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State Department specialists have replaced anti-American ads put on Yemeni websites by al-Qaida with postings that detail the "deadly impact of al-Qaida tactics on Yemenis themselves," Associated Press correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports.

This 2010 image, provided by IntelCenter, shows Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi in a posthumous video message posted on extremist websites. The al-Qaida double agent killed seven CIA operatives, a Jordanian spy and himself when he set off a bomb strapped to his body at a base in Afghanistan in December 2009.
AP/IntelCenter

This 2010 image, provided by IntelCenter, shows Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi in a posthumous video message posted on extremist websites. The al-Qaida double agent killed seven CIA operatives, a Jordanian spy and himself when he set off a bomb strapped to his body at a base in Afghanistan in December 2009.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talked about the successful hacking of the terrorist network's online efforts during a conference Wednesday in Tampa that was attended by "hundreds of U.S. and international special operations commanders," Dozier adds.

Clinton told the group that because of the State Department's effort, "extremists are publicly venting their frustration and asking supporters not to believe everything they read on the Internet."

Evan Kohlmann, a consultant on terrorism issues who tracks such websites, tells The Washington Post that highlighting the deadly effects of al-Qaida's actions does do "a tremendous amount of damage" to the network's image, "recruitment campaigns and its effort to launch renewed attacks." But he has doubts about whether the websites that State has hacked reach a very wide audience.

Tags: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Yemen, hacking, Al-Qaida

Etan Patz, and the "lost child" poster issued after his 1979 disappearance.
Enlarge AFP/Getty Images

Etan Patz, and the "lost child" poster issued after his 1979 disappearance.

Etan Patz, and the "lost child" poster issued after his 1979 disappearance.
AFP/Getty Images

Etan Patz, and the "lost child" poster issued after his 1979 disappearance.

"An individual now in custody has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago. We expect to provide further details later today," New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement released this morning, New York's Daily News reports.

But whether this person had any direct involvement in the 6-year-old boy's disappearance is unclear.

New York's WABC-TV says "the man, who was picked up by NYPD detectives Wednesday, is not considered a suspect. No charges are expected to be immediately filed."

According to NBC New York, "the man is known to investigators and not anyone new in the case law enforcement sources say. He worked and lived in Patz's neighborhood when the boy disappeared."

As All Things Considered reported last month:

"On May 25, 1979, the first-grader was walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time ever — two, short blocks — when he disappeared. His body was never found. No one was ever criminally charged. The disappearance of Etan Patz transfixed the city — and well beyond. He was one of the first missing child cases to attract national attention."

In April this year, authorities ripped apart the basement of an apartment building in the hope of solving the mystery. They reportedly didn't find anything to help solve the case.

We'll watch today's developments and update with any news.

Update at 8:10 a.m. ET. Claims He Played A Role In the Crime?

Here's how The New York Times starts its report on this latest news:

"New York authorities are investigating the claims of a man who has told investigators that he had a role in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished in SoHo on his way to school and is believed to have been murdered, officials said on Thursday."

Tags: Etan Patz, New York City

Fireworks fill the sky after the Olympic cauldron was lit on Feb. 8, 2003, marking the one year anniversary of the 2002 Winter Games at the opening and closing ceremony venue in Salt Lake City, the last American city to host the Olympics.
Enlarge Douglas C. Pizac /AP

Fireworks fill the sky after the Olympic cauldron was lit on Feb. 8, 2003, marking the one year anniversary of the 2002 Winter Games at the opening and closing ceremony venue in Salt Lake City, the last American city to host the Olympics.

Fireworks fill the sky after the Olympic cauldron was lit on Feb. 8, 2003, marking the one year anniversary of the 2002 Winter Games at the opening and closing ceremony venue in Salt Lake City, the last American city to host the Olympics.
Douglas C. Pizac /AP

Fireworks fill the sky after the Olympic cauldron was lit on Feb. 8, 2003, marking the one year anniversary of the 2002 Winter Games at the opening and closing ceremony venue in Salt Lake City, the last American city to host the Olympics.

Olympic officials meeting in Quebec City have reached a tentative agreement in a persistent revenue-sharing dispute responsible, in part, for keeping the Olympics out of the United States for at least 20 years.

The dispute centers on the American share of Olympic revenues. Since 1984, The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has received the biggest portion of the billions of Olympic dollars paid by corporate sponsors and American television networks. And the rest of the Olympic world has resented it.

The twin failures of New York and Chicago to bid successfully for the Olympics were blamed in part on the revenue-sharing dispute. USOC and International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials have been negotiating a new arrangement for two years and the USOC said there would be no future bids for the Olympics until the dispute was settled.

Now there's word out of Quebec City that a deal is ready and will be announced as early as Thursday. An Olympic official familiar with the agreement confirms for NPR the details first reported by Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal:

"The agreement guarantees the USOC approximately $410M per quadrennial, plus inflation and a percentage of revenue from new growth areas. The USOC also agreed to continue to contribute to the cost of future Olympic Games. The new terms cover the period from '20-40. Until then the parties will continue to abide by an agreement reached in '96 that gives the USOC 12.75% of U.S. broadcasting revenue and 16% of global marketing revenue."

Mickle reports that the new revenue-sharing percentages have yet to be disclosed.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams declined to discuss or confirm the tentative agreement, but told NPR "a deal is very close."

Veteran Olympics reporter Steve Wilson of the Associated Press first reported a tentative deal and quoted senior IOC member Denis Oswald of Switzerland.

"It's good if we have an agreement because this has created difficulties in the relations with the USOC," Oswald told the AP. "It's a very important national Olympic committee. It would be very good if this question be resolved."

American corporations and television networks have generated the biggest share of Olympic revenues.

Read More

Robert Champion agreed to go into Bus C because he was vying for the top job at Florida A&M University's Marching 100 band and thought it would impress his band mates.

But that hazing ritual — a relentless, brutal beating — would cost him his life. That's the picture painted by a cache of new documents released today in Florida.

The New York Times reports:

"Hours after performing at the Florida Classic, a football game in Orlando, Mr. Champion, 26, a drum major, entered the dark bus and was pummeled with hands, drumsticks and straps on Nov. 19. Band members crammed into the bus and struck and kicked Mr. Champion as he slowly tried to walk past to touch the back of the bus. Once he did that, the ritual dubbed "crossing Bus C" would be complete.

"Mr. Champion made it to the back and then collapsed. He died shortly after of "hemorrhagic shock caused by blunt-force trauma," according to the medical examiner's report."

The AP reports that several others who had been through the hazing ritual said "the ordeal leaves participants dizzy and breathless at a minimum." The Orlando Sentinel reports that before Champion crossed Bus C, he had been put through the "hot seat," a hazing ritual that involves suffocation.

The Sentinel reports that the Champion family attorney said the university still had not "faced up to its responsibility."

Champion's mother vowed to continue her activism.

"My fight here is to make sure everybody's child is safe," Pamela Champion said according to the Sentinel. "So there's got to be changes. Got to be."

Eleven members of the band are facing felony hazing charges.

Two women show their inked fingers after casting their votes on the first day of the Presidential election at a polling center in Old Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.
Enlarge Fredrik Persson/AP

Two women show their inked fingers after casting their votes on the first day of the Presidential election at a polling center in Old Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.

Two women show their inked fingers after casting their votes on the first day of the Presidential election at a polling center in Old Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.
Fredrik Persson/AP

Two women show their inked fingers after casting their votes on the first day of the Presidential election at a polling center in Old Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.

Polls have closed on a historic day in Egypt: For many it was the first time they had a say in who their leader will be. Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country for 29 years, was ousted last year. And before him, for another 30 or so years, Egyptian presidents have run unopposed.

Kimberly Adams was at the polls in Cairo today for NPR. She filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"Many waited in line for hours to choose the replacement for President Hosni Mubarak, who was booted from office during the Arab Spring.

"Fifty-eight-year-old Wahid Zahran stood in line with hundreds of others as polls opened in the suburb of New Cairo.

"He and his two friends admitted it was the first time voting for all of them — and they were planning to vote for different candidates.

"'And it's very nice for the first time in my age to live for the real democracy,' Zahran said.

"Exit polling wasn't allowed, so there's no clear sense yet as to which of the 13 candidates may be in the lead, but it's likely that the second day of voting on Thursday will culminate in a June run-off election."

Perhaps McClatchy Newspapers put it best when they said that despite the history and despite parliamentary elections riddled with irregularities, Wednesday's voting "seemed remarkably routine."

A worker cleans a public bathroom in Beijing. New rules require that public restrooms in the Chinese capital have no more than two flies in them.
Enlarge Greg Baker/AP

A worker cleans a public bathroom in Beijing. New rules require that public restrooms in the Chinese capital have no more than two flies in them.

A worker cleans a public bathroom in Beijing. New rules require that public restrooms in the Chinese capital have no more than two flies in them.
Greg Baker/AP

A worker cleans a public bathroom in Beijing. New rules require that public restrooms in the Chinese capital have no more than two flies in them.

Officials in Beijing have ruled that public restrooms in the Chinese capital can have no more than two flies in them at one time, the BBC reports.

New rules issued Monday by the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment also regulate ads within the bathrooms and state that no more than two pieces of trash can be left uncollected for more than a half-hour.

The rules apply to bathrooms in tourist spots such as parks, railway stations, supermarkets and malls.

The "two-fly rule" was instituted as a way to clean up the toilets, which are said to be notoriously filthy. According to China Daily, the rules are not compulsory and are intended only to improve sanitation.

It's unknown how the cleaner toilets will compare to Japan's "biggest public toilet in the world," which Mark wrote about earlier this month.

Tags: China

CNN's Piers Morgan arrives at the inaugural BAFTA Brits to Watch 2011 event at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
Enlarge Chris Pizzello/AP

CNN's Piers Morgan arrives at the inaugural BAFTA Brits to Watch 2011 event at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.

CNN's Piers Morgan arrives at the inaugural BAFTA Brits to Watch 2011 event at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
Chris Pizzello/AP

CNN's Piers Morgan arrives at the inaugural BAFTA Brits to Watch 2011 event at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.

CNN host Piers Morgan has been dragged into the U.K.'s hacking scandal once again.

This time, the host of the BBC's Newsnight told a media ethics inquiry that Morgan had showed him how to hack into a cell phone's voice mail.

SkyTV reports that Jeremy Paxman remembered a lunch from September 2002 for two reasons: First because Morgan seemed to imply that he had heard a conversation between another TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson and England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"I don't know if he was repeating a conversation he had heard or he was imagining this conversation," Paxman said, according to Sky News.

Later during that lunch, said Paxman, Morgan asked him if he had a password on his mobile's voicemail.

"He then explained the way to get access to people's messages was to go to the factory default setting and press either 0000 or 1234 and that if you didn't put on your own code, his words, 'You're a fool'," Paxman said.

Morgan replied to news cheekily on Twitter.

"Right - that's the last time I'm inviting Jeremy Paxman to lunch. Ungrateful little wretch," he tweeted.

Morgan was the editor of News of the World, a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that has been at the center of a scandal about illegal wiretapping. Morgan then went on to edit the Mirror. And now he hosts a nightly interview show on CNN.

The AP reports that Morgan has denied any involvement or knowledge into the hacking practices of the publications.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

"The testimony by the British news anchor was not the first to suggest Morgan might have had familiarity with unethical practices during his time at the Daily Mirror.

"Last December, a former Daily Mirror journalist told the same inquiry that phone hacking was considered a "standard journalistic tool" at the tabloid once run by the CNN host. One-time business columnist James Hipwell said he believed that hacking by Mirror reporters was a daily routine."

Even earlier than that in July, Morgan was thrust into the spotlight by a British parliamentarian who not only accused Morgan of hacking but also of boasting about his hacking.

As part of what it calls "a multi-year restructuring," Hewlett-Packard announced it was cutting 27,000 jobs or 8 percent of its workforce.

HP said the cuts would happen over an extended period and should be done by the end of 2014.

"The restructuring is expected to generate annualized savings in the range of $3.0 to $3.5 billion exiting fiscal year 2014, of which the majority will be reinvested back into the company," the company said in a statement.

The company said it would offer an early retirement program to limit the number of layoffs and the cuts will vary by country.

As we reported, the cuts were rumored last week.

The AP reports the cuts were precipitated as "the growing popularity of smartphones, the iPad and other mobile devices makes it tougher for the company to sell personal computers."

An Indian tiger looks out from a camouflaged cover in the Ranthambhore National Park. (March 2000 file photo.)
Enlarge J. Scott Applewhite/AP

An Indian tiger looks out from a camouflaged cover in the Ranthambhore National Park. (March 2000 file photo.)

An Indian tiger looks out from a camouflaged cover in the Ranthambhore National Park. (March 2000 file photo.)
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

An Indian tiger looks out from a camouflaged cover in the Ranthambhore National Park. (March 2000 file photo.)

Poachers caught hunting tigers in India's Maharashtra state are on notice that they could be shot on sight.

The Times of India says the "stern stand against poachers" means "if the forest officials fire upon the poachers injuring or killing them, the action will not be considered a crime." Prior to this week's announcement by state officials, those guards were subject to prosecution for such actions.

The newspaper adds that "Maharashtra forest minister Patangrao Kadam has asked forest guards to 'shoot at sight' if they see any poacher hunting or laying traps in tiger reserves."

According to The Associated Press:

"India faces intense international scrutiny over its tiger conservation, as it holds half of the world's estimated 3,200 tigers in dozens of wildlife reserves set up since the 1970s, when hunting was banned.

"Illegal poaching remains a stubborn and serious threat, with tiger parts in particular fetching high prices on the black market because of demand driven by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

"According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, 14 tigers have been killed by poachers in India so far this year — one more than in all of 2011."

(H/T to NPR's Wright Bryan.)

Tags: shooting poachers, poaching, India

We've all been there: Banging the back of a glass ketchup bottle, begging it to give you a dollop of the good stuff or battling with a plastic bottle coercing it into giving up the last of its contents.

Maybe that will be a thing of the past.

Six MIT researchers say they've solved that problem as part of an entrepreneurship competition. The result is a bottle coated with "LiquiGlide," a non-toxic material so slippery that the ketchup or for that matter mayonnaise just glides out when you turn it over.

Here's a video from Fast Company:

Here's what the students told the magazine:

"Condiments may sound like a narrow focus for a group of MIT engineers, but not when you consider the impact it could have on food waste and the packaging industry. 'It's funny: Everyone is always like, "Why bottles? What's the big deal?" But then you tell them the market for bottles—just the sauces alone is a $17 billion market,' [MIT PhD candidate Dave Smith] says. 'And if all those bottles had our coating, we estimate that we could save about one million tons of food from being thrown out every year.'"

If you're wondering, "LiquiGlide" did not win the competition. Cloudtop, which connects all your online experiences, took top prize in the MIT $100K competition.

Update at 3:10 p.m. ET. A Full Bottle?:

Our very sensible editor, Rick Holter, asks: But what happens if the bottle is full? Does LiquiGlide work then? We're posing that question to the team and we'll update the post with the answer.

Update at 6:48 p.m. ET. It Works With Full Bottle:

Kripa Varanasi tells us that their LiquiGlide would work even if the bottle is full.

"The videos we showed were to illustrate the point that even the last bit comes off," he told us.

In all likelihood it won't change the minds of those who believe President Obama is ineligible to be president, but today Arizona's top elections official said he had put the "birther" issue to rest, when Hawaii sent him confirmation that Obama's birth certificate is legitimate.

Ken Bennett issued a statement just two days after it was revealed that Maricopa (Ariz.) Sherriff Joe Arpaio had sent one of his publicly-funded deputies to investigate the birth certificate issue all the way to Hawaii.

Bennett wrote:

"Late yesterday, our office received the 'verification in-lieu of certified copy' from officials within the Hawaii Department of Health that we requested in March. They have officially confirmed that the information in the copy of the Certificate of Live Birth for the President matches the original record in their files.

"As Arizona's chief elections officer, I have the responsibility to certify the ballot to the state's 15 counties. At the request of numerous constituents, I merely asked Hawaiian officials to verify the information contained within President Obama's original birth certificate. They have complied with the request and I consider the matter closed."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Enlarge Lucas Jackson/AP

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Lucas Jackson/AP

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For the most part, we don't hear novel arguments in favor or against the controversial issue of immigration. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been one of the few to take a different view. Last year, he advocated opening the door to new immigrants if they all moved to Detroit.

At the time, it was derided as weird.

Yesterday, Bloomberg dove deeper into that thread endorsing a plan that would let states decide immigration policy. The New York Post reports:

"'There's no reason why you have to have a common immigration policy for all of America,' he argued. 'You could let each state do it differently.

"'I would argue the federal government should go one step further. They should deliberately force some places that don't want immigrants to take them, because that's the only solution for these big, hollowed-out cities where industry has left and is never going to come back unless you get some people to move there.'"

Bloomberg's comments came as he presented the findings of a study commissioned by the Partnership for New York City and Partnership for a New American Economy.

The report (pdf) argues that U.S. immigration laws "have failed to keep pace with the country's economic needs." Essentially, the report found, the U.S. will have a shortfall of workers qualified for science, technology, engineering and math jobs. And it also found the U.S. needs young immigrant workers to keep GDP growth at a good clip. The U.S. is producing too few young workers on their own, the report found.

As the Post points out, the report found that in 1991, about 18 percent of both Canada's and U.S. immigrants were considered "highly skilled."

Canada has a much more liberal immigration policy, so "by last year, Canada's percentage had soared to 67, while the United States was falling further behind, at 13 percent."

According to Bloomberg, what the U.S. needs to do is think about immigration policy as an economic tool.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who obtained the conviction of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff for lying to authorities about the leaking of a CIA officer's name and who sent former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to jail on corruption charges, is stepping down from his post.

The Justice Department just announced that Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, is leaving that job on June 30. The department added that:

United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald.
Enlarge John Gress/Getty Images

United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald.

United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald.
John Gress/Getty Images

United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald.

"Mr. Fitzgerald, 51, has no future employment plans and will take time off this summer before considering career options. Including his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York, Mr. Fitzgerald is leaving the Justice Department after nearly 24 years."

In the release, Fitzgerald says "when I was selected for this position in 2001, I said that it was one of the greatest opportunities that one could ever hope for, and I believe that even more now after having the privilege of working alongside hundreds of dedicated prosecutors and agents."

As NBC Chicago adds, Fitzgerald has "two Illinois Governors and a bevy of politically connected people [on] his list of convictions." Former Republican Gov. George Ryan was convicted in 2006 on fraud and racketeering charges.

Fitzgerald was acting as a special prosecutor when he obtained the 2007 conviction of former Cheney chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby for obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI about the leaking of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name after her husband, retired diplomat Joe Wilson, went public with critical comments about the Bush administration's decision to to war with Iraq. There's a timeline of the CIA leak case here.

Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald

Google's Moog Doodle.
Enlarge Google.com

Google's Moog Doodle.

Google's Moog Doodle.
Google.com

Google's Moog Doodle.

You've probably know by now that Google is paying homage to Robert Moog today with a Doodle that's a virtual version of the iconic Moog Synthesizer. Moog died in 2005. Today would have been his 78th birthday.

As with last year's Google tribute to Les Paul, you can use the Moog to create, record and share tunes. Folks are already doing that. Check out this video on "how to play Black Sabbath's Iron Man on the Google Doodle Moog."

Related NPR Stories

Now, we claim no musical talent. But we bet many of you know your way around a keyboard. So here's a challenge: Use the Moog Doodle to recreate a version of All Things Considered's theme song. Then share your work by giving us a link in this post's comments thread. Or, share your link on the NPR Facebook page. We'll try to spotlight the best efforts (and maybe, just maybe, some might make it on the air).

Need a refresher on what the current ATC theme song sounds like? We're embedding a clip. You can also hear it here.

A clip of the current 'All Things Considered' theme

And as for how to work the Moog Doodle, here's a nearly 16-minute long instructional video. We suspect you don't need to know all the tips in it.

AutomaticGainsay/YouTube

By the way, as ATC staff producer Art Silverman reminds us, the show's theme has changed substantially over the years. On the show's 31st anniversary, in 2002, NPR's Bob Boilen reported about Don Voegeli, the theme's composer and the theme song's evolution. As Bob said, Voegeli used a synthesizer (a Putney, not a Moog) on the first version. Voegeli died in 2009.

Bob Boilen reporting, in 2002

Here are a couple early versions of the theme. Feel free to try to recreate them as well:

Two early versions of the 'All Things Considered' theme

Update at 5:53 p.m. ET. The Perfect Version?:

We received two submissions on Facebook that put together would in our opinion create the perfect theme.

Josh Rist got the melody just right.

And Corey Chapman nailed the accompaniment.

Also, Jay Carlson in the comments, who said the challenge gave him a break from his master's thesis, created a dramatic version.

Update at 3:15 p.m. ET. Another Interesting Version:

Check out this submission from Meghan Bohnert on Facebook. She takes the theme a little further than most others.

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET. A Moog Connection. Robert Moog's son Matt (who we just had a Twitter conversation with) posted this in our comments thread:

"Funny story. When I was in 8th grade, my dad (Bob Moog) came to speak to my class about electronic music and I remember him playing the NPR theme song as an example. The world comes full circle....."

When we checked with him, Matt confirmed it was the All Things Considered theme that his father played that day.

Update at 2 p.m. ET: In the comments thread and on the Facebook page folks are sending in some attempts. Click here for one we like from Timo Chen on Facebook.

Another Way To Collect Entries; A Storify Collection:

Tags: Google Doodle, Moog, Google

Television correspondent Sabrina Quagliozzi reports from inside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square on Monday.
Enlarge Richard Drew/AP

Television correspondent Sabrina Quagliozzi reports from inside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square on Monday.

Television correspondent Sabrina Quagliozzi reports from inside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square on Monday.
Richard Drew/AP

Television correspondent Sabrina Quagliozzi reports from inside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square on Monday.

The pillars of Wall Street are shaking.

The reputations of JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all been taken down a notch or two in recent days and months. If you're keeping up, the latest black eye came in the wake of last week's flubbed Facebook IPO.

Regulators are looking into whether Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of the huge stock offering, told some clients of an analyst's lower revenue forecasts for Facebook weeks before the IPO. The information wasn't widely disclosed before the stock went public on Friday. And on Wednesday, a Los Angeles law firm filed a lawsuit "seeking class action status against Facebook and its underwriters alleging inadequate disclosure of key information," Reuters reports.

The Wall Street Journal says:

Did Some Get An Unfair Advantage? Read More:

Tags: Facebook IPO, Wall Street

As talks opened in Baghdad today, "diplomats from six world powers offered Iran new proposals Wednesday to ease international concerns about its nuclear program, but appeared to reject Tehran's appeals to ease economic sanctions to help move along talks," The Associated Press reports.

NPR's Peter Kenyon tells our Newscast Desk that "negotiators hope to set out a step by step process that the U.S. hopes will eventually lead to an end to Iran's enrichment program and Iran hopes will ease punitive sanctions that are choking its economy. But hardliners on both sides are casting doubt on the prospects for a diplomatic solution to the standoff."

According to the AP, "the proposal by the U.S. and its negotiation partners focused on Iran's highest-level uranium enrichment — at 20 percent — which many world leaders fear could be quickly turned into warhead-grade material." Details about the offer were not revealed, AP says.

The BBC reports that "as the talks began, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the world powers were putting a new offer to Tehran. The spokesman, Michael Mann, would not confirm whether this offer included any relief on sanctions."

While Iran says its efforts are focused only on peaceful uses for nuclear energy, the U.S. and its allies in the negotiations want to head off any effort by that nation to develop atomic weapons. The world powers at the table with Iran are China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.

Tuesday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency told reporters that Iran has agreed to give the IAEA access to its key nuclear-related facilities.

Related reports on today's Morning Edition:

— "Iran In Tough Spot As Sanctions Take Economic Toll."

Tom Gjelten reporting

— "Russia Opposes Iran Acquiring Nuclear Weapons."

Mike Shuster reporting

Tags: nuclear weapons, Iran

President Obama during a news conference Monday in Chicago.
Enlarge Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama during a news conference Monday in Chicago.

President Obama during a news conference Monday in Chicago.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama during a news conference Monday in Chicago.

Though there's no doubt about the nominees, presidential primaries are still being held.

And in both Democratic and Republican contests, some voters continue to register their unhappiness with the choices before them.

Tuesday, President Obama picked up about 6 in 10 of the votes in both the Arkansas and Kentucky Democratic primaries — meaning that about 4 in 10 of the voters chose to express their discontent with an incumbent who faces no serious challenge for his party's nomination. In Arkansas the other votes went to little-known Tennessee attorney John Wolfe. In Kentucky, they went to "uncommitted."

The results were similar to the West Virginia Democratic primary earlier this month, when a prison inmate grabbed about 4 in 10 votes.

On the Republican side Tuesday, the now basically unopposed Mitt Romney continued his march to the party's nomination. He received about 7 in 10 of the votes in both Arkansas and Kentucky. But that means, obviously, that in each state about 3 in 10 primary voters chose to cast their ballots for someone else.

As Politico says, "Obama continued to have trouble ... in Democratic primaries in traditionally conservative states." And as for Romney, "even the presumptive GOP nominee, who has had trouble exciting the conservative wing of his base, didn't turn in a stellar performance."

With neither nomination in doubt, of course, there wasn't as much incentive for supporters of Obama and Romney to get out and vote for their guys. There did, though, seem to be an incentive for some of the candidates' critics to get out and vote against them.

Tags: 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, President Obama

In Cartagena, a prostitute stands on a corner in the historical district.
Enlarge Manuel Pedraza /AFP/Getty Images

In Cartagena, a prostitute stands on a corner in the historical district.

In Cartagena, a prostitute stands on a corner in the historical district.
Manuel Pedraza /AFP/Getty Images

In Cartagena, a prostitute stands on a corner in the historical district.

The first congressional hearing into the scandal involving Secret Service personnel who allegedly cavorted with prostitutes in Colombia last month is set for this morning. As the time for that hearing approaches, a key senator is charging that such "morally repugnant" behavior appears to have been tolerated within the elite agency.

According to The Associated Press, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine will this morning challenge "early assurances that the scandal in Colombia appeared to be an isolated incident." In a statement prepared for the 10:30 a.m. ET hearing by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, AP says, Collins will note that two of the personnel involved in the Colombia incident were Secret Service supervisors — one with 21 years of service and the other with 22 years. Their involvement "surely sends a message to the rank and file that this kind of activity is tolerated on the road," Collins will say, according to her prepared remarks.

Meanwhile, in a development that could lend support to Collins' charge that such behavior has been tolerated, The Washington Post adds that four of the Secret Service personnel involved in the incident "have decided to fight their dismissals."

The Post adds that "the agents are arguing that the agency is making them scapegoats for behavior that the Secret Service has long tolerated."

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan is scheduled to testify at today's hearing. It will be his first appearance before Congress since the scandal story broke. C-SPAN is planning to stream the session.

Twelve Secret Service personnel were initially implicated in the scandal, which involved partying with prostitutes in Cartagena in the days before President Obama was due there for a summit with Latin American leaders. Three of those personnel were cleared of any serious wrongdoing. Twelve members of the U.S. military were also allegedly involved.

Update at 11:10 a.m. ET. "Absurd" To Say Such Behavior Is Condoned, Director Says:

Asked about the Post report and whether behavior such as what took place in Cartagena is tolerated, Sullivan just said "the notion that this type of behavior is condoned or authorized is just absurd in my opinion."

He asked that anyone with information about other such incidents come forward.

Update at 10:50 a.m. ET. Collins Doubts It Was An Isolated Incident; Sullivan Apologizes:

The hearing has begun, and Collins has expressed her concern about the "morally repugnant" behavior of the personnel. And, she just said it was "almost certainly not an isolated incident" based on what she has heard so far. Too many people were involved for it to have been a "one-time event," she added.

Meanwhile, Sullivan's prepared testimony has been posted. He does not directly address whether the type of conduct has been tolerated, but does say that reports of a similar case involving Secret Service personnel in El Salvador have been investigated and that there is no evidence to support the allegations.

While delivering his statement, Sullivan added that he is "deeply disappointed" in the conduct of the personnel involved in the Colombia scandal, "and I apologize" for their actions.

We've embedded his statement below. Click on the title "Director Sullivan's Testimony" to pop up a larger version.

Tags: Secret Service scandal

Good morning, here are some of the news stories we're looking at:

Secret Service Director Will Testify Before Senate Panel On Prostitution Scandal. (Washington Post)

Finally, Egyptians Have Their Say.

Sensitive Talks Open In Iraq Between Western Nations And Iran Over Nuclear Program. (Reuters)

33 years In Prison For Pakistani Doctor Who Aided Hunt For Bin Laden.

Jurors Ask For More Evidence In John Edwards Trial, Head Into Fourth Day Of Deliberations. (Los Angeles Times)

Prosecutor Will Release Evidence In Band Hazing Death At Florida A&M University. (Orlando Sentinel)

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Recovering At Home From Fall That Broke Ribs. (CBS)

Daughter Of Cuban President Gets Visa, Arrives In U.S. For Academic Conference, Will Speak On Sex Education. (San Jose Mercury News)

One Future For Houston's Aging Astrodome Could Be Demolition. (KHOU)

NFL Star Donald Driver And Partner Win Dancing With The Stars Competition. (Entertainment Weekly)

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