World

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi issues decrees consolidating his power, raising concerns about an emerging dictatorship. Audie Cornish talks with Leila Fadel about reaction to the move.

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Rebel gains in northern Syria have forced out President Bashar al-Assad's army. One by one, villages and towns have slipped from government control. And now, Syrians are struggling to transform the country on their own through local councils and committees. NPR's Deborah Amos reports from Jerablus, near the Turkish border.

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Up next, some food for thought as you chomp your Thanksgiving leftovers. Recycling paper and plastic, as you know, is an effective way to save money and energy. So why not recycle all the uneaten food that goes to waste? And there is an awful lot of it. Forty percent of the food in the U.S. today goes uneaten, which means Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion worth of food each year. But that's not all. Food waste, as it decays in landfills, also produces methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas.

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor scientific research that, in the words of Master of Ceremonies Marc Abrahams, "first makes you laugh, and then makes you think." This year's prizes, awarded in late September, include citations for research into mysteriously green hair, potentially explosive colonoscopies, and the creation of equations that model the back-and-forth swing of a ponytail in motion.

Already this year, 105 women in Italy have been killed by husbands or boyfriends –- present or former.

Vanessa Scialfa, 29, was killed by her partner in Sicily. Alessia Francesca Simonetta, 25, was pregnant when she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Milan. Carmella Petrucci, 17, was stabbed in the throat as she tried to defend her sister from her ex-boyfriend.

Police inspector Francesca Monaldi, who heads the gender crime unit in Rome, says the names and the cities change, but the stories are very similar.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was showered with international praise on Wednesday as he brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, he was the target of angry protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square as they denounced Morsi's decision to grant himself sweeping new powers a day earlier.

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

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And I'm Linda Wertheimer. The streets of Egyptian cities are flooded with demonstrators today. In Cairo and Alexandria, Portside and Suez, thousands are protesting the president for issuing a decree that gives him immense power over all the branches of government. There are street fights in some places, between opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Morsi. He spoke earlier today, saying he was acting on behalf of god and the nation.