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Friday's unemployment report confirmed what many workers already had suspected: Five years after the job market plunged off a cliff, the climb back remains a tough slog.

In January, employers created 113,000 additional jobs, well below most economists' estimates of roughly 185,000. And a second look at December's data brought an upward revision of only 1,000 new jobs, to a meager 75,000.

"Employment growth clearly has downshifted over the past two months," says Doug Handler, an economist with IHS Global Insight. "The January performance was a huge disappointment since we can no longer dismiss December's poor numbers as an aberration."

For all of 2013, the economy added jobs at an average of 194,000 a month, about twice the December-January average.

The National Retail Federation pointed to unusually cold weather as a "major factor" in slowing some store sales and hiring. But most economists say winter weather had an insignificant impact overall.

Jobless Rate Falls

Despite the recent sluggish pace, job growth was good enough to nudge down the unemployment rate by a tenth of a point to 6.6 percent. That was the best reading since October 2008, when the Great Recession started shredding jobs at a frantic pace. In January 2009, the economy lost more than 800,000 jobs.

Responding to this latest report, the White House noted that the economy has now generated a net job gain for 47 straight months.

"The unemployment rate has fallen 1.3 percentage point in the last 12 months," Jason Furman, head of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a blog post. He said businesses have added 8.5 million jobs in less than four years.

In January, the labor-force participation rate edged up two-tenths of a percentage point to 63 percent. That's well below the 66 percent rate that prevailed from 1989 to 2009. Still, January's uptick was a "silver lining," says Stuart Hoffman, an economist with PNC Bank.

Harbinger Of Harder Times

A few other data points also offered something to cheer in January. For example, construction added 48,000 jobs, and manufacturing tacked on another 21,000. Mining was strong with a gain of 7,000 jobs. And the leisure and hospitality industries continued to grow, adding 24,000 jobs.

Those job openings disproportionately helped men. For women, it was a much tougher month, according to an analysis done by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. That report concluded that women lost 51,000 net jobs because of cuts in government, business services, education and health services.

Adding it all up, the negatives outweighed any positives, leaving economists to see January as a disappointment. Even worse, the poor performance may be a harbinger of harder times for the gross domestic product.

"There's enough negative evidence in this report to help validate a softening of GDP growth from the fourth quarter's 3.2 percent to 1.9 percent in the first quarter," IHS Global Insight's Handler said.

And the report offered little reason for those people with jobs to think they'll get big raises anytime soon. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.4 hours, and hourly wages were up a nickel to $24.21. Over the past year, wages have risen only 1.9 percent, or 46 cents.

Gains In Productivity

The wage gains stand in contrast to recent jumps in worker productivity. A separate Labor Department report this week showed workers' productivity increased at a strong 3.2 percent annual rate. That was well above the long-term trend rate of about 2 percent.

In fact, the last six months of 2013 represented the strongest period for productivity growth in four years. Rising productivity, a measure of output, generally reflects improvements in workers' skills and equipment.

While output growth has soared, labor costs have stalled. The government report showed that for businesses, labor costs fell in three of the past four quarters.

The stock market initially reacted badly to the disappointing jobs report, but then recovered to head higher. Many analysts say that was because investors now think that with a weaker-than-expected economy, the Federal Reserve policymakers will go slower on making policy changes that could lead to higher interest rates. Low rates on Treasury bonds can make stocks a more attractive place to put your money.

Friday's unemployment report confirmed what many workers already had suspected: Five years after the job market plunged off a cliff, the climb back remains a tough slog.

In January, employers created 113,000 additional jobs, well below most economists' estimates of roughly 185,000. And a second look at December's data brought an upward revision of only 1,000 new jobs, to a meager 75,000.

"Employment growth clearly has downshifted over the past two months," says Doug Handler, an economist with IHS Global Insight. "The January performance was a huge disappointment since we can no longer dismiss December's poor numbers as an aberration."

For all of 2013, the economy added jobs at an average of 194,000 a month, about twice the December-January average.

The National Retail Federation pointed to unusually cold weather as a "major factor" in slowing some store sales and hiring. But most economists say winter weather had an insignificant impact overall.

Jobless Rate Falls

Despite the recent sluggish pace, job growth was good enough to nudge down the unemployment rate by a tenth of a point to 6.6 percent. That was the best reading since October 2008, when the Great Recession started shredding jobs at a frantic pace. In January 2009, the economy lost more than 800,000 jobs.

Responding to this latest report, the White House noted that the economy has now generated a net job gain for 47 straight months.

"The unemployment rate has fallen 1.3 percentage point in the last 12 months," Jason Furman, head of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a blog post. He said businesses have added 8.5 million jobs in less than four years.

In January, the labor-force participation rate edged up two-tenths of a percentage point to 63 percent. That's well below the 66 percent rate that prevailed from 1989 to 2009. Still, January's uptick was a "silver lining," says Stuart Hoffman, an economist with PNC Bank.

Harbinger Of Harder Times

A few other data points also offered something to cheer in January. For example, construction added 48,000 jobs, and manufacturing tacked on another 21,000. Mining was strong with a gain of 7,000 jobs. And the leisure and hospitality industries continued to grow, adding 24,000 jobs.

Those job openings disproportionately helped men. For women, it was a much tougher month, according to an analysis done by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. That report concluded that women lost 51,000 net jobs because of cuts in government, business services, education and health services.

Adding it all up, the negatives outweighed any positives, leaving economists to see January as a disappointment. Even worse, the poor performance may be a harbinger of harder times for the gross domestic product.

"There's enough negative evidence in this report to help validate a softening of GDP growth from the fourth quarter's 3.2 percent to 1.9 percent in the first quarter," IHS Global Insight's Handler said.

And the report offered little reason for those people with jobs to think they'll get big raises anytime soon. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.4 hours, and hourly wages were up a nickel to $24.21. Over the past year, wages have risen only 1.9 percent, or 46 cents.

Gains In Productivity

The wage gains stand in contrast to recent jumps in worker productivity. A separate Labor Department report this week showed workers' productivity increased at a strong 3.2 percent annual rate. That was well above the long-term trend rate of about 2 percent.

In fact, the last six months of 2013 represented the strongest period for productivity growth in four years. Rising productivity, a measure of output, generally reflects improvements in workers' skills and equipment.

While output growth has soared, labor costs have stalled. The government report showed that for businesses, labor costs fell in three of the past four quarters.

The stock market initially reacted badly to the disappointing jobs report, but then recovered to head higher. Many analysts say that was because investors now think that with a weaker-than-expected economy, the Federal Reserve policymakers will go slower on making policy changes that could lead to higher interest rates. Low rates on Treasury bonds can make stocks a more attractive place to put your money.

It seemed like a fairy-tale romance. The Spanish king's youngest daughter, Infanta Cristina, went to the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, and fell in love with a handsome Spanish aristocrat-turned-Olympian, Iaki Urdangarin. A year later, King Juan Carlos walked his daughter down the aisle.

Through marriage, Urdangarin got a royal title — the Duke of Palma — and carried his bride over the threshold of an $8 million dollar mansion in Barcelona.

But the fairy tale has since unraveled.

"I think if you came back home, as Iaki must have done, and said, 'Darling, we've just bought this $8 million dollar house in Barcelona,' you presumably would ask your husband, 'Well, can we afford it?'" said William Chislett, a British author and researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid. "And I would assume that Infanta either didn't ask, didn't want to ask — or simply assumed that they had the money."

They apparently didn't, or, as prosecutors claim, it wasn't their money.

Urdangarin had sought to parlay his Olympic success (two bronze medals in handball) into a career running a non-profit foundation that organized sports events and conventions. But he stands accused of embezzling $8 million through that work.

The couple's Barcelona mansion has been confiscated by Spanish authorities, in lieu of bail money for Urdangarin.

And this Saturday, the princess is scheduled to appear in court on allegations of tax fraud and money-laundering tied to her alleged involvement in her husband's business.

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A 2,000-pound bomb dropped in World War II on Japanese-occupied Hong Kong by an American bomber has been defused after it was unearthed at a construction site in the city's central Happy Valley district.

Some 2,200 Hong Kong residents were evacuated from apartment buildings around the site where the massive explosive was found. Police bomb squads moved in, carefully, to dismantle the bomb. Authorities said it was simply too big to explode in place, which is usually the safest option in such circumstances.

Area X is magic in the same way Lovecraft's Rhode Island was magic — which is to say, inhabited by impossible things beyond human description. At the same time, it is haunted (which is an entirely different thing) by the previous expeditions and the things they left behind — the tents and supplies, the curiously incomplete maps, the bullet holes, the bloodstains. And VanderMeer is brave in the telling of his story — of the Biologist's story — because he attempts to explain in full almost none of it.

He leaves us only with the Biologist's incomplete discoveries, her assumptions, her fears. He disposes of the hows and wheres and whys of Area X in a sentence (it is near a military base where something went terribly wrong, and it is, somehow, growing). The Southern Reach — the organization sending the expeditions into Area X (and who give name to the planned trilogy, of which Annihilation is just book one) — is only ever mentioned in passing. They are, in a very real way, the THEY of every conversation. They said it had to happen this way, they told us what to expect ...

And yet, the ending is satisfying. It is one of those rare endings which is, all at the same time, ambiguous, terrifically unfinished, and the only possible ending that the story could've had. We began with the Biologist as an unknown and nameless cipher in a world gone around the bend from our own. And we end with the Biologist as, perhaps, the only known thing in that world, going off to experience the rest of it without us.

Jason Sheehan is an ex-chef and the current food editor of Philadelphia magazine. But when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about spaceships, aliens, giant robots and ray guns. A Private Little War is his newest book.

Read an excerpt of Annihilation

George Stout, the real-life conservator and museum director who helped start the Monuments Men, is the basis for Clooney's character — who explains, in the film, why the team's mission is a critical one:

"You can wipe out a generation of people," he says. "You can burn their homes to the ground, and somehow they'll still come back. But if you destroy their achievements, and their history, then it's like they never existed."

That part of the story is true, as far as it goes. The Nazis stole artwork on a scale like no one before or since. They plundered museums and churches across Europe and seized works from Jewish collectors. In response, the U.S. created the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section of the army — better known as the Monuments Men. Charles Parkhurst, its deputy chief, was featured in the documentary The Rape of Europa, released a year before he died in 2008.

"There was lots of German art hidden where they thought it would be safe during the fighting," Parkhurst said in the documentary. "And it was our duty to search, and find, and save."

They found stuff everywhere — hidden in caves, bank vaults, remote castles, even in salt mines.

Harry Ettlinger, now 88 and living in New Jersey, was born in Germany but fled with his parents when Hitler came to power. Drafted into the army in 1944, he wound up wound up in the Monuments Men in part because he could speak German. That's how Ettlinger found himself hundreds of feet below ground in a salt mine in southern Germany, sifting through 40,000 cases of artworks that the Nazis had stored there for safekeeping.

"It became part of my job to actually take the case, and ... have it brought to the surface," he says.

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There were 331,000 first-time claims filed for unemployment insurance last week, down 20,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration reports.

That's yet another report showing that claims remain in a range where they've been running since late 2011. What does that indicate? As we've said before:

When the economy is expanding and even when payrolls are growing, there are people being laid off who file jobless claims. But the stubbornly slow growth in employment in recent years has been underscored by the fact that there hasn't been a string of weeks below the 300,000-level since early 2006.

The first of two reports this week about how many jobs were added to U.S. payrolls in January indicates that growth was slow but solid.

The ADP National Employment Report estimates that there were 175,000 more jobs in the private sector last month than in December.

But whether ADP's figure will turn out to be in line with the week's other much-anticipated employment report — from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday — is uncertain.

The two reports, which are based on different surveys of employers, don't always reach the same conclusion.

Four weeks ago, ADP estimated that 238,000 jobs were added to private payrolls in December. (It has now revised that figure to 227,000.)

The ADP report was followed two days later, however, by word from the BLS that it believed only 87,000 jobs had been added to private payrolls in December.

It's worth noting that when the BLS issues its figures Friday, it could revise its December estimate to something more in line with ADP's data. And economists expect that the BLS will release a figure for January that's close to what ADP reported today: "Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased by 185,000 last month, according to Reuters' poll of economists."

We'll be sure to jump on the news Friday when the BLS releases its figures.

Part of an antitrust agreement with the European Union regulators, Google has agreed to tweak its search results in Europe.

The search giant has agreed that when a user searches for a product, for example, the search results of its rivals — Amazon, let's say — will be displayed along with those of advertisers paying Google for prominent space.

As The Wall Street Journal reports that the settlement allows Google to dodge what could have been billions of dollars in fines. Microsoft, for example, paid $2.5 billion in fines over a similar allegations from E.U. regulators.

Bloomberg reports that regulators hailed the agreement:

Here's what they'll look like now — pay attention to the paid ads at the right:

Anyone who invests in the stock market knows share prices can go up — and down. That's why they call it a market.

'Here & Now': Marilyn Geewax Discusses The Market's Ups And Downs

What are people excited about seeing at the Winter Games, which start this week? How do figure skaters spin without getting dizzy? What kind of place is Sochi? Those are some of the questions we're seeing on Quora, the question-and-answer site that calls itself "your best source of knowledge."

The site has set up a Sochi Olympics Hub that we'll be checking out during the Winter Games. We hope to bring you the most interesting questions that pop up. And feel free to comment here — or on the Quora site — with your own questions and answers.

Here are some of the questions we're seeing so far, as the Sochi games' first events get under way Thursday, along with answers:

Figure Skating: Why don't figure skaters get dizzy when they make turns?

Answered by Joseph Lee, U.S. Junior Nationals Competitor in both singles and pairs:

"It takes figure skaters a lot of practice, but after awhile they get used it and don't even notice it anymore.

"When first learning how to spin, they focus on something in the area and try to catch a glimpse of it with every rotation. For me, it was the large digital clock on the hockey scoreboard. However, if they take a break from skating, it takes a day or two to get used to the dizziness again.

"Rotating on one foot in figure skating is unlike rotating in say, ballet. If you notice in ballet, they sort of jerk their heads back to the same spot with every rotation. That is not the case with figure skating, where the rotations are much faster and up to 30 times or more in one spin combination."

Are people excited to watch the Winter Olympics in Sochi? Why or why not?

Answered by Ann Litz, Obsolete Librarian:

"I am excited about the Winter Olympics because only the Winter Olympics feature the utterly mesmerizing WTF sport known as...curling!

"I'm sure this Sport of Kings has a rich and fascinating history that doesn't involve cold drunk people throwing things bocce-style on a sheet of ice, but I don't really want to know.

Figure Skating: When watching figure skating, what's the easiest way to tell the difference between a lutz, toe loop, salchow, and an axel?

Answered by Kim Saari Merriam, Former competitive figure skater:

"It's all in the take-off of the jump, they all land the same. An axel takes off from a front edge, the lutz always takes off a long back edge. The other 2 are a little tricky to notice. Here is a video that explains the difference between the jumps:

If you wanted to pursue a career in politics, you could have done worse than appearing in the 1987 movie Predator.

That movie featured not only Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura — future governors of California and Minnesota, respectively — but Sonny Landham, who later ran for governor and senator in Kentucky.

But Predator hasn't been the only source of celebrity politicians. Clay Aiken, the former American Idol contestant who just announced a run for Congress from North Carolina, is the latest in a long line of actors, singers, reality TV stars and athletes to seek second careers in politics.

"The main thing that celebrities bring to the political stage is name recognition," says David Canon, author of Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the United States Congress. "Even if you're a B-list actor, you're going to have great name recognition."

Plenty of stars-turned-aspiring-politicians have found that being well-known isn't enough to make a successful run. Name recognition means a lot, but it's also important to demonstrate knowledge and credible positions on the issues of the day.

Aiken seemed on his initial launch to make the right moves in this regard. Rather than dishing about Simon Cowell, he's described his run for Congress as an extension of his efforts to help people as a special education teacher.

"He's doing a good job of not simply identifying himself as being a celebrity," says Michael Cobb, a political scientist at North Carolina State University. "Let the media bring up American Idol."

Celebrity Has Its Advantages

Any celebrity running for office is bound to draw more attention than, say, a state senator looking to make a move to Washington.

Few career politicians could ever accrue the coverage that Clint Eastwood got when he ran for mayor of Carmel, Calif., or Schwarzenegger or even Gary Coleman received during California's recall election back in 2003.

"Name recognition is no small thing," says William Schneider, a senior fellow at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. "Candidates have to spend a lot of money to acquire name recognition, and celebrities don't have to."

The celebrity effect works even for people who aren't household names. In a celebrity-besotted culture, actor-politicians can count not only on plenty of media coverage but big crowds turning out to see them. It can also help with fundraising.

"Most of these individuals, they're not top-line stars earning millions, but enough people know them that they can parlay that fame into a political run," says John Tures, a political scientist at LaGrange College in Georgia, who has written about celebrity politicians.

Before Sonny Bono

Helen Gahagan Douglas, a Broadway and film actress who got involved in California politics, describes a funny moment in her autobiography.

Encouraged by the White House to seek a congressional seat in 1944, Douglas frets because she had already attended House debates and found them "boring."

Tom Ford, who was vacating the seat, told her she could always get up and leave the chamber. Douglas said that would be rude. "I simply won't run for Congress," she told him.

Douglas went on to serve three terms in the House before being beaten by Richard Nixon in a 1950 Senate race.

She was part of a wave of celebrities who decided to run for office during and not long after World War II, including country musician Roy Acuff (the GOP nominee for Tennessee governor in 1948); former Shirley Temple dance partner George Murphy (a one-term Republican senator from California); and novelists Gore Vidal and James Michener (failed Democratic congressional candidate in New York and Pennsylvania).

Party machines were no longer able to control the nominating process in all cases, Tures says, which opened the door to celebrities who could "jump in." That became even more true as television became a dominant fact of political life.

"Parties lost control, which doesn't guarantee you'll get celebrities running, but it opens the door," says Canon, a University of Wisconsin political scientist.

Why They Run

It's not a huge mystery why celebrities sometimes look in the mirror and see future senators and governors looking back.

Some have had prior political experience. Both former Iowa Congressman Fred Grandy and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson worked as aides on Capitol Hill before becoming either famous or elected officials.

But just about every well-known actor gets asked to lend his or her name to causes. Once they become convinced that their celebrity status can be used as a force for good, it's an easy leap for some to conclude that they should make politics their full-time occupation.

"It gets them thinking that they can make a difference," says Cobb, the North Carolina State professor. "They start to get involved politically and see it as a natural progression."

Cutting their teeth on a cause can lend them some gravitas. It just won't do to ask voters for support unless you can prove leadership on some issues, or at least show that you've mastered the briefing books.

Some who were well-known before seeking office, such as star athletes Jack Kemp and Bill Bradley, ended up having substantial political careers, but voters don't take that as a given.

"What celebrities often lack is credibility," says Schneider, who teaches public policy at George Mason University. "Even Ronald Reagan had to fight for credibility."

Disputes between Palestinians and Israelis are a constant in their decades-old conflict, and that's what the wider world usually hears about.

But there are also near constant internal disagreements among Israelis. And Palestinians have divergent views too. On a recent trip through the Jordan Valley, which is deep inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near the border with Jordan, I spoke with Israelis and Palestinians about their internal differences.

Here's a sampling of those conversations:

Get recipes for Robert Roberts' Beautiful-Flavored Punch, Rufus Estes' Fish, East India Style, Abby Fisher's Chow Chow and Malinda Russell's Allspice Cake.

Martha Woodroof has been writing about the First Novel Experience. For this post, she reports on her travels to the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute in January.

The American Booksellers Association Winter Institute was billed as providing independent booksellers with a chance to get together "...in vibrant Seattle for three-plus days of networking, special events, and professional development."

This was not an event for shy persons. Which, I suspect, is why my publishing house (St. Martin's Press) sent me. My debut novel, Small Blessings, is not due out until mid-August, but booksellers plan ahead, and so un-shy me (and my Small Blessings tote bags) were flown to Seattle with the assignment of connecting with as many of the 500 independent booksellers there as is humanly possible. Or, preferably, with more than is humanly possible. Though that may not be ... possible.

The ABA Winter institute offers a standard conference agenda: breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, interspersed with business meetings and educational breakout sessions. The mood, as more than one bookseller put it (in some instances sounding surprised), was upbeat. But why not? According to ABA President Steve Bercu (of Austin's Book People), the year 2012 had seen almost an eight percent growth nationally for indie booksellers that had held in 2013. There's a lot more such encouraging information available at the Winter Institute's section of the ABA's website.

But enough about the Winter Institute's official agenda. The unofficial agenda is networking among the 500 indie bookstore owners, buyers and event co-coordinators who swirl around the Seattle Westin Hotel's lobby (and lobby bar), meeting rooms and ballroom, along with another hundred or so trade association representatives, publishing executives, and – oh yes – authors. Like me. I mean, get this: I sign galleys right next to Colson Whitehead (The Noble Hustle) and right down the from Barbara Ehrenreich (signing her latest Living with a Wild God). And they never once ask me what I'm doing there.

At breakfast the first day, I (carefully dressed in black jeans and my Route 11 Potato Chip black-and-grey T-shirt) wade in among the assembled indie book people and go to work. I introduce myself to the first cluster within reach, and we chat cheerfully. This is fun, I think. I can do this. But then someone asks me what Small Blessings is about.

What is it about?

Of course, I've anticipated this question. But if I'd ever come up with anything, it's gone now. Gone.

"Well," I say. And I stop.

Mercifully, wise St. Martin's has not left me unattended. My new best friend, Matt Baldacci, VP, Marketing and Sales, takes me aside. Matt is kind and funny and good at handling dumbstruck debut authors who suddenly don't know what their books are about. He offers me St. Martin's distillation of my own novel, which had been used to present it to indie book buyers at a lunch before I even arrived. I will never in a million years distill as smoothly as Matt, but I am now able to say something.

Matt and I lunch that day with Jennie Shortridge, whose latest novel, Love Water Memory, just came out in paperback. From their easy conversation, I assume Matt and Jennie have known each other for years. But no, they've only met a couple of times in passing. Indie people, I'm learning, bond easily.

Jennie is one of the Seattle Seven, a nonprofit collective of Pacific Northwest authors. She's also lead singer and tambourine player for the author band The Rejections (and Trailing Spouses). I am terribly impressed by both her charm and her versatility.

I am to be in Seattle for two nights, and so I attend two dinners hosted by St. Martin's and Bloomsbury, whose purpose is to give indie bookstore people and (mostly) debut authors a chance to enjoy each other's company without having to shout. It turns out to be a bit like slo-mo speed-dating, however. Halfway through the meal, the authors change tables.

What I truly enjoy about these dinners is witnessing firsthand the fervor indie people bring to running their bookstores. Work for them is creating community, building relationships with customers, and hand-selling books because they've taken the time to learn what individual customers like. What indie people want from me at these dinners is a sense of whether my book belongs on their shelves; i.e. can they visualize actual customers to whom they can hand the novel and say with assurance, "You will love this."

Arguably my favorite moment, one that encapsulates just how companionably open-minded indie booksellers are, is a fey one that slides in when chatting with Nicholas Butler (Shotgun Lovesongs and the Thomas Dunne books) and a friend of his whose name I do not catch. The friend, it seems, is thinking of founding The Church of Patrick Swayze.

"Think," he says "of all the really good movies Patrick Swayze has been in, and all the really terrible movies he's not been in."

He has a point, I think. Perhaps not a point for everyone, but what is for everyone is not the indie person's concern.

On a cool Cairo evening, the cast and crew of The Square put on an informal screening of the film for their friends. Many of them are in the documentary, which chronicles three years of political unrest and revolution centered on this city's now-iconic Tahrir Square; all of them experienced some part of the events that unfolded there.

The small audience in this office knows well how the film's story unfolds: First, the protests that led to the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak, then the tumultuous interim period under a military council, followed by the election of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Finally, there's Morsi's overthrow by the military last summer, after huge protests against his rule.

But these viewers are among the few in Egypt who have seen the film; though it's been released in more than 40 other countries, it hasn't received government approval to be shown in theaters here.

"Nobody asked for a permission or a license for the film till now," says Ahmed Awaad, Egypt's head of censorship and the official in charge of vetting films applying for general release.

But members of the cast and crew, including producer Karim Amer, say they have applied — and they've become embroiled in a months-long bureaucratic nightmare.

"The issue has become much larger than we ever expected," Amer says.

More On 'The Square'

Movie Reviews

Three Protesters, One 'Square': Film Goes Inside Egypt's Revolution

If beer is the new wine, robots are the new beer snobs. Well, sort of.

Researchers in Barcelona have developed an electronic tongue that really knows the difference between a pilsner, a lager and a bock.

For now, it looks less like a slick, futuristic robot and more like a big of clump sensors. It's still a prototype, but its creators say it could one day replace human taste-testers.

And in a study published in the journal Food Chemistry, the researchers found that the robo-taste-tester can distinguish among different types of beer with 82 percent accuracy.

Manel del Valle, one of the study's authors and a roboticist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, says that food and beverage manufacturers could use the technology for quality control.

"The food industry needs to test lots of their products — and this is usually done by an expert," del Valle tells The Salt. "But if you transfer this expertise to a robot, you can produce at night, you can produce on the weekends." And manufacturers wouldn't have to worry about having a taste-tester on hand at all times.

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On a cool Cairo evening, the cast and crew of The Square put on an informal screening of the film for their friends. Many of them are in the documentary, which chronicles three years of political unrest and revolution centered on this city's now-iconic Tahrir Square; all of them experienced some part of the events that unfolded there.

The small audience in this office knows well how the film's story unfolds: First, the protests that led to the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak, then the tumultuous interim period under a military council, followed by the election of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Finally, there's Morsi's overthrow by the military last summer, after huge protests against his rule.

But these viewers are among the few in Egypt who have seen the film; though it's been released in more than 40 other countries, it hasn't received government approval to be shown in theaters here.

"Nobody asked for a permission or a license for the film till now," says Ahmed Awaad, Egypt's head of censorship and the official in charge of vetting films applying for general release.

But members of the cast and crew, including producer Karim Amer, say they have applied — and they've become embroiled in a months-long bureaucratic nightmare.

"The issue has become much larger than we ever expected," Amer says.

More On 'The Square'

Movie Reviews

Three Protesters, One 'Square': Film Goes Inside Egypt's Revolution

After more than half a century and the imprisonment of millions of people without trial, China officially moved to abolish its re-education through labor camp system at the end of last year.

When the Communist Party makes such sweeping policy statements, it pays to be a little skeptical. Last decade, the government abolished one detention system — and then secretly created another.

So, recently I headed out on a re-education through labor camp road trip to try to find out what the government is doing with its labor camps and what is happening to all those prisoners.

My assistant, Yang, drew up an itinerary based on addresses he found online. Once shrouded in secrecy, many camps are now pretty easy to find, thanks to inmates' attorneys, who have posted their locations so relatives can track down loved ones who are inside.

On a cloudless day, I rented a Buick and made my way along the Yan'an expressway, one of Shanghai's main elevated roads. After an hour or so, we exited the highway and passed a new outlet mall with a Gucci anchor store that looked as if it had been plucked out of an American suburb.

Ten minutes after that, we were driving past empty fields dotted with labor camps and prisons with 30-foot-high walls and watch towers.

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What might have been a routine update on the state of the federal budget Tuesday instead became the newest front in the ongoing political war over President Obama's signature health care law.

At issue: a revised estimate about how many people would voluntarily leave the work force because they can get health care without necessarily holding down a job.

The Affordable Care Act, Explained

Leaders of the Republican Party acknowledge they have a problem attracting minority voters — especially African-Americans, 93 percent of whom voted for President Obama in 2012, compared with just 6% for GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

That chasm is at the heart of a new initiative by the Republican National Committee during February. In its first-ever Black History Month ad campaign, the RNC has launched radio spots aimed at African-American audiences in a handful of cities: Washington, D.C., Detroit, Cleveland and Atlanta.

Each ad, voiced by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, celebrates the achievements of black Republicans described as trailblazers.

The ads can be heard here:

Atlanta

Cleveland

Detroit

Washington

The Republican National Committee also held an event at Washington D.C.'s Howard University Tuesday, billed as the "2nd Annual Black Republican Trailblazer Awards." That ceremony formally honored those mentioned in the radio spots, among them former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan.

The outreach is designed to use Black History Month as opportunity to ask African-Americans to give the party another look, though the approach is to highlight prominent black GOP leaders rather than to make policy arguments.

The RNC will also run print ads in newspapers this month featuring former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and others.

Democrats are also conducting daily outreach to African-Americans during Black History Month. Today the Democratic National Committee posted this tribute to the life of Rosa Parks on what would have been her 101st birthday.

As for the Republican ad campaign, the DNC's Kiara Pesante said: "The RNC's Black History Month ad buys ring hollow since their party has continually opposed policies that give all communities a fair shake and allows everyone's voice to be heard."

Much of politics is about symbols and gestures. And there were plenty of them at the historic Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

Under Chairman Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee vows to be much more serious about outreach to African Americans than ever before.

So, to mark Black History Month, the RNC held its second annual Trailblazer Awards lunch at the renovated theater where the likes of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald once performed in a gentrifying neighborhood that not long ago was solidly "the hood." And there was the berobed Patrick Lundy and the Ministers of Music rocking the house with a black-church sound not typically associated with the GOP.

It matters that this was the second annual awards lunch — a symbol of the slow and steady attentiveness Priebus intends to show black voters and other minorities. It's part of the GOP's "growth and opportunity" push designed to attract to Republican candidates more than the six percent of the black vote Mitt Romney garnered in 2012.

The RNC has also sprinkled outreach personnel throughout the organization, put directors in the field and has bought Black History Month radio ads.

"I believe the old idea of bringing people [like campaign staff and surrogates] in five months before an election isn't workable," Priebus told a few reporters before the lunch. "The only way to influence communities across the country is to identify respected leaders within those communities who are willing to advocate for you in that particular community... We have many times moved people around and across the country at the end [of a campaign] making a scrambled case for our candidates which I don't think is effective."

Something else that might make the RNC outreach efforts ineffective, a reporter suggested to Priebus — the voter ID issue. The chair pointed to Georgia's voter ID experience as a proof that voter ID laws aren't about voter suppression.

"Look at Georgia. In the black community, their turnout was higher after the voter ID law. And in fact, by percentage, African American voters voted at a higher percentage than white voters did in 2012. So it's just not true" that the laws are intended to turn away minority voters, he said.

Then it was off to the lunch where he assured an integrated audience that included Republican party officials, community leaders, former Florida GOP Congressman Allen West and two Washington Redskins players, that the GOP was in it for the long haul in terms of wooing black voters.

Which could be tedious if Aaliya wasn't so unconventional, and possessed with enough awareness to avoid being self-absorbed. Aaliya's also devoted to Beirut, its gossip and turmoil. She makes the reader want to love her city, too, even while relating what it was like to live through years of fear and violence. "Beirut," she says, "is the Elizabeth Taylor of cities: insane, beautiful, tacky, falling apart, aging, and forever drama laden. She'll also marry any infatuated suitor who promises to make her life more comfortable, no matter how inappropriate he is."

Then there's the story of how Aaliya herself came to sleep at night with an AK-47 rifle in her bed instead of a husband, but I'll leave that up to the reader to discover.

When asked recently during an interview what this book is about, Alameddine referenced the poet Allan Grossman: "A poem is about something like a cat is about the house." Which I'll take to mean that An Unnecessary Woman is about nothing at all — and, at the same time, about everything that counts.

Read an excerpt of An Unnecessary Woman

Warning that "simply delaying action on the debt limit can cause harm to our economy," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew repeated Monday that he believes Congress should act soon to raise that limit so the federal government avoids even looking like it might default on its debts.

"Time is short," Lew also told an audience at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization founded by four former Senate majority leaders — Republicans Howard Baker and Bob Dole; and Democrats Tom Daschle and George Mitchell. A transcript of Lew's speech is posted here.

Thanks to an agreement reached last October, the government's ability to borrow to help pay its bills was extended through Feb. 7 — this coming Friday. In a conversation Monday with All Things Considered host Melissa Block, Lew said that Treasury can make adjustments to its accounts that allow the government to keep paying its bills a bit beyond this week — but only through the end of the month at most.

Treasury's ability to use such "extraordinary measures" will then run out, Lew said.

Republican leaders in Congress have said they do not want another showdown over spending or health care such as the one last October that led to a partial shutdown of the government. And Lew said he is optimistic that an agreement to raise the debt limit above its current level — approximately $17.2 trillion — will be reached soon.

But in his conversation with NPR he also pointed to what he believes is the flaw in the argument by some lawmakers that the limit should not be increased unless equivalent spending cuts are made.

"Just a few weeks ago," Lew said, "Congress enacted a budget — a two-year blueprint. Just a few days ago, Congress enacted an appropriations bill pursuant to that two-year budget. Now the question is, will we pay the bills that that budget calls to be racked up? I think that the notion that after Congress passes a budget, to then demand additional budget cuts in order to pay the bills that were already incurred, doesn't make any sense."

A default, he warned, could cause serious damage to the economy by shaking investors' confidence in the ability of the U.S. to pay its obligations.

Joan Mondale was given a grand platform when her husband was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976. And she used it.

The avid arts advocate lobbied Congress and the states for more spending on arts programs, and she traveled frequently to museums, theaters and artists' studios on the administration's behalf. She was so passionate that she earned the nickname "Joan of Art" and, in the process of pushing her cause, transformed the role of the second lady.

As Carter's No. 2, Walter Mondale was seen as a trusted adviser and credited with making the office of the vice president more relevant. It was natural that his wife would do the same for her role. Vice presidential aide Al Eisele once said of his boss: "It was important to him that Joan not just be the vice president's wife, but his partner."

Joan Mondale, herself an avid potter, died Monday afternoon with her husband, sons Ted and William, and other family members by her side, the family said in a statement. She was 83.

"Joan was greatly loved by many. We will miss her dearly," the former vice president said in a written statement.

The family had announced Sunday that she had gone into hospice care, but declined to discuss her illness.

Walter Mondale, then a Democratic senator from Minnesota, was elected Carter's vice president in 1976. Soon after, Carter named Joan Mondale honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and she used that role to push for arts programs on the administration's behalf.

She also showcased the work of prominent artists in the vice presidential residence, including photographer Ansel Adams, sculptor David Smith and painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

"She was exemplary in using the opportunities public service provided to advance the arts and other issues important to her and many Americans," Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, said in a statement released late Monday.

Her enthusiasm for the cause earned widespread praise in the arts community, including from Jim Melchert, director of the visual arts program for the National Endowment for the Arts during Carter's administration.

"Your rare fire has brightened many a day for more people than you may imagine," Melchert wrote to her after the 1980 Carter-Mondale re-election defeat. "What you've done with style and seeming ease will continue illuminating our world for a long time to come."

Joan Mondale would later take her cultural zeal overseas when her husband was named U.S. ambassador to Japan during President Bill Clinton's administration.

During her husband's ambassadorship, Joan Mondale relished the chance to study Japanese art and give dignitaries clay pots she made as gifts. In her 1972 book, "Politics in Art," Joan Mondale framed a connection between the two.

"Sometimes we do not realize how important our participation in politics is. Often we need to be reminded of our duty as citizens," she wrote. "Artists can do just that; they can look at our politicians, our institutions and our problems to help us understand them better."

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar first met Joan Mondale while working as an intern for the vice president in 1980. Klobuchar still has two coffee mugs on her kitchen table that were made by Joan.

"She was always down to earth," Klobuchar said Monday. "She was just as happy going out to rural farms in Elmore (Minnesota) as she was mixing it up at fancy receptions at the ambassador's residence in Japan."

She was born Joan Adams in Eugene, Ore., on Aug. 8, 1930. She and her two sisters moved several times during childhood as their father, a Presbyterian minister, took new assignments. The family finally settled in St. Paul, Minn., where Joan would earn an undergraduate degree at Macalester College.

It was the same liberal arts school that Walter Mondale attended, but they were a few years apart and didn't meet until 1955, when one of Joan's sisters arranged a blind date. Six months later they were engaged, and they married soon after.

She dabbled in Democratic Party politics as a ward chairwoman, though she focused on her family as her husband built a political career that started with state attorney general. Joan tended to a family that would eventually include sons Ted and William and a daughter, Eleanor, who died in 2011 after a long battle with brain cancer.

When Walter Mondale was tapped to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President-elect Hubert Humphrey in 1964, the family headed to Washington.

There, Joan Mondale immersed herself in the capital's art scene. She gave weekly tours at the National Gallery of Art and took pottery lessons. Even when her husband was campaigning as Carter's vice president, she tried to keep up with regular ceramics classes.

More recently, she sat on the U.S. Postal Service panel that has a role in selecting stamp designs. She gave up her seat on that committee in 2010.

On Monday, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama noted and praised her many contributions to the arts community.

"Through her contributions to the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities and the Kennedy Center, she passionately advocated for the role of art in the life of our nation and the promotion of understanding worldwide," the Obamas said in a statement.

A service is scheduled for Saturday in Minneapolis.

Joan Mondale was given a grand platform when her husband was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976. And she used it.

The avid arts advocate lobbied Congress and the states for more spending on arts programs, and she traveled frequently to museums, theaters and artists' studios on the administration's behalf. She was so passionate that she earned the nickname "Joan of Art" and, in the process of pushing her cause, transformed the role of the second lady.

As Carter's No. 2, Walter Mondale was seen as a trusted adviser and credited with making the office of the vice president more relevant. It was natural that his wife would do the same for her role. Vice presidential aide Al Eisele once said of his boss: "It was important to him that Joan not just be the vice president's wife, but his partner."

Joan Mondale, herself an avid potter, died Monday afternoon with her husband, sons Ted and William, and other family members by her side, the family said in a statement. She was 83.

"Joan was greatly loved by many. We will miss her dearly," the former vice president said in a written statement.

The family had announced Sunday that she had gone into hospice care, but declined to discuss her illness.

Walter Mondale, then a Democratic senator from Minnesota, was elected Carter's vice president in 1976. Soon after, Carter named Joan Mondale honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and she used that role to push for arts programs on the administration's behalf.

She also showcased the work of prominent artists in the vice presidential residence, including photographer Ansel Adams, sculptor David Smith and painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

"She was exemplary in using the opportunities public service provided to advance the arts and other issues important to her and many Americans," Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, said in a statement released late Monday.

Her enthusiasm for the cause earned widespread praise in the arts community, including from Jim Melchert, director of the visual arts program for the National Endowment for the Arts during Carter's administration.

"Your rare fire has brightened many a day for more people than you may imagine," Melchert wrote to her after the 1980 Carter-Mondale re-election defeat. "What you've done with style and seeming ease will continue illuminating our world for a long time to come."

Joan Mondale would later take her cultural zeal overseas when her husband was named U.S. ambassador to Japan during President Bill Clinton's administration.

During her husband's ambassadorship, Joan Mondale relished the chance to study Japanese art and give dignitaries clay pots she made as gifts. In her 1972 book, "Politics in Art," Joan Mondale framed a connection between the two.

"Sometimes we do not realize how important our participation in politics is. Often we need to be reminded of our duty as citizens," she wrote. "Artists can do just that; they can look at our politicians, our institutions and our problems to help us understand them better."

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar first met Joan Mondale while working as an intern for the vice president in 1980. Klobuchar still has two coffee mugs on her kitchen table that were made by Joan.

"She was always down to earth," Klobuchar said Monday. "She was just as happy going out to rural farms in Elmore (Minnesota) as she was mixing it up at fancy receptions at the ambassador's residence in Japan."

She was born Joan Adams in Eugene, Ore., on Aug. 8, 1930. She and her two sisters moved several times during childhood as their father, a Presbyterian minister, took new assignments. The family finally settled in St. Paul, Minn., where Joan would earn an undergraduate degree at Macalester College.

It was the same liberal arts school that Walter Mondale attended, but they were a few years apart and didn't meet until 1955, when one of Joan's sisters arranged a blind date. Six months later they were engaged, and they married soon after.

She dabbled in Democratic Party politics as a ward chairwoman, though she focused on her family as her husband built a political career that started with state attorney general. Joan tended to a family that would eventually include sons Ted and William and a daughter, Eleanor, who died in 2011 after a long battle with brain cancer.

When Walter Mondale was tapped to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President-elect Hubert Humphrey in 1964, the family headed to Washington.

There, Joan Mondale immersed herself in the capital's art scene. She gave weekly tours at the National Gallery of Art and took pottery lessons. Even when her husband was campaigning as Carter's vice president, she tried to keep up with regular ceramics classes.

More recently, she sat on the U.S. Postal Service panel that has a role in selecting stamp designs. She gave up her seat on that committee in 2010.

On Monday, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama noted and praised her many contributions to the arts community.

"Through her contributions to the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities and the Kennedy Center, she passionately advocated for the role of art in the life of our nation and the promotion of understanding worldwide," the Obamas said in a statement.

A service is scheduled for Saturday in Minneapolis.

Would you notice an unexpected charge of $10 or less on your credit card statement? Lots of consumers don't — and scammers count on that, says Steve Barnas, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau in northern Illinois.

How To Protect Yourself

Data thieves are becoming more sophisticated, making it more difficult for law enforcement to investigate and combat scams. But there are some things you can do to help prevent fraudulent use of your credit card. Here are some useful tips:

Don't share your account number with anyone over the phone unless you initiated the call and you know the company is reputable.

Do your homework before sharing account information with an unfamiliar business or website. The FBI has some detailed suggestions for conducting due diligence. Also search online for any reviews, complaints or alerts.

Don't provide your account information or personal data in response to any unsolicited email, Facebook messages or tweets from financial institutions. Use the phone number on your card to contact the institution directly to verify any unexpected contact.

Be aware of your surroundings when reading your credit card aloud over the phone. Anyone can take down your information and use your card fraudulently.

Look for skimming devices or other signs of tampering, like glue, loose components or scuff marks, before using an ATM, particularly one in low-traffic areas.

Don't access online banking sites on public Wi-Fi networks, which are vulnerable to hackers.

Carry your credit cards and wallet separately. Carry only the card you need for a particular occasion.

Keep your credit card in sight during a transaction and always double-check that it was returned before leaving.

Don't sign blank receipts; scammers can fill in false totals. Draw a line though any blank spaces above the receipt's "total" field.

Review your statements promptly. Compare them against receipts (save them!) and electronic transaction confirmations.

Report any questionable charges to the card issuer immediately.

Notify your card issuer before you travel or if you have a change of address.

Sign up for transaction or fraud alerts offered by your financial institution.

Sources: FBI, Federal Trade Commission, Bankrate.com, Discovernetwork.com

Twenty-seven bodies have been recovered from the ruins of a home for senior citizens in L'Isle-Verte, Quebec, and authorities believe that bone fragments found in the burned-out building will help them identify five more victims.

The search is over at the site, which was consumed by a fire on Jan. 23. It took 10 days to search the wreckage because water used to fight the flames had frozen. In some spots, ice was more than a foot thick.

According to The Toronto Star, "10 of the bodies that were recovered have been officially identified, and nine of those names have been made public."

The CBC adds that "police are still investigating the cause of the fire, and officers are now mandated to search for clues that could be admissible if the case goes to court. ... Investigators are considering multiple scenarios, including one in which the fire may have been the result of a criminal act."

The Super Bowl sure didn't live up to expectations. Pigskin prognosticators told us it would be a close game between the NFL's two best teams.

Instead, Seattle won a 43-8 laugher. Denver was never really in it.

NPR correspondents Ari Shapiro, in London, and Joanna Kakissis, in Athens, teamed up for this joint look at Olympics economics.

The Winter Olympics in Sochi are just a few days away. Russia has spent $50 billion on everything from construction to security, making these the most expensive games in history.

Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych says he will return to work on Monday after a brief sick leave, likely setting the stage for a new round of anti-government unrest.

As many as 30,000 protesters gathered in the capital, Kiev, on Sunday, renewing calls for Yanukovych to step down.

The president had announced his sick leave on Thursday, prompting concern that, as The Associated Press writes, "he may have been taking himself out of action in preparation for declaring a state of emergency."

Yanukovych and his government have been the target of three months of protests sparked by his decision to abandon closer ties with Europe in favor of Russia, which dominated Ukraine through the Soviet era.

Reuters says:

"Opposition leaders, addressing the crowd on their return home from meeting European and U.S. officials said they hoped for international mediation in negotiations with the government and for constitutional change to limit presidential power."

"Calling for a complete change of leadership after weeks of crisis that [has] divided the country and set the West against Yanukovich's Russian allies, opposition figures who attended a security conference in Munich told supporters they would secure international economic aid if they were able to take power."

Pro football prognosticators are divided over who's the favorite to win Sunday's Super Bowl. Some give the edge to Peyton Manning and the high-flying Denver Broncos. Others believe the stifling Seattle Seahawks defense will carry them to victory.

Here at the It's All Politics blog, we can't help with any game-day analysis or offer any insights into how the two teams match up against each other.

But we can tell you a little about the politics surrounding each team.

The Denver Broncos

Neither the Broncos nor the Seahawks are among the top NFL teams when it comes to political donations. But they're still plenty active.

According to a USA Today analysis, the Broncos' owners and their employees have contributed at least $84,000 to federal candidates and political parties since Jan. 2011 — mostly to Republicans or to the NFL's own political action committee.

Manning, Denver's star quarterback, donated $5,200 last year to Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is up for re-election in Tennessee — where Manning played college football. In the past, Manning's also donated to Republican presidential candidate and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

His GOP donations haven't seemed to hurt him with Democratic football fans. According to this recent Public Policy Polling survey, Manning is popular with voters in both parties: sixty-four percent of Democrats view him favorably, compared to 70 percent of Republicans.

Manning's not the only Denver quarterback of note with a GOP lean: Hall of Famer John Elway, now a team executive, is a major Republican donor who helped funnel more than $50,000 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2012 and endorsed him at an October rally.

The Seattle Seahawks

In a city recognized for its liberal politics, Seahawks owner Paul Allen has been a generous donor to Democratic candidates, as well as the national party.

More recently, though, Allen's contributions were divided nearly evenly between candidates from both parties, according to USA Today. Those affiliated with the team contributed a little over half of what those affiliated with the Broncos contributed.

When it comes to star Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson's popularity, there's a wider partisan gap than with Manning: 39 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of Wilson compared to 25 percent of Republicans.

Like the Broncos, the Seahawks have a Hall of Famer with solid Republican credentials: Steve Largent, a former wide receiver who served as a Republican congressman from Oklahoma after he retired from professional football.