To talk more about those opponents and what's happening on the campaign trail, we turn now to NPR's Cokie Roberts, who joins us most Mondays. Good morning, Cokie.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So let's - it looks like there's one less rival in the Republican contest, now that former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is expected to drop out today and throw his support to Mitt Romney. Let's talk about the likely effect on the rest of the contenders.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
The civilian government of Pakistan has been under absurd amounts of pressure ever since it won election about four years ago. It's squeezed by the army - which reluctantly surrendered power - by the United States, by a host of insurgents and also by Pakistan's Supreme Court.
NPR's Sylvia Poggioli looks at what comes next for the crippled cruise ship Costa Concordia. The ocean-liner is nearly half submerged after running aground off the coast of Italy on Friday. So far it's not leaking oil but scientists are concerned about its impact on the largest protected marine park in Europe.
Standard and Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of nine Euopean countries including France. They face exposure to financial troubles in Greece among other places. Zanny Minton Beddoes, global economics editors at The Economist, talks to Steve Inskeep about the latest European financial troubles.
NPR's business news starts with efforts to streamline the federal government.
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GREENE: President Obama is asking Congress, today, to give him the power to consolidate certain U.S. agencies. Doing that, he says, will reduce the number of federal jobs and make government more efficient.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The government we have is not the government that we need. We live in a 21st Century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th Century.
We've all heard the rule: Turn off your cell phone. Well, someone broke it this week at a performance of the New York Philharmonic.
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GREENE: The iPhone Marimba ring tone had not been written into Mahler's Ninth Symphony. But there it was, chirping from the front row of the audience. The conductor was so incensed, he cut off the performance and waited for the iPhone to stop. The audience member was apparently not offered an audition.
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep, with a milestone for immigration. Warina Zaya Bahou becomes a U.S. citizen today in Sterling Heights, Michigan. She's an immigrant from Iran. What makes the ceremony remarkable is the birth date of the new citizen. She was born in 1900. Back then, Iran still had kings and William McKinley was president of the United States. Now at age 111 she becomes the second oldest person to be naturalized as an American. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
Each year, thousands of companies converge on the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas hoping to generate buzz for their gadgets. Companies that succeed need luck, good PR and a product that seems cool or useful. HzO, a small company that makes waterproof coatings for phones and tablets, has broken through in a big way.
