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Lack of a director can leave a federal agency treading water on policy and personnel issues, and several major agencies have been leaderless for years. The Senate also needs to act before federal judgeships can be filled, and some 10 percent of those jobs are vacant.

One name has been "retired." Others have never been reused. John is the most popular. It's a tradition going back to the year 533 that a new pope chooses a name other than the one he was born with. He's likely sending a message about what type of leader he hopes to be.

Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba's new vice president, has been tapped to take over from Raul Castro when he steps down as president in 2018. The 52-year-old former education minister is relatively unknown outside his home province, but is now on a campaign to increase his national exposure.

Leonard A. Lauder's collection — among the best in the world, experts say — consists of 78 cubist works, including 33 works by Picasso.

It's easy to see why a rocket scientist's obituary that led with a mention of her culinary prowess set off accusations of sexism. But food is undeniably a powerful marker of identity, as much or more of a statement of who we are as what we do for a living.

This summer's dry weather is drawing comparisons to the droughts of the 1950s and even the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s. Technology and techniques developed from those hard times are helping to save some of today's crops, but there's no substitute for water.

Condoleezza Rice has been floated as a possible running mate for the Republican presidential hopeful. The former secretary of state would boost Mitt Romney's foreign policy credentials, but says she's not interested in the job. Still, she wowed Romney donors earlier this summer.

European nations have pledged to cut off oil imports from Iran beginning Sunday, tightening the sanctions that target Iran's nuclear program. Iran is expected to feel the squeeze — but the move could also push up world oil prices.

When it's hot and humid, you probably don't want to move much and aren't very hungry. The same goes for cows; but when they don't eat, farmers lose money. Using weather data, a new app called Thermal Aid detects the threat of heat stress and offers farmers tips to keep their cows healthy.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney discarded his increasingly inert better-safe-than-sorry campaign strategy Saturday when he named budget hawk and Democratic bete noire Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. But the pick has handed Democrats a trove of material to use in an effort to weaken the GOP ticket's appeal among independent voters, women and senior citizens.