Special Reports

Special Report: New drugs, fresh hope for autism patients

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CHICAGO - Lynn and Neil Balter always dreaded stage productions at their son Jack's elementary school.

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Special Report: In Africa, a militant group's growing appeal

GARISSA, Kenya - When Abdullahi slipped across the Kenya-Somali border to join the fighters of Islamist militant group al Shabaab in 2009, the livestock herder from northern Kenya found himself among recruits from around the globe.

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Special Report: Mexico's Zetas rewrite drug war in blood

VALLECILLO, Mexico - Mexican government forces had bottled up a band of enemy fighters in this tiny village late last year, but feared they would escape into the dusty, rock-strewn hills. So more than 600 soldiers and federal police closed in from all directions with armored Humvees and helicopters. | Video

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Special Report: The algorithmic arms race

LONDON - It's the day after Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday party and David Harding, the head of one of the most successful hedge funds in the world, is bubbling with talk of black holes.

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Special Report: Chesapeake's deepest well: Wall Street

NEW YORK - Far from the drilling rigs of Oklahoma, America's second-largest natural gas producer is having to dig ever deeper into the well that really fueled its growth: Wall Street.

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Special Report: Don't call him Mr. Merkel

BERLIN - Political spouses sometimes provide a spot of glamour. Then there is Joachim Sauer, a professor of theoretical chemistry.

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Special Report: Vegas casinos gamble on online partners with a past

SAN FRANCISCO - To prime itself for the U.S. debut of legal online poker, MGM Resorts International, owner of such Las Vegas Strip monuments as the MGM Grand, the Bellagio and the Mirage, wanted a partner that knew the ropes. | Video

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Special Report: The long, lethal shadow of asbestos

BOSTON - As anyone in the United States with a TV or Internet connection probably knows, lawyers want you if you've been exposed to asbestos, and they're paying to get you. | Video

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Special Report: Chesapeake's deepest well: Wall Street

NEW YORK - Far from the drilling rigs of Oklahoma, America's second-largest natural gas producer is having to dig ever deeper into the well that really fueled its growth: Wall Street.

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Special Report: Inside Chesapeake, CEO ran $200 million hedge fund

NEW YORK - As chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, Aubrey McClendon has been a powerhouse in the vast U.S. natural gas market, directing the company's multibillion dollar energy-trading operation and setting output targets for America's second-largest producer. | Video

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Egypt's Mubarak sentenced to life, protests erupt

CAIRO - Hosni Mubarak, toppled by an uprising last year after 30 years ruling Egypt, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Saturday for his role in killing protesters after a trial that sets a precedent for holding Middle East autocrats to account. | Video