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A correction published today on the New England Journal of Medicine's Web site undermines a key feature of Merck's defense against the thousands of lawsuits filed over its painkiller Vioxx.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) announces that he will seek treatment at a rehabilitation center for addiction to prescription drugs. Kennedy, who ran his car into a barrier near the Capitol early Thursday morning, admits that he took the popular sleeping drug Ambien. No one was injured in the incident.

The federal government reports that far more underwater pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico were damaged by hurricanes last year than they realized. Weather and the pressure to find divers and oil-rig workers have overtaxed available resources.

In the past eight months, a video of a young guitarist playing a modern version of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major has become a sensation on the Internet. The video has been viewed on YouTube.com more than 7.6 million times -- but nobody knew the identity of the guitarist. Recently, that changed.

Kenneth Lay, founder and vilified former chairman of scandal-ridden Enron Corp., died of a heart attack Wednesday morning. He was 64.

Iraq's Prime Minister has called for an independent Iraqi investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl and the murder her family, reportedly at the hands of U.S. troops in the town of Mahmoudiya. The call for the investigation comes as it was revealed that the girl is a minor -- 14 or 15 years old.

In the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil in five years, 49 people died when a commuter airline crashed in Kentucky on Sunday. There are indications the plane may have used the wrong runway for takeoff.

Despite the box office success of Pirates of the Caribbean, and last year's Chronicles of Narnia, Walt Disney Studios is cutting back on its production schedule, and staffing. The company is also planning to return much of its focus to family friendly films.

A survey of medical studies shows a clear link between depression and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Sydney Spiesel, Yale Medical School professor and Slate medical columnist, talks with Madeleine Brand about how depression can contribute to heart trouble.

How much does the era you grow up in affect your personality? Psychologist Jean Twenge, a researcher at San Diego State University believes that a key factor in determining primary character traits is the generation that people are born in — and there may be credence to the notion of "The Greatest Generation."

Commentator Marcos McPeek Villatoro shares thoughts on his experience acting as an "extra" on a hit television show.

Infant is a word derived from a latin stem that means "to speak." An infant, therefore, is one who doesn't speak. You may infer an extended sense of a "small creature who has not yet learned to speak." Infant is just one of the words in this word stew cooked up by John Ciardi.

New data obtained by NPR about the painkiller Vioxx show that all patients who took the drug were at increased risk for heart attack, stroke and other complications -- even those who took it for short periods of time. About 20 million Americans are estimated to have taken Vioxx before it was withdrawn in 2004.

The race for New Orleans mayor will be decided on Saturday. Voters displaced by Hurricane Katrina will be able to cast absentee ballots until the polls close.

Film commentator Kenneth Turan talks to Renee Montagne about yesterday's premier of The Da Vinci Code at the Cannes Film Festival. He says the movie sacrifices excitement as it strives to remain true to the book.

Millie Jackson carved a niche for herself in the 1970s with suggestive takes on soul songs that put her on the same forbidden shelf as the racy LPs of Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor. At 62, she says she has no regrets and wouldn't change a thing.

On Thursday, an expert panel will tell the FDA whether a new vaccine against the human papilloma virus is ready to use. HPV can be sexually transmitted and can cause cervical cancer. It affects about 10,000 American women a year, and it kills about 3,700.

Benjamin Franklin, who has been has been called the most multi-talented figure in American history, spent some 16 years of his life in London. His life and accomplishments there are on display in the newly restored house where he lived.

Iraq's national security adviser has released a list of the country's most-wanted criminals. It includes Saddam Hussein's first wife and eldest daughter. The list was issued one day after the bloodiest bombing in Iraq in months killed more than 60 people.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education threatened to withhold millions of dollars in federal school aid from California because the state has failed to help students transfer out of low-performing schools, as required by the No Child Left Behind law.

With nearly all the votes counted in Mexico's presidential vote, conservative candidate Felipe Calderon has a thin, but insurmountable lead. Calderon has declared victory. His rival, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is contesting the results and has called a protest rally for Saturday.

Any dog lover will tell you that dogs respond to human behavior, often with loyalty and unconditional love. But do dogs really understand us?

Author Bret Anthony Johnston offers his endorsement of the classic. Part of the genius in Vladimir Nabokov's tale of pedophilic love, says Johnston, is that the author makes his readers complicit.

Dennis Ross, a former envoy to the Middle East, disputes the view that the Israel lobby has too much influence on U.S. foreign policy. He says lobbying groups such as the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, are effective and have not had a negative effect on U.S. policy.

Johnny Depp will be swashbuckling once again this weekend in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The picture is expected to have a huge opening, but this juggernaut won't be enough to overcome a mediocre box-office performance for the summer.