Michele Bachmann
11:01 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

Bachmann's 'Conviction' To Fixing Government

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks during the Republican presidential debate on national security Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

It wasn't long ago that Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's rise to the top of the Republican field of presidential candidates was called "meteoric." In August, she won the Iowa straw poll. Now, she's polling in the single digits.

But Bachmann is plowing ahead with her campaign and this week she came out with a memoir, Core of Conviction. In it, she writes about her 28 children — five biological and 23 foster kids. She spent much of the 1990s as a stay-at-home mom.

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Law
11:01 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

From South Africa, Lessons In 'Soft Vengeance'

Credit Denis Farrell / AP
South African Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs, seen here in Johannesburg in 2009, resisted the impulse to take revenge on the bomber who cost him his right arm.

Sometimes in the life of a reporter, you meet a person so extraordinary, so interesting, that you want to share that experience with others. Such is the case with Albie Sachs, whom I met while on vacation in South Africa.

Sachs has led a remarkable life, moving from freedom fighter to founding father.

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The Record
11:01 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

New Holiday Songs: A Smart Career Move That's Fun, Too

Credit ABC Photo Archives / ABC via Getty Images
A still from "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown!" which aired on ABC in 2001. Vince Guaraldi's rearrangements and originals for the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack became holiday perennials.

Originally published on Thu November 8, 2012 3:26 pm

World
4:12 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

Egypt Military Rulers Reject Calls To Step Down

Credit Mahmud Hams / Getty Images
Egyptian women join a mass protest in Cairo's Tahrir square on November 24, 2011, as members of Egypt's ruling military council rejected calls to step down immediately, saying it would amount to a 'betrayal' as anti-military protests entered their seventh day.

Egypt's military rulers rejected protester demands for them to step down immediately and said Thursday they would start the first round of parliamentary elections on time next week, despite serious unrest in Cairo and other cities.

The ruling military council insisted it is not the same as the old regime it replaced, but the generals appear to be on much the same path that doomed Hosni Mubarak nine months ago, responding to the current crisis by delivering speeches seen as arrogant, mixing concessions with threats and using brutal force.

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Law
3:41 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

How Private Is Your Email? It Depends

Credit Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images
Some big-name tech companies are asking Congress to step in and clarify Americans' online privacy rights.

Do the police need a warrant to read your email? Believe it or not, two decades into the Internet age, the answer to that question is still "maybe." It depends on how old the email is, where you keep it — and it even depends on whom you ask.

Some big-name tech companies are now asking Congress to step in and clarify Americans' online privacy rights.

If you do run afoul of the law and you happen to be one of the millions of people who use Gmail then cops will likely be directing their inquiries to the legal department at Google, in Mountain View, Calif.

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It's All Politics
3:40 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

Romney's Religion Could Play Role In Primaries, Poll Finds

Credit Steve Pope / AP
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to a group of workers at Nationwide Insurance Company, Nov. 23, 2011, in Des Moines. A new poll suggests his religion could be an obstacle in the GOP primary.

Originally published on Fri November 25, 2011 12:58 am

A new poll that gauges Americans' views of the Mormon faith served up difficult news for the nation's highest profile member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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Europe
2:48 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

Avoiding The Tax Man Could Cost Italians Dearly

As the European debt crisis drags on, one question being asked is what will happen to Italy. The new government of Prime Minister Mario Monti is struggling to convince the financial markets that the country has a plan to pay its debts. Among other things, Monti says he will do something about Italy's long tradition of tax evasion, which is considered somewhat of a national sport.

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David Greene is NPR's Morning Programming Host/Correspondent. In this role he is the primary substitute host for Morning Edition as well as Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday. When he is not hosting he brings his deep reporting talents to these programs.

For two years prior to taking on his current role in 2012, Greene was an NPR foreign correspondent based in Moscow covering the region from Ukraine and the Baltics, east to Siberia. During that time he brought listeners stories as wide ranging as Chernobyl 25 years later and Beatles-singing Russian Babushkas. He spent a month in Libya reporting riveting stories in the most difficult of circumstances as NATO bombs fell on Tripoli. He was honored with the 2011 Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize from WBUR and Boston University for that coverage of the Arab Spring.

Greene's voice became familiar to NPR listeners from his four years covering the White House. To report on former President George W. Bush's second term, Greene spent hours in NPR's spacious booth in the basement of the West Wing (it's about the size of your average broom closet). He also spent time trekking across five continents, reporting on White House visits to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Rwanda, Uruguay – and, of course, Crawford, Texas.

During the days following Hurricane Katrina, Greene was aboard Air Force One when President Bush flew low over the Gulf Coast and caught his first glimpse of the storm's destruction. On the ground in New Orleans, Greene brought listeners a moving interview with the late Ethel Williams, a then-74-year-old flood victim who got an unexpected visit from the president.

Greene was an integral part of NPR's coverage of the historic 2008 election, covering Hillary Clinton's campaign from start to finish, and also focusing on how racial attitudes were playing into voters' decisions. The White House Correspondents Association took special note of Greene's report on a speech by then-candidate Barack Obama, addressing the nation's racial divide. Greene was given the association's 2008 Merriman Smith award for deadline coverage of the presidency.

After President Obama took office, Greene kept one eye trained on the White House and the other eye on the road. He spent three months driving across America – with a recorder, camera and lots of caffeine – to learn how the recession was touching Americans during President Obama's first 100 days in office. The series was called "100 Days: On the Road in Troubled Times."

Before joining NPR in 2005, Greene spent nearly seven years as a newspaper reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He covered the White House during the Bush administration's first term, and wrote about an array of other topics for the paper: Why Oklahomans love the sport of cockfighting, why two Amish men in Pennsylvania were caught trafficking methamphetamine and how one woman brought Christmas back to a small town in Maryland.

Before graduating magna cum laude from Harvard in 1998 with a degree in government, Greene worked as the senior editor on the Harvard Crimson. In 2004, he was named co-volunteer of the year for Coaching for College, a Washington, D.C., program offering tutoring to inner-city youth.

Europe
2:24 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

Tough Times Spark Russian Resurgence In Latvia

Of all the economic downturns of the past few years, the tiny European nation of Latvia may have suffered as much as any place. Incomes fell and families suffered as the government implemented harsh austerity measures.

Now, the citizens of this former Soviet republic seem more open to what was once unthinkable: backing a social democratic party that's pro-Russian.

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Around the Nation
2:09 pm
Thu November 24, 2011

In Joplin, Appreciating The 'Thanks' At Thanksgiving

For a lot of the people in Joplin, Mo., this Thanksgiving is going to be one more to endure than to celebrate. But new dreams are slowly taking root in the rocky soil here.

While the losses from last May's tornado have been terrible, they've left a lot of people here more grateful to be alive than they were last Thanksgiving. Some residents are deeply grateful for what the storm didn't take, and even for what it gave them.

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