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Years of war have overtaxed Gaza's hospitals, making it tough for kidney patients to get good treatment. Thanks to help from British doctors, Gaza surgeons are now being trained to perform kidney transplants. They hope to help ease the huge demand for dialysis, but transplants have their own cost.

The Senate easily confirmed the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director, that following the dramatics of Sen. Rand Paul, who filibustered against it for nearly 13 hours on Wednesday night. Is this the dawn of a new era of these, old-school, "talking" filibusters? Tamara Keith talks to Audie Cornish.

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Charlotte, N.C., the economy is expected to be a central theme. The event is bookended by Monday's Labor Day celebrations and Friday's release of the latest monthly numbers on jobs.

As the U.S. military steps up training of Afghan troops in preparation for the U.S. withdrawal in 2014, it has also ratcheted up its efforts to train U.S. soldiers in Afghan language and customs. This year, the Army has more than doubled the number of soldiers trained in Pashto and Dari.

Long-term gains in longevity continue. Today's 65-year-olds can expect to live a tad over 20 more years. That's a huge jump from 1980, when 65-year-olds could expect 14 more years of life. A big part of the reason is that deaths from heart disease and stroke have plummeted by nearly 50 percent.

Actors in period garb are the usual denizens of the Strawbery Banke Museum campus in Portsmouth, N.H., which spans 250 years of history. To make ends meet, the museum has lured more modern dwellers.

In Colorado and Iowa, two states considered up for grabs in the presidential race, a battle over alternative energy policy is playing a growing role in the debate between PresidentObama and MittRomney

A big counterattack is brewing in Syria's most important city after Damascus. Rebel fighters had taken control of parts of Aleppo but say heavy reinforcements for the Syrian army are now arriving. Activists also say that in Damascus, loyalist forces have been exacting a bloody revenge. Even as Syrians — from soldiers to diplomats — are turning against the regime, the power on the ground remains with the military.

Russian authorities are investigating a reclusive Islamic sect said to have lived in subterranean burrows without electricity for 10 years. Officials have taken some 20 children away from the group in a case that pits religious freedom against wider social values.

NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson joins Melissa Block from Florida to discuss Monday night's Republican presidential debate.