Steve Inskeep

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Here's a little of what's happened in Syria over the past 24 hours. A Syrian air force colonel flew his jet out of the country, defecting to Jordan. Syria's army intensified its offensive against a rebel army. And the Red Cross had to abandon a mission to evacuate civilians from the city of Homs.

We're going to get some perspective on all of this from NPR's Deborah Amos, who's just left Syria after a very rare 10-day trip to Damascus. She's now in Lebanon. Hi, Deborah.

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Good morning.

NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is wrapping up his Revolutionary Road Trip, a journey of more than 2,700 miles across North Africa to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves. Steve and his team have traveled from Tunisia's ancient city of Carthage, across the deserts of Libya, and filed this report from the third and final country, Egypt.

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Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers resumed this morning in Baghdad. The United States and its allies are pressing Iran to freeze its production of highly enriched uranium, but are refusing to offer the kind of easing of economic sanctions that Iran is seeking as a concession. These talks are described as long and hard, and NPR's Peter Kenyon is covering them in Baghdad, Iraq. Hi, Peter.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Morning, Steve.

Egyptian voters go to the polls over the next two days to vote for president. There are 12 candidates but polls suggest the race is down to four men: two Islamists and two former officials in the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. If no one wins at least 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a runoff will be held next month.

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There you have it, the sound of money. Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell for the NASDAQ stock exchange this morning. Facebook, his company, is going public today. The company's shares start trading under the ticker symbol FB. And we talked about one of the largest IPOs, initial public offerings, in history with NPR's Steve Henn.

OK. When we say one of the largest in history, how big is it here?

The head of JPMorgan Chase says the trading strategy that cost it $2 billion in a matter of weeks won't really affect the bank's bottom line. But the trade happened during a presidential campaign where the economy and Wall Street are major themes.

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Israel's prime minister has formed a national unity government. Like all Israeli leaders, Benjamin Netanyahu leads a coalition government in parliament. He needs to put together multiple parties to have a majority. And by adding the centrist Kadima party to his side, Netanyahu increases his support and avoids the possibility of having to call an early election. NPR's. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro joins us on the line from Israel to tell us what it all means. Lourdes, hi.

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Hi.

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Pakistan's Supreme Court has issued a judgment against the country's prime minister - again. The court had already ruled against Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani for blocking a corruption investigation. Now, the judges have released details of their ruling, giving 77 pages worth of reasons why they found the prime minister in contempt of court. Let's remember this conflict is taking place in a vital, if troubled, U.S. ally.

NPR's Julie McCarthy joins us on the line from Islamabad, as she has so many times over the years. Hi, Julie.

Vice President Joe Biden said he is "absolutely comfortable" with gay couples who marry getting the same civil rights and liberties as heterosexual couples. President Obama does not publicly support gay marriage.