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The Two-Way
11:06 am
Fri January 25, 2013

Obama To Name New Chief Of Staff, New Counterterrorism Adviser

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Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
New White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough (left), at Friday's announcement. Behind the president: outgoing Chief of Staff Jacob "Jack" Lew, who has been nominated to be Treasury secretary.
Credit Department of Justice
Lisa Monaco.
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Originally published on Fri January 25, 2013 1:05 pm

Saying he is choosing "one of my closest friends and one of my closest advisers" for the job, President Obama on Friday said that longtime aide Denis McDonough will be his next chief of staff.

During a midday event at the White House that was remarkable for the expansive comments the president made about his friend's character, his dedication and the respect he gets from those who work in the administration, Obama said McDonough has "the kind of heart that I want in the White House."

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The Two-Way
10:27 am
Fri January 25, 2013

Whoa Canada! New Currency Has 'Wrong' Maple Leaf?

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Credit Bank of Canada
That's not the right leaf, botanists say.
Credit Canadian Heritage
The Canadian flag and its familiar leaf.
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Originally published on Fri January 25, 2013 1:05 pm

A hubbub's been building up north for the past week or so about the maple leaf on Canada's new $20 bills.

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The Two-Way
10:19 am
Fri January 25, 2013

Sales Of New Homes Fell In December, But Were Up Sharply In 2012

Credit Daniel Acker / Landov
A "sold" sign outside a home under construction last fall in Peoria, Ill.
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Though there was a 7.3 percent drop in sales of new homes in December from November, sales were up a healthy 8.8 percent from December 2011, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

Homes sold at a annual rate of 369,000 last month.

Over the whole year, the agencies estimate, there were 367,000 new homes sold — up 19.9 percent from the 306,000 sold in 2011.

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The Two-Way
9:04 am
Fri January 25, 2013

Really Cool Video: 'Shroud Of Cold Air Descends On The U.S.'

Credit NOAAVisualizations
An image from the animated look at how cold air has spread over the nation.
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Originally published on Fri January 25, 2013 10:28 am

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The Picture Show
8:33 am
Fri January 25, 2013

A Brief History Of Women In Combat

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Credit AP
Female members of Egypt's "liberation battalions" train in the desert near Cairo for guerrilla warfare against the British in the Suez Canal zone on Nov. 20, 1951.
Credit Keystone / Getty Images
Female German army prisoners being checked in by German-speaking Americans at a German Women's Detention Building in 1945. The women were captured at the front on the 7th U.S. Army sector.
Credit Erich Stering / AFP/Getty Images
Christian Lebanese women, members of Kataeb Phalangist party, train with weapons on Sept. 9, 1976. The Lebanese civil war erupted a year earlier.
Credit AP
Young women learn how to charge an enemy with rifles and bayonets at their high school in Tokyo, Feb. 18, 1937. Japan trained women and girls for auxiliary army units.
Credit AP
Jewish women in the Palestine Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Army learn how to use gas masks, Oct. 14, 1942. Many of them were in service on the Egyptian front.
Credit AP
Women help each other with bags at an embarkation port in the U.S. in this Jan. 29, 1943, photo provided by the U.S. Army. They were bound for North Africa with the first detachment of the Women'’s Auxiliary Army Corps to be sent abroad.
Credit AP
Female Italian partisans in Castelluccio, Italy, keep weapons ready as they wait for their turn to patrol with the U.S. 5th Army on Feb. 11, 1944.
Credit AP
Members of the Women's Army Corps pose at Camp Shanks, N.Y., before leaving on Feb. 2, 1945. The women were with the first contingent of the Black American WAC to go overseas for the war effort.
Credit AP
Female members of Egypt's "liberation battalions" train in the desert near Cairo for guerrilla warfare against the British in the Suez Canal zone, Nov. 20, 1951.
Credit Ghislain Bellorget / AP
A female Cambodian soldier totes a machine gun into combat during an operation across the Mekong River from Phnom Penh in the Prek Tamak area of Cambodia on Aug. 26, 1970. This region was the scene of heavy fighting between Cambodian troops and Viet Cong. The young woman is one of many who served as regular soldiers and medics in the rapidly expanded army .
Credit Giulio Broglio / AP
Female soldiers with AK-47 rifles and bayonets march on the parade grounds at the Women's Military Academy in Tripoli, Libya, on Jan. 18, 1986. At rear is a portrait of of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Credit Korea News Service / AP
Female members of the North Korea Worker-Peasant Red Guards undertake air defense training in 1970.
Credit Keystone / Getty Images
Yugoslav fighters, members of the patriot forces, during training at an Allied camp in Italy on Feb. 29, 1944.
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Traditions break down fast during times of war, and history is full of examples where women assumed dramatic new roles that never would have been possible in times of peace.

As this photo gallery shows, the pressing demands of World War II led many countries to call on women to bolster their armed forces, in jobs ranging from nurse to front-line soldier.

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