Weekend Edition

Host Scott Simon talk with Michelle Bernard, president and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy. She gives us her take on what Republican and right-leaning women are looking for in a presidential candidate.

Three years ago this month, President Obama said he hoped to promote more cooperation between the U.S. and Russia. It would be hard to see where that may have happened recently, as Vladimir Putin approaches power again. Host Scott Simon speaks with the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, about Sunday's elections in Russia.

Danny DeVito's a short and funny guy with a long and winding career in movies, TV, on-stage and online. His latest project transports him to the land of Truffula trees and singing fish. Host Scott Simon speaks to DeVito about voicing the title character in the new adaptation of Dr. Seuss's book, The Lorax.

Ciaran Hinds seems to show up in every other movie you may have seen over the past decade, including There Will Be Blood, The Road to Perdition, Harry Potter and The Debt. He's currently starring in the hit television series Above Suspicion based on the Lynda La Plante novels. Host Scott Simon speaks with Hinds about his career.

Estelle Swaray is a Londoner. But for the past few years, the British singer best known for the song "American Boy" (her 2008 Grammy-winning hit with Kanye West) has called the U.S. home. It was a particular American boy, she says, who convinced her to make the move.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

As the assault against Homs continues, Secretary of State Clinton is urging Syrian security forces to disobey orders from their own commanders and stop the violence against protesters. Aram Nerguizian researches Middle East military strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. We asked him about the possibility of further defections among the ranks.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: One of baseball's best young stars has his drug ban overturned. So why isn't Major League Baseball celebrating? Also, Lin takes some Heat in Miami and another big Tiger Woods putt just rolls away. When will they start to drop? NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman joins us.

Morning, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hiya, Scott.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

NPR's Don Gonyea joins us in the studio this morning. He spent all week in his home state of Michigan reporting on the campaign there. Don, thanks for being back with us.

DON GONYEA, BYLINE: It's a pleasure.

SIMON: As I already noted, Mitt Romney looks to improve his lot this week. How did he do it?

Events as disparate as the cruel, escalating violence in Syria and the congested, unnerving conditions where Apple's iPads and iPhones are made at the Foxconn assembly plants in China raise a recurring question:

When do a country's internal affairs become the business of the world? And when do we make that our personal business?

You can take that question back through atrocities, crimes and outrages of recent history.