Weekend Edition

Scott Simon/ Audie Cornish

The program wraps up the week's news and offers a mix of analysis and features on a wide range of topics, including arts, sports, entertainment, and human interest stories.

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Around the Nation

5:54 am

Sat December 8, 2012

Detroit Driving Toward Its Own Debt Cliff

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 6:38 am

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SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: The city of Detroit is approaching its own fiscal precipice. The city is deeply in debt and could run out of cash by the end of this month. That would mean more layoffs from a city workforce that's already been cut so much that a reported two-thirds of the city's streetlights do not work. The amount of empty, abandoned land in the city, which produces no tax revenue, is estimated to be as large as the entire city of Paris.

Africa

4:29 am

Sat December 8, 2012

As Economy Prospers, Ghana Holds Presidential Vote

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Credit Pius Utomi Ekpei / AFP/Getty Images

Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama arrives at a polling station to cast his vote.

Credit Gabriela Barnuevo / AP

Ghanaians vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on Friday.

By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 8:39 pm

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Voting for a new president and parliament in Ghana has been extended into a second day in some areas due to glitches with the new biometric voter verification system.

Ghana, which began pumping crude oil in 2010 and is also a major cocoa and gold exporter, has gained an enviable reputation in its often-turbulent West African neighborhood. It's admired for being a relative oasis of stability and peace in the region — despite tensions in the build-up to the vote.

A Peaceful Democracy

Europe

4:28 am

Sat December 8, 2012

Getting The Royal Treatment En Route To Versailles

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Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

The Belvedere on Marie Antoinette's estate.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

The cars of about 30 trains traveling between Paris and the Palace of Versailles are decorated to reflect rooms and other areas at the famous royal chateau and former seat of French power. Here, the famed Hall of Mirrors.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

Workers at SNCF, the French state rail company, add panels to the new commuter trains at a maintenance warehouse in Vitry-sur-Seine, just south of Paris in May.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

Each train's seven cars are decorated using sticker-like coverings made of a plastified film to reflect rooms or areas of Versailles.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

The bibliothèque, or library, car.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

About 500,000 people use the RER C line every day. About 1 in 4 will board one of the special royal trains.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

The ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

The ceiling of the Cotelle gallery in the Grand Trianon.

Credit Courtesy of Christian Recoura

One of the new Versailles commuter trains in France. The cars' interiors are painted to resemble rooms in the Palace of Versailles outside Paris.

Credit Courtesy of Christan Recoura

This car on the new Versailles commuter train is decorated to resemble the gardens on Marie-Antoinette's estate.

By Eleanor Beardsley

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 1:39 pm

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The opulence of the court of Louis XIV ... on a commuter train from Paris?

That's the surprise awaiting some lucky visitors to the Palace of Versailles. The cars of about 30 trains traveling between Paris and the palace have been completely decked out to reflect the sprawling and stately residence of former French kings, providing a sneak preview of sorts.

Music Interviews

1:03 am

Sat December 8, 2012

Tracey Thorn Finds Joy And Angst In Christmas Songs

Credit Molly Bloom / StateImpact Ohio

Tracey Thorn's new holiday-themed album is called Tinsel and Lights.

Originally published on Sat December 8, 2012 6:38 am

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A season for being with friends and family can be hard on those who are lonely; a season of giving can be hard on those who go without. All the tinsel and lights can also make people blink, shudder and wonder about which of life's gifts they'll never find under the tree — or which they'll unwrap and find fleeting and fragile.

Simon Says

9:41 am

Sat December 1, 2012

'The Onion': So Funny It Makes Us Cry

Credit Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images

The satirical news source The Onion named North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un 2012's Sexiest Man Alive.

By Scott Simon

Originally published on Sat December 1, 2012 10:09 am

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If satire had an Olympics, The Onion might have won a gold medal this week. The satirical news source announced that its Sexiest Man Alive for 2012 is Kim Jong Un, North Korea's Supreme Leader.

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