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1:33 am
Sun December 9, 2012

Greek Hospitals Suffer In Ailing Economy

Originally published on Sun December 9, 2012 12:36 pm

The economic crisis in Greece is strangling the country's hospitals, where budgets have been slashed by more than half. As a result, nearly all doctors in both public and private hospitals have seen their pay cut, delayed or even frozen.

"On top of that, we lack basic supplies to do our jobs," says Vangelis Papamichalis, a neurologist at the Regional Hospital of Serres in northern Greece and a member of the doctors union here. "We run out of surgical gloves, syringes, vials for blood samples and needles to sew stitches, among other things."

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The Two-Way
4:50 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Egyptian President Nullifies Expanded Executive Powers

Credit Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi held a "dialogue" in Cairo on Saturday. Overnight, an official announced the president would nullify a decree that gave him expanded powers.

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 4:44 am

  • Hear Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson And Guy Raz On 'All Things Considered'

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has annulled a decree that gave him sweeping new powers last month, an official announced overnight in Cairo. The referendum on the draft constitution is still set for Dec. 15.

NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson says Morsi had been saying recently he would give up his expanded powers after the referendum.

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Business
4:03 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Not Just Patriotic, U.S. Manufacturing May Be Smart

Credit General Electric Co.
General Electric's Appliance Park has been in Louisville, Ky., since 1951. But it's putting new power behind its U.S. production.

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 6:12 pm

  • As Heard On Weekends On 'All Things Considered'

The advantages to making products in the U.S. are starting to stack up — and companies are taking notice. Among them are Apple, which announced Thursday it plans to start producing some of its Mac computers here instead of in China, and General Electric, which is making big investments at home.

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Movies I've Seen A Million Times
3:04 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

The Movie Gustavo Santaolalla's 'Seen A Million Times'

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 4:51 pm

The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

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Movies
3:04 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Knightley's Anna Karenina Loses The Innocence

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 5:00 pm

Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina has been adapted for TV or film at least 25 times. It's a title role made great by screen legends Greta Garbo and Vivian Leigh, and now, it's Keira Knightley's turn.

Knightley reunites with Pride and Prejudice director Joe Wright in a new adaptation of the book. Here, she talks to Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered, about bringing the title character to life.


Interview Highlights

On the opening sequence

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Middle East
3:04 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Egypt Remains Electrified In Protests

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 4:51 pm

Transcript

GUY RAZ, HOST:

In a startling move, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi appears to have reversed a controversial presidential decree that granted him extraordinary powers and launched weeks of protest. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is in Cairo. She's covering that story and joins us now. And, Soraya, tell us what's going on.

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Business
3:04 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Hoodie Company Put U.S. Manufacturing In Style

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 4:51 pm

When Bayard Winthrop founded American Giant, he set up manufacturing in San Francisco. The sweatshirt company focuses on the details and skips over the distributors. Winthrop tells host Guy Raz how making the clothing in America actually helps his bottom line.

The Two-Way
1:36 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Why This Video Makes This Editor Think Clinton Will Run In 2016

Credit Mary Calvert / Reuters /Landov
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton watches a video about her public life that was played before she addressed the Saban Forum in Washington last week.

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 4:45 am

Superstorm Sandy: Before, During And Beyond
12:49 pm
Sat December 8, 2012

Next Post-Sandy Challenge: The Sea Of Damaged Cars

Credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Abandoned and flooded cars sit in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on Nov. 2. It's estimated that it could cost auto insurers $800 million to deal with all the claims from the storm.

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 7:40 pm

Hurricane Sandy wrecked hundreds of thousands of cars all along the New York and New Jersey shorelines, and could cost auto insurers around $800 million. That's not their only problem; disposing of these water-damaged vehicles is not so simple.

If you have comprehensive coverage on a damaged car, the insurance company gives you a check and the car disappears from your life. But then what?

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Fresh Air Weekend
11:17 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Fresh Air Weekend: Judd Apatow, Colm Toibin

Credit Suzanne Hanover / Universal Studios
Five years after Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprise their roles as married couple Pete and Debbie. Now years into their marriage with two kids (played by Iris and Maude Apatow), Pete and Debbie approach 40 less than gracefully.

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
10:52 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Hanukkah Begins, With A Beat

Credit YouTube
The Maccabeats

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 5:32 am

U.S.
10:35 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Sign Of The Times: Labor Strikes May Make Comeback

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
An empty container ship waited near the Port of Los Angeles during the eight-day strike by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The stoppage put a halt to most of the work at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

Originally published on Tue December 11, 2012 1:04 pm

When clerical workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached an impasse in talks with management over job security last week, they took what has become something of a rare step: They went on strike.

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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10:31 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Bluff The Listener

Transcript

CARL KASELL: From NPR and WBEZ-Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT...DON'T TELL ME!, the NPR News quiz. I'm Carl Kasell.

(APPLAUSE)

KASELL: We're playing his week with Adam Felber, Paula Poundstone and Maz Jobrani. And here again is your host, at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles, Peter Sagal.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you, Carl.

(APPLAUSE)

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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10:31 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Lightning Fill In The Blank

Transcript

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

It is time to go on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?

CARL KASELL: Maz Jobrani has the lead, Peter. He has four points. Paula Poundstone and Adam Felber are tied for second, each has two.

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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10:31 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Opening Panel Round

Transcript

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about the week's news, of course. Maz, hold onto your hat, a shocking scientific discovery from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. According to psychology researchers, humans like what?

MAZ JOBRANI: Humans like what?

SAGAL: Yes. They discovered this scientifically.

JOBRANI: Scientifically, humans like food.

SAGAL: Even more than food.

JOBRANI: Air.

(LAUGHTER)

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The Two-Way
9:39 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Florida's Crist Changes Parties; Colbert Won't Replace DeMint In Senate (Really)

Credit Scott Gries / Picturegroup
Comedian Stephen Colbert told his supporters to ask South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to name him to replace outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint.

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 1:30 pm

That fledgling Democrat within Charlie Crist, former Republican governor of Florida, has emerged at last:

This should be The Decision That Surprised No One, since Crist was a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention last September and had been a registered independent before that.

As NPR's S.V. Date writes,

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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
8:19 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Hugh Bonneville Of 'Downton Abbey' Plays Not My Job

Credit Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 10:42 am

America is obsessed with Downton Abbey, the British series about a family so wealthy that they can't feed, clothe or care for themselves. Hugh Bonneville plays the patriarch of the family, and we've invited His Lordship to play a game we're calling, "Welcome to America, Lord Grantham."

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The Two-Way
8:10 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Egypt's Morsi Reportedly Poised To Allow Military To Arrest Civilians

Credit Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of Egyptians also gathered outside the presidential palace in Cairo in demonstrations that turned violent as tensions grew over President Mohammed Morsi's seizure of nearly unrestricted powers.

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 1:47 pm

Some outraged protesters remain around the Egyptian presidential palace in Cairo today, as opponents of President Mohammed Morsi defy his recent ruling granting himself executive powers that can't be questioned by a court.

Now there's word he may have signed a new order allowing soldiers to detain and arrest civilians, a right that's reserved for police officers.

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Best Music Of 2012
6:14 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012

Originally published on Sat December 29, 2012 7:31 am

For the better part of this year, I haven't been able to shake a certain phrase from the back of my mind. It was written by the pianist and composer Vijay Iyer in the liner notes to his brilliant trio album Accelerando: "[T]his album is in the lineage of American creative music based on dance rhythms."

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Strange News
5:38 am
Sat December 8, 2012

'Hey Bird, What Are You Doing With That Butt?'

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

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Africa
5:38 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Tensions Continue Over Egypt's Constitution Fight

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.

Tens of thousands of people were again protesting at the gates of the Presidential Palace in Cairo overnight. And yesterday, protesters broke through the barbed-wire barricades to climb on tanks that were stationed to keep them at bay.

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Movie Interviews
4:54 am
Sat December 8, 2012

50 Years On, Sharif Looks Back At 'Lawrence'

Originally published on Sun December 9, 2012 6:26 am

In one of the greatest movies of all time, a World War I-era Englishman played by Peter O'Toole stops with his Arab guide at a well in the desert. As they drink, they look into the distance and see a lone figure in black, galloping toward them on a camel. The Arab man recognizes him and draws a gun. The lone figure brings him down with a single musket shot. Now that's an entrance.

The man on the camel was Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali.

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Politics
4:54 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Fiscal Cliff About More Than Just Tax Rates, Spending

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 5:38 am

With all the attention on tax rates and spending cuts, three big issues are getting little attention in fiscal cliff talks. NPR's Tamara Keith explains how expiring provisions on the payroll tax cut, the alternative minimum tax and unemployment benefits could have major effects on the economy.

Simon Says
4:54 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Good Intentions, Complicated Results

Credit Jennifer Foster / NYPD via Facebook
The photo that touched many hearts: New York City Police Officer Lawrence DePrimo gives a shoeless man a pair of boots on a frigid night last month.

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 1:57 pm

When news organizations, including ours, told of New York Police Officer Lawrence DePrimo buying boots for a barefoot man on the streets of Times Square one cold night last month, it seemed an irresistible holiday story: A kindly cop in a hard city helps a bedraggled man walking with blistered feet over some of the richest streets in the world.

The nameless, shoeless man became the best-known street person in America — just long enough to be recognized walking along the Upper West Side, where a New York Times reporter found him.

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The Salt
4:54 am
Sat December 8, 2012

At Hanukkah, Pastry Reminds Portland Jews Of Their Mediterranean Roots

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 5:29 pm

In some Jewish homes this Hanukkah, families will celebrate with an alternative to the traditional potato latke: the boyo. These Turkish-style stuffed pastries — also known as bulemas, depending on their shape and the village their maker comes from — are made by Jews whose ancestors lived in the Ottoman Empire.

Traditionally, boyos were made for Shabbat (the Sabbath) and the Jewish holidays. But these busy days, they're reserved mostly for the holidays.

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Music News
4:54 am
Sat December 8, 2012

An Unlikely Youth Chorus Comes Together Online

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 8:09 am

Diana Newlon sits on her living-room couch leading choir practice. With her laptop balanced on one arm of the sofa, she looks at a screen full of videos of girls singing "Jingle Bell Rock." Each girl is in her own little square, arranged Brady Bunch-style on the screen.

Newlon teaches at the Ohio Distance and Electronic Learning Academy — OHDELA for short — and she's the founder of perhaps the only all-online school choir in the state, or even the nation.

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NPR Story
4:41 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Unemployment Rate Drops, But Picture Not All Rosy

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 5:37 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Turns out that Superstorm Sandy didn't do as much damage as many expected to the nation's employment predicament. At least that's what the government's monthly data on the jobs market told us yesterday. As NPR's John Ydstie reports, analysts and businesses are already looking past that report to the dangers to jobs posed by the fiscal cliff.

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NPR Story
4:41 am
Sat December 8, 2012

With Leader's Visit, Hamas Celebrates Its Birth

Credit Suhaib Salem / AP
Exiled Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal (left) and Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh wave during a news conference upon Meshaal's arrival at Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.

Originally published on Fri December 14, 2012 7:14 am

Tens of thousands of people turned out for a mass rally in the Gaza Strip on Friday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hamas, which governs Gaza. The guest of honor was the leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal.

This is Meshaal's first-ever trip to Gaza, and it's been seen as a political milestone in Hamas' attempt to gain wider acceptance in the region.

Gaza is a small, very crowded strip of land that is full of young people. Roughly 1.7 million people live here, and about half are under the age of 18.

Young People, Politically Minded

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NPR Story
4:41 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Detroit Driving Toward Its Own Debt Cliff

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 5:38 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: The city of Detroit is approaching its own fiscal precipice. The city is deeply in debt and could run out of cash by the end of this month. That would mean more layoffs from a city workforce that's already been cut so much that a reported two-thirds of the city's streetlights do not work. The amount of empty, abandoned land in the city, which produces no tax revenue, is estimated to be as large as the entire city of Paris.

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Europe
3:38 am
Sat December 8, 2012

Getting The Royal Treatment En Route To Versailles

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 12:39 pm

The opulence of the court of Louis XIV ... on a commuter train from Paris?

That's the surprise awaiting some lucky visitors to the Palace of Versailles. The cars of about 30 trains traveling between Paris and the palace have been completely decked out to reflect the sprawling and stately residence of former French kings, providing a sneak preview of sorts.

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