The Arab League sent observers to Syria about a month ago. Their mission: to bear witness to the escalating violence between soldiers loyal to President Bashar Assad and armed opposition fighters.

The presence of the orange-vested observers was supposed to discourage the violent crackdown on protesters, but since they arrived in December, almost 1,000 Syrians have died. Overall, it is estimated that more than 5,400 people have been killed since the protests began last March.

Outside Penn State's football stadium, mourners paid respects to legendary football coach Joe Paterno who died Sunday from lung cancer.

Humans are complicated genetic jigsaw puzzles. Hundreds of genes are involved in determining something as basic as height.

But man's best friend is a different story. New research shows that almost every physical trait in dogs — from a dachshund's stumpy legs to a shar-pei's wrinkles — is controlled by just a few genes.

With Newt Gingrich beating Mitt Romney in South Carolina as soundly as the Johnny Rebels in 1861 thrashed the Billy Yanks at Bull Run (or the First Battle of Manassas, depending on your view), the Republican presidential nomination contest marches southward to Florida.

There in the Sunshine State, the campaign promises to be an even more hard- fought affair than in South Carolina, with both candidates battling for their party's conservative soul by out-righting each other.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Sunday he would release his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports Romney is ceding to increased pressure that might have contributed to his loss in South Carolina's Primary. Guy Raz talks with NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving about Newt Gingrich's upset in South Carolina's primary and what it means for the GOP race.

For his directorial debut, actor Ralph Fiennes brings William Shakespeare's work to the big screen with a modern adaptation of Coriolanus. Fiennes also stars as the eponymous Roman general, a role he played on the stage 11 years ago.

The original play, Fiennes tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz, is complex.

"I had this feeling that if you were to clear away a lot of the denser passages, and shorten it and edit it, you are left actually with a very visceral, sinewy political thriller," Fiennes says.

Joe Paterno, the man synonymous with Penn State football, died Sunday after developing complications from lung cancer. He was 85.

Paterno was an iconic figure on the sports landscape. He coached at Penn State for 61 years, though his long tenure ended amid a child sexual abuse scandal.

The morning after a stinging defeat in South Carolina, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he would release his most recent tax returns this week, ahead of the Florida primary.

Romney said he would release his 2010 tax returns and an estimate of what he'll pay for 2011 on Tuesday. "We made a mistake in holding off as long as we did," he told Fox News Sunday.