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The Two-Way
1:10 pm
Mon June 11, 2012

NATO Adds Limits To Airstrikes On Afghan Homes

Credit Ihsanullah Majroh / AP
In this Wednesday, June 6, 2012 file photo, Afghan villagers gather near a house destroyed in an apparent NATO raid in Logar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan.

The senior allied commander in Afghanistan says airstrikes to residential homes in Afghanistan will be used only in cases of "last resort to rescue soldiers," the AP reports.

The new rules, issed by Gen. John R. Allen and announced by alliance spokespeople, come in response to a NATO attack last week that Afghans said killed 18 civilians.

The AP reports:

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The Two-Way
12:19 pm
Mon June 11, 2012

Prosecutor Says Sandusky Cultivated Boys, Defense Calls Case Flimsy

Credit Gene J. Puskar / AP
Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky as he arrived at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., this morning.

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 3:53 pm

In his opening statement at the trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky this morning, the prosecutor accused Sandusky of "cultivating" young boys over many years for his alleged "serial predatory behavior," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes.

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The Two-Way
11:48 am
Mon June 11, 2012

U.S. Negotiators Will Leave Pakistan Without Deal To Reopen Supply Route

The United States is pulling a team of negotiators from Pakistan and they will be leaving without securing a deal to reopen an important military supply line into Afghanistan.

Reuters reports:

"'I believe that some of the team left over the weekend and the remainder of the team will leave shortly,' George Little, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. 'This was a U.S. decision.'"

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The Two-Way
11:05 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Violent Crime Down Fifth Year, FBI Says

There was a 4 percent drop in the number of violent crimes reported in the U.S. last year vs. 2010, the FBI reports. It's the fifth straight year of declines, according to FBI records.

In its Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, the FBI says that data collected from 14,009 law enforcement agencies indicate that:

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It's All Politics
11:01 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Why It's Good To Be The Incumbent

Credit Rick T. Wilking / AP
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry debates President George W. Bush on Oct. 13, 2004. Bush later won re-election.

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 1:33 pm

Two political tried-and-truisms: Sitting presidents are hard to unseat, and history repeats itself.

To the first point: In the past 10 presidential elections with incumbent candidates, the incumbents have won seven times. The only incumbent losers were Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992.

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All Tech Considered
10:44 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Hey Celebs, Are You Lonesome Tonight? Siri's Gotcha

Credit Apple.com
Zooey Deschanel appears in an iPhone 4S Siri commercial.

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 1:44 pm

The Two-Way
10:37 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Has 'Occupy' Crashed Or Just Begun?

Credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Protesters, some affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, at the NATO summit in Chicago last month.

Occupy Wall Street's founding forum has declared that the movement's "first generation is succumbing to an insidious institutionalization and ossification that could be fatal to our young spiritual insurrection unless we leap over it right now."

And Canada's Adbusters website, which kicked off the Occupy idea last year, says that "putting our movement back on track will take nothing short of a revolution within Occupy."

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Shots - Health Blog
9:35 am
Mon June 11, 2012

UnitedHealthcare Pledges To Keep Popular Coverage, Regardless Of Supreme Court

Credit iStockphoto.com

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 12:38 pm

One of the nation's largest insurers said early Monday it would continue to follow some of the rules in the federal health law that are already in effect, including keeping young adults up to age 26 on their parents' plans and ending lifetime dollar limits, no matter what the Supreme Court decides.

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The Two-Way
9:30 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Supreme Court's Ruling On Health Care Law Looms

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 10:15 am

  • Nina Totenberg on 'Morning Edition'

We could hear as soon as this morning how the Supreme Court rules on the most-anticipated issue of the year: the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — better known as the health care overhaul enacted in 2010 with the support of President Obama and his fellow Democrats over the opposition of Republicans.

The decision will be released for sure before the end of the month, Supreme Court watchers say.

For those who want to get their minds ready, might we suggest:

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The Two-Way
9:12 am
Mon June 11, 2012

New Coma Report About Mubarak

Credit AFP/Getty Images
An image grab taken from Egyptian state TV shows ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sitting inside a cage in a courtroom during his verdict hearing in Cairo on June 2.

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 10:49 am

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "entered today into a full coma," according to Interior Ministry spokesman Alaa Mahmoud, CNN says.

Piers Scholfield of the BBC, though, reports on his Twitter page that a ministry spokesman has told his nework that Mubarak, 84, "has some health problems but is not in a coma."

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The Two-Way
8:38 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Nadal Wins Record Seventh French Open

Credit Bernat Armangue / AP
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates winning the French Open earlier today.

Rafael Nadal today won his record seventh French Open tennis title.

His 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over Novak Djokovic had been delayed a day, when rain forced suspension of play on Sunday.

Nadal, from Spain, had shared the record of 6 French titles with Sweden's Bjorn Borg. He's now won 11 Grand Slam titles (the French, U.S., Australian and British opens).

Djokovic, a Serbian, had been trying to win his fourth straight major title.

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The Two-Way
8:24 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Egad! British Prime Minister Left 8-Year-Old Daughter Behind In Pub

Credit Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
British Prime Minister David Cameron in London last month.

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 6:41 am

Dad thought she was with mum. Mum thought she was with dad. But 8-year-old Nancy wasn't with either of them.

Instead, she was left behind at a pub in Buckinghamshire, England. It was about 15 minutes before the mistake was realized and the little girl was reunited with her parents.

Oh, yeah, about her parents: They are British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha.

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The Two-Way
7:51 am
Mon June 11, 2012

'Relief Rally' Weakens As Markets Study Spanish Deal

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 1:07 pm

  • NPR's Philip Reeves, reporting on 'Morning Edition'

After rising sharply earlier today, European financial markets have come off their highs as investors "question the logistics of the $125 billion bailout of Spanish banks and wonder ... whether Monday's gains in financial markets were nothing but a relief rally," Dow Jones Newswires reports.

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The Two-Way
7:19 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Commerce Secretary Cited For Hit-And-Run After Car Crashes

Credit Rajanish Kakade / AP
Commerce Secretary John Bryson in March, during a visit to Mumbai, India.

Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 10:36 pm

Commerce Secretary John Bryson suffered an apparent "seizure" before a series of car crashes on Saturday in Los Angeles, a department spokesman says, according to an Associated Press "alert" issued just after 9:30 a.m. ET today.

As we reported earlier, Bryson was involved in three seemingly fender benders that did little damage and left those involved with only minor injuries — but led police to cite him for "felony hit-and-run."

Update at 10:26 p.m. ET. Bryson To Take Medical Leave:

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Around the Nation
6:47 am
Mon June 11, 2012

A Comeback For Downtown Cleveland

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 11:11 am

Almost 11 years ago, Phil Alexander opened his company, BrandMuscle, in the affluent Cleveland suburb of Beachwood.

The company sells marketing software to corporate clients worldwide, and its offices have a lean, energetic vibe, with 20-somethings tossing around ideas in multiscreened meeting rooms or a comfortable coffee bar.

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Revolutionary Road Trip
4:44 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Looking To The Future, Libya Erases Part Of Its Past

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 11:11 am

NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is taking a Revolutionary Road Trip across North Africa to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves. Steve and his team are traveling some 2,000 miles from Tunisia's ancient city of Carthage, across the deserts of Libya and on to Egypt's megacity of Cairo. In his first story from Libya, he looks at what has changed in a country that was dominated for decades by one man.

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Middle East
4:42 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Court's Ruling May Force Africans To Leave Israel

Credit JIim Hollander / EPA/Landov
African migrants line up to receive a free hot meal provided by a group of Israelis called Soup Levinsky in Levinsky Park in Tel Aviv on Sunday. A court in Jerusalem ruled that Israel could deport South Sudanese nationals back to their home country.

Originally published on Sun June 17, 2012 9:00 am

An Israeli court last week upheld a government plan to deport all South Sudanese residents now living in the country, a move that comes amid a wider government crackdown on the 60,000 African nationals who've entered Israel illegally over the past few years.

Human rights groups have objected to Israel's handling of the Africans, saying the government does not do enough to differentiate between economic migrants and genuine asylum-seekers.

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Planet Money
4:39 am
Mon June 11, 2012

Three Ways To Stop A Bank Run

Credit AFP / AFP/Getty Images
This is what you don't want.

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 11:11 am

There's a slow-motion bank run happening in Europe, as depositors move their money from financially troubled countries like Greece and Spain to stronger countries like Germany.

Banks take depositors' money and lend it out. So even a strong bank is in trouble if all the depositors suddenly decide to pull their money out. A full-blown run can sink a bank in an afternoon.

Once a run starts, there are basically three ways to stop it.

1. Slow it down

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Asia
4:37 am
Mon June 11, 2012

In India, A Different Kind Of Austerity

Credit Sajjad Hussain / AFP/Getty Images
Facing economic woes, India is looking to trim spending - but cutting government services is extremely unpopular. Instead, politicians are targeting foreign travel and meetings at lavish hotels like the Oberoi in Mumbai.

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 7:44 pm

In Europe, the concept of austerity has meant deep, painful cuts to government spending. In India, however, austerity looks a little different.

India's government has started by reeling in departmental spending on things like hotel space and foreign travel. It may seem like window dressing, but it can be difficult to make deep spending cuts in that country. Many voters see government largesse as a right and usually applaud pork-barrel spending.

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