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5:09pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Performing Arts

Mike Nichols: 'Salesman' By Day, Always An Artist

Robert Siegel talks with 80-year-old director Mike Nichols, whose Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman premieres March 15. Over his more than 60-year career, Nichols has directed, written and produced for Broadway, TV and film.

4:49pm

Fri March 9, 2012
National Security

Experts: A Strike On Iran Poses Many Challenges

Credit AFP/Getty Images
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addresses a meeting in Tehran on Thursday. Khamenei is a staunch defender of Iran's nuclear program.

The question hanging over Washington for months has been this: Will Israel strike the Iranian nuclear program?

The Obama administration seems to have bought some time this week after rounds of meetings and speeches with Israeli officials in Washington.

Still, the president assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will do all in its power to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

So the military option is still on the table.

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4:48pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

LSD Gets Another Look As Alcoholism Treatment

Credit iStockphoto.com
LSD might provide a life-changing experience for people struggling with alcohol, a provocative analysis suggests.

You might be tempted to chuckle about some Norwegian researchers peering back at experiments done during the '60s and '70s with LSD as a treatment for alcoholism.

But don't.

Their rigorous analysis, combining data from six different studies, concludes that one dose of the hallucinogenic drug might just help.

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4:45pm

Fri March 9, 2012
The Salt

Is It Safe To Eat Pink Slime?

Credit Daniel Acker / Landov
"Lean, finely textured meat" made from beef trimmings is often added to ground beef as a cheap filler

4:44pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Music Interviews

Anthony Hopkins Lives Out A Long-Deferred Musical Dream

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Composer is an album of original classical music by Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins.

Anthony Hopkins has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and has played Richard I, Richard Nixon, monarchs, statesmen, geniuses and heroes. He won an Academy Award playing one of the most notorious movie villains in history: Hannibal Lecter, the criminal cannibal with an affinity for Bach. Now, Hopkins is making his own music.

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4:38pm

Fri March 9, 2012
The Two-Way

Mining Company Pleads Guilty In 2007 Utah Mine Disaster Case

Coal mining company Genwal Resources has pleaded guilty to corporate criminal charges stemming from the 2007 Crandall Canyon mine collapse in Utah that left nine miners and rescuers dead.

Federal prosecutors say a plea agreement includes a provision that no criminal charges will be filed against any individuals in the case.

Federal and congressional investigators blamed the an initial mine collapse on "retreat mining," in which pillars of coal holding up the roof of the mine are dug out, causing collapse of the mine behind them.

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4:33pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Music Interviews

Carolina Chocolate Drops: Hooked On Old-Time Sounds

Credit Crackerfarm
Carolina Chocolate Drops' new album is Leaving Eden.

Carolina Chocolate Drops breathed new life into old-time music with the 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig, which put a contemporary spin on Southern string tools from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That collection went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.

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4:32pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Rebuilding Japan

Crippled Japanese Reactors Face Decades Of Work

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 am

Credit Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP/Getty Images
Last year's earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. Foreign journalists saw cleanup and recovery work in process on Feb. 28.

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, lasted for many terrifying minutes. But the multiple nuclear meltdowns that followed created an emergency that lasted for weeks and a legacy that will last for decades.

Here's how the event unfolded. The tsunami knocked out power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. As a result, the cooling systems failed and three reactors melted down. Steam laced with radioactive material poured into the air. Water contaminated with radiation also flowed into the sea.

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4:28pm

Fri March 9, 2012
The Two-Way

Mormon Church Limits Access to Controversial Baptism Records

Persistent pressure and criticism have prompted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to erect a new "technological barrier" in the system used for controversial posthumous or proxy baptisms.

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4:12pm

Fri March 9, 2012
The Two-Way

Harry Wendelstedt, Longtime Baseball Umpire, Has Died

Credit Mary Butkus / AP
This 1998 file photo shows veteran National League umpire Harry Wendelstedt, left, with his son, Hunter Wendelstedt, also an umpire.

Harry Wendelstedt spent 33 years as a National League umpire, including five stints to the World Series.

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4:12pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Around the Nation

Haven Or Hell: Refugees In Idaho Struggle For Work

Credit Molly Messick / StateImpact
Nowela Virginie and her daughters often visit social worker Marcia Munden at Catholic Charities of Idaho.

In the last few years, more than 4,000 refugees have found their way to a far-flung spot: Idaho. Most of the state's incoming refugees come to Boise. For years, the city's strong economy, good-quality affordable housing and supportive community created an especially favorable environment for refugee resettlement. The recession has shifted that picture.

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4:00pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Africa

How Teenagers Learned To Hate Joseph Kony

Credit PRWeb
Invisible Children, the group that released the Joseph Kony video that went viral this week, has been making films about Kony for years and targeting young people as the main audience. Here, the group's co-founders, Jason Russell (left), Bobby Bailey (center) and Laren Poole, record footage in Africa in 2007.

If you're a teenager, you probably hadn't heard of Joseph Kony last week. This week, you probably couldn't avoid him.

"If I log onto Facebook or Twitter any time during the day, it's my entire news feed, basically," says Patrick Franks, an 18-year-old senior at Loyola Blakefield High School, outside Baltimore.

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3:46pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Europe

A Health Care Tragedy Plays Out In A Greek Port

Near the port of Piraeus and about 10 miles west of Athens, Perama developed after the Greek civil war of the 1940s, growing prosperous in the 1980s thanks to the ship-repair industry.

But now, the once-bustling piers are deserted. A few rusting skeletons of unfinished boats stand outside empty, abandoned warehouses.

That's because business migrated to low-cost Turkey and China, and in a few short years, industry jobs dropped from 4,500 to 50.

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3:41pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Rebuilding Japan

For Kids In Japan, Adjusting To A Changed World

Teacher Dave Rowlands is talking to his students in a kindergarten class at Imagine Japan, an English-language school in the Miyagi Prefecture of Sendai City. The school is just a short walk from pre-fabricated homes built for families who lost more than just property in the earthquake and tsunami last year.

"What came after the earthquake, was what?" Rowlands asks. "A tidal wave. In Japanese, what do we say? Or in English, actually, tsunami is now used around the world in many languages. Tsunami. We kind of leave the 't' off of there."

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3:19pm

Fri March 9, 2012
The Picture Show

In Battle For Rhino Horns, A Clash Of Cultures

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 am

Rhino poaching has been on the rise in the past few years. In South Africa and other regions where rhinos run, poachers have been killing or darting rhinos with tranquilizers for their horns.

Rather than adorning walls, many horns are ground up into medicines, sold mostly in Southeast Asia. A possible — yet controversial — way to stop poaching may be rhino ranches, where the horns are harvested for sale and the animals are allowed to grow new ones.

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3:18pm

Fri March 9, 2012
The Two-Way

Syrian Opposition Leader Rejects Annan's Call For Dialogue

Credit Thibault Camus / AP
Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun attends a news conference in Paris on March 1.

The leader of Syria's main opposition group has some harsh words for Kofi Annan, who was appointed by the U.N. to be its envoy to Syria.

In an interview with the Associated Press Burhan Ghalioun said Annan's comments so far have been "disappointing."

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3:12pm

Fri March 9, 2012
It's All Politics

Despite Mixed Polls, Gingrich Claims Lead In Southern States

Credit Marianne Todd / Getty Images
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks at a rally with his wife, Callista, on Thursday in Jackson, Miss.

Mitt Romney may consider the pair of primaries in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday an "away game," but Newt Gingrich is claiming a home court advantage.

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3:00pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Energy

Ohio Toughens Regulations On Gas Drillers

Ohio has announced new regulations for drillers as state officials say the injection of gas-drilling wastewater likely caused a number of small earthquakes.

3:00pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Science

Film Director To Travel To Bottom Of Mariana Trench

Robert Siegel talks to retired Navy Captain Don Walsh about the attempt by movie director James Cameron to take a submersible capsule to the bottom of the Mariana Trench — the deepest spot on Earth. Walsh says it will be a combination of science and adventure, because Cameron is a storyteller and dedicated amateur explorer. Walsh made a 1960 dive to the same trench.

2:37pm

Fri March 9, 2012
Afghanistan

U.S., Afghan Forces Try To Rebuild Trust

In Afghanistan, the killings are called "green on blue" — that's when an Afghan soldier or police officer turns his gun on a NATO ally.

There was a wave of such violence just last month after U.S. soldiers accidentally burned Korans. Over the next week, six Americans were killed, apparently at the hands of Afghans working with the U.S.

The top U.S. and NATO commanders in Afghanistan think they have some answers to this recurring problem, and it's up to U.S. soldiers like Capt. Joe Fritze to see if they work.

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