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Greenpeace drops item on Swedish reactor from glider to make point

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace on Tuesday said it flew a paraglider over a nuclear reactor building in south-western Sweden and dropped an item upon it from the air to show how vulnerable the facilities were. | 05/21/13 19:27:41 By - By LENNART SIMONSSON

Vermont governor signs 'death with dignity' measure

With the strokes from three gubernatorial pens, Vermont on Monday became the fourth state in the country to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients. | 05/20/13 19:40:54 By - By MICHAEL MUSKAL

California robbery case leads Supreme Court to reconsider police search laws

A tattooed inmate in one of California’s most remote prisons will now get his moment in the Supreme Court sun, along with a shot at clarifying the rules governing certain law enforcement searches. | 05/20/13 17:00:28 By - By Michael Doyle

Polygraph world’s close ties spark accusations of favoritism

When polygrapher Walt Goodson began moonlighting for a private company, he didn’t think the law enforcement agency he worked for would care. After all, his supervisor had worked for his company’s competitor and had approved his outside job. But after investigators found Goodson’s relationship with the manufacturer to be improper partly because of his involvement in a bid, Goodson agreed it looked bad. Public employees are supposed to avoid conflicts of interest because they could give a company an unfair advantage over competitors or create a greater expense for the public agency that’s buying a product. Even so, Goodson is one of 14 current or former law enforcement officers across the country who’ve been described by Lafayette Instrument Co. Inc. as dealers over the last six years. | 05/20/13 00:00:00 By - By Marisa Taylor

FBI turns away many applicants who fail lie-detector tests

Thousands of job applicants come to FBI offices every year, eager to work for the top law enforcement agency in the U.S. But many of them have their hopes dashed, and it’s not because of their work experience or education or criminal records. They’re turned down because they’ve failed their polygraph tests. The FBI’s policy of barring applicants who fail their polygraph tests clashes with the view of many scientists that government agencies shouldn’t rely on polygraph testing to decide whether to hire or fire someone. | 05/20/13 00:00:00 By - By Marisa Taylor

Yahoo board reportedly agrees to buy Tumblr for $1.1 billion

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Yahoo's board of directors has reportedly approved a $1.1 billion purchase of the popular blogging site Tumblr, Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer's boldest move to date to revitalize the struggling Internet giant. | 05/20/13 04:15:00 By - By BRANDON BAILEY

Obama urges Morehouse College graduates to help others

President Barack Obama urged graduates of a celebrated historically black college Sunday to use their education to help others and to work for "something larger than yourself," citing the example of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. | 05/20/13 04:15:00 By - By PAUL RICHTER

Farmers hope immigration bill yields more foreign ag workers

Walk the aisles of any neighborhood grocery store today and you’re as likely to find tomatoes picked in Sinaloa, Mexico, as Central California or oranges from Sao Paulo, Brazil, as Bradenton, Fla. | 05/20/13 17:02:39 By - By Franco Ordonez

China’s hunger for American coal in doubt

The push for mass coal exports from Washington state, already facing a huge environmental battle, also could get hit with slowing Chinese demand for coal shipments. | 05/17/13 13:06:42 By - By Sean Cockerham

Issa subpoenas Pickering over Benghazi probe, demands closed-door testimony

The congressman leading the Republican investigation into last year’s terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on Friday ordered retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering to submit to questioning behind closed doors next week over an internal State Department review Pickering helped lead into the attacks. | 05/17/13 19:29:20 By - By Jonathan S. Landay

Syrian opposition considers sacking its U.S.-backed interim leader

The fractured Syrian opposition movement is considering ditching its prime minister at a meeting next week, action that would complicate the State Department’s push for peace talks and once again leave the international community without a clear idea of who would take charge should Bashar Assad fall. | 05/17/13 18:55:21 By - By Hannah Allam

Treasury says U.S. can pay its bills for months, delaying debt ceiling fight

Any confrontation over the nation’s debt ceiling is now unlikely until after Labor Day. | 05/17/13 18:29:54 By - By David Lightman

Mexico’s Pena Nieto, seeking wide reforms, wants to limit power of governors

Barely a quarter-century ago, Mexico’s all-powerful presidents could run any of the nation’s 31 governors out of office at will. Then the pendulum began to swing. In the last decade, the power of governors grew to such levels that they became known by the moniker “little viceroys.” | 05/17/13 17:20:55 By - By Tim Johnson

Prison brew could play pivotal role in California murder case

One of the two inmates accused of killing an Atwater, Calif., prison guard was so drunk on a potent brew dubbed “White Lightning” that he couldn’t understand an FBI agent’s Miranda warnings afterward, defense attorneys claim in revealing new documents filed in federal court. | 05/17/13 13:25:20 By - By Michael Doyle

House group finds bipartisan agreement on immigration bill

A bipartisan House group hammered out an immigration-reform deal late Thursday after years of closed-door meetings and last-minute brinksmanship from a top Democrat. | 05/17/13 07:51:25 By - Marc Caputo and Franco Ordoñez

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