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Ways Ohio Could Swing The Election

Credit Mary Altaffer / AP

A campaign charter flight carrying Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan arrives in Ohio, which has seen nearly nonstop visits from the candidates in recent weeks.

By Liz Halloran

Originally published on Thu October 11, 2012 3:52 pm

Kentucky may be the site for tonight's debate between the vice presidential candidates, but the monster swing state of Ohio remains the focus of White House dreams for President Obama and Mitt Romney.

Both the incumbent and his challenger have been in and out of the state with increasing frequency; GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan plans a trip to the Buckeye State on Friday, after his tangle with Vice President Joe Biden.

2:18 pm

Thu October 11, 2012

Very Fancy: Scientists Detail A Diamond Encrusted Super-Earth

Credit Haven Giguere / via Yale University

Illustration of the interior of 55 Cancri e — an extremely hot planet with a surface of mostly graphite surrounding a thick layer of diamond, below which is a layer of silicon-based minerals and a molten iron core at the center.

By editor

Originally published on Thu October 11, 2012 5:39 pm

Scientists have discovered a world much fancier than our homely, little Earth.

New research that will published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters details a planet that is eight times heavier than Earth and with twice its radius. But instead of being covered in water and granite, it is encrusted in graphite and diamond.

1:42 pm

Thu October 11, 2012

A Shooting Foreshadowed By Taliban Threats

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Credit ISPR / EPA/Landov

Malala Yousafzai is treated in a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, after she was shot on Tuesday.

Credit T. Mughal / EPA/Landov

Malala Yousafzai, 15, and her father ignored Taliban threats for years and spoke out in favor of education for girls. Malala, shown here in March 2012, was shot in the head on Tuesday and is in critical condition at a military hospital.

Credit Aamir Qureshi / AFP/Getty Images

Supporters of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf pay tribute to Malala in Islamabad on Wednesday.

By Philip Reeves

Originally published on Thu October 11, 2012 3:00 pm

A 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl remains in critical condition after being shot in the head for defying the Taliban and championing the right of girls to go to school. Malala Yousafzai rose to prominence during the recent war in Pakistan's Swat Valley by writing a blog under a pen name. NPR's Philip Reeves reported on that war — and twice met Malala's father. Reeves sent this account of the tough world in which Malala spent her childhood.

1:32 pm

Thu October 11, 2012

Bringing People Back From The Brink Of Suicide

By editor

Originally published on Thu October 11, 2012 1:55 pm

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1:26 pm

Thu October 11, 2012

How We Got To The Edge Of The Fiscal Cliff

By editor

As the end of the year draws near, politicians and economists are again warning of the consequences of the "fiscal cliff." David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, sorts through the politics and numbers to explain how the government came to the precipice of the fiscal cliff.

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2:19 pm

Thu October 11, 2012