Kandahar, the city in southern Afghanistan likely to be the next target for a NATO offensive, was rocked by suicide bombs Saturday that killed 30 and wounded many more. Bombers targeted a jail on the outskirts of the city, located in the center of the Taliban’s turf, in a move to provoke a jail break like one that happened there two years ago. Two other attacks, intended to divert attention from the main bomb at the prison, included a bomber on a bicycle and explosives inside a motorcycle. Police and civilians were injured in the blast, as well as women and children at a nearby wedding hall. The Taliban posted a message online saying the attack was a warning to NATO commanders planning any assault on the city. The prison attack two years ago freed 400 insurgents.

Follow the money. That’s what federal investigators did in the case of the $150 billion spent on Iraq’s reconstruction. In the past six months alone, they’ve uncovered more than 50 instances of fraud or bribery on the part of Americans, resulting in fresh indictments. Many of the cases appear to be shameless, with some suspects simply mailing thousands of dollars home or smuggling money out of the country in duffel bags. Others sent millions via wire transfers. Officials found the cash was used to buy BMWs, plastic surgery, or pay down casino debts. “I’ve had a continuing sense that there is ongoing fraud that we have not been able to nail down,” the head of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction told The New York Times. “This spate of new cases is evidence that that sense was reasonably well placed.” So far, there have been 58 fraud cases put forth by the government involving reconstruction funds that have led to successful convictions.

The Obama administration plans to make big changes to the No Child Left Behind law as part of an overhaul of national education policy. The White House revealed its plan Saturday, immediately sparking debate, in part because major changes will be made to the core policies in the 2002 law enacted under George W. Bush. The plan is “tight on goals, loose on means,” according to administration officials, with tough standards for success but relaxed punishment for lagging schools. Many teachers and critics feel that the Bush law allowed states to set very low standards to boost the appearance of progress and overemphasized test scores. The plan would ease federal control of school districts’ policies. "We don't think we should micromanage the schools from Washington," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday. "We want to hold educators accountable but let them be creative."

The Texas State Board of Education has voted on some controversial new standards for its public school history textbooks. The state’s standards are important because Texas is such a large market that most textbook publishers tailor their books to suit its demands, meaning states end up with those standards by default. The education board, made up of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, voted to exclude hip-hop from coverage of American music, because of explicit lyrics, though rock and the Beat Generation—known for sex and drugs—are included. The board also voted down a motion to include the eight Hispanics who died at the Alamo alongside James Bowie and Davy Crockett. More pages will be spent on President Ronald Reagan, but no coverage on the late Sen. Ted Kennedy or the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Google has drafted a detailed plan to close Google.cn, its search engine for China that complied with the government’s censorship demands—to much criticism—before announcing two months ago it could no longer obey such rules. Negotiations with the Chinese reached an impasse when China said Friday that it would not compromise on its online censorship just to keep Google in the country. Even if a decision is made soon, it will take some time before the search giant leaves because it wants to protect Chinese employees from retaliation from the government. Some employees fear a backlash from China that will make any operations there impossible. Many expected a harsh response from China when Google said it would end censorship after discovering cyberattacks involving activists’ email accounts that originated from within the country.

Already a target for criticism over his decision to try 9/11 plotters in civilian court, Attorney General Eric Holder is now under fire for failing to disclose half a dozen briefs to the Supreme Court, two of which involved the terrorist case. One Republican senator called the issue “an extremely serious matter,” adding, “The attorney general, as with all nominees, has a duty of candor.” Aides for Holder called the omission a mistake. Many of the briefs deal with politically sensitive issues including appealed murder convictions, and were signed by several lawmakers besides Holder.

Benjamin Franklin conceived Daylight Saving Time, which will happen Sunday at 2 a.m., as a way to save energy—more daylight means fewer candles—but the time change doesn’t actually save money, a study has found. Because in the winter months, people wake up closer to the coldest part of the night, they spend more on heat. And in the summer, they come home closer to the hottest part of the day, so they crank up the air conditioner. Indiana switched in the 1970s, and the move has cost the state $3.79 in electricity a year per household. That’s $9 million a year. Researchers estimate Hoosiers lost another $1.7 million to $5.5 million in social costs related to pollution. The cost may be even higher in the South, where people max out on AC. The costs may be lowered by savings in commercial buildings. The researchers concluded with a recommendation to scrapping Daylight Saving Time.

Dubai police had no human witnesses, only electronic ones, yet it was able to relatively quickly find the culprits of the murder of a Hamas commander named Mahmoud Mabhouh in a swanky hotel. How did they do it? Cameras track everyone who enters Dubai from the minute they walk off the plane; cars are tracked through automatic tolls, and hotels have cameras. A medical examiner spotted unusual marks on Mabhouh and concluded he’d been poisoned. Investigators quickly used surveillance tape to find the 27 people who didn’t belong in the hotel during the window in which the victim died and used facial recognition software to figure out their identities (or the stolen ones they used). They even tracked what one suspect bought at the mall. "They buy the best," a defense expert said. "They bought the latest technology in satellite and communications."

While the Senate is almost certain to remove the controversial Nebraska deal known as the “Cornhusker Kickback” in a final health-care bill, President Obama's efforts to cut out other state-specific arrangements are drawing resistance from lawmakers. Such deals include a provision exempting Florida from some Medicare cuts, an issue Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) raised at the bipartisan health summit, as well as extra Medicaid cash for Massachusetts and Vermont. "We've made it clear to the Senate that the president's position in the final legislation should not contain provisions that favor a single state or a single district differently than others," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said this week. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesperson responded: "We're going to do what we have to do to get a bill out of the House and Senate." He said of the White House's wish: "We'll certainly keep it in mind as we pull together a final bill." Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) also defended the extra money for his state on the basis that Vermont already provides generous benefits to its residents before reform and shouldn't be "penalized for doing the right thing." And Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is pushing back against efforts to cut out a provision granting Medicare benefits to residents of a single town in his state that's suffered from mining-related health problems.

Sonny with a Chance and Disney channel star Demi Lovato confirmed she’s dating Jonas Brothers member Joe Jonas, 20. Lovato, 17, coyly made the confession during an interview with Access Hollywood. “He is my best friend and he is incredible… he’s perfect,” she said. The pair had long been rumored to be dating, but denied it. The two first met in 2007 on the set of Camp Rock, and Lovato subsequently toured with the boy band the next year. The young couple even have a duet together, called "Make a Wave."

A 31-year-old Colorado mom is in the custody of Irish police after being arrested as part of an alleged conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist who lampooned the Prophet Mohammed. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez converted to Islam last Easter, shocking her family, and suddenly left her small-town home and job as a medical assistant on Sept 11 to marry a Muslim man she met online. She is the second American woman to be associated with the plot, after “Jihad Jane,” aka Colleeen LaRose, a suburban Philadelphia woman was indicted this week. Shortly after converting to Islam, Paulin-Ramirez, a 5'11 blonde, began posting to Facebook forums with diatribes labeled “STOP calling MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!” Her family was shocked when she began to wear a hijab a few months before she disappeared. "I'm angry with her right now," her mother said. "I'd like to just choke her. But I'm worried about her, too. I love my daughter."

An all-black penguin has been snapped in Antarctica by a National Geographic photographer. Scientists say the mutation from the typical tuxedo markings is unbelievably rare, essentially one in a zillion. The photographer said the New York-ready bird appeared to be assimilated and had a black-and-white mate. About one in every 250,000 penguins are partially black, but no other all-black ones are known to exist.

After being left out of the Stars on Ice lineup, three-time U.S. ice skating champion Johnny Weir claims that the show is discriminating against him due to his perceived sexuality, and may stage his own “crazy, over-the-top fantasy show” in lieu of the tour. Weir has the backing of GLAAD, which is protesting the show, and said that he was rejected from the lineup of skaters as not being “family friendly” enough. “I’m not going to get on the ice and strip down naked and roll around,” Weir said. “I know I’m a bit outrageous at times and I say what’s on my mind, but I don’t understand how that isn’t family friendly in any way.” Stars on Ice denies the claims as “simply not accurate” and said in a statement: “Please be assured that the ‘gender identity and sexual orientation’ of cast members has never been a consideration in the selection of tour performers.”

In a new op-ed for the Washington Post, Howell Raines, the former executive editor of The New York Times, demands that honest journalists call out Fox News for their “overturned standards of fairness and objectivity.” Raines says Fox News chief Roger Ailes has made his network a propaganda machine masquerading as a real news channel. Fox’s health coverage in particular irks Raines, who says that Fox has continued to claim that the American people don’t want health-care reform despite the fact that the results of elections for the past 60 years indicate they do. The former editor accuses his fellow journalists of being too scared of Ailes’ notoriously aggressive attacks on any critics to confront the network, and being too intimidated to draw rational conclusions based on good reporting. Fox’s “news operation can, in fact, be called many things, but reporters of my generation, with memories and keyboards, dare not call it journalism,” Raines writes.

China's top blogger, a young novelist who drives race cars on the side and whose good looks have made him a sex symbol, has been clashing with the country's censorship policies. At 300 million hits to his blog, The New York Times suggests Han Han might be the "the most popular living writer in the world," but not all of his posts stay up long—the government has been known to take down offending material overly critical of the government. A wry satirist, one recent post by Han criticizing China's eviction of residents for new developments suggested replacing housing projects with prisons so dissenters could more conveniently be locked up in their homes after they object. His latest project, a new magazine entitled "A Chorus of Solos," is being held up by the government over its content.

Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been hospitalized in South Korea due to stomach pains that reports are billing as “not serious.” Kissinger checked into a hospital in South Korea, where he was lecturing on the North Korean nuclear program, after sudden abdominal pains. A source said, “He will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow [Sunday] and fly to China.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had sharp words for Israel on Friday. After the country humiliated Joe Biden by announcing plans for new construction in East Jerusalem during his visit to the country, Clinton spoke to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  for 43 minutes to say the move was “deeply negative” for U.S.-Israeli relations. According to a State Department spokesman, Clinton called “to make clear that the United States considered the announcement to be a deeply negative signal about Israel’s approach to the bilateral relationship and contrary to the spirit of the vice president’s trip. The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security.” Clinton also demanded the Israeli government demonstrate through actions that it is committed to peace.

The possibility of domestic violence between Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren reemerged Friday, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Though nearly four months have passed, the Florida Highway Patrol released records that reintroduce the issue of spousal abuse, showing that the crew would not let Nordegren ride in the ambulance to the hospital with Woods because they said the case involved domestic violence. Woods, however, has repeatedly denied the abuse claim and did so again last month during his first public appearance since the accident. According to the records, Nordegren also reportedly told officers that Woods had been taking a painkiller, Vicodin, but had not been drinking prior to the crash near his Florida home.

In one of the world’s largest studies on birth-control pills, researchers have found that women on the pill are “less likely to die from any cause, including cancer and heart disease,” and live longer than women not taking the pill. The study involved over 46,000 women for nearly 40 years (“more than a million woman years,” as one scientist put it) and reversed earlier speculation that women on the pill were at risk of dying sooner. However, because their study began in 1968, scientists said the data reflects older types of birth control, not contemporary versions of the drug.

Pope Benedict XVI reportedly took part in sending a pedophile priest to therapy instead of dismissing him in 1980. Despite repeat offenses and convictions of child abuse, the priest continues to maintain his role in Germany's Upper Bavaria. The priest was sent to Munich for therapy in 1980 after being accused of forcing an 11-year-old-boy to perform oral sex. The pope, who was at that time a cardinal, had allegedly approved the decision to “accommodate the priest in a rectory while the therapy took place.” The vicar general of the archdiocese has stepped forward, saying he has taken “full responsibility” for the priest’s move back to pastoral work and said the pope had not been aware of his decision due to the 1,000 priests in the diocese at the time.

On the heels of a report detailing religious persecution by Iran’s government, the State Department is publicly criticizing the policies. “The United States is increasingly concerned about Iran’s ongoing persecution of Baha’is and other religious minority communities,” the assistant secretary for public affairs said. Baha’is are Iran’s most prominent religious minority, and up to 60 are currently imprisoned in the country due to their religious beliefs. According to the report, “Government rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shia religious groups.” Though he did not directly address the criticisms in a recent meeting, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke of the need to “support a campaign against oppressors and help monotheism flourish.”

Codifying a sea change already under way in American technology, the Federal Communications Commission is set to release a 10-year plan that would make high-speed Internet the top communication network in the country. The FCC's proposal will reportedly include efforts to subsidize high-speed access for rural areas and an auction of broadcast spectrum for wireless devices. Hoping to catch up with other countries that have faster average Internet speeds, an initiative called 100 Squared would aim to have 100 million households using high-speed Internet at 100 megabits a second by 2020, versus an average of 3 to 4 megabits a second today.

The Government Accountability Office has come up with the perfect icebreaker topic for Tea Parties across the country: An audit released Friday found that USAspending.gov, a Web site endorsed by President Obama for tracking government spending, has major gaps in its information. “Not everything that should have been reported was reported, and that which was reported was not always accurate,” said a GAO official of information from June 2009 to March 2010, during which time nine federal agencies left 15 government contracts out of reports, according to the audit. The site was part of a law meant to aid transparency, pushed through by Obama when he was a senator and currently run by his Office of Management and Budget. According to the report, the OMB does not have a “plan or process in place” for correcting the site’s problems.