NPR News

The actor accepted Russian citizenship in January after he denounced a proposed new tax on the rich in his native France. The Chechen connection is likely to rile human rights groups that have accused the president of the Russian republic of gross human rights violations. Depardieu will appear opposite Elizabeth Hurley in the first of the films.

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Republicans slammed Obamacare with a barrage of three-word tweets. But the White House trolled them in response.

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Authorities in Idaho announce the arrest of a 30-year-old man on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and a foreign terrorist organization.

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A Houston-area high school senior bags a 14-foot beast that could be 50 years old, setting a new record for the largest alligator ever caught in Texas.

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As Congress gets to work on the farm bill, two common-sense, bipartisan reform measures seem to have gotten run over somewhere along the way. The first would set minimum standards for housing egg-laying chickens. The second sought to change how the U.S. provides food aid to people in foreign nations.

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The Justice Department is investigating the IRS's flagging of grass-roots conservative groups that sought nonprofit status. But some lawmakers want the debate extended to look at the well-financed activities of existing 501(c)(4) groups that spent millions in the 2012 elections.

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Unlike cardiology and most other fields of medicine, psychiatry still hasn't developed discrete, biological tests for diagnosing illnesses of the mind. That's because the brain "hasn't yielded its secrets yet," one psychiatrist says.

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Brazil's economic growth has brought about more illegal immigration and drug trafficking, so the country is hoping to make its borders more secure. But the experience in the U.S. shows that it can be a difficult undertaking.

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An internal report says officials at the Department of Justice didn't communicate with the agency that keeps the "no fly" list.

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Culatello. Capocollo. Sopressata. It will soon be legal to import a whole new world of Italian cured pork products, thanks to the USDA's decision to end a decades-long ban. Every Italian region and province, and even many towns have their own distinctive salumi.

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For decades, a turkey-processing company housed intellectually disabled men in squalid conditions, subjecting them to physical and emotional abuse while paying them $2 per day. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently won a huge judgment against the company.

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The results are preliminary, and alpha parents seeking an edge for their children shouldn't risk electrocution. Still, the findings are provocative and may lead researchers down a new road.

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Gaza Strip residents rely heavily on smuggling tunnels to Egypt. Among many other goods, the passageways are reportedly bringing regular deliveries of fast food.

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In his first major statement on the global financial crisis, the pontiff calls on world leaders not to forget the poor.

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Egypt's capital has been associated with protest and political upheaval. But an arts festival attempts to clear away the dust and revitalize a once-glorious cultural hub.

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Police in Albuquerque, N.M., are interviewing a man they say is a "person of interest" in the abduction of a five-year-old girl. After the girl was taken Wednesday evening, her mother chased down and rammed the car she had been in; a suspect fled on foot. The girl is reportedly safe.

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The number of passengers planning to fly this summer will rise 1 percent from 2012, climbing back to the highest level since 2008, an industry group said Thursday. After years of instability, airlines welcome an easing in jet fuel prices. Even customers' complaints are quieting down.

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Marilyn Tavenner, who has been running the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in an acting capacity since late 2011, has a big job. The agency oversees health coverage for more than 100 million Americans.

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The Justice Department searched phone records of AP reporters and editors in search of the source of a leak. Critics call that overreach. The president says the government must sometimes balance national security against press freedom.

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The new Google Maps features tailor-made results based on users' habits and search histories. The features were made possible by the revisions Google made to its privacy policies last year, a change that removed most of the barriers between its various services.

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