Enlarge AP A Syrian boy sits in the rubble of house which was destroyed during a military operation by the Syrian pro-Assad army in April in the town of Taftanaz, Syria. AP A Syrian boy sits in the rubble of house which was destroyed during a military operation by the Syrian pro-Assad army in April

Enlarge Mark Wilson/Getty Images Attorney General Eric Holder testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Mark Wilson/Getty Images Attorney General Eric Holder testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Attorney General Eric Holder faced a grilling today during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. Rep. Darrell Issa

The full genetic code of a fetus has been cracked. The technique, used by scientists at the University of Washington, could offer parents safer and more comprehensive prenatal testing in the future. It also leaps into a debate over what information parents will eventually have — and use — to decide whether to have an

Enlarge Jim Watson/AP U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta hands out coins to members of the crew as he visits USNS Richard E. Byrd in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, on Sunday. Panetta toured the former U.S. air and naval base in the bay, becoming the most senior American official to go there since the war ended.