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Shots - Health Blog
2:02 am
Wed May 16, 2012

Poll: Americans Show Support For Compensation Of Organ Donors

Originally published on Wed May 16, 2012 5:47 am

The shortage of organs for transplant continues to grow, despite years of work to get more donors on board.

Facebook jumped in this month by making organ-donation status something you could add to your profile. And the social media giant made it easy to connect with a registry to sign up as a donor.

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It's All Politics
2:00 am
Wed May 16, 2012

Coming To A Political Campaign Near You: Outside Money, And Lots Of It

Credit Curtis Tate / MCT /Landov
Yard signs supporting U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock in Columbus, Ind., on April 23. Mourdock went on to beat incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar in a primary race that received national attention, and a flood of money from outside Indiana.

Originally published on Wed May 16, 2012 9:29 am

It's happening in several congressional races, in states like Nebraska, Montana and Ohio — millions of dollars from out-of-state donors and outside groups are fueling candidates' war chests.

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Sweetness And Light
9:03 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

The American Way: Winners And Losers, And No Ties

Credit John Smierciak / AP
Real Salt Lake's Jonny Steele (right) trips Chicago Fire's Sebastian Grazzini during a Major League Soccer matchup. The game ended without a score — one of 11 ties each MLS team is likely to record this season.

Originally published on Wed May 16, 2012 7:13 am

Politicians love to boast about American exceptionalism: how special we are from all the merely ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill countries around the globe. I would say that what sets us apart, more all the time, is that we Americans don't like ties.

I don't mean four-in-hands or bow ties, but the ties in games, the ones that somebody once said are "like kissing your sister." Boy, do I agree — and I never even had a sister. Nothing about me is more American than that I don't like ties.

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Remembrances
8:48 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

In Writing, Fuentes Shed Light On Poverty, Inequality

Originally published on Wed May 16, 2012 9:08 am

Carlos Fuentes was the son of a Mexican diplomat and spent years living abroad, including in the United States. But Mexico — the country, its people and politics — was central to his writing.

Fuentes, one of the most influential Latin American writers, died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City at the age of 83. He was instrumental in bringing Latin American literature to an international audience, and he used his fiction to address what he saw as real-world injustices.

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Remembrances
6:32 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

Carlos Fuentes Was A 'Renaissance Man'

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

One of Mexico's greatest writers has died: Carlos Fuentes. He was 83. Fuentes was a central figure in the Latin American literary boom of the 1960s and '70s. And he was publishing fiction and essays until the end, including an essay published today in the Mexican newspaper Reforma. I'm joined by Ilan Stavans, professor of Latino Studies at Amherst College. And, Professor Stavans, give us a sense of the broad sweep of Fuentes' career and what made his work so important.

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The Two-Way
5:33 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

Report: GM Will No Longer Buy Ads On Facebook

Credit Paul Sakuma / AP
The Facebook thumb.

Originally published on Tue May 15, 2012 5:35 pm

According to The Wall Street Journal and CBS News, General Motors is planning to pull its ads from Facebook.

That would be a big move because GM has spent about $10 million in Facebook ads and the news comes just days before Facebook goes public on Friday.

The Journal reports:

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Shots - Health Blog
5:10 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

U.S. Funding Of HIV/AIDS Fight Overseas Carries Other Benefits

Credit Shashank Bengali / MCT/Landov
A mother and child wait to receive treatment at the HIV clinic in Nyagasambu, Rwanda, in Feb. 2008. The clinic was built by the Washington-based Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation with a grant from the PEPFAR program.

U.S. government spending to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries is also preventing death from other diseases, a new study finds.

Some experts worry the billions of dollars the United States spends to treat people with HIV in poor countries may crowd out prevention and treatment of other illnesses.

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Business
4:46 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

Shareholders Press JPMorgan Over Risk-Taking

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Protesters are seen behind a banner with a picture of JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon outside a shareholders meeting Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.

JPMorgan Chase faced more critics Tuesday, this time from some of its own shareholders at its annual meeting in Tampa, Fla. This comes after the bank disclosed it lost at least $2 billion last week in a bungled trading strategy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the surprise loss, and the Justice Department has now reportedly opened a preliminary probe.

JPMorgan executives let shareholders do some venting at Tuesday's meeting.

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Remembrances
4:46 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

Remembering Mexican Writer Carlos Fuentes

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

One of Mexico's greatest writers has died: Carlos Fuentes. He was 83. Fuentes was a central figure in the Latin American literary boom of the 1960s and '70s. And he was publishing fiction and essays until the end, including an essay published today in the Mexican newspaper Reforma. Our own book critic Alan Cheuse knew Fuentes and reviewed many of his novels. Hi, Alan.

ALAN CHEUSE, BYLINE: Hi, Robert.

SIEGEL: And first, give us a sense of the broad sweep of Carlos Fuentes' career, and what made his work so important?

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It's All Politics
4:20 pm
Tue May 15, 2012

Court Action May Lift Anonymity For Some Campaign Donors

Originally published on Tue May 15, 2012 4:46 pm

Nonprofit groups that want to run campaign ads within two months of the general election have to reveal the names of their donors. That's the result of a federal appeals court action on campaign finance law.

Several weeks ago, a federal court in Washington told the Federal Election Commission it could not allow the buyers of tens of millions of dollars' worth of ads to remain anonymous.

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