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U.S. pole vaulter Jenn Suhr reached a long-awaited breakthrough Monday, when she won the gold medal in her event at the London Olympics. She defeated a field that included two-time gold medalist Elena Isinbaeva of Russia. As NPR reported back in April, Suhr trains in a unique setting: an airplane hangar next to her house.

When it comes to the search for life beyond Earth, most of the focus is in on Mars. But a growing number of scientists are looking at Saturn's moon, Enceladus, instead. Scientists believe the moon has water and organic materials that are the building blocks of life.

A deadly assault on an Egyptian border post is proving to be the biggest challenge to face Egypt's new leader so far. Mohammed Morsi is now struggling to assure an exhausted nation that he can provide security as well as basic services. But he needs the support of the military, his biggest rival.

Adam Steltzner, the leader of the Mars rover's entry, descent and landing engineering team, says he was terrified of "a false positive celebration" in the control room. Fortunately for him, Curiosity landed perfectly. Now he's eyeing Jupiter's moon.

From the London Games' opening ceremony through 302 medal events, these Summer Olympics have fed fans a rich diet of history and spectacle. I can only wish that I'd been able to eat it all — but part of the allure of the Olympics is that there's no way to watch everything.

Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is expected to tap a veteran U.N. troubleshooter to take over from international envoy Kofi Annan. At the same time, U.N. military observers are wrapping up their mission. By next week, all of the unarmed U.N. military observers will be out of Syria.

Among the many sea changes enacted in one struggling school district is a mandate no one expected. All students, of all grade levels, are being enrolled in Chinese language classes. The superintendent says being familiar with Asian culture is crucial to students' future success.

Now that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in charge of raising really big dollars for a superPAC that supports President Obama, wealthy Democrats all over the country may be eyeing their phones nervously. Sources tell NPR that Emanuel will be pushing for donations of $10 million and more.

There are several daytime talk shows starting up, featuring Katie Couric, Steve Harvey and Ricki Lake, among others. TV critic Eric Deggans says they are all still jockeying to be the next Oprah — but there probably won't be another Oprah.

Speaker John Boehner also said that he had little hope of bringing the issue to a resolution.