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Shots - Health Blog
6:45 am
Wed March 14, 2012

Fatty Foods Bad For Sperm

Credit Robert Byron / iStockphoto.com
Eating foods high in saturated fat may increase fertility problems in men, a preliminary study finds.

Men who eat a lot of fatty foods have lower quality sperm than men who avoid them, a new study found.

Saturated fat, the stuff in meat and dairy foods, was associated with lower sperm counts. The men eating the most saturated fat had 35 percent fewer sperm than men eating the least.

On the bright side, the men who ate more omega-3 fats — the kind found in fish and some plants — had slightly more sperm that were correctly formed than their brethren who ate less.

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The Challenges Of A Nuclear Iran
6:37 am
Wed March 14, 2012

The Debate Over Bombing Nuclear Facilities In Iran

Iran said Tuesday that it was unwilling to allow international nuclear inspectors to have complete access to a restricted military complex, called Parchin, which is near the capital Tehran. There are concerns that the complex may contain a facility designed to test explosives meant to trigger a nuclear chain reaction.

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It's All Politics
6:01 am
Wed March 14, 2012

Santorum Gains Momentum, And The GOP Slog Continues

Credit Sean Gardner / Getty Images
After Rick Santorum won primaries in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday, he addressed supporters in Louisiana, which holds its primary on March 24.

Rick Santorum won two Southern state GOP presidential primaries Tuesday, embarassing Mitt Romney who had predicted he'd take one.

Second-place finisher Newt Gingrich vowed to fight on to Tampa, tag teaming Romney along with Santorum. The "three-way dynamic," as he put it, is a winner for Gingrich and, perhaps, his dream of deal-making at the convention, and for Romney, too, whose Southern result could have been much worse if he'd been posting up against Santorum alone.

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The Two-Way
5:40 am
Wed March 14, 2012

Boston's Back Bay Slowly Recovering After Smoky Fire Causes Chaos

Credit Bianca Vazquez Toness / WBUR
The smoke over Boston from Tuesday's electrical fire.
  • WBUR's Bianca Vazquez Toness
  • NPR's Tovia Smith

Repair crews are working this morning to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses in Boston's Back Bay district, "after two transformers caught fire Tuesday night, knocking out power" and sending think black smoke billowing over the area, our colleagues at WBUR report.

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Africa
5:16 am
Wed March 14, 2012

Congo Warlord Convicted Of Recruiting Child Soldiers

Judges at a war crimes tribunal convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga of snatching children from the street and turning them into killers. A sentencing hearing will now be scheduled. Lubanga faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The Two-Way
5:05 am
Wed March 14, 2012

'Tragic Day For All Of Belgium': 22 Children Killed In Bus Crash

Credit Sebastien Feval / AFP/Getty Images
The mangled front of the bus. The crash happened in a tunnel in Sierre, in the Swiss canton of Valais.

There's been a horrible traffic accident inside a Swiss tunnel. At least 28 people — 22 of them children mostly around the age of 12 — were killed Tuesday night when the bus they were in crashed.

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Presidential Race
4:58 am
Wed March 14, 2012

After Santorum Wins, Romney Hopes To Regain Edge

For Mitt Romney, the string of victories that would lock up the Republican nomination for president remains elusive.

Last week, Romney looked more or less inevitable to many political observers, thanks to his victories in six of the 10 states that voted on Super Tuesday.

But since then, the former Massachusetts governor has gone on a losing streak. He lost caucuses in Kansas, which voted on Saturday, and primaries in both Alabama and Mississippi, which voted Tuesday.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won all three of those races.

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The Two-Way
4:45 am
Wed March 14, 2012

In Afghanistan, Panetta Says Mission Continues

  • Larry Abramson, reporting from Afghanistan

At Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged U.S. military personnel to not be deterred from their mission and continue "to make life difficult" for the Taliban and al-Qaida, says NPR's Larry Abramson, who is travelling with Panetta.

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Around the Nation
4:40 am
Wed March 14, 2012

City Council Breaks Paper Products Stalemate

The City Council in Trenton, N.J., rejected a contract to supply paper products because they didn't like the high price of hot drink cups. But without the contract, the city also didn't buy toilet paper. Finally, the city had to approve an emergency purchase. Senior centers, police headquarters and other city offices were running out of toilet tissue.

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