The latest news on Death penalty, College loans, Missile defense, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Select op-eds.

Health care. A year-long effort by senators to draft a bipartisan overhaul of the nation's health-care system on Wednesday yielded the only congressional proposal that would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans while making good on President Obama's pledge not to add "one dime" to budget deficits.

Obama and race. President Obama has long suggested that he would like to move beyond race. The question now is whether the country will let him.

Global poverty. The global recession is expected to push 89 million more people into extreme poverty by the end of 2010, the World Bank said Wednesday as it called on the leaders of the 20 largest economies to engage in "responsible globalization."

Quote of the day. “People say to us, ‘Oh, I grew up with your music,’ and we often say, sotto voce, ‘So did we.’” Folksinger Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, who died yesterday at 72. (New York Times)

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