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Although President Obama's major proposals, from banning assault rifles to more stringent background checks and ammunition limits, are being rolled out in the shadow of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., their Capitol Hill prospects remain highly uncertain.

Jihadi groups have stepped in to provide fuel and generators to get Aleppo bakeries running again. [Please see full story/text for a post-broadcast correction.]

There were more than 500 homicides in the city last year. Officials and residents are counting on President Obama's gun control package to bring that number down. "We didn't want other parents to be like us," says one Chicago mom, whose son was shot to death on a city bus.

Parents will be reassured to hear there's no evidence linking the current timeline for vaccinations to health problems. A review of all available scientific data looked at a wide range of medical conditions — including diabetes, autism and epilepsy — before declaring that there's no reason to worry.

In many parts of the world, like Europe, the plague is thought to have been eliminated. French scientists find evidence that the stubborn bacteria can trigger new outbreaks even after decades of apparent dormancy.

Also: 787 Dreamliners grounded; Notre Dame's Manti Te'o at center of bizarre "hoax;" jobless claims fall and housing starts soar; Olympics asks Lance Armstrong to return his bronze medal.

In an article for The New Republic, Judith Shulevitz writes that as people have increasingly waited until their 30s to become parents, there has been a rise in developmental and neurocognitive disorders. Moreover, she says that the age of both parents affects the health of the child.

In an ongoing crisis in North Africa, the Algerian military has reportedly launched an operation in response to the dozens of hostages taken by extremist groups at a gas field near the Libyan border. NPR's Neal Conan talks with University of Cambridge lecturer George Joffe about the evolving situation.

A mass kidnapping in Algeria and an Islamist rebellion in Mali underscore Western concerns that the regional security situation is deteriorating. Both France and the U.S. have compelling interests in propping up Mali's fragile government against extremists, but stabilizing the country could prove a difficult task.

Flu viruses hijack the machinery inside animal cells to replicate. The theft is a complicated process that takes time. If the virus leaves the cells too early or too late, the risk of infection falls.