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1:40pm

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

VIDEO: NASA Releases Spectacular View Of Aurora Borealis From Space

Credit NASA
The Northern Lights as seen from space.

Using a new time-lapse technique, NASA was able to capture a spectacular view of how astronauts aboard the International Space Station see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.

As the AP says, NASA has released many videos of this before — just take a look at this stunning one released a couple of months ago — but this is time-lapse footage taken with high resolution cameras.

In any case, here's the video via BBC Mundo:

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1:18pm

Fri February 10, 2012
Health Care

White House Offers 'Accommodation' On Contraception

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

On a Friday morning, it's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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12:50pm

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

Deal With Banks Isn't Only Way For Homeowners To Get Help, HUD Chief Says

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
For sale signs on a foreclosed house in Glendale, Calif., last September.
  • Michel Martin talks with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan

The $25 billion settlement with five banks unveiled Thursday, which aims to give some mortgage relief and other help to homeowners who got hurt when the housing bubble burst before the 2007-2009 recession, has been viewed with skepticism by some folks in the nation's hardest-hit housing markets, as NPR's Greg Allen reported.

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12:36pm

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

Stocks Take Dive, As Greek Bailout Deal Remains Uncertain

Credit Milos Bicanski / Getty Images
Protesters write on the wall of the National Bank of Greece during a demonstration involving thousands in Athens on Friday.

Just a day after it appeared that Greece and its eurozone partners had reached a deal, we're back where we've been for months: There are fiery protests on the streets of Athens, the markets and the euro are in turmoil and negotiations are at a tense point with four Greek Cabinet ministers tendering resignations over their opposition to austerity measures.

Here's the how the AP rounds up the latest:

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12:00pm

Fri February 10, 2012
Politics

Secretary Donovan Talks Multi-Billion Deal

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan talks with host Michel Martin about the settlement reached yesterday between federal and state officials and major banks. It was an effort to address unfair banking practices that led to the mortgage crisis. President Obama praised the deal, but critics say the settlement is inadequate.

11:49am

Fri February 10, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

White House Bends On Birth Control Requirement For Religious Groups

Under increasing pressure, the White House has offered what it's calling an "accommodation" to religious groups on a requirement to cover birth control free of charge.

Even some Democrats, who generally support the policy of requiring most employers to offer no-cost contraception, were unhappy with rule's reach.

But the change unveiled by the White House isn't expected to completely quell the uproar raised by Catholics and others who say the policy violates their freedom of religion.

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11:26am

Fri February 10, 2012
Planet Money

The Undertaker Who Helps Big Banks Write Death Plans

Credit iStockphoto.com
Nobody lives forever.

The nation's big banks are writing death plans — living wills that spell out how, in a future crisis, they could be safely dismantled. The idea is that the death plans will help avoid another government bailout of the banks.

"You're technically writing your own funeral, down to the color of the flowers" says Dolores Atallo.

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10:25am

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

White House To Detail Changes To Controversial Contraception Rule

Reports are popping up on various newssites that, as The Associated Press puts it, "President Barack Obama will announce a plan to accommodate religious employers outraged by a rule that would require them to cover birth control for women free of charge, according to a person familiar with the decision."

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10:23am

Fri February 10, 2012
Politics

A Conservative's Tips For Finding The Right Mate

Credit Neil Harrison / iStockphoto

10:10am

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

Josh Powell Turned Out To Be 'A Monster,' Says Social Worker

The social worker who watched in horror last Sunday as a Washington state man blew up the house that his two young sons had gone into moments before says he had never before seemed dangerous.

But she knows now, Elizabeth Griffin-Hall tells ABC News, that "Josh Powell was really, really evil."

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10:06am

Fri February 10, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

How My Voice Went Silent

Originally published on Fri February 10, 2012 3:10 pm

Credit Courtesy of Richard Harris / NPR
Everything looked fine on my CT scan, but I didn't sound even close to right.

There's an old joke around newsrooms: News is something that happens to your editor.

If you'll pardon the self-indulgence, I'm going to take this truism one step further: News is what happened to me.

I was laid low the week before New Year's Day by a mysterious headache and a blazing sore throat. A few days later I lost my voice.

My doctors eventually pinpointed the cause by snaking a small camera down my nose. My left vocal fold (or vocal cord if you prefer) had stopped working. It was essentially paralyzed, other than the occasional twitch.

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10:05am

Fri February 10, 2012
Movie Interviews

'The Interrupters': Keeping Peace On The Streets

This interview was originally broadcast on August 1, 2011. The Interrupters will be broadcast on Frontline on February 14, 2012.

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9:15am

Fri February 10, 2012

8:51am

Fri February 10, 2012
It's All Politics

Santorum's Support Goes Beyond Social Conservatives, Strategist Says

Credit Stewart F. House / MCT /Landov
Rick Santorum shakes hands with supporters gathered at Fairview Farms in Plano, Texas on Feb. 8 in the wake of his three victories on Tuesday.

Rick Santorum surprised the Republican presidential field again this week, chalking up victories against front-runner Mitt Romney in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. Very few pundits would have predicted six months ago that the former Pennsylvania senator would still be a contender this late into the primary season. So what's his secret and can he keep it up?

To get some of those answers, NPR's Steve Inskeep spoke with Santorum strategist John Brabender on Friday's Morning Edition.

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8:45am

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

If Women Are In Combat, Men May Try To Protect Them, Santorum Says

Credit Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum in McKinney, Texas, on Wednesday.

On CNN last evening, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was asked about the Pentagon's plan to open up more jobs to women in the military — and to bring them closer to, but not right into, combat roles.

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7:55am

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

Rep. Bachus Is Focus Of Ethics Investigation Into Possible Insider Trading

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala.

The Washington Post broke this story last evening:

"The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws, according to individuals familiar with the case.

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7:39am

Fri February 10, 2012
Around the Nation

Wisconsin Court Decides Who Gets The Cat

Roger Kueffer has disagreed with his former girlfriend Julee Lawler since they broke up. They have fought since 2008 over custody of a cat. A Wisconsin judge ruled it's his, and that she gave it as a gift. But as any cat lover knows, one court is not enough. A higher court has now rejected her appeal.

7:36am

Fri February 10, 2012
Business

Halos Can Turn To Horns, Corporate Donors Find

Credit Anonymous / PR Newswire
Dots, a women's fashion retailer, donates $118,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure on Jan. 31. The recent controversy over Komen's relationship with Planned Parenthood has highlighted the perils of corporate philanthropy.

Energizer makes batteries. But in recent days, company executives have spent a considerable amount of time responding to complaints about abortion.

The reason, of course, is that Energizer got caught up in the controversy surrounding last week's decision by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation to cut off its funding for Planned Parenthood.

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7:30am

Fri February 10, 2012
The Two-Way

'Situation Could Not Be More Dire,' Syrians In Besieged City Say

Credit / AP
An anti-regime fighter peered through a window in Idlib, Syria, on Thursday (Feb. 9, 2012).

From inside the Syrian city of Homs, where activists say several hundred people have been killed by government forces in the past week and troops are preparing for what could be a "ground offensive" in coming days, residents say the "situation could not be more dire," NPR's Kelly McEvers reports.

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7:29am

Fri February 10, 2012
Middle East

Madonna Fan Would Be Irked By War With Iran

Israeli officials have been speculating out loud about a strike against Iran's nuclear program. Now a Facebook page is pushing for the war to wait — at least long enough to keep from disrupting a May concert by Madonna in Tel Aviv.

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