The Supreme Court faces a momentous term in 2012. The justices recently added two high-profile cases to its docket, agreeing to weigh-in on Arizona's immigration law and a Texas case on redistricting. They previously agreed to hear a challenge to the Obama administration's health care law.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited Baghdad Thursday to mark the end of the nearly nine-year-long U.S. mission in Iraq. He told troops, "You will leave with great pride.... Secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to begin a new chapter in history."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and other first-person shooters are popular. Action-adventure games like Super Mario Land 3D and Batman: Arkham City are in demand. Jamin Warren of Kill Screen Magazine talks about the best video games, and how the industry prepares for the season.
Websites like Kickstarter, Kiva and Giving Tree are changing how people donate money. With what's known as microphilanthropy, individuals, non-profits and even small businesses raise money directly from individual donors. Journalist and author Laura Vanderkam explains how crowd funding works.
The GOP presidential hopefuls are airing ads in nearly all of the early voting states. NPR's Ken Rudin, political ad expert Ken Goldstein and Robert Mann, author of Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater, and the Ad that Changed American Politics talk about ads past and present.