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The birth this week of a giant panda cub at Washington's National Zoo brings back fond memories and generates new excitement for Morning Edition supervising senior editor Kitty Eisele.

The Portland, Ore., rock band Menomena has just released Moms, its fourth album — and first since co-founder Brent Knopf left the group last year. The band's core members, Justin Harris and Danny Seim, carry forward Menomena's musical hallmarks (meaty baritone sax, bassline spines, rhythms that turn on a dime), which have made its sound such an original all these years.

Kill My Blues, the second album by the Corin Tucker Band, is out today, and to celebrate, we've got the excellent video for the band's song "Neskowin."

For the past few years, Turkish Airlines has been the official airline of soccer's FC Barcelona, home to such famous footballers as Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta. Well, apparently the Barca boys haven't been happy with the service.

The French magazine Closer must hand over all digital files of photos containing snapshots of a topless Kate Middleton and refrain from republishing any of them or face fines of $13,000 a day.

According to France 24, a French court ruled today that:

Watching the first 20 minutes of Saturday Night Live's season premiere in Denver, I counted at least four ads by the Obama campaign and liberal groups backing the president. Just one ad countering their message was aired in the same span by the Romney campaign.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- As Attacks Continue, NATO Scales Back Joint Operations In Afghanistan.

-- Romney's Wrong And Right About The '47 Percent'.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told supporters that "there are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what" because they are "dependent upon government ... believe that they are victims ... believe the government has a responsibility to care for them ... these are people who pay no income tax."

Who was he talking about?

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Panda Mei Xiang hadn't given birth in seven years. After five attempts of trying to help her get pregnant, workers at the National Zoo were worried. So they started talking to her. One panda keeper told Mei Xiang, "I know you can do this." It worked — she gave birth Sunday night.