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The Two-Way
8:26 am
Sun December 16, 2012

Egyptian Constitutional Referendum Appears To Have Passed

Credit AFP/Getty Images
Polling station officials count ballots in Cairo on Dec. 15, at the end of the first day of vote in a referendum on a new constitution.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 9:24 am

In Egypt, voters appear to have approved the controversial draft referendum on a proposed constitution in the first stage of the referendum held across half of the country yesterday.

The outcome is unofficial at this point as the government has said it will not announce official results until the referendum concludes in the rest of Egypt next Saturday. The vote is being held in two stages because a boycott by many judges who were supposed to supervise the elections. Those boycotting say they reject the constitution because it doesn't have a national consensus.

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Remembrances
8:11 am
Sun December 16, 2012

A Father Humbled By The Too-Short Life Of His Daughter

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 7:20 pm

It's All Politics
6:49 am
Sun December 16, 2012

Parting Advice From The Senators Leaving Congress

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 9:11 am

The United States is now just over two weeks away from a plunge over the "fiscal cliff" — that is, unless Congress can agree on a deal to prevent automatic tax hikes and spending cuts in the new year. But once again, Congress seems headed for the brink.

That's been happening more and more in recent years. And it was noted sadly by a string of retiring senators as they were bidding their colleagues farewell this past week.

Daniel Akaka

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Religion
6:42 am
Sun December 16, 2012

Mormon Women Dare To Wear Pants To Church

Credit George Frey / Getty Images
There may be fewer skirts sighted outside Mormon churches in Salt Lake City this Sunday.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 9:11 am

Sunday morning could see a pants revolution at church, at least if you're Mormon. A group of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inviting all sisters to shed their skirts and dresses, and wear slacks or pantsuits in an attempt to change the conservative dress code.

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Shootings In Newtown, Conn.
6:31 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Newtown Father Gives Tearful Tribute To His Daughter

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 7:04 pm

Robbie Parker's 6-year-old daughter, Emilie Parker, was killed in Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. He spoke to the media Saturday in Newtown. Here is an excerpt of his tribute to his daughter.

The Two-Way
5:38 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

A Nation's Mourning: How We Cope

Credit David Goldman / AP
Shop owners Tamara Doherty (left) and Jackie Gaudet meet outside their stores for the first time since becoming neighbors, just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 9:33 am

Many of us following the news out of Newtown, Conn., do not have a personal relationship with those murdered Friday. Some of us may not have children whom we need to guide as they see images from the scene.

Yet even without these connections, many people are looking for ways to process their grief and mourn the victims.

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It's All Politics
5:15 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Obama's Cabinet 2.0 Coming Into Focus

Originally published on Tue December 18, 2012 12:50 pm

In the category of unintended consequences, Susan Rice's announcement about her future could — under one scenario — mean a Republican in President Obama's inner circle, decorated Vietnam veterans overseeing the nation's military and its foreign policy, and another special election for Senate in Massachusetts.

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Middle East
5:14 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Egyptians Vote On Contested Constitution Draft

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 7:04 pm

Transcript

GUY RAZ, HOST:

We're going to turn to other news for a moment and a story out of Egypt. Voters in that country began to turn out for the first phase of a controversial constitutional amendment. Opponents of that Islamist back draft constitution have been mounting protests for weeks. Some of those clashes turned deadly. Reporter Merrit Kennedy is in Alexandria, and she sent this report.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)

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U.S.
5:14 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Profiling Mass Shooters And Assessing Threats

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 7:04 pm

Transcript

GUY RAZ, HOST:

And as police begin to piece together a picture of the gunman, Adam Lanza, they will also be looking at possible motives. Here in the studio with me is NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam.

And, Shankar, you have reported in the past about building profiles of these kinds of assailants. I mean, usually, we're talking about men. We're talking about often about white men. Does what we know about Lanza fit that profile of a mass shooter?

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U.S.
5:14 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

After Trauma, Maintaining Normalcy For Children

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 7:04 pm

Transcript

GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers, was often asked by parents how to explain death to children. And so on his program one day, he decided to try and deal with that challenge. And here's how he started:

FRED ROGERS: When I was very young, I had a dog that I loved very much. Her name was Mitzi. And she got to be old, and she died. I was very sad when she died, because she and I were good pals. And when she died, I cried.

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The Two-Way
4:48 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Sandy Hook Elementary Victims' Names Released

Originally published on Mon December 17, 2012 10:49 am

At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Connecticut's Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II released a list of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

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The Two-Way
4:40 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Mandela Recovering After Gallstone Surgery

Credit Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Former South African President Nelson Mandela at his home in Qunu, South Africa, in February. The 94-year-old underwent surgery to remove gallstones on Saturday.

Originally published on Tue December 18, 2012 5:49 pm

Former South African President Nelson Mandela was recovering Saturday after surgery to remove gallstones, the government said. There was no indication when the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader would be released from the hospital, though the government said he was recovering well.

Mandela was admitted to the unnamed hospital in the capital, Pretoria, a week ago. As the BBC's Karen Allen told our Newscast Unit, there's been much concern about his health and limited detail about his medical condition.

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The Two-Way
12:48 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Hillary Clinton Falls, Suffers Concussion

Credit Kevin Lamarque / AFP/Getty Images
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this month in Dublin.

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 1:52 pm

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who earlier this week canceled a trip to Morocco and the Middle East because she was ill with a stomach virus, is at home recovering from a concussion she suffered in a fall, her spokesman says.

According to an email that State has sent to reporters, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines says that:

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The Two-Way
12:11 pm
Sat December 15, 2012

Will Newtown Killings Shift Public's Attitude On Guns?

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 10:22 am

The tragedy in Newtown, Conn., will surely spur pollsters to ask Americans again about guns, gun ownership, gun laws and the Second Amendment.

If recent experience is a good guide, public opinion may not shift too much.

Pew Research Center writes that:

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The Salt
11:48 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Your Kitchen Trash Reborn As Abstract Art

Originally published on Thu December 20, 2012 1:37 pm

Consider the lowly soda can. After the pop, the fizz, the guzzle, it's dumped into a recycling bin and chucked curbside with the rest of the trash.

But just as it has reached a sort of existential low point — empty, forgotten, discarded — voila! The can transforms into a thing of beauty.

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Fresh Air Weekend
9:03 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Fresh Air Weekend: Daniel Handler And Paul Lukacs

Credit Meredith Heuer / Courtesy of Little, Brown & Co.

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 11:39 am

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

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The Two-Way
7:56 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Other News: Egyptians Vote; Assad's Forces Fight Back

Credit Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images
In Cairo earlier today, a man dips his finger on an ink pad so that he can mark having voted during a referendum on the new Egyptian constitution.

We continue to follow the tragic news from Newtown, Conn., about Friday's mass shooting at an elementary school.

There is, of course, other news:

-- "Some Polling Issues As Egyptians Vote On Draft Constitution." (NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson)

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The Two-Way
7:30 am
Sat December 15, 2012

'We Have Endured Far Too Many Of These Tragedies,' President Says

Credit Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Flags were were lowered to half-staff at the U.S. Capitol and other federal buildings after Friday's mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Originally published on Sat December 15, 2012 8:21 am

President Obama focuses on the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., in his weekly radio/Web address. His message echoes the emotional comments he made to the nation Friday afternoon.

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The Two-Way
6:57 am
Sat December 15, 2012

In Connecticut: Prayers, Grief, Questions ... And Stories Of Heroism

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 5:46 am

Around the Nation
6:48 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Investigation Continues Into Shooter's Motive

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And this morning, of course, we are reporting the story from Newtown, Connecticut, where yesterday a young man named Adam Lanza shot and killed some 26 people at an elementary school - 20 of them small children. Connecticut state police have briefed residents of Newtown and reporters on the latest from the crime scene at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and at second crime scene.

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Around the Nation
6:48 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Search For Answers Begins Following Deadly Shootings

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson joins us in the studio for more on the investigation. Carrie, thanks for being with us.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.

SIMON: What do we know about the shooter, and is anything developing on what I noticed Lieutenant Vance carefully called - he didn't use the word motive, he said the how and the why of the shooting?

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Analysis
6:48 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Connecticut School Joins Growing List Of Deadly Shootings

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Sandy Hook Elementary School joins a sad and lengthening list of names in recent U.S. history. Since 12 students and a teacher were killed at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, there have been scores of other school shootings - so many it may be hard to recall all the names: Red Lake, Nickel Mines, Virginia Tech and Chardon High School are just a few of the names that have become branded by tragedy. Ben Markus of Colorado Public Radio spoke with Frank DeAngelis, the principal of Columbine High School.

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U.S.
5:20 am
Sat December 15, 2012

A Vision For Chicago Public Housing, Stymied And Contested

Credit Chicago Housing Authority
The Lathrop Homes, pictured here in 2006, are part of the latest revamp effort by the Chicago Housing Authority.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Chicago's $1.6 billion "Plan for Transformation" envisioned public housing in a way that would deconstruct an image of the city's poor all concentrated in huge housing silos.

The idea was to mix public-housing residents with market-rate condos and subsidized rentals or homes, with one-third of each in these new communities.

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Europe
5:20 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Ready. Set. Memorize!

Credit Peng Tong / Xinhua/Landov
Argh, it's on the tip of my tongue! Contestants in the Names and Faces competition focus at last year's World Memory Championships held in Guangzhou, China. A new field of mental athletes is currently vying for the 2012 championship.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

In the gymnasium of a South London technical school, site of this year's World Memory Championships, Norwegian Ola Kaere Risa checks his stopwatch.

Risa is Norway's only contestant this year.

"I hope to defend the glory of my country," he says, laughing.

The 21st World Memory Championships are under way in London this weekend. About 75 competitors from some two dozen countries are vying to see who can memorize the most numbers, faces, playing cards or random words in a set amount of time.

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It's All Politics
5:19 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Democrats Dig In Their Heels On Entitlement Cuts

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats aren't going to throw America's seniors over the fiscal cliff to give a tax cut to the wealthiest.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Congress has barely two weeks to agree on a deficit-cutting deal to keep the nation from going over the "fiscal cliff" in the new year. The problem is that right now there is no such deal to agree on.

Republicans reject the higher tax rates for top incomes that President Obama demands. And they also insist on more austere entitlement programs, which has Democrats digging in their heels.

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The Two-Way
5:17 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Some Polling Issues As Egyptians Vote On Draft Constitution

Credit Amr Nabil / AP
Women wait in line outside a polling station to vote on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo on Saturday.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Update at 2:54 p.m. ET: Voting Hours Extended:

Voter turnout on the first day of a referendum on Egypt's controversial draft constitution was so high in Cairo and nine other governorates that election officials decided to extend poll hours from 7 until 11 p.m. local time.

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Shootings In Newtown, Conn.
4:34 am
Sat December 15, 2012

Small Conn. Town Trying To Cope With Scale Of Mass Shooting

Credit Andrew Gombert / AP
Mourners gather for a vigil service for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Conn., on Friday night.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

Newtown, Conn., is a white-collar community an hour and a half northeast of New York City. It's the kind of place where crime is rare and the biggest thing that happens each year is the Labor Day parade.

Now the peace and quiet has been shattered, and residents are trying to make sense of what's happened.

Hours after the shootings that left so many people dead, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church opened its doors for a prayer vigil. People filed through the streets and past houses decorated with Christmas lights.

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Music Interviews
2:03 am
Sat December 15, 2012

A Civil Rights Figure's Long Road — To Carnegie Hall

Credit Courtesy of the Evers family
Myrlie Evers-Williams leads her three children — Reena (from left), Van and Darrell — at the family piano, circa 1965.

Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 1:43 pm

You know the old joke: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice." Myrlie Evers-Williams took a different route.

Her late husband, Medgar Evers, was the Mississippi head of the NAACP; he was assassinated for his work in 1963. Evers-Williams wound up moving to Southern California, where she became an educational, corporate and political leader and, in the 1990s, chairwoman of the NAACP.

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Shootings In Newtown, Conn.
9:48 pm
Fri December 14, 2012

Reporter: Gunman's Father Was Shocked To Learn About Shooting

Originally published on Mon December 17, 2012 10:27 am

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

According to federal law enforcement sources, Adam Lanza, the gunman, one of his victims, was his own mother, which has led to much speculation about the Lanza family and relations within it. Well, Adam Lanza's parents were divorced. And reporter Maggie Gordon of the Stamford Advocate is now going to tell us about Mr. Lanza's father. Where did you come across him?

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Shootings In Newtown, Conn.
9:43 pm
Fri December 14, 2012

Shooter's Family Connections Begin To Emerge

Originally published on Mon December 17, 2012 10:27 am

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

We begin this hour with the tragedy in Connecticut. This morning, around nine o'clock, a young man walked into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and began shooting. Federal law enforcement officials now tell NPR the gunman was 20-year-old Adam Lanza of Newtown.

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