NPR News

The most expensive work of art ever sold at auction is going on public display at New York's Museum of Modern Art. For six months starting in late October, museum-goers can stare into the abyss suggested by Munch's iconic image of a screaming man beneath a swirling orange sky.

Facing competition from cheap natural gas, coal producer Alpha Natural Resources said it's cutting production by 16 million tons and eliminating 1,200 jobs companywide. The cuts include 400 jobs with the immediate closing of eight mines in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

A Harvard researcher says a "new gospel" written on a fragment of papyrus shows some early Christians believed Jesus had a wife. The fragment — which scholars believe was written in the fourth century — is creating a sensation among New Testament experts.

The NFL locked out the regular officials in June because of a labor dispute. While the league and the referees union continue to disagree over a new contract, the replacements on the field are making mistakes.

Spanish-language network Univision will broadcast the first part of its presidential forum Wednesday night. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney will be the first candidate to appear, and President Obama follows Thursday night.

The presidential interviews came after a dramatic clash that would rival any of the network's famous telenovelas. Univision confronted the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit group that organizes the candidate debates, after it announced an all-white lineup of moderators.

The head of Japan's Foreign Trade Council says China has started to delay imports of Japanese products. It's a replay of the de facto trade sanctions China imposed two years ago during a similar flare-up of tensions. The most recent confrontation was sparked by Japan's purchase of disputed islands which China claims sovereignty over. In Japan, the response to the more than a week of anti-Japanese protests across China has been shock.

Congress is set to make a brief appearance in Washington this week, then recess until after Election Day. That means a farm bill is likely to be left undone, just one of the many items on lawmakers' "to-do" lists that won't happen anytime soon.

The Ebola virus continues to strike people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since May, the World Health Organization has counted 72 confirmed, probable or suspected cases and 32 deaths.

As usual, a disproportionate share of those cases are health care workers — 23 of them, almost a third.

Drone strikes ordered by the Obama administration have killed more than a dozen al-Qaida leaders around the world, in places ranging from Afghanistan to Somalia. In speeches and public appearances, U.S. officials say those attacks are legal and essential to protect the nation's security.

But when civil liberties groups asked for more information about targeted killing, the CIA told them it's a secret.

On Thursday, they'll square off in front of a federal appeals court in Washington.

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