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If you demand democracy in China, you can quickly find yourself at odds with the government. So these days, reformers are trying to use the constitution to make the party accountable to the people. But that didn't keep a Shanghai professor from getting suspended.

When dictionaries add trendy words like "twerk," they're prioritizing the fleeting language habits of the young, says Geoff Nunberg. And our fascination with novel words tends to eclipse subtle changes in the meanings of old ones — "which are often more consequential," he says.

Even as Detroit files for bankruptcy protection, Bruce Katz says many American cities are showing promising signs of renewal. In The Metropolitan Revolution, he writes that, together, cities and suburbs have the power to take on the challenges Washington won't.

The drug war was in full swing in the '80s, and cocaine was practically everywhere. But use of the drug has fallen by almost half since 2006, and production is also down significantly. How did the U.S. kick the habit? Experts say cocaine has lost its luster — oh and policy may have made a difference, too.

In his new book, Washington Post correspondent Dan Balz offers an insider's account of the forces that shaped the political strategies of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and the flaws and misfires that led to Romney's defeat. He discusses the 2012 campaign and the future of the Republican Party.

A new book explores the ways melting Arctic ice yield new shipping channels, new oil and gas resources — and potential profits. Journalist McKenzie Funk delves into the "booming business of global warming" in Windfall.

The Yankees signed the Japanese superstar pitcher this week for a whopping $155 million. NPR's Rachel Martin talks sports with sports correspondent Mike Pesca about what that means for the Bronx Bombers' bottom line.

Beginning next week, NPR News will be taking an in-depth look at the unprecedented oil drilling boom happening on the Northern Plains, where the state of North Dakota has fast become one of the nation's most productive drilling regions. NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with NPR reporter Kirk Siegler, back from a recent reporting trip in North Dakota for the series.

The British National Archives is posting 1.5 million pages of World War I diaries online. The personal accounts provide new insight into the lives of the troops who fought the war that began 100 years ago. "Everywhere the same hard, grim, pitiless sight of battle and war," reads one entry.

For the first time, researchers have tracked the spread of Ebola, almost in real time, during an outbreak. The virus is quickly changing its genetic code. But it's unclear what the mutations mean.