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The Two-Way
3:24 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Can U.S. Embassies Be Safe Without Being Unsightly?

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Credit Shaun Curry / AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Embassy in central London in 2009.
Credit Shaun Curry / AFP/Getty Images
The current U.S. Embassy in central London was designed by Finnish-born American architect Eero Saarinen in 1960. Saarinen also designed the St. Louis Gateway Arch.
Credit Angelo Carconi / AP
An Italian security policeman checks the main entrance of the U.S. Embassy in downtown Rome in 2008, ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush. The embassy building is over 300 years old and was once the home to the first queen of Italy, Margherita.
Credit Joh MacDougall / AFP/Getty Images
View of the entrance to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin in 2009. The new building opened in 2008 and exemplifies the new design standard to maintain security without sacrificing beauty.
Credit Marco Ugarte / AP
A policeman stands in front of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City in 2008. This embassy was built in 1961 and is more in line with the fortress-style embassies.
Credit Sia Kambou / AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Embassy in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, was evacuated on Dec. 28, 2012, because of security concerns as the CAR government continues to combat rebels.
Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images
An Egyptian protester stands above the entry of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012, during a demonstration against a film deemed offensive to Islam.
Credit Kieran Timberlake / U.S. Embassy
A rendering of the new U.S. Embassy in London that is expected to open in 2017. Susan Johnson describes it as a fortress that has been softened and feels more open.
Credit U.S. Department Of State
The embassy in Baghdad features a more fortresslike design.
Credit Teh Eng Koon / AFP/Getty Images
Local and foreign journalists visit the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Aug. 5, 2008. This massive embassy is the second-largest in the world after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad.
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Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 5:05 pm

There's been a tug of war between aesthetically pleasing and safe when it comes to American embassies around the world.

Many embassies have been slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago, "We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen."

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The Two-Way
3:18 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

GM Denies Asking For $2.1 Million Pay Raise For CEO Dan Akerson

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General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson.
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By Eyder Peralta

General Motors Co. said today that its Chief Executive Dan Akerson will not take a pay raise this year.

Documents filed with the House Committee On Oversight and Government Reform showed that GM was asking the U.S. government to OK a $2.1 million raise for Akerson. The government still owns part of GM and when the automaker took a $49.5 billion bailout, it agreed to have executive pay approved by government.

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The Salt
2:27 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Family Dinner: Treasured Tradition Or Bygone Ideal?

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Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
From left: 8-year-old Celedonia, 3-year-old Gavin, Amy Spencer and Doug Brown gather around the kitchen as Doug prepares a fruit salad for dinner.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
The Brown-Spencer family is made up of Brown's three daughters from a previous marriage, and Spencer's three children. To make cooking dinner manageable every night, each child is assigned a day to be a kitchen helper.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown, who is the director of music at the Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, moved to a six-day workweek so that he can leave early on weekdays to meet his girls when they get home from school at 3 p.m.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Laura, 6 (from left), Anna, 8, and Anita, 13, head out to the cul-de-sac to play before dinner. The kids get most of their exercise roller-skating, biking or playing ball after school.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown checks his phone while his daughters Anita and Anna play on a swing set near their home.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown makes dinner rolls while helping his seventh-grader, Anita, with math homework.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
"With the schedules of six kids and two adults, [dinner] has to be a priority or it just wouldn't happen," says Brown.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Dinner at the Brown-Spencer house this evening is pasta carbonara with broccoli and fruit salad.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Laura, Celedonia, Anna, Miriam and Anita reach for the bread basket.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Celedonia (left) and Anita pick a few pieces of candy to add to their lunches. The house rule is that they can eat no more than two to three pieces a day.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Anna, 8, practices the viola with her stepdad as her mother cleans up after dinner. All five of their daughters play an instrument and practice after dinner four nights a week.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
After dinner, Brown gets a moment to himself.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Celedonia, 8, Gavin, 3, Spencer and Brown gather around the kitchen as Brown prepares a fruit salad for dinner.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
The Brown-Spencer family gathers for dinner at their home in Mechanicsville, Va. This family of eight manages to eat together nearly every weeknight, but they've had to cut back on many after-school activities to make it work. From left: Doug Brown, Laura, Celedonia, Anna, Miriam, Anita, Amy Spencer and Gavin.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown stops by the grocery story after work to pick up ingredients for a fruit salad that he plans to make for dinner.
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Originally published on Thu February 28, 2013 1:06 pm

When we asked you (via our Facebook page) to tell us about the weekday challenges your families face, given the competing demands of work, commutes, schoolwork and activities, you didn't hold back. Especially on the subject of squeezing in a family dinner.

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Middle East
2:08 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Sanctions Bite, But Iran Shows No Signs Of Budging

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Credit Behrouz Mehri / AFP/Getty Images
An Iranian woman shops at a supermarket in the capital, Tehran, on Feb. 22. International sanctions have hurt Iran's economy, but prospects for a breakthrough on Iran's nuclear program are dim as negotiators meet in Kazakhstan.
Credit Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA/Landov
A view of fruit market in the northern Iranian city of Tonekabon.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 10:31 am

A new round of international talks on Iran's nuclear program is under way in Kazakhstan, where the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany are asking Iran to give up any thought of building a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from sanctions.

Western leaders do not predict a breakthrough, but they say small steps could be taken that would increase confidence on both sides.

Still, it's hard to imagine how such negotiations could proceed with lower expectations for progress.

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All Tech Considered
2:00 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Is There Room For Smartphones Beyond Android And iOS?

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Credit Canonical
Smartphones based on Ubuntu, a Linux-based operating system, are expected in 2014.
Credit Mozilla
Mozilla hopes to break into the smartphone market with its Firefox mobile operating system.
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By Steve Henn

Between them, Google Android and Apple's iOS account for more than 90 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, with Windows Phone, BlackBerry and a few smaller players rounding out the mobile market. But the tech world never stands still and other players are making a run for a piece of the growing mobile pie.

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Shots - Health News
1:50 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Anesthesia Care And Web-Surfing May Not Mix, Nurses Say

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Distraction is a well-known safety issue in the OR, but there's been very little research on whether smartphones are contributing to the problem.
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By editor

Originally published on Mon March 25, 2013 12:48 pm

The next time you're being wheeled into the operating room, you might want to ask the medical professionals there to lay off the eBay and Twitter apps on their phones.

That's the word from the nation's nurse anesthetists, who just came out with a new policy urging OR staff to use their smartphones for the practice of medicine, not Facebooking.

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Politics
1:41 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

It's A Trap! 4 Possible Presidential Pitfalls

Credit Henry Burroughs / AP
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower relaxes at the 18th hole during a golf game in Newport, R.I., Sept. 10, 1957.
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You are Barack Obama and you find yourself hacking away in the weeds of sequestration — and some frustration. What's going on?

After all, you won a second term as President of the United States. You withstood the hooks and slices of a nasty campaign. Your approval rating is on the rise. Over President's Day weekend you played golf with Tiger Woods. For an American politician, it probably doesn't get any better than this.

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The Two-Way
1:33 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Liberal SuperPAC Under Fire For Tweets About McConnell's 'Chinese' Wife

Credit Mike Thelier / UPI /Landov
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his wife Elaine Chao at last summer's Republican National Convention in Tampa.
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From NPR member station WFPL:

"A Democratic group is under sharp criticism for controversial online messages about Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's wife.

"For months, the liberal superPAC Progress Kentucky has attacked McConnell and held demonstrations at his offices and home.

"Recently, the group turned its attention to McConnell's wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, with a focus on her race.

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The Two-Way
1:10 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Pastagate: Quebec Agency Criticized For Targeting Foreign Words On Menus

Credit Timothy Hiatt / Getty Images
In Quebec, a restaurant's use of the word "pasta" on its menu sparked a government agency into action. Officials who enforce rules that guard French as the official language now say "exotic" words can be allowed in some cases.
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Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 4:15 pm

A government agency in Quebec, Canada, has come under intense criticism after attempting to get pasta stricken from a restaurant's menu. The move had nothing to do with the food: Officials said Italian words such as pasta, calamari, and antipasto should be replaced with French words to conform with the law.

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The Two-Way
12:33 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

John Kerry To German Students: Americans Have 'Right To Be Stupid'

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
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By Eyder Peralta

Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 12:58 pm

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