Have al-Qaida and other militant groups wormed into Pakistan's military?

It's an explosive question, considering that Pakistan's armed forces are vital U.S. allies and also guardians of a stockpile of nuclear weapons. And that was the question a Pakistani journalist addressed in an article written shortly before he was murdered last week.

Saleem Shahzad reported on last month's militant attack on a Pakistani naval base in Karachi. He quoted anonymous sources who linked that attack to the discovery of suspected al-Qaida operatives inside the navy itself.

Long before the iPod, there was the Walkman. Then, the CD, the DVD and Blu-ray. Over the decades, Sony has contributed to or invented some of the most significant consumer products in the world.

Of course, the company is also in the entertainment business. Sony makes movies, the cameras to make movies, and the Blu-ray players and TVs people watch them on at home. It also make video games.

Two new elements were officially added to the periodic table this month. The elements were discovered years ago, but they needed approval from an international committee before they could be placed on the famous chart. We asked Ian Chillag and Mike Danforth, producers of NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me and hosts of the podcast How To Do Everything, to explore how the process works:

How To Make A New Element

Tropical diseases like dengue fever sound as if they belong in faraway places. But in the past several years, some have begun showing up in the continental U.S.

Now in Key West, Fla., public health officials are combating a scourge they thought they'd eradicated seven decades ago.

Dengue Back After Long Absence

Until recently, a locally contracted case of dengue fever had not been seen in Florida since 1934. That suddenly changed in 2009, when doctors in Key West began seeing it in people who had not traveled outside the area.

Jon Gnarr is an absurdist Icelandic comedian. Last year, he ran for mayor of Reykjavik. Like most absurdist comedians, he had no political experience.

"I just invented a new political party," he says. "I was not drunk or anything."

Gnarr called his party the "Best Party." Because what could be better than the best party?

He created a 10-point campaign platform — with 13 points.

Statewide Medicaid managed care is coming to Kentucky, but maybe not as fast as some lawmakers thought. Gov. Steve Beshear says the state can save millions of dollars by letting private health care organizations manage services for the state's 820,000 Medicaid recipients. Acting Medicaid Commissioner Neville Wise says proposals from interested organizations are under evaluation.

Many people might consider fireworks to be as much a part of the American fabric as apple pie, particularly during this time of year.  In Kentucky, it’s likely you’ll be seeing more flashes and hearing more bangs.  A new law opens the door to many fireworks previously deemed illegal in the commonwealth.

Having a career in the NBA would be a dream for many athletes and sports fans. For Marat Kogut, 31, his long-held dream came true when he became an NBA referee, in 2009. It was an outcome that may have seemed unlikely when Kogut's family emigrated from Ukraine in 1979.

Marat was just a newborn when his family came to the United States. They settled in Brooklyn, where his father, Leon, eventually opened his own barbershop. Speaking in New York recently, the two recalled how Marat decided on his future career at a very early age.

When Alex Horton shipped home from Iraq in 2007, he decided to go to college and get a degree in journalism. He hoped the new, post-Sept. 11 GI Bill would help him out.

"With my bank account dwindling and rent, utility bills, school tuition and other obligations on the table, coupled with the advice of my VA counselor, I bet it all on the post-9/11 GI Bill. And I lost," Horton wrote at the time on his blog, Army of Dude.

Like dolphins, elephants are too playful for their own good. They like to learn tricks, and to please their new human friends. Next thing they know, they're in showbiz.

That's what happened to Flora, an orphaned baby elephant purchased in 1984 by David Balding for his one-ring circus. In one sense, Flora is indeed One Lucky Elephant, the title of Lisa Leeman's engaging documentary. The Missouri ringmaster had always wanted an elephant, and as a childless bachelor he treated Flora as a surrogate daughter. He even named the circus after her.