Morning Edition

The death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has raised security concerns in the Korean peninsula and Asia in general. Linda Wertheimer talks to Stephen Bosworth, former U.S. special representative for North Korea and dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University, about how dangerous the situation is on the Korean peninsula.

Intrigue! Riches! Sex! Some violence! Not the latest movie plot, but a story that lurks in the background of some 100-year-old photographs of The Empress Dowager — once the most powerful woman in Asia. The mostly black-and-white photos languished for decades in the archives of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Now, they are on display and give a glimpse of Old China at a time when today's China is the picture of modern power.

Around 1,100 Air Force pilots fly remotely piloted aircraft – or drones. These planes soar over Iraq or Afghanistan but the pilots sit at military bases back in the United States.

A new Pentagon study shows that almost 30 percent of drone pilots surveyed suffer from what the military calls "burnout." It's the first time the military has tried to measure the psychological impact of waging a "remote-controlled war."

The agency brought civil fraud charges Friday against two CEOs and four former top executives at the mortgage giants, accusing them of misleading investors about risky subprime loans.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Most thieves don't turn themselves in, but two in Wisconsin did without quite intending to. As the men drove off after stealing DVDs and video games from Target, one thief pocket-dialed 9-1-1. A dispatcher listened as the duo detailed their heist, including how the police would be looking for their Blue Dodge Durango.

That tip led the cops directly to them. After 54 minutes, their call to 9-1-1 finally ended with their arrest.

A gold South African Krugerrand — worth about $1,700 — was found in a Salvation Army kettle outside a Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania this week. This is not the first time this has happened. The coins seem to appear almost every year near Gettysburg.

Journalist and essayist Christopher Hitchens has died from complications of cancer of the esophagus. He was 62. The writer has been closely identified with leftist ideas but has traveled across the ideological spectrum with his support of some conservative causes including the launch of the Iraq war.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

Joe Arpaio, the man who calls himself America's toughest sheriff, is not backing down. The U.S. Justice Department yesterday accused his sheriff's department in Maricopa County, Arizona of systematically violating the constitutional and civil rights of Latinos. By the end of the day, NPR's Ted Robbins reports, the sheriff was hitting back.

Renee Montagne speaks to commentator John Ridley about the controversy following the publication of an online column on Forbes' website titled 'If I Were a Poor Black Kid'. The columnist is a middle-aged white man, named Gene Marks.

Renee Montagne has the Last Word in business.