Steve Inskeep

The Florida primary on Jan. 31 is the next nominating contest in the GOP presidential campaign. On Saturday, Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. On Sunday, he was saying it's now a two-man race between Mitt Romney and himself.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

As they air their disagreements, the Republican presidential candidates agree on one thing: They want to repeal President Obama's health care law.

RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: The biggest part of that law - a requirement that almost everybody must have insurance - does not take effect until well after the election. But any repeal effort would be complicated, because some of the law is already in effect.

INSKEEP: NPR's Julie Rovner is here to talk about how the law is changing the health care landscape. Hi, Julie.

As Newt Gingrich campaigned in South Carolina yesterday, there were signs he was beginning to soften his critique of the private equity career of rival Mitt Romney. Gingrich had come under fire this week from fellow Republicans for his attack on Romney.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is touring Latin America this week, meeting with the heads of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Cuba. Steve Inskeep talks to NPR's Juan Forero about the Iranian leader's goals in the region, and how his trip positions him back home.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.

The United States appears to have resumed drone attacks in Pakistan, specifically in Pakistan's tribal areas, where they've been used to target militants operating along the border with Afghanistan. This strike comes after at least a six-week break in drone strikes. NPR's Julie McCarthy has just finished three years as NPR's Islamabad bureau chief. She's on the line to talk about this.

Hi, Julie.

Whoever wins the Republican presidential nomination will face President Obama in November. The Obama campaign got some meaningful news Friday when unemployment figures improved again.

Six women in Derry, N.H., are among the voters who expect to take part in the nation's first presidential primary Tuesday. Elaine Sweeney hosted the group, and they discussed the issues and the candidates on their minds.

The U.S. State Department says it's urging the government of the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain to act on the findings of a major human rights report that has just been issued. That report details the abuses that took place during and after a mass uprising in Bahrain that was styled after movements in Tunisia and Egypt. The report was commissioned by the government itself and assembled by a team of international legal experts. But it remains to be seen whether it will lead to real reform and dialogue between the ruling Sunni monarchy and the Shiite majority.

Penn State University's Board of Trustees today holds an open board meeting. Earlier this week, the board fired head football coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier. Two high-level administrators have been charged with failing to report alleged child sex abuse by a former coach.

The Penn State Board of Trustees says it will appoint a special committee to investigate a child sex abuse scandal. This is the case that engulfed the university, its football program and coach Joe Paterno. Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing young boys over a 15-year period, sometimes in the Penn State locker room.

In less than two months, the first caucuses and primaries of the 2012 presidential election season will be held. And in just under two weeks, a congressional Supercommittee is due to deliver one-point-two trillion dollars in cuts and revenue to reduce the deficit.

A cleaning woman working at the Ostwall Museum in Berlin noticed a wet stain on the floor by a modern-art sculpture. She scrubbed away the stain, not realizing it was part of the piece called, "When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling." Back in 1986, another cleaner in Germany wiped away a grease stain valued at 400,000 euros.

About 3,000 people gathered at the Port of Oakland Wednesday, and effectively shut it down. People flooded the port area and blocked exits. The protest remained largely peaceful until the late evening, when police responded to a bonfire.

This week, we're asking what it really means to live in a world with 7 billion people. For some answers, we visit Karachi, Pakistan.

The grandest expression of the world's population growth is in the word "megacity." Dozens of these cities of more than 10 million now ring the globe, like a string of oversized pearls. In a megacity, people and ideas clash: The ancient collides with the modern; secular with religious; global with local. In Karachi, Pakistan, those forces can be seen in the story of a single piece of real estate.

Looking thin, weary and dazed, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned home Tuesday from more than five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were released.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Libya, where she will meet with members of the National Transitional Council. This is the first time a cabinet-level official from the U.S. has traveled to Libya since 2008.

The company says it is scuttling its plan to split off its DVD-by mail and streaming video services.

Steve Inskeep talks to NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson about the violent clashes between Coptic Christian protesters and Egyptian security forces in Cairo.

Thomas Sargent of New York University and Christopher A. Sims of Princeton University have won the Nobel Prize in economics. They won for their research on macroeconomics.

Yemeni officials are saying Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaida's arm in Yemen, was killed while traveling between two provinces in Yemen. Steve Inskeep talks to NPR's Dina Temple-Raston about reports of the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaida's arm in Yemen.

In Greece, financial inspectors returned Thursday to review whether the government was complying with the terms of a $150 billion bailout that it agreed to last year. But the inspectors were met with loud demonstrations protesting further wage and pension cuts, public sector layoffs and higher taxes.

The Taliban is claiming responsibility for gunfire and explosions heard around the Afghan capital Kabul. Insurgents have been firing in the direction of the U.S. Embassy as well as other landmarks.

Afghan officials say insurgents have been firing rockets at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Police describe a large group of gunmen firing heavy weapons in the downtown and diplomatic quarter.

Late Saturday night, a Taliban truck bomb ripped through a military base in eastern Afghanistan, injuring 77 U.S. troops. It also sent shrapnel up to a mile away, killing an Afghan policeman and four civilians.

Stock exchanges across Asia dropped sharply Monday after Friday's dismal U.S. employment report showing no new jobs were added in August. Japan's Nikkei index fell nearly 2 percent — with markets in South Korea, Hong Kong and Shanghai also posting major losses. Investors remain concerned by the possibility of another recession in the U.S., where markets are closed Monday for Labor Day.

On a recent morning, John Pierce walked across the sprawling hospital campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. On the lawn, he spotted people who have come to define the place in recent years.

"[They were] having physical fitness-type tests," Pierce says. "There were people with notebooks and things, like they record when you do your sit-ups and pushups — but these were a number of double amputees."

Pierce is the historian for the Walter Reed Society, which makes him an expert on the historic American hospital in Washington, D.C.

It's the end of a turbulent week that started with the U.S. government narrowly averting a failure to pay its bills. A market selloff that began some days before has continued all week. The Dow lost 512 points Thursday alone. European stock markets were down Friday. Asian markets fell, too.