Good morning.

The early news that we've already had a chance to report is that Toyota is recalling more than 400,000 model year 2010 Prius hybrid vehicles, and that another major snowstorm is headed toward the already buried Washington, D.C., and parts of the mid-Atlantic.

As for other stories making headlines, they include:

— CNN — Sources Say Pakistani Taliban Leader Is Dead: "Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, three Taliban sources said Tuesday. Mehsud died near the city of Multan while on his way to a treatment center in Karachi, the sources said ... Authorities have been looking into reports that Mehsud died after being wounded last month in a drone attack."

— The Associated Press — "Iran Begins Controversial New Nuclear Process": "Iran's state TV says the country started enriching its uranium to a higher level of 20%, over the objections of the international community. The Tuesday report said enrichment began after Iranian scientists injected 25 kilograms of 3.5% enriched uranium gas into a cascade of centrifuges in a laboratory in Natanz, south of Tehran."

— Reuters — "Futures Lifted By Greece Rescue Talk": "Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, buoyed by hopes that European Union nations could bail out debt-burdened Greece. Worries that rising debt in Greece, Portugal and other euro zone states could undermine a global recovery has sapped confidence from equity markets in recent weeks. Expectations of a rescue for Greece followed news that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a meeting of central bankers in Sydney early to attend a European Union leaders' summit."

Related report on Morning Edition — "Europe's Debt Crisis May Saddle Germany".

— Reuters — "Afghan Avalanches Kill Dozens, Trap Hundreds": "Dozens of people died and hundreds were trapped through the night in freezing cold and darkness after avalanches swept over a mountain highway and closed a landmark alpine tunnel in Afghanistan. Passengers trapped in the Salang pass, the main route across the Hindu Kush mountains, said by telephone on Tuesday they were freezing to death and being suffocated by car fumes, and had seen cars filled with dead bodies after being stuck through the night."

— The New York Times — "McCain ... Tilts To Right": Challenged by former GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth in a primary for his Senate seat, Arizona's John McCain "finds himself jammed, moving starkly — and often awkwardly — to the right, apparently in an effort to gain favor among the same voters whom Mr. Hayworth, a consistent voice for the far right, could pull toward him like taffy come summer."

— The Wall Street Journal — Sen. Menendez "Prodded Fed to Aid Ailing Lender"; Execs Were Big Contributors: "Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey urged the Federal Reserve last July to approve an acquisition to save a struggling bank in his state. He didn't mention that the bank's chairman and vice chairman were big contributors to his political campaign." The acquisition was not OK'd. Menendez, a Democrat, says he did nothing wrong.