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The Two-Way
7:24 am
Mon January 23, 2012

EU Approves Embargo On Iranian Oil

The European Union officially agreed to impose an embargo on Iranian oil, today. The AP reports that the union's 27 foreign ministers agreed on an immediate ban on new contracts for oil and existing contracts will be allowed to run through July 1.

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Three Books...
7:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Putting On Heirs: 3 Rich And Snooty Reads

Credit iStockphoto.com

Originally published on Thu February 16, 2012 5:10 pm

Surely I am not the only one who has harbored secret dreams of being an heiress — not the nouveau riche kind with a reality television crew trailing behind me, but the sort with a full staff, gobs of silver and afternoons spent on the hunt. Though I've come around to my untitled American life, I still adore reading books about drafty old houses and the privileged people who inhabit them.

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Around the Nation
6:55 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Patriots Favored To Win Super Bowl By 3 Points

The New York Giants made the Super Bowl with a three-point win over San Francisco. The New England Patriots made the Super Bowl with a three-point win over Baltimore. Now Las Vegas oddsmakers are taking bets on the big game. The Patriots are favored to win by three.

Around the Nation
6:50 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Chicago Judge Illustrates His Rulings With Photos

Court opinions are usually not that exciting but a judge in Chicago is trying to liven up his rulings with illustrations. In one, he used an iconic photo of Bob Marley. The case was about a prisoner's right to keep his dreadlocks on religious grounds.

NPR Story
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Paterno's Death Is A Sad Day For Happy Valley

Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85. He was fired by the university last fall following the sexual abuse charges against one of his former coaches.

NPR Story
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Romney Criticizes Gingrich: He Resigned In 'Disgrace'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is campaigning in Florida following a big loss over the weekend to Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina primary. Romney told a crowd that Gingrich resigned in disgrace after four years as speaker of the House.

NPR Story
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Giants, Patriots To Meet Again In Super Bowl

The New York Giants and the New England Patriots will meet in next month's Super Bowl. To get to the big game each team had to do something they weren't very good at in the regular season: play defense.

Books News & Features
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

India's Literary Festival Opens Amid Controversy

Tens of thousands of people are attending the Jaipur Literature Festival in India — including many international literary stars and Oprah Winfrey. Author Salman Rushdie was invited but decided not to attend after a warning that hit men would be after him. Rushdie wrote The Satanic Verses which has been banned in India for more than 20 years.

Around the Nation
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Are Residents Of Cordova Tired Of Shoveling Snow Yet?

David Greene checks in with Jennifer Gibbons, editor of "The Cordova Times" in Cordova, Alaska. We last heard from her two weeks ago when her community had declared an emergency during its efforts to dig out of record amounts of snow.

Around the Nation
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Farmers Take Back Land Slated For Housing

Over the past half-century more than 20 million acres of U.S. farmland were transformed into housing developments. With new home construction all but stopped, farmers in many areas are buying or leasing land once slated for development and planting crops on it.

Business
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

BlackBerry Maker Co-CEOs To Leave RIM

The two men who helped turn the BlackBerry into a device many people can't live without have stepped aside. Research in Motion is the company behind the BlackBerry and Sunday its co-CEOs resigned. They were under a lot of pressure as investors wonder whether the Canadian firm can turn itself around and compete better with flashier phones like the iPhone.

Business
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Ponzi Trial To Open For R. Allen Stanford

The fraud trial of Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is scheduled to begin Monday morning in Houston. Stanford is charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Stanford's trial has been delayed repeatedly, in part because he's fired his legal teams multiple times.

Business
4:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Steve Inskeep has the Last Word in Business.

Election 2012
2:20 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Florida's Winner-Take-All Primary Heats Up GOP Race

Credit Roberto Gonzalez / Getty Images
GOP presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney kicks off his Florida campaign with a rally at All-Star Building Materials in Ormond Beach, Fla., Sunday. Romney starts his Florida primary campaigning after having lost to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina on Saturday.

Originally published on Mon January 23, 2012 12:01 am

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the tally stands at 1-1-1. Over the weekend, former House speaker Newt Gingrich re-established himself as a presidential contender with a resounding victory in South Carolina's primary.

He beat second-place finisher former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by more than 12 points. That means Romney, Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have each won a nominating contest. Now all eyes are on Florida.

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Politics
12:01 am
Mon January 23, 2012

House GOP's 2012 Mission: Unity Against Obama

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, arrives for a news conference to announce that he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had negotiated deal on the payroll tax cut that was set to expire at the end of the year at the U.S. Capitol December 22, 2011 in Washington, D.C.

The last battle scar of 2011 for the GOP came in December, when House Republicans painted themselves into a corner on extending unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cut. The fight exposed the party's internal rifts and the loose control of its leaders.

"A public relations fiasco," one GOP lawmaker called it. They could compromise with the Democrats or allow taxes to go up; neither option palatable to large portions of the majority.

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World
12:01 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Unrest Shakes Up Politics In Russia

Credit Yuri Kadobnov / AFP/Getty Images
People protest against the December 4 parliament elections in Moscow, on December 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of people filled an avenue in Moscow to protest against the alleged rigging of parliamentary polls in a challenge to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin's authority.

On a recent cold, gray day in Moscow, several dozen reporters and photographers milled about restlessly on the main floor of the Central Election Commission of Russia.

The person they were waiting to see was supposed to be there at 10 a.m. Nearly six hours later, Mikhail Prokhorov, appeared at the front door and smiled for the cameras.

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Shots - Health Blog
12:01 am
Mon January 23, 2012

When It Comes To Depression, Serotonin Isn't The Whole Story

Credit Paul S. Howell / Getty Images
The antidepressant Prozac selectively targets the chemical serotonin.

When I was 17 years old, I got so depressed that what felt like an enormous black hole appeared in my chest. Everywhere I went, the black hole went, too.

So to address the black-hole issue, my parents took me to a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She did an evaluation and then told me this story:

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Crisis In The Housing Market
12:01 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Foreclosure Robo-Signing Deal Worries N.Y. Official

Some of the biggest banks in the country are reportedly close to a settlement with authorities over the so-called robo-signing scandal in which mortgage company officials signed and notarizeed foreclosure documents without properly reviewing them.

Many lenders and mortgage servicers acknowledged making serious mistakes in foreclosure paperwork.

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Author Interviews
12:01 am
Mon January 23, 2012

'Taft 2012': A Presidential Time Warp

Originally published on Mon January 23, 2012 3:01 am

A burly beast of a man bursts into a presidential press conference and is shot in the leg by secret police. Two days later, the White House reveals that the befuddled intruder with a handlebar mustache is really former President William Howard Taft.

So begins Taft 2012, a novel that gives a satirical take on contemporary politics through the eyes of a president who served a century ago. Author Jason Heller places Taft in a 21st-century election campaign, where he is forced to sit in bars on New Year's Eve and master Twitter along the way.

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Music Interviews
12:01 am
Mon January 23, 2012

First Aid Kit: Swedish Blood, American Hearts

Credit Neil Krug / Courtesy of the artist
First Aid Kit's new album is The Lion's Roar.

First Aid Kit is two sisters, ages 18 and 21, from Sweden. But their music sounds like a slice of Americana: acoustic guitar, autoharp and lots of vocal harmony.

Klara and Johanna Soderberg wrote the songs for their new album, The Lion's Roar, while on their last tour. Many started with ideas, short riffs, recorded on a cellphone.

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