The U.S. Navy is confronting any number of strategic challenges as it seeks to rein in costs and cope with an aging fleet of ships and planes. And, then, on a new ship, there’s the issue of the toilets. The USS George H.W. Bush , built at a cost of $6.2 billion and deployed on its first combat mission only last spring, has experienced chronic plumbing problems for months, with the faltering of its vacuum-based system repeatedly leading to toilet outages. Read full article > >

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Naval ship faces chronic toilet outages at sea

Looking to save his faltering campaign after a disastrous gaffe that led Republicans to question whether he has the intellectual timber to occupy the White House, Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled Tuesday morning a plan to massively overhaul Washington’s ways. In Iowa, which is in many ways a do-or-die contest for the Texas governor, Perry sought to put down stakes as the most radical change agent in the race, casting his rivals (mainly Mitt Romney) as small-bore, nibble-around-the-edges, managerial types, and casting himself as a massive wrecking ball that would level the political and economic Beltway culture. Read full article > >

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Perry outlines plan to uproot and overhaul D.C.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde urges “bold action” on the faltering world economy, ahead of a meeting of the G7 nations.

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IMF chief calls for global action

The vaunted Republican network of high-dollar donors and fund-raisers has been slow to commit itself, contributing to the faltering start of the party’s drive to unseat President Obama.

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Big G.O.P. Donors Adopt Wait-and-See 2012 Tack