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Church leaders and mourners pray for Pope John Paul II, whose body lies in the Clementina Hall at the Vatican. Born Karel Wojtyla in Poland 84 years ago, John Paul died in Saturday after 26 years as pope.

NPR will benefit from a bequest of more than $200 million from the estate of philanthropist Joan B. Kroc, NPR President Kevin Klose announced Thursday. The donation by Kroc, widow of the founder of the McDonald's fast-food chain, is said to be the largest gift ever made to an American cultural institution. NPR's John Ydstie reports.

Funding from wealthy nations has helped Ghana create promising programs to fight HIV/AIDS. It's also led to unexpected economic development -- a new African drug company to produce AIDS and malaria medicines.

Goodbye 'Full Focus' -- We're Sorry to See You Go

The number of attacks in Iraq rises and falls, but that is just one way to try to measure progress in the war. Other factors are harder to quantify. One is the way Iraqis view the American troops who still patrol their cities. Philip Reeves spent a day with an American platoon in and around the northern city of Mosul.

Because of Charles, Helen says she put her mom Myrtle (Cicely Tyson still wonderful although too rarely seen on screen) in a home and abandoned the rest of her family. But now she needs family and a place to stay. So she goes to her Aunt Madea (Tyler Perry in drag for the best of his three roles), a mountain of a woman who keeps her home open to anyone in need. But be forewarned, anyone who stays has to put up with her sometimes caustic humor. After scolding Helen for investing so much of herself into Charles and her marriage, Madea welcomes her to the house and tells her she needs to pick herself up and get a job. But first, Madea takes Helen back to Charles mansion where they engage in a little therapy by tearing up the new wife-to-bes expensive wardrobe. Now Helen has to redefine herself without Charles, something she has never had to do. She cant decide if she wants to forgive Charles and get on with her life or wallow in self-pity and a growing desire for vengeance. While Madea thinks revenge sounds pretty good, Myrtle urges her daughter to forgive and move on.

In a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, scientists unearth the bones of a new species of human... a find that could rewrite the history of human evolution. About three feet tall when fully grown, Homo floresiensis resembles our most primitive ancestors, but lived as recently as 13,000 years ago.

In a series of essays, commentator Steve Coll reflects on how terrorism binds voters in America, Afghanistan and Pakistan. His new book Ghost Wars chronicles the CIA's covert history in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden's rise.

Guillermo Del Toro creates his version of a ghost story with "The Devil's Backbone" (opening Dec. 19 at Landmark Theatres).

Hailey Persinger edits and posts stories, video, and other multimedia elements to KPBS.org. She also helps maintain the KPBSNews Twitter, Facebook and Google+ accounts. Before joining KPBS, she worked as a reporter at U-T San Diego and the Killeen Daily Herald. At both papers, she reported on local government and added to breaking news coverage. Hailey contributed reports to the Killeen Daily Herald's coverage of the November 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, which won numerous awards from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. Hailey has a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of North Texas in Denton. When not at work, Hailey is either running, attempting to learn computer coding or compulsively checking Twitter.