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The Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe at 1,016 feet, was inaugurated in London in 2012. It got its formal name when the builders adopted the term used by critics, who called it a "shard of glass" in the city's skyline.

London's most modern skyscrapers have their formal names. But they are also given irreverent nicknames like "The Cheese Grater" and "The Prawn."

Owner Of Confiscated Raccoon Runs For Tenn. Governor

Mark Brown's raccoon Rebekah was confiscated after he posted videos of him dancing and showering with his pet. Tenn. law prohibits keeping native animals captured in the wild as pets. Brown tried but failed to get the law changed.

At NPR's Sound Bites Cafe, all food gets coded with one of three circles: Green is reserved for the most healthful dishes; yellow flags the "good choices;" and red signals the high-calorie foods to grab "on occasion."

To Make Healthier Choices, Color-Code Your Food (Green Means Go!)

Could a little red circle help you skip the comfort food this winter and maybe drop a few pounds? Doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital think so. They put traffic-light labels on their cafeteria's menu to signal the healthfulness of dishes. The colorful cues helped improve eating habits even two years later.

Ice has built up along Lake Michigan in Chicago as temperatures have plunged in recent days. A dip in the polar vortex is to blame.

What Is The Polar Vortex And Why Is It Doing This To Us?

This super cold air is usually whirling around the Arctic. But a big piece has plunged further south than normal. One way to think about what's happening: If a spinning ice skater extends her arms, she slows down. Sometimes, she wobbles and falls. The polar vortex has sort of stretched out an arm.

Sunni Muslim fighters in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah take up positions on Sunday. The insurgents have been fighting government troops in battles similar to those a decade ago in the area.

How Al-Qaida Returned To A Troubled Part Of Iraq

Western Iraq was one of the most chaotic parts of the country during the U.S. war there. Al-Qaida extremists were defeated once, but with U.S. forces gone, they've managed to return as Iraq continues to slide into chaos.

Housing costs keep climbing, and outpacing many people's ability to afford them. But the reasons why are complex and interrelated, which means it's a problem with no simple solution.

8 Reasons Why The Rent Is Too Damn High

Housing prices are squeezing middle- to low-income earners. This is due to a complex mix of factors, but there's one that stands out. In this commentary, Aboubacar Ndiaye walks through the main causes.

Smithfield Prods Its Pork Suppliers To Dump Pig Crates

The world's largest hog and pork buyer wants its contract farmers to move pregnant sows out of constrictive crates and into group houses, generally considered more humane, by 2022. The move is significant because independent farmers supply about 40 percent of the company's sows.

Run Run Shaw, pictured with his wife and daughter in London, was knighted in 1978 for his philanthropic endeavors.

A Hong Kong Film Titan, With A Reach Well Beyond His Roots

The Hong Kong entertainment magnate and philanthropist Run Run Shaw, who died today at 106 or 107, isn't that well known in the West. But his fans, from Quentin Tarantino to the Wu-Tang Clan, sure are.

For Bernard Madoff's Victims, A Massive Settlement Of Their Own

Robert Siegel interviews Irving Picard, the Madoff Bankruptcy Trustee, and David Sheehan, Picard's Chief Counsel and a partner at BakerHostetler. The attorneys represented those who were defrauded in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. On Tuesday, the attorneys announced two settlements to recover approximately $543 million for Madoff's victims.

A U.S. Army soldier guards the remains of a burned-out military ammunition truck after it was attacked in Fallujah, Iraq, on Oct. 19, 2003. Fallujah and its surrounds were the site of some of the bloodiest fighting for U.S. troops during the Iraq war.

Fallujah Veterans Ask Hard Questions About Their Sacrifices

A radical group with links to al-Qaida has taken intermittent control of key parts of Fallujah in western Iraq. It's the same area where U.S. troops saw some of their bloodiest fights during the Iraq war a decade ago, costing the U.S. more lives than any other region in Iraq.

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