White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said the cuts would offset "pretty good" economic activity over the past few months. GOP Rep. Paul Ryan was pessimistic about a deal, while Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said the two sides would come together for an agreement.

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The explosions targeted mainly Shiite neighborhoods. The attack comes amid increasing Shiite-Sunni tension in Iraq.

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Pope Benedict XVI asked those gathered in St. Peter's Square to continue praying for him and the next pope. He steps down as pope Feb. 28.

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Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is responsible for reshaping the U.S. military after 10 years of war. At the same time, he's fighting to stave off the across-the-board cuts to the defense budget.

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Fahrettin Gumus, a retired security guard from Turkey, recently traveled alone to Afghanistan in search of his teenage son Ibrahim, who left three years ago to join al-Qaida. So far, the father has found no trace of Ibrahim, but says he will continue to search.

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The president of the United States has a lot on his plate. Is it too much? As we pause to celebrate our exceptional leaders on Presidents Day, perhaps it's time we start contemplating a new kind of presidency — a presidency that befits these fitful times.

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To get the Distinguished Warfare Medal, no valor or bodily harm is necessary. But even safely away from combat, drone operators and cyber hackers can have a major impact on military operations. Until now, there hasn't been an award for those contributions.

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If Chicago is a stronghold of American Islam, then Rami Nashashibi might be considered one of its most precocious proponents. On Chicago's South Side, his group, the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, works to end violence and improve residents' living conditions.

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President Obama reiterated his goal of bringing America up to speed with new high-speed rail projects nationwide. Meanwhile, the freight-rail systems are still helping farmers keep costs down and getting their crops out. Any new kind of rail expansion would have to take these long-established networks into account.

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The month-long hunt ends with just 68 pythons caught, while humorist Dave Barry, in an 'unmasculine' snake encounter, defends himself with barbeque tongs.

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NPR speaks with a group of college Republicans at Ohio State University about the president's policies, his popularity with their peers, and what the GOP needs to do to win more young votes.

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The explosion in Quetta is aimed at Shiite women and children; two bombings last month killed nearly 120 Shiites in the same city and injured scores more.

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Gov. Jay Inslee gets the call that between 150 and 300 gallons of toxic sludge are leaking from a single-shelled tank every year. There are dozens of these tanks holding waste that have outlived their life spans.

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President Obama was in Chicago on Friday to address the scourge of gun violence that's plaguing that city and so many other parts of the country. It was one of several trips the president made this week to promote his second-term agenda.

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Tracy Johnson lost her wife to war, but she didn't lose her family.

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A new form of alternative tourism is cropping up across Europe, with people eager to see the shattered remains of the continent's boom-and-bust economy. In Valencia, Spain, those tours take tourists past the city's many deserted construction projects.

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Pope Benedict's resignation kicks off a closely watched process to choose his successor. Some have put the odds on the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church coming from the Southern Hemisphere, and possibly from Africa, the fastest growing region for Catholicism in the world.

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The political drama Argo is based on the real story of a CIA-planned rescue in revolutionary Iran. Experts say it gets most of the story right — but two men who were actually there say the end of the story was more complicated than Hollywood might think.

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The baby dolls were born from racial segregation in New Orleans in 1912. A group of African-American prostitutes decided to express themselves through dance and costumes, challenging taboo by parading during Mardi Gras.

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At a news conference, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon revealed new details about the final showdown with ex-cop Christopher Dorner that left one deputy dead and another seriously wounded. It's unclear whether the wound was self inflicted.

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