Local News
7:53 am
Tue June 18, 2013

Health Insurance Increases Loom For State Workers

More than 30,000 state and local government workers face a 15 percent increase for their health care insurance starting next month, but it could be only the beginning of higher costs as New Mexico's self-insurance program digs out of a financial hole.

There have been no premium increases for workers for the past five years when government budgets were squeezed. Yet, the fund covering health benefits was projected to be almost $70 million in the red in the upcoming budget year if the state did nothing to the insurance program to deal with rising health care costs.

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Shots - Health News
7:44 am
Tue June 18, 2013

How Men's Choice Of Mates May Have Led To Menopause

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 1:02 pm

A dapper older gentleman spurns his mate of a certain age to take a fresh-faced young lover. You've seen that movie before, right?

Well, this choice of youth may turn out to be more than a Hollywood trope. Researchers say decisions like that one may have been the evolutionary source of menopause.

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The Two-Way
7:00 am
Tue June 18, 2013

Mass Anti-Government Protests Swell In Brazil

Credit Evaristo Sa / AFP/Getty Images
Students shout slogans during a protest Monday in Brasilia.

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 8:39 am

What started as small protests about higher bus fares has swelled into nationwide, massive anti-government demonstrations in Brazil.

Last night, reports O Globo, more than 100,000 protesters filled the streets of Rio de Janeiro, while an additional 65,000 hit the streets of São Paulo. Nothing tells the story quite like this video of the streets of Rio posted by Lucio Amorim on Twitter:

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Parallels
6:51 am
Tue June 18, 2013

'It's Christmas in June': China Revels In NSA Leaks Story

Credit Kin Cheung / AP
A supporter holds a sign with pictures of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked details about the agency's surveillance programs, and Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan during a protest outside the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong on June 15. Snowden has been holed up in Hong Kong since the leaks.

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 11:52 am

Earlier this year, the U.S. government accused China's military of running a massive cyberspying campaign to steal business secrets from American companies.

"We've made it very clear to China and some other state actors that, you know, we expect them to follow international norms and abide by international rules," President Obama told ABC News in March.

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Around the Nation
5:52 am
Tue June 18, 2013

Is That Gas I Smell, Or Cinnamon?

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 11:52 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A special odor is added to natural gas. You know that smell meant to warn you of possible trouble? Last weekend New York officials added an odor to mask the odor. They were fixing a pipeline in Harlem and didn't want a flood of 911 calls over gas leaks that weren't considered dangerous because they were in the open. So they masked the smell by adding cinnamon to the gas. We have no word if area coffee shops sold out of rolls. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Around the Nation
5:44 am
Tue June 18, 2013

Bakery Apparently Mishears Cake Order

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 11:52 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning, I'm David Greene with congratulations to Laura Gramble. She graduated from Indiana University. To celebrate, mom ordered a cake - Indiana red and white with a photo of Laura's face. And one more request, a graduation cap made of icing. The baker evidently misheard and drew a cat, instead, on Laura's head; pink nose, white whiskers. The Gramble laughed it off and kept the cake from the bakery. Laura says they must have thought she was going to become a veterinarian.

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The Two-Way
5:14 am
Tue June 18, 2013

Book News: VICE Draws Ire By Staging Female Author Suicides

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

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The Two-Way
5:01 am
Tue June 18, 2013

NATO Hands Over Security Duty To Afghan Forces

Credit Shah Marai / AFP/Getty Images
Afghan President Hamid Karzai shakes hands with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen after a security handover ceremony at a military academy outside Kabul on Tuesday.

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 8:22 am

At a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, NATO officially handed over security of Afghanistan to the country's forces. It marked the first time the whole nation has been under Afghan control since the coalition invaded to oust the Taliban in 2001.

From Brussels, Teri Schultz filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"Afghan forces are now leading security operations all over the country, as NATO-led forces gradually drop back into a supporting role in the remaining, most difficult, districts.

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The Two-Way
4:31 am
Tue June 18, 2013

In Interview, Obama Defends NSA Data Collection

Credit WPA Pool / Getty Images
President Obama glances at Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (right) during a news conference with European Union officials at the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on Monday.

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 8:24 am

In a 45-minute interview with PBS' Charlie Rose, President Obama defended a government program that collects vast data about the electronic activity of Americans.

Obama rejected comparisons to the Bush-Cheney administration, saying his administration had implemented new safeguards to protect Americans' privacy.

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Latin America
4:16 am
Tue June 18, 2013

Angry At Brazil's Government, Protesters Take To The Streets

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 11:52 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Just because a government is democratically elected does not mean it is immune to protest. We've been watching demonstrations and the government response in Turkey. And now the demonstrations we're about to hear about took place in Brazil.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING PROTESTERS)

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