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In the past month, authorities have uncovered at least four apparent plots to stage Columbine-style rampages in schools. Police arrested students in Kansas, Alaska, and Washington state after the students sent messages to friends about their intentions.

In her new collection of essays, Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a native of Somalia, calls on her fellow Muslims to change their attitudes about the role of women in the world's fastest-growing religion.

Warren Buffett's recent decision to give away about $36 billion of his fortune is unprecedented, and so is the fact that more than $30 billion goes to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Guests discuss what happens when private institutions grow bigger, wealthier and more powerful than public agencies.

Billionaire Warren Buffett will give part of his fortune to a foundation set up in his late wife's name, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. The foundation, which gives money to pro-choice organizations and projects, has had a small budget. People on both sides of the abortion debate are wondering what effect the new money will have.

A growing number of Israeli reserve soldiers, frustrated at the way the war with Hezbollah was managed, are calling for senior political and military officials to resign. Some soldiers have launched a petition drive; others are protesting outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office. Many soldiers say they lacked vital equipment and were misled by dithering leaders.

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that being even a bit overweight can potentially kill you -- or at least increase your chances of premature death. The finding comes from an analysis of 527,000 AARP members.

In a stunning reversal of fortune, it now seems likely that Pluto will lose its title of planet. Scientists meeting in Prague were presented with a new definition of the word "planet" last week, which would have included Pluto as a planet. But the proposal met with fierce protests. Opponents say there are hundreds of objects like Pluto.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court rules on cases involving campaign-finance reform and the death penalty. Justices rejected a Vermont law that limited how much money a candidate can raise or spend. They upheld a Kansas law mandating a death sentence if evidence for and against the punishment appear equal. Madeleine Brand speaks with Slate legal analyst Dahlia Lithwick about the latest rulings.

Canada is calling for the arrest of a senior Iranian official in connection with the death of a female photojournalist. The woman was arrested while taking photographs of a prison. Hard-line Iranian authorities said she died of a stroke. Iranian reformists have said she was tortured to death.

John McPhee has written at length about fish, geology, oranges, nuclear power, basketball... and the list goes on. At 75, the great reporter feels he has plenty of words, characters and subjects left to explore.