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Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, tapped by President Obama to serve as the next Secretary of Defense, is coming under fire from conservatives for his past positions on Israel, Iran and Iraq. Elliott Abrams is one of the critics. Abrams served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and is now a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He speaks with Melissa Block about his concerns.

NASA is facing a conundrum of large proportions; shuttle-sized, in fact. Now that the shuttle program has ended, NASA is no longer using shuttle facilities and equipment. That includes everything from a launch pad to space in the building where rockets were assembled. So NASA is conducting a secret auction. Orlando Sentinel staff writer Scott Powers explains what NASA is selling, why, and who the buyers might be.

A sushi chain owner paid about $3,600 per pound for a Pacific bluefin tuna on Saturday, during the first auction of the year at Toyko's Tsukiji fish market. Alas, the headline-grabbing species is in danger of being overfished, scientists say.

France recently hosted discussions between Afghan and Taliban officials. The meetings again raised the possibility of negotiations to end the fighting in Afghanistan, though many analysts remain deeply skeptical.

President Obama has nominated his counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to lead the CIA. Brennan's work with the agency under George W. Bush has been controversial, and he's also drawn criticism for his lead role in the Obama administration's use of unmanned drones.

Bowie has released "Where Are We Now" on his 66th birthday. The song will appear on a new album, The Next Day, which will be out in March.

In Chicago last summer, Urooj Khan jumped for joy when he realized he had a winning ticket in the Illinois later. A month later, one day after his check was issued, Khan was dead. Authorities recently figured out that the cause was a lethal dose of cyanide. Now they're investigating.

Before the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was ended in late 2011, many gays were given honorable discharges — but only about half the discharge pay they were owed. A class action suit on their behalf has now been settled and the withheld pay will be released.

Without rules that spell out which health plan takes the lead, a young person who lives out of state and is covered by his parents' plan and a college health plan might run into trouble trying to get in-network care when far from hometown.

The "discussion" was quite loud — because of syndicated radio host Jones — when he went on CNN to talk about guns and gun laws.