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As Crackdown Continues, Syria Agrees To Arab League Observers

Credit Muzaffar Salman / AP

A boy stands in a water fountain as he holds up the Syrian national flag during a rally in Damascus, Syria.

By editor

Originally published on Mon December 19, 2011 4:09 pm

Today, Syria signed an agreement that would allow Arab League observers into the country. It's all in a bid to end its isolation and the nine-month standoff between the government of President Bashar Assad and protesters who are demanding his ouster.

The Guardian reports:

4:04 pm

Mon December 19, 2011

From Meryl To Margaret: Becoming 'The Iron Lady'

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Credit The Weinstein Co.

Meryl Streep stars as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady.

Credit Francois Durand / Getty Images

British director Phyllida Lloyd's previous films include 2008's Mamma Mia!

By editor

Originally published on Mon December 19, 2011 4:54 pm

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Margaret Thatcher's policies as British prime minister earned her the nickname "The Iron Lady," and now that's also the title of a new film about her life.

Thatcher was famously tough on British labor unions, IRA hunger strikers, the Soviet Union and the war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. So in the film, when visiting U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig questions Thatcher's knowledge of war, the then-prime minister's response is predictably unyielding.

4:03 pm

Mon December 19, 2011

AT&T Drops T-Mobile Bid

By editor

AT&T shuttered proposed plans to buy T-Mobile. For more, Robert Siegel talks to NPR's Joel Rose.

North Korea In Transition

3:35 pm

Mon December 19, 2011

How Will A New Leader Handle North Korea's Nukes?

By Mike Shuster

Perhaps Kim Jong Il's most enduring legacy was to turn North Korea into a nuclear weapons state. The country successfully tested a nuclear bomb underground in 2006, and a second test followed in 2009.

With Kim's death, which was announced Monday, his presumed successor is his son, Kim Jong Un. But little is known about him or his thinking on the country's nuclear program.

3:21 pm

Mon December 19, 2011

AT&T Drops Bid To Purchase T-Mobile

Credit Etienne Franchi / AFP/Getty Images

This June 2, 2010, file photo shows the AT&T logo in Washington, D.C.

By Eyder Peralta

After the federal regulators raised questions about AT&T's bid to buy T-Mobile USA, the telecommunications company said it was scrapping its $39 billion bid. The merger would have made AT&T the largest wireless carrier in the United States.

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4:05 pm

Mon December 19, 2011