NPR News

After hitting a year and half year high in November, the number of contracts to buy homes fell a bit in December.

The AP reports:

"The National Association of Realtors says its index of sales agreements fell 3.5 percent last month to a reading of 96.6. That's down from November's reading of 100.1.

"But the reading is still the second highest since April 2010, the last month that buyers could qualify for a federal home-buying tax credit.

"A reading of 100 is considered healthy.

Good morning!

Our early posts:

-- Egyptians Take To The Streets To Mark First Anniversary Of Revolution

-- Google's New Privacy Policy Will Allow Tracking Across Services

There's little doubt that the U.S. wastes a lot of money on unnecessary health care. But pinning down the worst offenders isn't easy, as a fresh analysis of the scientific literature finds.

Published research on overuse is in pretty short supply, so rooting out waste by looking at the existing studies can be a little like limiting your late-night search for lost car keys to the spots right under streetlights.

It was a year ago today that Egyptians started a revolt that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. Marking the day, tens of thousands of people took to the streets both in celebration and in protest of the military rulers that took Mubarak's place.

Reporting from Cairo, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson sent this report to our Newscast unit:

Yesterday afternoon Google announced it was making sweeping changes to its privacy policy beginning March 1. Users can't opt out, so Google is beginning to send notice to its users via email and even on its homepage.