NPR 2010-12-12

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Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the president's special envoy¹ to Pakistan and Afghanistan, is in the hospital after emergency surgery. As NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, Holbrooke is a veteran diplomat² who's been given some of the thorniest³ foreign policy challenges.

State Department spokesman Andy Laine said the 69-year-old Holbrooke was admitted to George Washington University Hospital yesterday after he collapsed⁴.

"This morning, doctors completed surgery to repair a tear in his aorta⁵. He is in critical condition and has been joined by his family."

Holbrooke has been in foreign policy hotspots much of his career. President Clinton appointed him to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Early in his administration, President Obama selected him to serve as envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Holbrooke was also a formidable force on Wall Street in the 1980s. He's married to journalist Kati Marton and has two adult children by a previous marriage. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.

Treasury⁶ Secretary Timothy Geithner is doing better after being hospitalized yesterday with a kidney stone. Officials say he's successfully completed treatment without incident and has been released.

Elizabeth Edwards' oldest daughter Cate talked about her mother's wit during today's funeral service in Raleigh, North Carolina. Edwards died this week after suffering from cancer. Close friend Glenn Bergenfield says the Edwards children will find strength in their father, former presidential candidate John Edwards.

"Jack⁷ and Emma have their dad, and I can tell you from up very close they adore and love and trust him, just as Cate does and Wade⁸ did. He's a loving and very attentive⁹ dad, and despite his grief over Elizabeth's death, he's strong and will take great care of these kids."

Elizabeth Edwards will be buried next to her 16-year-old son Wade, who was killed in a car accident in 1996.

American student Amanda Knox appeared frail¹⁰ and frightened today in an Italian courtroom during an appeals hearing for her murder conviction. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports she told the judge and jurors she is the innocent victim of an "enormous mistake".

A year ago, Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007. In the second hearing of the appeals trial, Amanda Knox, her voice breaking, addressed the court in Italian. She said, "We are paying with our lives for a crime we did not commit." "I am innocent." Knox said, "Raffaele is innocent. We did not kill Meredith." Knox also challenged the image with which the prosecution¹¹ has depicted¹² her "dangerous, diabolical¹³, jealous, selfish and violent". Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.

Blizzard¹⁴ conditions are stalling traffic in the Midwest. Forecasters expect up to a foot of snow to fall in parts of South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Wind gusts¹⁵ could bring wind chill readings between 20 and 30 below.

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Bernard Madoff's eldest¹⁶ son has been found dead of an apparent suicide. Police say Mark Madoff's body was discovered this morning in his Manhattan apartment. Today marks the second anniversary of his father's arrest for bilking investors¹⁷. Mark Madoff's lawyer says the 46-year-old succumbed¹⁸ to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations¹⁹ and innuendo²⁰.

In Ivory Coast, the incumbent²¹ leader, who's facing international isolation²², has hinted at possible talks to end the deadlock²³ over who won last month's disputed presidential runoff. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports this is the first sign he may be prepared to negotiate.

Laurent Gbagbo dismisses talk of an attempted war in Ivory Coast and calls for negotiations²⁴ to ease the crisis over the November 28th vote. Gbagbo predicts the opposing parties will sit down together and talk in due course. There's been no response to the offer from the rival camp. The election commission declared victory for the opposition²⁵ challenger Allasane Ouattara, certified²⁶ by the United Nations and endorsed²⁷ by the White House and others. The Constitutional Counsel, though, reversed that decision and announced Gbagbo had won. Despite mediation²⁸, the impasse²⁹ continues. Both men are serving as president and have named their respective governments. Ouattara's prime minister hinted Friday things would soon return to normal. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Abidjan.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is in Haiti, where she is scheduled to stop by cholera³⁰ treatment centers. She traveled to the impoverished³¹ nation with the Reverend Franklin Graham as part of a humanitarian³² mission by his Samaritan's Purse relief organization. A spokeswoman says details about Palin's itinerary³³ are not being released for security reasons.