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President Barack Obama in the White House

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As Obama's political fortunes rise, fight over contraception mandate casts a cloud

By Lesley Clark | McClatchy Newspapers

Just as some analysts have begun to suggest a sunnier political outlook for the president's re-election prospects, the White House is engaged in a highly charged dispute with Republicans and Catholic leaders over its mandate that religious institutions must provide contraceptives in their health care coverage. » read more

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Women Military

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

Specialist Brittany Hampton, right, and Spc. Vergil Heger, left, were two of five soldiers in the last vehicle to cross the border from Iraq to Kuwait on December 18, 2011.

Spotlight

Pentagon to open more combat to women

By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

A decade after the United States launched two wars that put women at the front lines of unconventional fighting, the Pentagon crept closer Thursday to formally allowing them to serve in combat by announcing an additional 14,000 combat-related jobs for female service members. » read more

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SPECIAL REPORTS

Special report: Honor Tarnished

McClatchy found errors and embellishments in the Marine Corps' Medal of Honor nomination for Dakota Meyer, whose deeds have been retold in a book and numerous news reports.

Special report: Chimp research

Chimpanzees at a federal primate facility are at the center of an impassioned debate between the National Institutes of Health and the animal-rights community.

Special report: Military Injustice

An ongoing McClatchy probe reveals troubling flaws in the nation's military justice system, from an error-ridden crime lab to botched death penalty cases and ethical conflicts.

Special report: Afghan contracts

The U.S. program to spend billions of dollars on Afghanistan's facilities is failing. Corruption, nepotism and mismanagement hobble the reconstruction.

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Read McClatchy coverage of Afghanistan and South Asia from correspondents in Kabul and Islamabad, as well as our national security team in Washington.

More on Camp Lejeune water

Scientists studying water contamination at Camp Lejeune have learned of another source of leaking fuel near a drinking well that served thousands of Marines and their families.

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