The Two-Way
10:07 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Listen: You Can Hear The Northern Lights, Researchers Say

Credit Rune Stoltz Bertinussen / AFP/Getty Images
The northern lights over Tromsoe, northern Norway, on Jan. 24, 2012.

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 11:21 am

Shots - Health Blog
9:43 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Doctors Hesitant To Deal With Patients' Weight Problems

Credit iStockphoto.com
This happens less often than you might think.

In 2010, there were 78 million adults classified as obese in the United States, and roughly 164,000 primary care doctors to take care of them.

It doesn't take a math wizard to figure out that doctors who handle routine care, although they may well want to help their patients lose weight, are unlikely to have the time to provide the kind of intensive coaching to that would help their patients make a lasting change.

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The Two-Way
9:38 am
Tue July 10, 2012

'USA Today' Names New Editor

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 10:05 am

David Callaway, editor-in-chief at MarketWatch, was this morning named to be editor-in-chief at USA Today.

There, he will be teamed up again with Larry Kramer — the newspaper's new publisher. Kramer founded MarketWatch.

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The Two-Way
8:53 am
Tue July 10, 2012

With 15-Minute Session, Egypt's Parliament Defies High Court

Credit AFP/Getty Images
The scene inside the Egyptian parliament in Cairo earlier today during the lawmakers' short session.

The power struggle between the military leaders who have been running Egypt since the spring 2011 toppling of President Hosni Mubarak and newly elected lawmakers escalated further today.

Members of parliament's lower house met in defiance of an order from the nation's highest court to disband.

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The Two-Way
8:15 am
Tue July 10, 2012

As Annan Seeks Help From Iran, Activists Say Syrian Death Toll Exceeds 17,000

Credit Bulent Kilic / AFP/Getty Images
In February, these Syrians mourned over the fresh grave of a relative following a funeral for victims killed in violence in Idlib.

Iran must be "part of the solution" to the crisis in Syria, former U.N. Secretary-General Koffi Annan said today in Tehran.

But as Annan spoke, there was new word about how horrible things have gotten in Syria since protests against the regime of President Bashar Assad began in March 2011 and forces loyal to Assad cracked down on his opponents.

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Planet Money
8:03 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Scranton Workers See Pay Slashed To Minimum Wage

Credit Jeff Brady / NPR
Roger Leonard saw his pay plunge to $340 from about $900 for two weeks' work, after Scranton's mayor unilaterally cut city-employee pay to minimum wage.

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 12:02 pm

A fight between political leaders in Scranton, Pa., has left each and every city employee earning $7.25 an hour — minimum wage.

Last week Mayor Chris Doherty slashed pay, on his own, saying Scranton had run out of money. Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse issued an injunction telling the city it must recognize pay rates spelled out in union contracts. But Doherty continues to violate that court order.

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The Two-Way
7:30 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Wildfire In Southern Idaho Is Growing Quickly

Credit USDA Forest Service
The view from above: A satellite image of Idaho and western Montana, taken Monday and posted by the USDA Forest Services's Active Fire Mapping website, showing smoke and clouds.

Though firefighters have "gained ground on a number of wildfires across the West," they're having trouble in southern Idaho, The Associated Press reports.

There, winds have "fanned a fast-moving blaze across nearly 300 square miles of sagebrush and dry grass," the wire service says. The fire began Saturday. It was apparently sparked by a lightning strike.

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Black Lung Returns To Coal Country
7:21 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Black-Lung Rule Loopholes Leave Miners Vulnerable

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 10:41 pm

Part two of a two-part series.

Thousands of coal miners continued to suffer and die from black lung during the 40 years that tough new limits on exposure to coal dust were supposed to provide protection.

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It's All Politics
4:43 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Romney Outraises Obama By $35 Million In June

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 2:02 pm

The latest fundraising numbers are in for the two presidential campaigns, and the amounts are eye-popping. President Obama and the Democratic Party raised $71 million, which is an enormous haul. But it was dwarfed by Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee, which together raised $106 million in the month of June.

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Credit Steve Barrett

International correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is based in Cairo and covers the Arab world for NPR from the Middle East to North Africa. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning programs including Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

In 2006, Nelson opened the NPR Kabul Bureau. During the following three and a half years, she gave listeners an in-depth sense of life inside Afghanistan, from the increase in suicides among women in a tribal society that sees them as second class citizens, to the growing interference of Iran and Pakistan in Afghan affairs and the impact of Western policies in the region. For her coverage of Afghanistan, she won a Peabody award, Overseas Press Club award and Gracie in 2010.

Nelson came to NPR in 2006, after spending more than two decades as a newspaper reporter. She served as Knight Ridder's Middle East Bureau Chief from 2002 to 2005 where she specialized in covering Iran. As a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nelson was sent on extended assignment to Iran and Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Nelson spent three years as an editor and reporter for Newsday and was part of the team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA flight 800. She also spent time at the the Orange County Register covering Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, Nelson speaks Farsi, Dari, and German. She is married to long-time reporter Erik Nelson and they have a son.

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