Washington Post

A new drug designed to slow the progression of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a devastating disease that overwhelmingly affects boys and typically leaves them needing wheelchairs by their teens and dead in their 20s, has received a long-awaited boost from the Food and Drug Administration.

Each president and first lady sets a new tone for the White House, partly based on personal beliefs and private quirks, but few have so transformed the culture inside the building the way the Obamas have regarding nutrition and fitness.

KABUL — More than a week after ballots were cast in Afghanistan’s presidential election, officials are still tabulating the results, but former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah has extended his lead to 11 percentage points over his closest challenger.

BOSTON — The line stretched for blocks outside of Boston’s Old South Church. Hundreds had come, on Easter Sunday, to worship at the 400-year-old church that sits just a few feet from the Boston Marathon finish line.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

It’s hard to think of a better way to get rid of a bunch of bad witches than by throwing them into the current, hotly competitive Sunday night television schedule, where they’re almost certain to drown — or more likely be ignored to death.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

The Nationals can split their four-game series against the Cardinals today. Stephen Strasburg will need improve upon his performance in the first inning. In four opening frames this year, Strasburg has allowed six earned runs on nine hits, including two homers.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

JINDO, South Korea — Twenty parents of missing high school students gathered behind a television truck Sunday afternoon and talked about a subject that, for days, they hadn’t been willing to broach.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

KIEV, UKRAINE — Ukraine’s new government inherited an army so bereft of modern equipment and training that when Russian troops entered Crimea and agitators stormed government offices in eastern Ukraine, the country proved helpless to protect its borders and citizens.

It’s 9 a.m. Do you know where your hypothalamus is? Katie Redford thought hers was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Having returned from a trip to South Africa one day last month, she was still waiting for the part of the brain that regulates her internal clock to catch up, like a piece of delayed luggage.

JERUSALEM — Israeli police officers blocked Palestinian Christians on their way to an Easter celebration Saturday at one of the holiest Christian sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, according to a top U.N.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share