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Conservative activists are gathering just outside Washington, D.C., on Thursday for the annual gathering known as CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Conference. A year ago, the group was riding high, confident in their ability to help the Republican Party defeat President Obama. Today, controversy over who's speaking at the conference and who's boxed out illustrate the woes confronting the GOP.

Also: Advice on reading Vladimir Nabokov; fresh opportunities for Twitter poetry; and a new literary award.

Roman Catholics woke up Thursday with a new pope — the first non-European supreme pontiff since the early centuries of Christianity. The Argentine chose the name Francis, never before used by any other pope. That could signal the start of a new chapter for the crisis-ridden church.

M.L. Schultze talks to Melissa Block about the opening day of the trial of two Steubenville High School football players accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in Ohio. The case has attracted nationwide attention, in part due to photos and comments about the incident that were circulated on social media.

This annual gathering of conservatives is the first since President Obama thwarted Republican efforts to retake the White House, a defeat of Mitt Romney that many in the GOP didn't see coming. And while there will be some backward glances, the conference is mostly about finding the way forward.

Lawyers, prosecutors and judges across Massachusetts are sorting through thousands of cases that may now unravel. With a former chemist accused of falsifying as many as 34,000 test results, hundreds of former defendants have already been released and police are bracing for an uptick in crime.

Pyongyang's threats have put other countries in the region on edge. South Korea, Japan and China have a history of strained ties, but they are united in wanting to restrain North Korea.

The Jesuits are the single-largest Catholic order, known for their dedication to education and devotion to the poor. But in the past, they have also proved controversial.

Alabama's Gov. Robert Bentley has signed a sweeping education bill that gives tax credits to parents who want to transfer their children from a failing public school to another public or private school. The bill became law one day after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled a lawsuit against it was premature.

Americans who suffer cardiac arrest in a hospital and are resuscitated have a 60 percent chance of being alive a year later, authors of a new study found. They also have a 45 percent chance of living for three years — better than the odds of surviving cancer.