In what appears to be a major setback to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, top aides quit Newt Gingrich's campaign en masse Thursday.

Besides top campaign officials who served as Gingrich's brain trust, the former House speaker also lost his entire paid staff in a key early state, Iowa.

As NPR's Mara Liasson reported for the network's newscast:

Gingrich's entire staff in Iowa, his national consultants and his long time aide, Rick Tyler, have resigned.

Aside from opening up this feature to zingers, this edition's title is a reference to the new book by NPR Science Correspondent Joe Palca and Science Friday's Flora Lichtman. The authors' book Annoying: the Science of What Bugs Us searches for explanations for why things get under our skin. It explores the psychology, evolutionary biology and anthropology behind things that annoy us.

A new Boeing plant in South Carolina is the subject of a legal battle that's playing out across the South and in Congress.

The controversy is over Boeing's decision to assemble its fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner in non-union South Carolina instead of in Washington state, where it has built planes for decades.

The company says South Carolina offered a lot of incentives to get the plant, but the union says Boeing broke the law and violated workers' rights.

Plant Timeline Not Affected

Disgraced New York Rep. Anthony Weiner no doubt feels the walls closing in on him, what with key fellow Democrats calling for his resignation and his once high-flying Big Apple mayoral ambitions in shambles.

But one thing the married congressman likely won't have to fear in the wake of his sexting scandal is tough love from the secretive House ethics committee.

"They'll take their sweet time and do just about nothing," says Melanie Sloan, who heads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "The ethics committee is where ethics investigations go to die."

As scientists and environmentalists in Australia search for ways to reduce that nation's greenhouse gas emissions, some have suggested killing many of the estimated 1.2 million wild camels that now roam there.

We have to confess to not knowing that: a) there are 1.2 million feral camels in Australia and that the population is expected to reach 2 million by 2020; and b) that they are major contributors to the emission of greenhouse gases.

Car sales in the U.S. have stalled. Right now, GM sells more cars in China than it does here.

Around the world, American brands have a much higher "cool factor" than they do here at home. And U.S. car companies are looking to exploit that.

The future of the American car companies can be summed up in one acronym, BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Syrian troops and heavy armor encircled a restive northern town on Thursday and hundreds of people fled through a single escape route across the lush Turkish border, sharply escalating the upheaval that threatens Syria's authoritarian regime.

The town of Jisr al-Shughour emptied as its residents crossed olive groves and traveled gravel roads, trying to get away from the tanks and elite forces surrounding them, a resident and activist said. Turkey's foreign minister said more than 2,400 Syrians had crossed the border, which was opened for refugees.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog voted Thursday to report Syria to the U.N. Security Council for violating its safeguard agreements, citing Syria's undeclared construction of a covert nuclear reactor and refusal to supply information.

The move by the International Atomic Energy Agency comes amid political protests in Syria, but Washington and its allies insist the timing of the recommendation has nothing to do with the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and is separate from an effort by European nations to have the Security Council condemn Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The Late Show is having "Drum Solo Week." So CBS had 85-year-old jazz legend Roy Haynes come on.

He's with the Fountain of Youth band, his regular working ensemble. That's Jaleel Shaw on soprano sax, Martin Bejerano on piano and David Wong on bass.

CIA director Leon Panetta appeared at a confirmation hearing for his next likely post: secretary of defense. Panetta is expected to sail smoothly through the confirmation process to succeed Robert Gates. But the waters did get a bit choppy when Panetta went before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday to address issues of war and ever-elusive peace.