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NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg and surgeon David Reines ran into each other not long after their spouses had passed away. Soon — despite a couple of unforeseen events — the pair realized it was kismet that they had found each other.

A Mormon Bishop in Taylorsville, Utah, went to great lengths last Sunday to teach his congregation a lesson. David Musselman disguised himself as a homeless person and walked around outside before the service. Then, in character, he walked up to the pulpit and asked to deliver remarks. He tells Ari Shapiro what happened next.

More and more towns are hosting festivals to bring extra money into the area. But these attractions can be disruptive, and one town in Michigan isn't sure it wants any more. Traverse City is looking at new restrictions to cure "festival fatigue," to the dismay of the business community.

The Great Beauty is the latest portrait of the city onscreen, in all its wonder, decadence, sinfulness and ugliness. The film, directed by Paolo Sorrentino, is also Italy's official entry for this year's Academy Awards.

Earlier this week, international negotiators agreed on a deal to curb the Iranian nuclear program temporarily. Author Ariel Dorfman offers context to the reactions that have followed. He suggests a book of poetry by the Sufi master Rumi, a fascinating glimpse into the lives and ideas that shape Persian identity.

Science isn't known as a career field that attracts showboats. But academics must give seminars, pharmaceutical researchers present results, and graduate students defend their work. In San Diego, one of the country's science hubs, a group aims to teach scientists the art of small talk and public speaking.

Host Scott Simon looks back at the witticisms of President John F. Kennedy, with a little help from late night TV host and comedian Conan O'Brien.

Golden eagles are protected by federal law. Still, this is the first prosecution of its kind, despite the fact that dozens of eagles are killed by wind energy facilities each year.

A former Massachusetts chemist is now behind bars because of sloppy drug testing that went on for years, compromising up to 190,000 criminal cases and costing the state millions of dollars. The scandal raises questions of accountability in forensic labs around the country.

In Afghanistan, a grand assembly of some 2,500 tribal elders, politicians and civil society elites are meeting to decide whether to approve a security agreement with the United States. Approval by the grand assembly, called a loya jirga, would be in addition to the OK of the Afghan government. But as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has noted, the agreement can't go forward without the backing of the Afghan people. The security agreement would allow as many as 9,000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan after the current NATO mission ends next year. Those troops would continue to train Afghan forces, but also conduct limited counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida fighters.