Jazz

UPDATE at 10:10 a.m. EST:

U.S. stocks open up a day after their second-worst showing of the year, apparently shrugging off the concerns over banks.

Here's our original post:

NPR's Chris Arnold reports this morning on the fallout from Moody's announcement yesterday that it was cutting its rating on 15 big banks in the U.S. and Europe.

Speaking with Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, Arnold called the downgrade "a repositioning of credit worthiness of almost the entire banking industry."

On the final day of confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik's trial, the defense is trying to portray him as an ideologically driven political militant rather than a delusional madman in hopes of getting a lighter sentence or an outright acquittal.

Breivik, 33, an anti-Muslim extremist, has admitted to the bombing and shooting that killed 77 people in the capital Oslo.

Happy Friday! We're watching these stories today:

Afghan Militants Attack Kabul Hotel, 18 Killed. (AP)

Thousands Jam Cairo Square To Protest Egyptian Military Power Grab. (AlJazeera)

Pakistani Party Nominates New Prime Minister Candidate To Succeed Ousted P.M. (VOA)

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

We're not precisely sure how Warren Houghton lost his wallet and his baseball glove. Suffice it to say, he was a boy. In the 1940s, he accidently dropped his possessions inside a wall in a one-room schoolhouse in Cornish, New Hampshire. Sixty-seven years later, construction workers found the wallet and glove and shipped them to the owner. He is now back in possession of pictures of his family, a Boy Scout ID and a letter from his sister.

Heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked a lakefront resort near Kabul overnight, killing at least 21 people during an assault and 12-hour standoff with combined Afghan and NATO forces.

The attack occurred at the Spozhmai Hotel on Lake Qargha, a popular recreation area for upscale Afghans just outside the capital. The Taliban claim they attacked because it was used by wealthy Afghans and foreigners to engage in "immoral activities."

The eurozone will take a short break from its financial crisis to enjoy a sporting event. The soccer teams of Germany and Greece meet Friday in the quarter finals of the Euro 2012 championship in Gdansk, Poland. Germany's coach doesn't think political tensions will have an impact on the field.