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President Obama's approval rating ticked up slightly after launching air strikes in Iraq and Syria. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks to Mara Liasson about what this could mean for the midterm elections.

President Obama did not seek permission from Congress to launch airstrikes last week. Legal experts and some lawmakers question how valid his claims for action are.

Class action lawsuits against the NFL are hitting headlines. Players or former players are suing the league because of head injuries. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mike Pesca.

So far there are no signs of a breakthrough in talks between Democrats and Republicans in Washington to stave off the tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on New Year's Day. President Obama has summoned top congressional leaders for talks at the White House on Friday.

Mitt Romney delivered the commencement address at the nation's largest evangelical school, Liberty University in Virginia, on Saturday. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports this is the latest effort by the Republican presidential candidate to win over a part of the party base that has been skeptical of him in the past.

The hero and the heroine of Peter Carey's new novel are separated by 150 years — and are brought together by an enormous, 19th-century, mechanical duck. The Chemistry of Tears is the 12th novel by the Australian-born, two-time Booker Prize-winning author.

Two weeks ago, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain found himself fending off reports of sexual harassment published in the Washington political newspaper, Politico. He said there was "nothing else there to dig up." That was, predictably, not the end of the story.

On China's Internet, cyber citizen have been posting incriminating videos or allegations against politicians. Instead of deleting the material, censors have often left it up. So far, at least seven officials have either lost their jobs or are being investigated. But the recent exposure of graft may not last.

Florida Republican Rep. Connie Mack IV easily won his party's nomination to take on Sen. Bill Nelson, considered vulnerable and the only Democrat holding a statewide office in the state. The son of respected former senator Connie Mack III, Mack's name is well known, but he's not caught fire with Republicans and Independents. He trails Nelson by several points and is under-performing GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Florida. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

An attempt to purge tens of thousands of "dead" voters from its election rolls has spawned a backlash across the state, involving the registrar in the state's biggest county, the secretary of state and the Texas Democratic Party.