Morning Edition

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

When an American soldier reportedly walked through two villages in southern Afghanistan and methodically killed 16 civilians, including children, it caused an uproar from Kabul to Washington, D.C. Now, let's get a view from where the killings happened - Kandahar. I first met Ehsan Ullah two years ago when I reported on a Canadian-funded girls' school that he runs in that city.

It's election day Tuesday — this time in the Deep South as voters in Alabama and Mississippi head to the polls. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney spent some time campaigning in the two states while Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich blanketed the region. And Santorum and Gingrich met at a forum Monday night in Birmingham in a last-minute effort to woo undecided voters.

The setting couldn't have been more picturesque: the stately Alabama Theater in downtown Birmingham. About 2,000 Republican faithful turned out for the presidential forum, which began with a prayer.

As the presidential primary season marches on around the country, the nasty political ads and robo calls are taking their toll. Many people are, to paraphrase former Vice President Al Gore, getting snippy about their political differences. If we're going to make it till Election Day, commentator Gwen Thompkins thinks we'd better all learn how to disagree without being disagreeable.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Social media sure make the job of police easier. A Japanese doctor is the latest to post evidence of his own violation of the law. He said he wanted people to see the beauty of his Ferrari, so he positioned a camera behind the driver's seat and zoomed away. The video showed him driving 77 miles per hour, 52 miles over the speed limit. Angry viewers not only marked dislike on the video, they reported the driver to the police. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In this country, many American kids are preparing for standardized tests. They're among the rites of spring and they cause a lot of stress. One Indiana school tries to manage that stress by obsessing over the test a little less. Rather than teaching every single thing on the test, they just teach how to take one. Here's Kyle Stokes of NPR member station WFIU.

KYLE STOKES, BYLINE: Quick - name the literary genres you learned about in school.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

For all the difficult relations the United States has with Iran, the two countries share many ties, including millions of Iranian-Americans. Ryan Seacrest and Bravo make them the focus of a new reality show called "The Shahs of Sunset." It examines the lavish lifestyles of some in Southern California's Iranian-American community. Amy Walters reports.

Residents of the Gulf Coast are warily evaluating the BP settlement deal in the Deepwater Horizon case. Some were hurt during clean-up of the oil spill, others lost their businesses and still others lost family in the rig explosion. But they are coming to different conclusions about whether the deal is a good one.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And we're also reporting on violence on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The attacks stretched the weekend into today. Israeli airstrikes killed three more people today in Gaza - that Palestinian-held area - bringing the total to 21.

As Israelis have been bombing, Palestinians have been firing rockets into Israel. And NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is following this story.

And Lourdes, what's the latest?