Weekend Edition on WAMC HD2

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The last U.N. military observers are pulling out of Syria today. Their mission has been made near impossible by the heavy fighting gripping the country.

A former Algerian foreign minister is taking over as U.N. envoy on Syria, but he's not optimistic about a quick end to the fighting. And neighboring Lebanon remains on edge, after a spate of kidnappings this week related to the Syrian conflict. NPR's Anthony Kuhn joins us from Beirut.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The president of France, Francois Hollande, has just passed 100 days in office. Mr. Hollande swept to victory in a wave of discontent aimed at former President Nicolas Sarkozy. But now, there are concerns that the new president's slow, cautious manner may not be suited to solving some of the challenges facing his country. Eleanor Beardsley sends us this report from Paris.

Last week, Mitt Romney announced that he had selected Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. NPR's Ari Shapiro has been covering the pair for a week now, and he joins Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with him about the past week of campaigning for the new pair.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This week, Ecuador announced that it would grant Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, political asylum. He's been holed up in Ecuador's London embassy since June facing extradition to Sweden over sexual assault claims that he denies. But somehow he's got to get from London to Ecuador and he can't just buy a ticket, buy a canister of tea in duty-free and fly to Quito. The British government says that Julian Assange will be arrested if he sets a foot out of the embassy door.

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks to Sean Gourley, physicist and founder of quid.com, about the computers that trade stock shares faster than human minds can comprehend.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

After leaving the USS Wisconsin, Romney and Ryan are probably hungry. They'll head to a little café and catering business called Homemades by Suzanne - where they'll meet, among others, this lady.

KIMBERLY MILLS: I'm Kimberly Mills(ph). I am co-owner of Homemades by Suzanne, in Ashland, Virginia.

WERTHEIMER: Mills is no novice, when it comes to meeting politicians. Homemades by Suzanne was the site of another candidate visit, back in 2008.

MILLS: We had Sarah Palin, you know, four years ago.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

For more on Mr. Romney's choice of a running mate, we're joined in the studio by NPR's Washington editor Ron Elving and NPR's national political correspondent Don Gonyea.

Now, we just heard from congressman Chris Van Hollan of Maryland, who's a Democrat. He told us that the choice that Mr. Romney made tells independent voters to, quote, "take a hike." How do you think that this choice affects independents and undecided voters? You want to start, Ron?

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Just as Mr. Ryan is a champion for fiscal conservatives, he's a big target for Democrats. President Obama's campaign wasted no time in attacking Mitt Romney's new running mate.

NPR's Scott Horsley joins us now. So, Scott, the initial response from the Obama campaign?