Even by the standards of destitution in Afghan refugee camps, the story of Sayid Mohammad is a hard-luck one.

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In Grip of Cold, Afghan Family Buries 8th Child

This story has been updated. President Obama’s recent recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will create years of legal uncertainty for actions taken by those agencies and chaos for companies affected by the decisions, Republican critics will testify Wednesday. Read full article > >

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Obama’s recess appointments will create uncertainty, GOP critics say

This story has been updated. Now that federal officials are done with the data they wanted to review after shutting down file-sharing site Megaupload, the fate of that data is in limbo. Users who had legitimate files on the site — work documents, photos, home videos and more — may see that information deleted as soon as this week. Read full article > >

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Megaupload data could be deleted starting Thursday

(This story has been updated.) ORLANDO, Fla. — President Obama announced plans Thursday to boost tourism by speeding up the visa process for foreign tourists to the United States, focusing on countries with rapidly growing economies and large populations such as China, India and Brazil. Read full article > >

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Obama announces plan to boost international tourism to U.S.

Stewart O’Nan seems incapable of writing a false line. Whether describing the unimaginable ( losing one’s child ) or the mundane ( losing one’s appetite ), his modest sentences crystallize the lives of ordinary people. His previous novel , “ Emily, Alone ,” described the daily outings of an 80-year-old widow in Pittsburgh. Emily’s pulse beat stronger than her story, but with all the novel’s insight and charm, that lack of action didn’t matter. O’Nan is a author you learn to trust, no matter what he’s writing about. Read full article > >

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Take a chance on ‘The Odds’

Every estimate you’ve heard of who is being helped and who is being hurt by the tax cuts proposed by the various Republican presidential campaign is telling you, at best, only half the story. And that’s because these estimates only look at one side of the ledger: who gets the tax cuts. But there’s another side to the ledger: Who pays for them, and how? That side is at least as important as who gets the tax cuts, but it’s almost always ignored. Read full article > >

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What we miss when we talk about tax cuts

If you haven’t gotten enough of the heart-pounding, dark, spectacular “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ,” the publishers of Steig Larsson’s mysteries are giving you another opportunity. Norstedts, the late author’s publisher, has created an app that follows the story of Lisbeth Salander , the computer whiz readers have followed through three books and the Swedish and American movies . Read full article > >

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Steig Larsson app follows a new story of Lisbeth Salander

Ron Paul has new accusations to deal with: Eric Dondero, a former longtime aide to the representative, has written a post at Rightwing News defending Ron Paul against charges of racism and anti-Semitism but also acknowledging that the congressman is “personally uncomfortable” around gay people. “Is Ron Paul a ‘racist.’ In short, No,” Dondero writes. “Is Ron Paul a homo-phobe? Well, yes and no.” Dondero says that Paul supports gay people’s right to do as they please in private but also that he is “personally uncomfortable” around them. Dondero recalls a time Paul made him leave a campaign stop at a gay supporter’s home so he could use the bathroom at a fast-food restaurant. Dondero tells another story, which he did not personally witness, of Paul refusing to shake a gay supporter’s hand.

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Paul ‘Uncomfortable’ Around Gays

Evangeline Moore closes her eyes as she recalls what happened on Christmas, 60 years ago. She’s able to tell the story because she wasn’t home in Florida when the bomb went off. Her father, Harry Tyson Moore, was an early, fearless civil rights leader in Florida who spent the late 1930s and 1940s investigating every lynching of blacks in the state. Read full article > >

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At Christmas, Evangeline Moore thinks of her martyred parents and demands justice

A woman who filed a sexual harassment complaint against Herman Cain in the 1990s will not tell her side of the story in public, her lawyer tells reporters.

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Cain accuser decides not to speak

Okay, I know you probably groaned when you saw the headline. And, yes, I’m jumping on the media bandwagon full of pundits taking shots at Kim Kardashian and her made-for-TV-life. But, as always, I’ve found a personal finance lesson in this story. But first the recap, just in case you haven’t had access to a TV or newspaper for the last week. Kardashian, a reality-TV star, filed for divorce after her 72-day marriage to NBA star Kris Humphries. Read full article > >

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Keeping up with Kardashian’s Kash

The federal watchdog who first raised concerns over the federal loan program used for the now-defunct solar company Solyndra is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill Wednesday–his first appearance since the story broke. Gregory H. Friedman is slated to tell lawmakers that the Energy Department ‘s efforts to quickly distribute $35.2 billion in economic stimulus funding “was more challenging than many had originally envisioned.” Read full article > >

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Energy Department couldn’t manage stimulus money, watchdog says

Other accuser wants to tell her story.

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Cain Accuser’s Severance Revealed

The sight of excavators tearing down vacant buildings has become common in this foreclosure-ravaged city, where the housing crisis hit early and hard. But the story behind the recent wave of demolitions is novel — and cities around the country are taking notice. A handful of the nation’s largest banks have begun giving away scores of properties that are abandoned or otherwise at risk of languishing indefinitely and further dragging down already depressed neighborhoods. Read full article > >

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Banks turn to demolition of foreclosed properties to ease housing-market pressures

This story has been updated. That feeling of bipartisan goodwill that marked President Obama’s last address to a joint session of Congress in January? Read full article > >

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Some Republican lawmakers plan to skip Obama’s jobs speech