Parallels
4:20 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Heavy Metal In Kabul? It's The Music, Not The Munitions

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 9:35 am

When 23-year-old Solomon "Sully" Omar felt the music scene in his native Denver wasn't giving him what he was looking for, he made a radical move. He headed for Kabul, capital of the war-torn country his parents had fled decades ago.

"I came here to continue my education and at the same time see what's in the music scene here and bring some of the skills and abilities that I have to the music scene," says Omar.

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News
3:59 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

When The Missing Return, Recovery Is Long, Too

Credit Chris Langer / Barcroft Media/Landov
A missing poster is left on a tree outside Amanda Berry's home in Cleveland last week.

They call themselves "Rooters," and they convene in a private online place they call the "RooterHood."

There, they can talk freely and frankly about what it was like to be kidnapped, to be stripped of identity, often sexually abused by their captors, separated from family, friends.

And also about the struggle to recover their uprooted lives, to trust and hope again.

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Code Switch
3:40 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Immigrants To Be Largest Driver Of U.S. Population Growth

Credit LM Otero / AP
Immigrants take the U.S. oath of citizenship during a naturalization ceremony in Irving, Texas.

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 9:56 am

New immigrants will be the main driver of population growth in the U.S. by as early as 2027, according to new Census Bureau projections.

This would be the first time in almost two centuries that new births will not be the largest source of U.S. population growth.

The Census Bureau says its projections show a combination of declining fertility rates, aging baby boomers and ongoing immigration to the United States.

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The Two-Way
3:30 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Wal-Mart Has Its Own Plan To Help Bangladeshi Garment Workers

Credit Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images
A Wal-Mart store in Paramount, Calif. The company announced it would conduct its own inspections at Bangladeshi factories that produce its goods rather than joining an agreement with other Western retailers.

Wal-Mart says it has drafted its own plan for improving safety at garment factories in Bangladesh rather than join other Western retailers in a legally binding agreement to pay for improved conditions for workers in the South Asian country.

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The Salt
3:30 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Can Star Power Make New Orleans' Food Deserts Bloom?

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 9:59 pm

Plenty of celebrities leverage their star power to raise awareness of complicated food issues. Some of the biggest names include Michelle Obama, Jamie Oliver, Prince Charles and Paul McCartney.

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Shots - Health News
3:16 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

How Researchers Cloned Human Embryos

Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohsunews/8726915230/in/photostream/ / Courtesy of OHSU Photos
Human embryos grow in a petri dish two days after scientists in Oregon cloned them from a donor's skin cell.

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 4:49 pm

Scientists in Oregon have achieved something that many thought might be impossible.

They said Wednesday that they have cloned human embryos and then harvested the embryo's stem cells.

The discovery, if it holds up, means scientists would be able to make personalized stem cells, with their genetic code almost perfectly matched to that of a patient.

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The Two-Way
3:00 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Publisher Threatens Librarian With $1 Billion Lawsuit

A scholarly publisher has issued a warning to Jeffrey Beall, a librarian who writes about what he calls "predatory" practices in the scholarly publishing industry, threatening him with a $1 billion lawsuit for his blog posts criticizing the company.

Beall is an academic librarian at the University of Colorado; he writes about the journal industry on his personal blog, Scholarly Open Access.

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Parallels
2:23 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

After Two Years In Hiding, A Bahraini Blogger Escapes

Credit Mazen Mahdi / EPA/Landov
Online activist Ali Abdulemam (right) is greeted in Manama, Bahrain, on Feb. 23, 2011, shortly after anti-government protests began. Wanted by the government, he went into hiding the following month. He escaped from Bahrain after two years underground and made his first public appearance Wednesday in Oslo, Norway.

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 2:44 pm

The Arab world was aflame in March 2011. Longtime rulers in Tunisia and Egypt had been toppled. NATO was poised to attack Libyan government forces. The Syrian uprising was just beginning. And on the small island nation of Bahrain, the government was cracking down on pro-democracy protesters.

Across Bahrain, protest leaders were rounded up and some were quickly tried, convicted and sentenced to prison. The writing was on the wall for the leaders of the movement, including Ali Abdulemam.

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Parallels
1:36 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Teaching The Rules Of War In Syria's Vicious Conflict

Credit Anonymous / AP
This image provided by the Syrian Revolution against Bashar Assad and released May 2 shows soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad standing amid dead bodies at Bayda village, in the mountains outside the coastal city of Banias, Syria.

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 3:02 pm

A new video from Syria is shocking even by the standards of a war that keeps setting new standards for brutality.

In the video, a rebel fighter identified as Khalid al-Hamad is shown cutting out and eating the organs of a dead government soldier.

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The Two-Way
1:30 pm
Wed May 15, 2013

Source May Have Misled Media About Key Benghazi Email

Credit / AFP/Getty Images
Sept. 11: The U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was aflame after coming under attack.

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 9:41 am

Update at 6:42 p.m. ET: Reaction From Boehner's Office

In a statement, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said the emails "contradict statements made by the White House that it and the State Department only changed one word in the talking points."

Here's the statement in full:

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