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[We asked NPR's Linton Weeks to think about some things that might benefit from a federal government shutdown. Here's what he reported back.]

We have all heard dire predictions surrounding the possible closing down of the federal government.

Ivory Coast was once considered the most politically stable and prosperous state in West Africa.

But now, as Alassane Ouattara prepares to take over, he faces enormous challenges in restoring the economy and security to the country following months of post-election violence.

Ouattara, internationally recognized as the legitimate president of Ivory Coast, earned a majority of votes in the disputed Nov. 28 election. But former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down.

"All he had to do was tell the truth," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Nedrow told a San Francisco jury earlier today as the prosecution summed up its case against former baseball great Barry Bonds, who is accused of lying to a grand jury about whether he knew used performance-enhancing drugs.

In the fight for control of Libya, the country's lucrative oil industry is a major prize.

For weeks, the fighting between Libyan rebels and forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has seesawed along a major highway that hugs the Mediterranean coast — one day the rebels capture a strategic city, the next day Gadhafi's forces take it back. It is a vicious fight for control, but then this stretch of coastline is prime real estate because it contains Libya's main oil ports, says Greg Priddy, analyst of global energy and natural resources at Eurasia Group.

One way a drug company can increase sales is by promoting medicines for purposes that haven't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The practice, called off-label marketing, is illegal. But, as a slew of settlements with the government have shown, it's been commonplace.