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The number of people who died in a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last week now stands at 15, officials said Tuesday. They also ruled out natural causes as a potential spark for last Wednesday's fire.

Corn production was down last year thanks to drought. This year, conditions are too cold and wet for farmers to plant the crop. Without a break in the clouds pretty soon, there may be another shortage of the crop at harvest time.

Bassem Youssef, the wildly popular host of an Egyptian political satire TV show, pokes fun at Egypt's president, Islamists and others. But he's now facing a slew of legal suits accusing him of everything from insulting the president to apostasy. His legal troubles are in many ways a test case for freedom of speech in the new Egypt.

It doesn't take much effort to find bags of coffee with labels that promise social and environmental improvements. But each one of these certification programs promises something different for the farmer and the land — and every promise involves some compromises.

Viewers in Dallas saw the Boston bombing suspect misidentified. The screen read: "Marathon Bomber: He is 19-year-old Zooey Deschanel." For the record, the suspect is 19-year-old Chechen immigrant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — and not the star of the TV series New Girl.

The state just completed a six-year effort to rewrite its laws using gender neutral language.Terms like fisherman and freshman were replaced by "fisher" and "first year student." "Penmanship" became "handwriting."

Lawmakers are trying to figure out how to scale back the outsize role that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play in the housing market. A bipartisan Senate proposal would replace Fannie and Freddie with a scaled-down program, while a Republican House proposal would go even further.

There have been suggestions that if Russia grants asylum to "NSA leaker" Edward Snowden, the U.S. should respond by not sending athletes to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. But others say that just sends the wrong message and punishes only the athletes.

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is facing growing calls for his resignation following sexual harassment allegations lodged against him. One of them came from his ex-fiancee.

An Indian-American comedian unafraid to joke politely about race and politics, Hari Kondabolu regularly challenges long-standing beliefs with his material. While his comedy is about being treated like an outsider, the jokes offer a sense of community.