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After keeping a nervous world waiting for days, the squabbling politicians of debt-ridden Greece finally announced a new interim government Thursday. It will be headed by a former European Central banker, Lucas Papademos, whose main task will be to ensure that Greece meets the conditions set by its European partners to receive new loan money and avoid default. That means showing that Greece will enforce austerity measures.

The country faces enormous economic challenges. It has a staggering public payroll, huge subsidies on food and fuel, and a populace trained for years to view the government as the primary source of economic well-being.

President Obama is visiting Nevada, a state at the center of the foreclosure crisis. His administration has some programs in place to try to help struggling homeowners. But the leading GOP White House hopefuls so far haven't said much about how they would fix the downturn.

With college tuition on the rise, students find one way to keep up: take on more debt. New data show that students who graduated in 2010 carried 5 percent more debt than in the previous year.

Even as Congress' deficit-reduction supercommittee ran into a dead end this week, the resulting mandatory spending cuts were immediately targeted by interest groups and sympathetic lawmakers. No interest group stands to lose more than the defense industry.

After a meteoric rise, GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is now polling in the single digits. But she's still plowing ahead with her campaign, and this week she came out with a memoir. The Minnesota congresswoman talks with co-host Steve Inskeep about Core of Conviction and aiming to win the nomination.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Herndandez, who authorities say may have fired the shots has been taken into custody. No one was hurt and the bullet that was stopped by ballistic glass. President Obama and the first lady were not in the White House.

Magpies and crows are well-known for their habit of collecting odds and ends in their nests. Not so very different, the thinking goes, from the way medieval cooks assembled ingredients for their pies.

Lawmakers have spent much of this year struggling to reach a deal that could get budget deficits under control. But the problem has been developing for at least a decade. In 2000, there was a $200 billion surplus.

In response to new sanctions, Iran is threatening to cut off oil exports to Europe immediately. That in turn could deal a blow to vulnerable European economies like Greece, Italy and Spain.