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Around the Nation
2:43 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Maine Prostitution Scandal Makes Locals Anxious

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

Kennebunk, Maine, is the quintessential small New England town, attracting tourists every year to its beaches and shops. But this fall, it became known for something else: a prostitution scandal. Police publish new lists of alleged patrons every other week, and those who are rumored to be patrons face months of speculation. Maine Public Radio's Patty Wight reports.

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Shots - Health News
2:37 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

What Porcupines Can Teach Engineers

Credit National Park Service
The barbs on porcupine quills make it easier from them to penetrate the skin.

Originally published on Wed December 12, 2012 6:04 am

Pulling out a porcupine quill is painful and slow, as many a dog discovers to its dismay after tangling with the big rodent. But those tenacious quills are inspiring efforts to develop better medical devices, including less painful needles.

It turns out that no one had really picked apart why it's so hard to remove a porcupine quill. Barbs, sure. But the barbs not only stick like mad. They also make it much easier for the quill to pierce skin and flesh.

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The Two-Way
2:33 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

After Students Are Killed, Protests In Sudan's Capital

Credit AFP/Getty Images
Sudanese students demonstrate in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on Sunday. They were protesting after four students, originally from the Darfur region, were killed last week.

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 2:51 pm

In the third straight day of demonstrations, hundreds of Sudanese students in the capital Khartoum rallied to protest the deaths of four university students last week.

While the recent deaths sparked the protests, some students are also calling for the ouster of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

"Revolution, revolution until victory!" has become the battle cry of the students.

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NPR Story
2:11 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Raising Taxes A Key Sticking Point In Fiscal Cliff Talks

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And if past negotiations are any indication, that silence could mean the talks are going well. We're joined now by NPR's congressional reporter Tamara Keith, who has been following developments on the Hill and beyond. And as Ari just said, neither side is talking about the details, but Tamara, what are they saying?

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NPR Story
2:11 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Social Media Advice: Sending Holiday Cards

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Technology is just a part of a bigger story we're focusing on this week, about how the shopping experience is evolving with brick-and-mortar retailers fighting for survival in an increasingly online marketplace. Starting tomorrow, the past, present and future of retail design.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

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The Two-Way
1:42 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

The Feds Can Tell Ernest Hemingway's Cats What To Do; Here's Why

Originally published on Tue December 11, 2012 9:06 am

  • Warren Richey talks with NPR's Robert Siegel
Deceptive Cadence
1:34 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Remembering Charles Rosen, A Prodigious Pianist And Polymath

Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama and the late pianist and scholar Charles Rosen, after Rosen was presented with a 2011 National Humanities Medal on February 13.

Originally published on Tue December 11, 2012 12:04 pm

Pianist, classical music scholar and thinker Charles Rosen died in New York yesterday at age 85 following a battle with cancer. A prolific author, essayist and Guggenheim Award winner, Rosen published two staple books on classical music, 1971's The Classical Style and 1995's The Romantic Generation, and was a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books.

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Shots - Health News
1:04 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

How A Superbug Traveled The World

Originally published on Wed December 12, 2012 6:06 am

Just as the name implies, Clostridium difficile is a difficult pathogen to beat. It causes a nasty infection in your gut, and it's often resistant to many antibiotics.

But C. difficile got even more troublesome about 10 years ago when a particularly virulent form of the bug cropped up in hospitals across the U.S and was no longer vulnerable to one of the most common classes of antibiotics.

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Sports
12:45 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Russia's Hockey League Glad To Have NHL-Lockout Orphans

Credit Petr David Josek / AP
Erik Christensen, right, from Lev Praha challenges Alexander Ovechkin from Dynamo Moscow during their KHL ice hockey match in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Oct. 9. Ovechkin is among those NHL players who were signed by European clubs because of the NHL lockout.

Originally published on Tue December 11, 2012 1:43 am

As the National Hockey League lockout drags into its 86th day, which featured news that more games have been cancelled including the All-Star game, some of the league's biggest stars are getting plenty of action back in their home countries.

In Russia, major NHL players such as Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin are giving a boost to the fledgling KHL—the Kontinental Hockey League.

Russian NHL players are scattered throughout the KHL teams that still carry names from the Soviet era when Russia dominated world hockey.

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Asia
12:41 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Hunger Still Haunts North Korea, Citizens Say

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

While North Korea has long struggled with dire food shortages, the United Nations now assesses its food situation as being the best in many years. But NPR has had unusual access to five North Koreans in China, who paint a dramatically different, and alarming, picture.

Even as North Korea mourned its leader Kim Jong Il last December, one surprising thing was on people's minds: fish. State-run television showed people lining up in shops; the dear leader's last wish, apparently, was to provide fish to his people.

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The Two-Way
12:20 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

Navy SEAL Killed During Afghan Rescue Is Identified

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

The member of Navy SEAL Team 6 killed during this weekend's rescue in Afghanistan of an American doctor was Petty Officer 1st Class Nicholas Checque, 28, of Monroeville, Pa.

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Africa
12:08 pm
Mon December 10, 2012

The U.S. Role In Egypt's Battle For Democracy

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi authorized the military to secure the country ahead of a controversial referendum on a draft constitution — a move that some compared to martial law. The opposition is split over what to do — vote down the constitution or boycott the vote altogether.

The Picture Show
11:35 am
Mon December 10, 2012

A Black And White 1860s Fundraiser

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 3:05 pm

They look like any other 19th century vignettes and portraits of children kneeling in prayer or cloaked in the U.S. flag.

But these cartes de visite (a calling card with a portrait mounted on it that was all the rage during the 1860s) featured Charles, Rebecca and Rosa — former slave children who looked white.

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The Salt
11:31 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Sandwich Monday: The Latke Double Down

We all remember the KFC Double Down: the sandwich that replaced bread with fried chicken and changed our lives for the fatter. Just in time for Hanukkah, the Jewish Journal has created the Latke Double Down, which replaces the bread with latkes, aka fried potato pancakes. They fill theirs with lox.

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The Two-Way
10:27 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Many Apps For Children Still Raise Privacy Concerns, FTC Says

Credit Peggy Turbett / The Plain Dealer /Landov
Who's collecting information about her?

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

Developers of smartphone and tablet apps aimed at children have done little in the past year to give parents "the information they need to determine what data is being collected from their children, how it is being shared, or who will have access to it," the Federal Trade Commission reports.

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Author Interviews
10:09 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Lemony Snicket Dons A Trenchcoat

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 11:53 am

It's been more than six years since Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, concluded his enormously popular 13-volume young adult series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now Handler has revived the Snicket narrator in his YA novel Who Could That Be at This Hour?

The book is the first of a series — All the Wrong Questions — and a prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events. It tracks the young Snicket's adventures during his apprenticeship at the V.F.D., a mysterious organization that readers familiar with the Snicket stories will recognize.

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Behind Closed Doors
10:00 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Transgender Woman Finds Acceptance In South Korea

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:46 am

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Now we go behind closed doors. That's where we talk about issues people usually keep private.

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Africa
10:00 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Ghana: Model Of Democracy?

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:46 am

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, we will hear from one of Africa's most prominent economists, who says that critics who think the developing nations are unreformable are wrong, and she offers lessons from her experience in Nigeria. That conversation is coming up later in the program.

But first, we turn to Ghana, also in West Africa. Elections there were held on Friday, and in a tight race, incumbent President John Dramani Mahama just won a new term with just over 50 percent of the vote.

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Economy
10:00 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Fiscal Cliff: Cutting the Untouchable?

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:46 am

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Coming up, we'll hear about elections in Ghana. We'll talk about whether the election of President John Dramani Mahama to a new term confirms the country's reputation for leadership in democratic processes, or perhaps undermines it. That's later.

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Africa
10:00 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Trying To Reform Nigeria Amid Family Kidnapping

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:46 am

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We want to turn now from Ghana to Nigeria, where there is disturbing news. The mother of Nigeria's finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped this weekend. Police say they've launched a massive search to find her.

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Europe
9:47 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Spain's Crisis Leads To Rise Of Grass-Roots Groups

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 6:44 pm

A year and a half ago, recession-ravaged Spanish society reacted to the economic crisis with the "Indignados," a mass protest that inspired the worldwide "Occupy" movement.

The "angry ones" are long gone from Spanish streets, but they've evolved into many grass-roots associations now filling the gaps left by the eroding welfare state, spawning a new form of anti-austerity resistance that embraces all branches of society, from those who have lost homes to foreclosures, to the entire judiciary.

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The Two-Way
9:43 am
Mon December 10, 2012

After Helping Europe Rise From Ashes, EU Accepts Nobel Peace Prize

Giving the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union has been controversial.

As The Associated Press reports:

Three previous Peace Prize laureates "South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland and Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina, have demanded that the prize money of $1.2 million not be paid this year. They say the bloc contradicts the values associated with the prize because it relies on military force to ensure security."

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The Salt
9:22 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Want To Find A Restaurant That Treats Workers Well? There's An App For That

Originally published on Thu December 13, 2012 6:42 am

Smartphone users have a wide range of apps to choose from if they're looking to dine ethically. There are apps that advise which supermarkets have good environmental records and apps that keep tabs on restaurants and markets offering sustainable seafood.

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The Record
9:03 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Grammy Nominations 2012: The Comedown

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:32 am

Thanks largely to a few flukes, the Grammy Awards had an awfully good 2012.

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The Two-Way
8:24 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Royal Hoax: Nurse's Family 'Devastated,' Radio Hosts 'Shattered' By Her Death

Credit Carl Court / AFP/Getty Images
Flowers and a note outside the apartments near King Edward VII Hospital in central London where Jacintha Saldanha and other nurses stayed.

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:40 am

Shots - Health News
7:50 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Buzz Off: Bedbugs Unfazed By Ultrasonic Devices

Credit Carolyn Kaster / AP
Bedbugs are becoming a common nuisance in many places. But cheap ultrasonic devices advertised as bedbug repellents don't work, scientists say.

Originally published on Wed December 12, 2012 6:04 am

With bedbugs bunking just about everywhere these days, people battling the bloodsucking insects may be tempted to try their hand at driving them away.

But ultrasonic bug zappers, which retail for less than $25, aren't the solution, say entomologists who tested some of the devices.

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The Two-Way
6:59 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Top Stories: 'Fiscal Cliff' Talks; Syrian Conflict; Minnesota Blizzard

Credit Richard Tsong-Taatarii / MCT /Landov
This dog likes snow: In Minneapolis on Sunday, Adam Womersley and his English Springer Spaniel, Stella, had some fun out in the winter weather.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Can A 'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Be Both In And Out Of Reach? Yes.

-- Jenni Rivera: A Beautiful Voice Goes Silent.

Other stories making news:

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The Two-Way
6:05 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Jenni Rivera: A Beautiful Voice Goes Silent

Credit Kevin Winter / Getty Images for LARAS
Singer Jenni Rivera at the 11th annual Latin GRAMMY Awards in 2010.

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 11:27 am

  • From 'Morning Edition': Mandalit Del Barco talks with Renee Montagne

The news that no survivors have been found in the wreckage of a small plane in which Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera and six others were traveling before it crashed Sunday in northern Mexico means "the world has lost one very beautiful voice," as E! Online writes.

According to The Associated Press:

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Around the Nation
5:57 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Florida Senior Citizen Kicks It With The Rockettes

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

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Europe
5:39 am
Mon December 10, 2012

Queen Elizabeth To Make Holiday Message In 3D

Originally published on Tue December 11, 2012 6:59 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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