Search results for

Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki plan to remain with President Obama's administration as his second term begins, according to a White House official.

Changes to gun laws require working with Congress. But the president might do such things as bolster the federal database on gun buyers and order stepped-up prosecution of felons and others barred from buying weapons.

In Afghanistan, governors are not elected, they are selected — and more often than not due to family or political connections. But in an attempt to curb graft, the country has just sworn in a batch of governors — including the first female district governor — selected through a new merit-based program.

The president has nominated his chief of staff. Jack Lew is also a former budget director in both the Clinton and Obama administrations. He would replace Timothy Geithner, who plans to step down soon.

Junior Seau, the former NFL linebacker whose suicide last May at age 43 shocked fans and former teammates, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease associated with repetitive head injuries, according to research by the National Institutes of Health.

Major League Baseball will expand its effort to fight performance enhancing drugs to include tests for human growth hormone during the regular season, under an agreement with the players union. The testing program also calls for establishing "baseline testosterone readings" for all players.

Neuroscientists have found that bilingual seniors were better at certain skills that can fade with age than their monolingual peers, which could help protect them against Alzheimer's disease. But the researchers don't know whether learning a second language in adulthood would provide the same benefit.

Anthrax spores and gluten are health problems on a very different scale. But researchers believe they both could be vulnerable to thoughtfully designed enzymes. Computerized tools funded by the Defense Department to develop countermeasures for chemical and biological attacks may help with a treatment for celiac disease.

The creator and star of HBO's new series Girls addresses the backlash against the show, which follows four 20-somethings as they navigate the ups and downs of life in New York City. The second season premieres January 13.

Evangelical pastor Louie Giglio of Atlanta has withdrawn from giving the inaugural benediction. He's being criticized for remarks he made against homosexuality about two decades ago. Host Michel Martin speaks with Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for The New York Times, about the reaction to Pastor Giglio.