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Responding to calls that the Republican presidential ticket provide more detail about some of its policy proposals, vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan says TV isn't always the right medium for such specifics. And a spokesman for Mitt Romney says tonight's debate also has its limits.

The presidential candidates meet for the first of three debates on Wednesday. This week, we'll take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate as well as the stakes. We start with a report on Mitt Romney, who got plenty of debate practice during the primary season.

Mo Yan was one of three writers favored to win. He is perhaps best known in the West as the author of Red Sorghum, which was made into a film. He is only the second Chinese writer to win the Nobel — the other is poet Gao Xingjian, who won in 2000.

Europe has offered Spain up to $125 billion to recapitalize its banks. Shoring up its banks is one step Spain is taking to prevent economic collapse. The other step is to slash more than $50 billion from its budget to get spending down within legal limits set by the E.U.

Ansar al-Sharia, the ultraconservative armed Islamist group, is accused of taking part in the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans. The group denies it participated, but its leadership has stopped short of condemning the attack.

It hasn't exactly been a barrel of fun flying American Airlines lately. The carrier, which is in bankruptcy, is in a bitter contract dispute with its pilots union. Its on-time performance has plummeted while cancellations are way up. Meanwhile, some of American's best customers are rethinking their loyalty.

NPR's Brent Baughman takes a visit to the annual Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' Convention in Washington D.C. and has this amusing postcard.

In races from U.S. Senate to state attorney general, candidates know their fortunes are largely tied to the respective fates of Mitt Romney and President Obama. Many acknowledge that a strong partisan wave threatens to wipe them away, so they're pushing to run ahead of their ticket.

The "spaghetti maps" that forecast hurricane tracks, such as those being used to predict the track of Hurricane Sandy, have become increasingly accurate and sophisticated. That's in part because of the work performed by some of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

Mitt Romney's pledge to add 12 million jobs to the economy over four years may sound like a very big number, especially coming out of a deep recession followed by three years of lackluster job growth. But some economists say it's realistic, and even if President Obama wins re-election.