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Melissa Block speaks with Capt. Beverly Havlik, from the Coast Guard ice-breaker Cutter Healy, who talks about the challenges of helping a Russian tanker make its way through the Arctic ice to Nome, Alaska.

Cadillac is drawing notice in the luxury car scene with its new ATS model, a small, high-performance car that directly competes with the likes of Audi and BMW. The stakes are high for GM. Luxury cars like the ATS bring in more profit per car than small economy models like the Chevy Cruze.

Italians have been gripped by the dramatic exchange between the cruise liner captain who left his sinking ship and the coast guard captain who demanded that he go back onboard. Many Italians see the episode as a metaphor for the country's current condition.

Adam Humphries had a problem. He needed a Chinese visa to travel on vacation, but he had all the wrong forms. His confusion led to an amazing business idea. He now parks a van in front of the Chinese consulate in New York and works as a visa consultant for befuddled travelers like him.

With new, affordable supplies of natural gas coming to market, renewable forms of energy are having difficulty competing. Electricity prices are down, which means it now takes longer for people who installed solar panels to recover their investment.

Standard and Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of nine eurozone countries, including France. S&P has had 15 eurozone countries on a "negative credit watch" for weeks, so the announcement Friday wasn't much of a surprise. Analysts, though, are concerned about possible ripple effects. Audie Cornish talks with NPR's John Ydstie for more.

Volkswagen has come a long way since it tried to market cars to Americans with the "Fahrvergnugen" slogan. The company has adapted to the U.S. market with bigger, less quirky cars. It seems to have paid off, as sales rose last year in the U.S. — but the company is set on becoming No. 1 worldwide.

The veteran broadcaster returns to public television with a new public affairs program. Critic David Bianculli says it might be hard to find, but it's important to watch.

The system eliminates the need for primary and runoff elections, but some say it is too complicated. In the mayoral race in San Francisco — where 16 candidates are on the ballot — voters will soon find out if the system works.

Revenge attacks are alarming those hoping for a swift transition to peace in Libya. Some villages where loyalists to overthrown dictator Moammar Gadhafi used to live are now abandoned, and locals hope they stay away. As well, militias still have their weapons, and regional rivalries are at play.