Morning Edition

Brandon Arnold of Arizona was camping this month when a rabid mountain lion leaped out of the bushes. It attacked his dog. Arnold chased the big cat and hit it with a frying pan.

With Pakistani President Zardari given a last-minute invitation to the NATO summit, U.S. and Pakistani officials were scrambling to finish a deal that would allow NATO supply convoys to pass through Pakistani territory on their way to Afghanistan. The convoys have been halted since last November's errant cross-border U.S. airstrikes that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead.

The TV show House is airing its final episode Monday night on FOX, Desperate Housewives on ABC ended last week and NBC has announced that 30 Rock will have its final episodes this fall. TV and media critic Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times explains why choosing to end a show, rather than getting canceled, presents a creative opportunity for the producers.

NATO commanders say the mantra of the Afghan alliance has been "in together, out together." That means keeping combat forces in the country through 2014 — even though some member countries like France plan to bring their troops home sooner.

Astronomy buffs in the western U.S. were treated to an eclipse known as the Ring of Fire over the weekend. Technically, it's an annular solar eclipse, during which time the moon passes between the earth and sun. The moon blocks out much of the sun's light and casts a giant shadow on the earth.

Unlike a lot of people I know, my summer reading doesn't differ significantly from the reading I do the rest of the year. I'm always looking for new authors, older titles I might have missed, books I want to reread, and a nice mixture of fiction and nonfiction. While I understand the concept of beach reading, for me it doesn't mean light reading, but rather choosing books whose ultimate destruction by sand and water won't concern me overly much because I know that I can easily replace them.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The president makes the food security announcement as world leaders prepare to meet at Camp David.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This G8 summit coming this weekend includes leaders from the world's largest economies and they'll be discussing what to do about the very troublesome economy in Greece.

INSKEEP: Greece keeps cutting its budget to help pay debts and avoid default, but then its economy keeps contracting, making the problem worse.