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With gas prices mounting in recent weeks — in some states, they top $4 a gallon — the large tax breaks offered to oil and gas producers are falling under tighter scrutiny from Washington.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing Tuesday for U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert S. Ford — but no one was around to hear it. Elliot Abrams of The Weekly Standard has ten important questions before the vote on Ford's nomination.

Songwriter Hugh Martin, who co-wrote the classic song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for Judy Garland's 1944 movie, Meet Me in St. Louis died on Friday. He was 96. Fresh Air remembers Martin with highlights from a 1989 interview.

Robot battles can be violent, noisy and fun. High-tech companies hope these clashes also turn on students to careers in industries that need their skills. "Getting into this definitely got me interested in the engineering aspect of things," says high school senior Dakotah Cleaver of Bloomsburg, Pa.

Launched Saturday morning, the six-wheeled Mars Science Laboratory boasts a suite of high-tech instruments to study the planet's geology. It will land on the planet in August 2012, lowered gently to the surface on a cable by a rocket-powered helicopter.

Within the next year, fans of The Office will have another landmark in Scranton to visit. Scranton Tomorrow has plans for a large-scale mural featuring 17 The Office cast members.

Black Friday sales for Apple's iPad were up 70 percent from last year, and the newly introduced Kindle Fire has shot to the top of Amazon's sales charts. And with more than 30 different tablets on the market at varying prices this holiday season, the barrier to entry to the tablet market has been considerably lowered.

Middle-level jobs are becoming increasingly automated, which pushes many people into lower-skilled (and lower-paying) jobs like fixing flat tires or delivering pizza to get by. Another option is to get training for higher-skilled jobs — and many want to see more training programs offered.

The world's largest supporter of AIDS programs says it is well short of its fundraising goals because of the global financial crisis. The announcement by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has raised concern about the future for AIDS patients on World AIDS Day.

U.S. military forces flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid and freed two Western hostages, an American and a Dane. President Obama had personally authorized the mission to retrieve the aid workers.