Michele Norris Returning As Host/Special Correspondent The former host of All Things Considered has been charged with producing "signature profiles of leaders in politics, pop culture, business and other fields." Meanwhile, Audie Cornish is now a permanent host of All Things Considered and Rachel Martin is host of Weekend Edition Sunday. |
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In India, Five Charged With Rape And Murder In Crime That Shocked Nation  The men could get the death penalty if convicted. A sixth accused, who is said to be 17, will be tried separately. Their victim was raped, beaten and left for dead. The crime has led to protests and a renewed debate about women's rights in India. |
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This May Blow Your Mind: Video Of New Year's Eve Fireworks In Reverse  See if you agree that Melbourne's New Year's Eve fireworks are turned into something "strangely soothing and tranquil" by running the video backwards. |
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Layoffs Have Slowed, Hiring Has Picked Up, But Jobless Claims Are Higher Last year, American companies announced the fewest number of layoffs for any year since 1997. That's good news. In December, they added on 215,000 workers, according to a new survey. That's good news too. But last week more people filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance. |
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With Those Lost In Mind, Sandy Hook Students And Staff Return To Classes For the first time since the Dec. 14 mass shooting, the children and educators are gathering. A nearby school building that was empty has been transformed into a new Sandy Hook Elementary. Twenty children and six adults were killed by a gunman who then took his own life. |
