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Update at 3:15 p.m. Turkey Fires Back After Rocket From Syria

Turkey's military has fired on targets in northern Syria in response to a rocket that hit a Turkish village and killed several people Wednesday, the BBC and other news organizations are reporting.

The cross-border shooting could potentially mark a major escalation along the tense frontier.

In a statement, the Turkish government said that the border town of Akcakale came under fire on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in deaths and injuries.

You are 200 miles directly above the Martian surface — looking down. This image was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Jan. 27, 2010. (The color was added later.) What do we see? Well, sand, mostly. As you scroll down, there's a ridge crossing through the image, then a plain, then dunes, but keep looking. You will notice, when you get to the dunes, there are little black flecks dotting the ridges, mostly on the sunny side, like sunbathing spiders sitting in rows. Can you see them?

Julia Keller's latest novel is A Killing in the Hills.

When the actor James O'Neill played the title character in a stage version of The Count of Monte Cristo, it was a piece of "good bad luck," his son Eugene O'Neill later said. James O'Neill could never escape the shadow of the role that made him famous.