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3:17 am
Wed May 30, 2012

Computer Security Companies Debate Flame's Origins

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 4:34 am

A new cyber-spying program called Flame has been spreading across the Middle East. A Russian security company called Kaspersky Labs discovered the virus. Some experts believe Flame was developed by the makers of the virus Stuxnet.

Election 2012
3:17 am
Wed May 30, 2012

Trump Comments Overshadow Romney's Texas Win

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 4:51 am

Mitt Romney won the GOP presidential primary in Texas Tuesday night. By some counts, that gives him the last delegates he needed to formally secure the Republican nomination. He celebrated in Las Vegas with a campaign event and a fundraiser. But his victory was overshadowed by campaign surrogate Donald Trump who has a gift for finding the spotlight.

Around the Nation
3:17 am
Wed May 30, 2012

Syria's Honorary Consul In California Resigns

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 5:02 am

The U.S. and several governments worldwide have expelled Syrian diplomats in a coordinated protest against last weekend's massacre of more than 100 civilians in the village of Houla. The diplomatic fallout has spread to California, where Syrian Consul General Hazem Chehabi announced his resignation from the post. For more on his decision, Renee Montagne talks to Chehabi.

Asia
3:17 am
Wed May 30, 2012

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Suu Kyi Travels To Thailand

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 4:41 am

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has left Myanmar for the first time in more than two decades. Her first trip out of the country formerly known as Burma is on a short hop to Thailand to meet with refugees and attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

Afghanistan
1:33 am
Wed May 30, 2012

For U.S. Troops, One More Big Push In Afghanistan

Originally published on Thu May 31, 2012 3:48 pm

Several thousand soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division are taking part in what is being called the last major combat offensive of the Afghan War.

Their task is to clear Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold and a key prize because it straddles the major roads to Kabul and the insurgent supply routes into Pakistan.

But the American troops are challenged by a stubborn enemy and a short time to finish the job.

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London 2012: The Summer Olympics
1:30 am
Wed May 30, 2012

Swimmer Vies To Bring Olympic Joy Home To Greece

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 3:17 am

Swimmer Spyros Gianniotis was born in Liverpool, England, but he will represent Greece in the upcoming London Olympics. At 32, he is the 10-kilometer open-water world champion, and one of Greece's best hopes for a medal in London. He's on a team of Olympians whose training budget has been drastically reduced by austerity measures and the economic crisis.

On a recent morning, Gianniotis' training included three hours of laps in an outdoor Olympic-sized pool in central Athens. The lean, freckled marathon swimmer glides to the end of the pool.

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The Salt
1:28 am
Wed May 30, 2012

From An Israeli Kibbutz, A High-Priced Caviar Prized By Top Chefs

Originally published on Sun June 3, 2012 6:29 am

A kibbutz in the mountains of northern Israel might seem an unlikely source for some of the world's most expensive gourmet food. But a small farming collective has built itself a lucrative business, supplying some of America's top chefs with caviar that customers pay hundreds of dollars to sample.

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It's All Politics
1:18 am
Wed May 30, 2012

GOP Michigan Congressman To Run Write-In Campaign

Credit Charlie Neibergall / AP
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich.

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 10:55 am

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., is facing the daunting prospect of running a write-in campaign to get re-elected this year, as his campaign fell far short of the number of petition signatures he needs to qualify for the August primary ballot.

Compounding McCotter's troubles: It appears election fraud may have played a part in the failure.

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Architecture
1:17 am
Wed May 30, 2012

Forget Big-Box Stores. How About A Big-Box House?

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 3:17 am

When it comes to architecture, sustainability and affordability can mean many things: Salvaged wood becomes new flooring, old newspapers are shredded into insulation.

But a few architects are taking green building one step further: creating entire homes and businesses out of discarded shipping containers — an approach some have dubbed "cargotecture."

Approximately a quarter-million shipping containers pass through Oregon's Port of Portland each year. These are big boxes — 40 feet long and weighing thousands of pounds.

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The Salt
10:45 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Nuclear Tuna Is Hot News, But Not Because It's Going To Make You Sick

Credit Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP/Getty Images
A Tokyo sushi restaurant displays blocks of fat meat tuna cut out from a 269kg bluefin tuna.

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 3:17 am

What snarky headline writer could resist a story about "hot tuna?" Or how about "tuna meltdown?"

Really, it seems just plain daffy to ignore a new study that says some Pacific bluefin tuna picked up traces of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year and brought it across the Pacific Ocean.

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Sweetness And Light
8:02 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

In Europe's High Season For Sports, Soccer Rules

Credit Sergei Supinsky / AFP/Getty Images
Larger Than Life: Tourists pose in front of a UEFA Euro 2012 Cup placard on Kiev's Independence Square in Ukraine. Europe is entering a packed sports schedule — but soccer still reigns supreme, says Frank Deford.

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 6:04 am

It's a prime irony that while Europe is suffering a great financial crisis, in counterpoint, the Continent is starting to spend the summer awash in a veritable plethora of joyous sporting events, a rolling athletic circus to divert Europeans from Angela Merkel telling them to get serious and tighten their belts.

Now, as is the case every summer, there are two Grand Slam tennis championships — the French Open, which is already under way, and Wimbledon. Then the Tour de France and British Open golf.

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The Record
6:28 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Doc Watson, Folk Music Icon, Dies At 89

Credit John Cohen / Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson in the 1960s.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 5:45 pm

A mountain-born treasure of American folk music, Doc Watson, died Tuesday in North Carolina at age 89.

His manager said in a statement that Watson died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, after abdominal surgery last week.

Watson was born in Deep Gap, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in a three-room house he shared with eight brothers and sisters. He revolutionized not just how people play guitar but the way people around the world think about mountain music.

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Shots - Health Blog
5:29 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Counterfeiters Exploit Shortage To Market Fake Adderall Pills

Credit FDA/Flickr
If the label of ingredients on the Adderall pack says "singel entity," that's a tip-off for trouble.

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 6:48 am

A shortage of Adderall began last year, sending millions of people with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy on perpetual wild goose chases to find drugstores with the pills they need to stay alert and focused.

So it's not surprising that Adderall counterfeiters have seized a big marketing opportunity. What is surprising is their clumsiness.

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The Two-Way
5:27 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

VIDEO: Wolf Blitzer Battles Donald Trump Over 'Birther' Issue

In an interview with CNN, The Donald did not back down from his opinion that President Obama was not born in the United States.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer presented him with the overwhelming evidence that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii, but Donald Trump just raised his voice as he and Blitzer accused each other of sounding "ridiculous."

CNN calls it a "smackdown," and, indeed, it was a pretty contentious interview. Take a look:

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It's All Politics
3:01 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Maine Independent Aims To Be Senate King, Acknowledges Potted Plant Potential

Credit Joel Page / AP
Former Maine Gov. Angus King speaks March 5 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 3:57 pm

The most potentially influential politician you've probably never heard of, former two-term Maine Gov. Angus King, on Tuesday officially entered the race to replace retiring moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe.

King, 68, an alternative-energy entrepreneur and supporter of President Obama, filed more than 6,000 signatures with Maine's secretary of state to ensure his place on November's ballot.

He'll run as an independent, as he did for his successful gubernatorial runs in the 1990s.

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National Security
2:59 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Watching Big Brother: Privacy Board Delayed

Credit Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images
Homeland Security analysts watch for threats to U.S. technological infrastructure at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 6:45 pm

Congress is considering legislation allowing the government to search through Internet traffic for early warnings of cyberattacks. The bills are controversial — worries about government surveillance have led to protests online.

The government does have a tool that could calm fears about this kind of legislation — it just doesn't use it.

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Shots - Health Blog
2:59 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Small Change In Reading To Preschoolers Can Help Disadvantaged Kids Catch Up

Credit Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post/Getty Images
Kimberly Payton, a teacher at the Small Savers Child Development Center, reads to a group of preschoolers in Washington, D.C., in 2010. Researchers say that teachers who make small changes in how they read to 4-year-olds can improve kids' reading skills later on.

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 6:45 pm

On a recent Monday morning in Washington, D.C., a group of 3-year-old preschoolers bumbled their way into a circle, more or less, on the rug of their classroom. It was time to read.

The children sat cross-legged as their teacher, Mary-Lynn Goldstein, held high a book, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. There was a short conversation about pigeons, then, for reasons that weren't entirely clear, cows; and then Goldstein began to read. She read as most teachers read, occasionally stopping to ask a question, point out a picture or make a comment about the story.

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The Two-Way
2:52 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Facebook Stock Falls Another 9 Percent

Facebook's stock fell $3.07 to end the day at $28.84. That's first time it's fallen below $30 since the stock went public.

That price is also 24 percent below its opening price of $38.

The Wall Street Journal that the drop had to do with negative sentiment about the stock, as well as the fact that today traders were able to trade on derivatives.

The Facebook stock saw so much trading, the Journal reports, that it triggered Nasdaq's short sale circuit-breaker.

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It's All Politics
2:32 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Even After Texas Primary, Romney Will Remain The 'Presumptive' Nominee

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Mitt Romney campaigns Tuesday in Craig, Colo.

At the moment the polls close in Texas Tuesday evening, most media outlets and very likely even the Mitt Romney campaign will declare that he has secured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.

For what it's worth, there are two problems with that statement. First, as a practical matter, Romney actually won the Republican nomination when the other candidates competing for delegates in the primaries and caucuses stopped doing so. That was weeks ago.

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It's All Politics
2:26 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Fueled By Outside Money, Ad Blitz Hasn't Stopped For Weary Iowans

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 6:45 pm

American Dreams: Then And Now
2:22 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

On The Economic Ladder, Rungs Move Further Apart

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 6:45 pm

America is the land of opportunity — that's the bedrock of the American dream. Many expect each generation to do better than the last.

That dream of economic mobility is alive and well for Pam Krank and her husband, Brian McGee. The two are proud owners of The Credit Department Inc., a successful business in the Minneapolis suburb of Mendota Heights.

"Mostly manufacturing companies around the world will hire us to study their customers and tell them how much ... unsecured credit they should grant to each customer," Krank explains.

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Music Interviews
2:11 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Why 'Edelweiss' Makes Audra McDonald Think Of Home

Credit Michael Wilson
Audra McDonald is nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. She tells All Things Considered about the song that started her on her theater journey.

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 12:32 pm

The Two-Way
1:34 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

A 'Macabre' Process: Nominating Terrorists To Nation's 'Kill List'

Credit Pete Souza / White House
President Obama and John Brennan, his top counterterrorism adviser, in the Oval Office on Jan. 4, 2010. Brennan is a key voice about who gets put on the "kill list."

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 6:45 pm

One of the day's most-discussed stories has to be The New York Times' report headlined "Secret 'Kill List' Proves A Test Of Obama's Principles And Will."

It's a long, detailed look at how the president has "placed himself at the helm of a top secret 'nominations' process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical."

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The Two-Way
1:25 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Bob Dylan, Toni Morrison Among Those To Be Honored With Medal Of Freedom

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
President Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to author Toni Morrisson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 2:26 pm

Saying that each one of the recipients has touched countless lives, President Obama presented 13 Presidential Medals of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House today.

All of the people on the stage, Obama said, "are my heroes individually." He said that if it were not for John Doar, the Justice Department official who personally escorted University of Mississippi's first black student to campus, he would not be president.

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Asia
1:16 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

China, Philippines Faceoff Over Remote Islands

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 6:45 pm

Back in early April, a Philippine navy frigate tried to arrest Chinese fishermen accused of poaching sharks and giant clams.

But more is at stake than a boatload of seafood.

Neighboring countries say confrontations like this are growing as China asserts claims to territory well beyond its coastline. And analysts think China is testing America's resolve in the region.

Philippine officials say China still has more than 30 boats in the contested area, which is widely known as Scarborough Shoal, though the Chinese call it Huangyan Island.

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The Two-Way
12:58 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Manhattanhenge: The Sun, The City And A Special Rendezvous

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 1:08 pm

At sunset tonight Manhattan's grid will match up perfectly with the sun, producing a dazzling, golden display on each one of the city's streets.

It happens twice a year and it's been termed "Manhattanhenge," coined by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History.

NPR's Margo Adler sent this report for our Newscast unit:

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NPR Story
12:39 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

'How Soldiers Die': A History Of Combat Deaths

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
A U.S. Army honor guard stands at attention during a ceremony to mark Memorial Day, this week at Arlington National Cemetery.

Originally published on Wed May 30, 2012 11:29 am

In The Last Full Measure: How Soldiers Die In Battle, Michael Stephenson describes how soldiers fight and die, how those who have lived deal with the experience of combat, and what it reveals about warfare and human nature.

He acknowledges it's a sensitive subject, but he argues it's an important one. Understanding how soldiers die, Stephenson tells NPR's Neal Conan, "is central to an understanding of what combat is. And I think we have to engage with it."

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Middle East
12:06 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Few Good Options Remain To End Syrian Attacks

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 2:23 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Countries around the world expelled Syrian diplomats today, explaining that the representatives of a country that slaughters its own people are not welcome. United Nations observers confirmed the massacre of over 100 men, women and children, many of them children, in the village of Houla last Friday. U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus today to demand that his government abide by a cease-fire agreement that now lies in bloody taters.

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Middle East
12:06 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Journalist Interviews, Films 'Al Qaeda In Yemen'

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 2:23 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

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From Our Listeners
12:06 pm
Tue May 29, 2012

Letters: Organ Donations And Changing Hospitals

Originally published on Tue May 29, 2012 2:23 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

It's Tuesday and time to read from your comments. Cathy May(ph) in Bigelow, Arkansas heard our conversation about possible compensation for organ donors and wrote: I'm donating a kidney to a friend this coming August. While I don't care to be paid for donating, I would love to be reimbursed from my loss of salary while recovering from the process. It's a great honor to help another person, but it comes at a cost for me.

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