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A new book points budget-cutting lawmakers right to the US Defense Department. Author Stephen Glain, who has traveled the world as a journalist, gives the Department of Defense failing grades for the way it's been spending a trillion of our dollars every year.

The constant stream of information we get through mobile and hand-held devices is changing the way we think. Matt Richtel, a technology writer for The New York Times, explains how the use of digital technology is altering our brains -- and how retreating into nature may reverse the effects.

While the election is still officially nearly one month away, in reality it is much, much closer. & As in 'the call is coming from inside the house' is closer. & Yes, for many of us, the election is here - my husband and I are both registered as permanent vote-by-mail voters.

China has halted its military cooperation with the U.S. and threatened this week to sanction American companies involved in selling arms to Taiwan. Beijing's sharp reaction came after Washington announced a $6.4 billion weapons deal to Taiwan.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the Supreme Court to uphold a ban on selling and renting violent video games to minors. Similar bans have been enacted in eight states, but have all been struck down by federal courts.

Richard Leroy Walters, a homeless man who lived in Phoenix, died two years ago. What people didn't know was that he was a millionaire. In his will, he left money for nonprofits — including NPR — and a nurse who befriended him 13 years ago. Rita Belle talks about their unlikely friendship.

Microsoft Corp. is spending $6 billion to acquire the online advertising firm aQuantive Inc. The offer is a huge premium over aQuantive's Thursday closing stock price — a situation that a Microsoft official said is because "we believe it's exactly the right company to buy." Microsoft is playing catch-up in the quickly growing Internet advertising field.

Fear turns out be a very good thing for certain businesses. When North Korea or Iran mentions the word "nuclear," orders pour in to NukePills.com — a Web site that sells potassium iodide. The government also stockpiles this FDA-approved drug.

Myanmar is a place of misery for many of its citizens. The repressive, often brutal military rulers of the country see to that. Political dissent isn't tolerated. And neither, it seems, is the country's ethnic Muslim minority, known as the Rohingya. NPR's Michael Sullivan offers this personal look at their plight.

The tsunami cost tens of thousands of people in Thailand their jobs and their homes. Some 8,000 people died. A special multimedia presentation explores life in Phuket, one year later.