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The Arab uprisings have ousted or weakened or weakened some American allies. Elections in Tunisia and Egypt have shown the strength of Islamist political parties. And after the long, hard war in Iraq, the U.S. appears to have a diminished appetite for new, complicated undertakings in the region. In the last of our six-part series on the upheavals changing the Middle East, NPR's Deborah Amos looks at what it all means for America.

New Hampshire voters could make Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's nomination a near-certainty on Tuesday, when the state holds the first primary of the 2012 election.

Every presidential candidate in modern history who has won both Iowa and New Hampshire has gone on to win the party's nomination. (Romney narrowly won the Iowa caucuses last week). Since 1920, New Hampshire has been the first state to hold a presidential primary, and Granite State voters guard that status fiercely.

The six remaining Republican presidential candidates held two debates over the past 24 hours — one Saturday night, another Sunday morning. Guy Raz talks to NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson about what transpired in those debate.

Tucson, Ariz., marked Sunday the first anniversary of the shooting that left six dead and 13 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Guy Raz talks to NPR's Ted Robbins about the mood in the city.

Alabama's Crimson Tide takes on the Louisiana State University Tigers in college football's Bowl Championship Series game on Monday. Guy Raz talks to NPR's Mike Pesca for a preview.

The city plans to revitalize its once-glitzy downtown shopping district. New Jersey News Service reporter Nancy Solomon tours Broad Street with Newark's head of economic development, and reports on plans to lure back high-end shoppers.

Best-selling e-author Amanda Hocking grew up in the small town of Austin, Minn., which, she says, is known for Spam. Spam as in the food, not the e-mail spam.

"We invented Spam," the 27-year-old novelist tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz.

Hocking's dad was a truck driver. Her mom was a waitress. Even as a very young child, she had always been a kind of natural storyteller — especially when it came to fantasy stories. Stories about dragons, unicorns, pirates and more.

During this final sprint toward Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, candidate stops will be full of local diners and doughnut shops where the presidential hopefuls can chat up "real" voters — locals who stop in for a meal or a coffee.

But customers in one New Hampshire restaurant are over it. In response, a Portsmouth breakfast spot has banned candidates completely, reports Seacoast Online:

At last, the rivals who were supposed to savage front-runner Mitt Romney in the final weekend before Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire got down to business.

In the opening minutes of their debate Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, several of those chasing Romney in the polls let fly the roundhouse punches they'd been pulling through weeks and months of TV debates.