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New York City Finance Commissioner Martha Stark believes in numbers. Whether they are lotto tickets, school grades or municipal tax revenues, she says numbers shape our lives more than we realize.

In Iraq, Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki is struggling with sectarian divisions as he attempts to fill out his Cabinet before the constitutional deadline of May 22. The backdrop for Iraq's political troubles continues to be deadly violence, with multiple attacks leaving dozens dead on Sunday. Monday also brings the resumption of Saddam Hussein's trial.

A large white sheep dog from the cold mountains of Eastern Anatolia is a national symbol in Turkey. The Kangal is considered such an important cultural heritage that the Turkish government funds efforts to protect the breed.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has an appreciation of mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died Monday at her home in Santa Fe at the age of 52 after a long illness.

A powerful Chicago alderman has proposed that the city become the first in the United States to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants. Trans fats are considered the most unhealthy of all cooking oils. Michele Norris gets the skinny on trans fats from Kim Severson, a New York Times reporter and author of The Trans Fats Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, who died 100 years ago last week, was the first African-American poet to make a living from his writing. He was well known during his lifetime for poetry he wrote in black dialect, a fame he came to despise.

The Winter Games kicks off with several suspensions, including eight cross-country skiers suspended for five days because they had high red blood cell counts. Two Americans are among those suspended. Robert Siegel talks with Wall Street Journal sportswriter Stefan Fatsis.

Commentator Julie Zickefoose and her husband Bill both maintain their own Web blogs. She knows that their obsessive quests to keep those blogs interesting are changing their relationship, but she hasn't figured out how, yet.

The video-sharing Web site YouTube.com has changed the way some people see the Internet. But it's also changing how people hear vintage artists, from the late Wilson Pickett to the up-and-coming Arctic Monkeys.

Hamas' landslide victory last month brings the group to the forefront of power in the Palestinian territories. Israel refuses to negotiate with Hamas and calls the group a terrorist organization. But many Palestinians see Hamas as a legitimate force fighting Israeli occupation, as well as a source of charity.