Let's turn to Syria now. Syria's president gave his first public speech in five months yesterday. Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian Parliament that his government was not responsible for the massacre in Houla last month, in which more than 100 people were killed, nearly half of them children. Also, there is new Syria-related violence in northern Lebanon, near the Syrian border. And to talk about this we've reached NPR's Kelly McEvers.
Three months ago in Afghanistan, U.S. officials yielded to the demands of President Hamid Karzai and promised to turn over control of the prison at Bagram airbase to Afghan control. But as the process gets underway, neither side seems to agree on the details. There are worries the Americans may have created a Guantanamo-style administrative detention regime that is against Afghan law.
We're keeping track of two minor league baseball players this summer. These are guys who are trying to make it to the big leagues. Today, we're checking back in with Reid Gorecki. We first met him while he was teaching at a baseball academy out on Long Island.
REID GORECKI: Beautiful.
GREENE: That's where you told us about his time playing for minor league teams affiliated with the Cardinals and Yankees. And he even played in the majors, briefly with the Atlanta Braves.
From jobseekers in Spain, we turn to those here in the U.S. The latest employment numbers revealed that there are still many more Americans looking for work than there are our jobs that need filling. The May jobs report showed the economy added an anemic 69,000 jobs - about half the number that were added in April. Yet, here's the paradox: Despite the high number of people seeking jobs, many employers insist they can't find the right person for the exact positions they have open.
Since the revolution last year, Tunisians have had greater freedom to express their opinions on political and social issues. But the rise of Islamist groups has made religion a more sensitive topic. Here, two men chat at a cafe in the capital Tunis.
Credit Fethi Belaid / AFP
A Tunisian journalist holds a TV frame as part of a protest in Tunis against actions taken against the media. Since last year's revolution, Tunisians have been able to speak more freely about politics and social issues. But with the rise of Islamist groups, religion has become a more sensitive topic.
Credit Fethi Belaid / AFP/Getty Images
Nabil Karoui, the director of the private Tunisian TV channel Nessma, had his offices and home attacked after his channel broadcast a film that angered Islamists. Karoui, shown here leaving a courthouse in Tunis, lost a case for "violating morals."
Over the next couple weeks, NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep will be taking a Revolutionary Road Trip across North Africa to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves as they write new social rules, rebuild their economies and establish new political systems. Steve and his team will be traveling some 2,000 miles from Tunisia's ancient city of Carthage, across the deserts of Libya and on to Egypt's megacity of Cairo.
Cathy Yamauchi has been waiting since Thanksgiving to hear from her mortgage lender regarding a short sale of her home in Ramsey, Minn. She is planning to move to a townhome, but is mostly living out of boxes while waiting on the short sale.
Banks are often accused of dragging their feet when a homeowner wants to sell for less than the balance on the mortgage. A lot of those "short sales" might be better dubbed "really long and drawn out" sales. New federal guidelines, though, could now push lenders to approve short sales faster.
Jeff Hudale, who is autistic, demonstrates a face recognition test at the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. Researchers use eye tracking devices to monitor and record what he is looking at.
Like a lot of people with autism, Jeff Hudale has a brain that's really good at some things.
"I have an unusual aptitude for numbers, namely math computations," he says.
Hudale can do triple-digit multiplication in his head. That sort of ability helped him get a degree in engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. But he says his brain struggles with other subjects like literature and philosophy.
"I like working with things that are rather concrete and structured," he says. "Yeah, I like things with some logic and some rules to it."
On a Friday, it is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
In a unanimous ruling, a federal appeals court has struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act. The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled the 1996 law unconstitutional because it denies giving gay couples the same rights afforded to heterosexual couples. As NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, the ruling sets the stage for a potential battle at the U.S. Supreme Court.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
The financial woes of Greece and other countries of the eurozone have meant painful austerity measures in exchange for financial bailouts. Now Irish voters have approved a European Union treaty to battle the debt crisis. It's an effort to enforce strict budget cuts or face financial penalties.
