Suicide Bombers Target Sunday Services At 2 Pakistani Churches; 14 Dead Plus 11 More Stories

Your NPR stories for March 15, 2015

Daily Briefing A look at the day's top stories News Suicide Bombers Target Sunday Services At 2 Pakistani Churches; 14 Dead The attack is the latest in a series targeting the country's Christian minority. Irate protesters attacked people whom they suspected of being behind the explosions, killing at least one person. Read this story Aid Effort Underway As Vanuatu Assesses Storm's Damage The scale of the destruction wreaked by Cyclone Pam is becoming slowly apparent. The storm, which struck Vanuatu late Friday, destroyed buildings and crops, killed at least 8 people and injured 20. Read this story Isaac Herzog Is Netanyahu's Surprise Challenger In Israel Isaac Herzog doesn't have the macho profile of recent Israeli prime ministers. But Ari Shavit of Haaretz tells NPR's Rachel Martin that he's emerging as a frontrunner to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu. Read this story In Iraq, The Final Battle For Tikrit Is Likely To Be The Hardest The offensive against ISIS in Tikrit is being eyed by Iraq's various factions — including some the U.S. hopes will help take on ISIS elsewhere. NPR's Rachel Martin talks with Deborah Amos in Iraq. Read this story How Far Has The Health Of Moms Come Since 1995? The rate of women worldwide who die in childbirth has dropped by more than 40 percent over the past two decades. But does this rosy global health statistic overstate the extent of change? Read this story more news stories Arts & Life Gather Ye Rosebuds: 'Citizen Kane' Screened At Hearst Castle Citizen Kane by Orson Welles was inspired by media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who hated it with a passion. But this weekend, the film was finally shown at Hearst's legendary California castle. Read this story Say Yes To The Puzzle "Yes" is supposed to be the most pleasing word in the English language. If that's true, today's puzzle will be very pleasing indeed. Each answer is an anagram of "yes" plus two or three other letters. Read this story The Elixir Du Jour: Bone Broth Stock or broth? Whatever you call it, it's having its moment. Food commentator Bonny Wolf explains the hottest ancient trendy drink. Read this story A Mystery 'Bullet' Reveals Long-Kept Family Secrets The hero of Mary Louise Kelly's novel, The Bullet, discovers she has a bullet in her neck but doesn't know how it got there. Kelly tells NPR's Rachel Martin she was inspired by a true story. Read this story Change Your Habits And You'll Be 'Better Than Before' NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Gretchen Rubin about her new book,Better Than Before. It's her philosophy of how to create good habits and nix the bad ones. Read this story more arts & life stories Music What Glen Hansard Learned From His Friend Jason Molina Molina impressed Hansard in two ways: His songs were great, and he answered fan mail. Hansard discusses meeting the late songwriter and making a new tribute EP in his memory. Read this story Albert 'Tootie' Heath, Drummer Extraordinaire, Turns The Tables NPR's Arun Rath had been dying to interview the renowned jazz drummer for years. When he got the chance, it turned out Heath had some questions for him, as well. Read this story more music stories