"Twin suicide car bomb blasts ripped through an upscale Damascus district Friday, targeting security and intelligence buildings and killing at least 40 people" according to authorities, The Associated Press writes.

NPR's Deborah Amos says it's the "first such attack since the beginning of a 10-month revolt" against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Now there's the question of who is responsible.

With the economy the way it is, we've heard plenty of stories about the heartbreaking requests children are making to Santa.

On today's Your Call, it’s our Friday media roundtable. This week, we’ll discuss coverage of the US withdrawal from Iraq. We'll also talk about veterans returning with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. We’ll be joined by Al Jazeera English's Dahr Jamail, NPR’s investigative reporter Daniel Zwerdling, and McClatchy’s Roy Gutman joins us from Baghdad. What's your assessment of media coverage of Iraq? Join us at 10 or email tofeedback@yourcallradio.org. Where did you see the best reporting this week?

357th th Day of 2011 / 8 Remaining
Second Day Of Winter

Sunrise:7:22
Sunset: 4:56
9 Hr 34 Min

Moon Rise:6:17am
Moon Set: 4:10pm
Moon’s Phase: 1 %

Three days of intense pressure persuaded House Republicans to give in and approve a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment compensation benefits. Linda Wertheimer talks to NPR's Tamara Keith about the reversal by GOP leaders in the House.

As Eater reported this week, some politicians believe this country is awash in food waste. But this isn't the stuff in the garbage — it's the way we pour money into building restaurants, promoting American food products abroad, and encouraging the purchase of local foods.

When the histories of the current 111th Congress are finally written, maybe it all will become clear.

But for right now, there seem to be many more questions than answers.

For instance, why did House Republicans ever think it was a good idea to stake out a position on the payroll-tax issue that would leave them holding the bag for a new year's tax increase for 160 million workers? That has now been averted with Congress' passage Friday morning of a two-month extension of the current payroll-tax holiday.

It's said to be made of a "metal alloy known to man," according to Agence France Presse. (We enjoyed that Spock-like line.)

But there's much that isn't known about what's being called a "space ball" that came down in Namibia last month: Such as where or what it came from.

Officials from NASA and the European Space Agency have been contacted.

Though there are more ways today to create a baby than ever before – with help from a friend or stranger's sperm, egg, embryo or womb, just to name a few—questions continue to swirl about what and when to tell the resulting children about how they're related to whom.

Country singer-songwriter Darrell Scott grew up playing with his father, Wayne, and helped his father release a debut album at age 71. They continued to collaborate in recent years.

Last month, Darrell was in Texas in between gigs when he learned that his father had died in a car accident.