Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal is offering a new kind of shopping spree. One lucky winner will get $25,000 to spend on plastic surgery. Reaching for humor, the Taj announced that its "Nip, Tuck and Lift" sweepstakes will "change the face" of casino promotions. The winner can get lyposuction, a facelift — or take the cash instead.

"Yemen's Defense Ministry said Friday that the U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed," The Associated Press reports. It adds that "the Yemeni ministry provided no details in the statement, which appeared on one of its websites."

It's being reported he may have been killed by a missile fired from a U.S. aircraft at a convoy of vehicles.

Planning for retirement isn't just about mutual funds, 401(k)s and reverse mortgages anymore. With the traditional notions of retirement changing, figuring out how to spend our later years requires a different approach.

For more than a decade, there's been talk of creating a new national park in the heart of the Maine woods. Most locals were opposed from the start, but as the economy here changes, opposition is softening.

For generations, Maine's North Woods have provided pulp for the state's paper mills and created plenty of good jobs in an area with little other economic activity. But now the paper industry is struggling and a mill job is no longer a guarantee.

Postal workers held rallies around the country this week, trying to save their jobs. The U.S. Postal Service faces a deadline Friday for billions of dollars in debt payments it can't afford. It's considering closing hundreds of branches.

Commentator and former NPR East Africa correspondent Gwen Thompkins says she doesn't plan to cut back on writing letters.

Our planet's risk of being hit by a dangerous outer space rock may be smaller than scientists previously thought. That's according to a survey of the sky that NASA is calling the most accurate census yet of near-Earth asteroids.

A NASA space telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, recently went searching for asteroids lurking nearby — and found far fewer than astronomers had expected.

The spectacular failure of the solar company Solyndra has focused attention on the struggle of America's renewable energy industry to compete in a global marketplace.

But there may be a bright spot in Arizona, where manufacturer First Solar makes those iconic solar panels more cheaply than anyone else.

Last week's assassination of the former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, not only dashed hopes for peace negotiations, it also increased the talk of civil war.

It came at the time that American troops are preparing to begin a gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan, exposing deep anxiety among Afghans about what lies ahead.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, Host:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, Host:

And I'm David Greene.

In Yemen, the government announced the death today of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Yemen's Defense Ministry announced the death in a statement but provided very few other details.

INSKEEP: Awlaki is perhaps the best-known English speaking advocate of violence against the United States. And he has been linked to major crimes in the United States.

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.