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Kris Kristofferson writes the kind of songs that people love to sing: songs like "Help Me Make It Through The Night," from 1970. Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version, as did Joan Baez — and even Elvis.

On-air challenge: In recognition of the Super Bowl, the key word is "yards." You will be given some categories. For each one, name something in the category beginning with each of the letters Y, A, R, D and S. For example, if the category were "Girls' Names," you might say Yvonne, Alice, Rachel, Donna and Sally.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. The French-led military intervention in Mali is picking up momentum in the campaign to help the Malian government recapture Islamist-occupied strongholds in the north. And while French airpower has tipped the scales in the Malian government's favor, the question now is whether Mali's beleaguered army is up to the fight. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports from Bamako, Mali's capital city in the south.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

As we just heard, Germans are still figuring out how to live with their military history. We're going to take you back now to the 1960s, when one French singer helped Europeans forgive, if not forget, the horrors of the Second World War. And she did it with this song:

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BARBARA: (Singing in Foreign language)

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now it's time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC)

MARTIN: OK. This week, we are going classic, like classical. Like, really old school, you know, Rome, Cicero, Latin. We're talking Latin this week. Specifically we want to talk about interregna or interregnum, if you please, which is a fancy way of saying a gap. Because the NFL is in the middle of a big old interregnum at the moment.

And for more, we are joined by, who else, but our own Marcus Aurelius, NPR's Mike Pesca. Hey, Mike.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.

It was an announcement that made history.

SECRETARY LEON PANETTA: If they can do the job, if they can meet the standards...

MARTIN: Something that will change the U.S. military in a fundamental way.

PANETTA: If they can meet, you know, the qualifications that are involved here, there is no reason why they shouldn't have a chance.

MARTIN: Women can now officially serve in combat. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made the announcement last week.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Fisher Stevens is a name you may not know but you've probably seen his face. He was in the 1986 film "Short Circuit" with Steve Guttenberg. Fisher also had a role in the 1995 movie "Hackers."

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "HACKERS")

FISHER STEVENS: (as the Plague) Last chance to get out of this developed prison sentence. You're not good enough to beat me.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For some historical context on the fighting in Mali, we spoke with Gregory Mann. He's an associate professor of history at Columbia University and he's an expert on North Africa, including the area in northern Mali now controlled by insurgents.

Larry Selman devoted more than half his life collecting money for multiple charities, on the streets of New York, from total strangers. He did this for nearly 40 years, despite the fact he was developmentally disabled. Selman became the subject of filmmaker Alice Elliott's Oscar-nominated documentary, The Collector of Bedford Street. He died Jan.

In Colonial Virginia, oysters were plentiful; Capt. John Smith said they lay "thick as stones." But as the wild oyster harvest has shrunk, Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf says the market for farm-raised oysters is booming.

The local food movement is expanding from fertile fields to brackish waters.

Along the rivers and bays of the East Coast, where wild oysters have been decimated by man and nature, harvests of farm-raised oysters are increasing by double digits every year. At the same time, raw oyster bars are all the rage.

In 2010, a young, Belgian-born, blues-rock singer burst onto the scene as the voice of Black Dub, a musical project founded by producer Daniel Lanois.

What better way to fight off the winter blues than with some good music? Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd, hosts of NPR's Alt.Latino podcast, return to Weekend Edition Sunday to share some exciting releases from the coming year.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO. NO. NO.")

It's been a scandalous week in the world of sports. Between Lance Armstrong's big Oprah interview and the discovery of Manti Te'o's unreal girlfriend, there are a lot of questions for people who report on sports .Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mike Pesca about the events.

Mark Sanford served as governor of South Carolina until an extramarital affair instigated a censure from the South Carolina Legislature. Lance Armstrong denied using performance-enhancing substances for years, until he admitted to Oprah Winfrey last week that, in fact, he had used those substances. But when can these public figures begin to rehabilitate their images? Host Rachel Martin speaks with crisis manager Judy Smith about the process.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Israelis are going to the polls this week in national elections. And yes, the big issues that are always part of Israeli politics are still there: the conflict with the Palestinians, the threat from Iran. But it's not just security that's on the minds of voters in Israel, especially young people. Last week in Tel Aviv, a bunch of 20-something Israelis gathered in a warehouse on the city's waterfront to talk politics.

(SOUNDBITE OF A CROWD)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Grazie, red wine here.

The national group WATCH D.O.G.S. organizes fathers to volunteer to provide security in their children's schools. After Sandy Hook, the group's strategy didn't change. Some Watchdogs say they've just become even more vigilant.

Red Baraat is wild — and loud. It's also a genre unto itself. The Brooklyn ensemble self-identifies as "dhol 'n' brass," a hybrid of Indian bhangra and New Orleans big-band music.

President Obama takes the oath of office for a second term on Sunday and Monday. By the time he is through Monday, he and President Franklin D. Roosevelt will be the only two presidents to have taken the presidential oath four times — Roosevelt because he was elected four times, and Obama because he will have taken the oath twice the first time and twice the second.

Obama took the oath twice in 2009 because he and Chief Justice John Roberts messed it up a bit the first time and redid it a second time in private to quell any questions about Obama being president.

On-air challenge: You will be given the first names of two famous people, past or present. The first person's last name, when you drop the initial letter, becomes the second person's last name. For example, given "Harold" and "Kingsley," the answer would be "Harold Ramis" and "Kingsley Amis."

Last week's challenge: Think of two familiar, unhyphenated, eight-letter words that contain the letters A, B, C, D, E and F, plus two others, in any order. What words are these?

Answer: feedback; boldface

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There was sadness and shock among many in the tech community yesterday after news spread of the suicide of a computer protegee. Twenty-six-year-old Aaron Swartz became a tech celebrity at the age of 14. Friends and family say he battled depression and was recently anxious because he was about to go on trial in federal court. NPR's Laura Sydell reports.

Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mike Pesca about baseball's Hall of Fame shutout. This year, the Baseball Writers' Association of America did not select a player for the game's highest honor.

President Hamid Karzai concluded a visit to the U.S. last week with a meeting and news conference with President Obama, where they announced an accelerated troop withdrawal. In Kabul, the reaction varies. Even though most people in the city seem more focused on shoveling out from the latest snowstorm, some are watching the news.

In recent weeks, President Obama has chosen Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as his next secretary of state; former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to head the Pentagon; counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director; and his chief of staff, Jack Lew, to be the next Treasury secretary.

Each nomination will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and they all could be stopped by a Senate filibuster — that is, the refusal by any one of 100 senators to let a matter come to a final vote.

What is the best way for a writer to reflect life? For most of us, it's probably the traditional novel that has sat on our nightstands the most: the sprawling, linear tale, told from birth to death. For Will Self, the most lifelike story is told inside out, from the minds of the characters, without a narrator, a filter or any explanations along the way.