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Arts & Life
4:31 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

Hollywood Execs Shift Programming After Newtown Shooting

Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 5:43 pm

Entertainers are making shifts in their programming because of the killings in Connecticut. The premiere for the violent movie Django Unchained was cancelled and a reality show about a funeral was delayed until January, among other moves.

Movie Interviews
4:31 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

Naomi Watts, Mulling 'The Impossible'

Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 12:55 pm

The Impossible, a feature film opening Dec. 21, is about a family swept away by the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It's based on the true story of a Spanish family.

In the movie, they're British — a couple and their three young sons, on vacation in Thailand. It looks like paradise. Then, the earth trembles, and the ocean roars in, bringing with it catastrophe and heartbreak.

The mother is played by Naomi Watts, who spoke with NPR's Melissa Block about the film and its retelling of a grimly familiar story.

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World
4:29 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

In Pakistan, Tax Evaders Are Everywhere — Government Included

Credit Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP/Getty Images
An investigative report found that less than a third of Pakistani lawmakers filed tax returns for 2011. The report said Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, photographed in Paris in December, did not file a return, though his spokesman says he did.

Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 8:32 pm

Tax evasion is a chronic problem in Pakistan — only about 2 percent of the population is registered in the tax system, and the government collects just 9 percent of the country's wealth in taxes, one of the lowest rates in the world.

But now a new investigative report is making headlines. It says that just a third of the country's 446 federal lawmakers bothered to file income tax returns last year.

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Commentary
4:06 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

When Someone You Know Loses A Child

Originally published on Fri December 21, 2012 9:21 pm

Amid the aftershocks of the senseless shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., our ever-more-complex society goes on to publicly discuss what happened and how to avoid such tragedy in the future.

But there are also private considerations and quieter questions of how to respond — on a personal level — to suffering parents.

What can you say to parents who have lost a child? What can you do?

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NPR's Backseat Book Club
3:58 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

In 'Red Pyramid,' Kid Heroes Take On Ancient Egypt

Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 5:43 pm

If there was a recipe for the best-selling writer Rick Riordan, it would go something like this — start with a love of storytelling, fold in more than a decade of teaching middle school English, combine that with two sons of his own who don't quite share their dad's love of literature, and marinate all of that with a deep passion for mythology.

Riordan has sold tens of millions of kids' books. He hit pay dirt with the Percy Jackson series — it's about an everyday kid who has superhero powers because he's the secret son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.

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Music Reviews
3:55 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

Homeboy Sandman: A Rapper Leaves Law Behind

Credit Gavin Thomas / Courtesy of the artist
Homeboy Sandman's fourth album is called First of a Living Breed.

Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 5:43 pm

The bare facts of Homeboy Sandman's back story don't sound very hip-hop: prep school in New Hampshire, Ivy League B.A., even some pieces for The Huffington Post. But, as is often the case with class and race in America, bare facts don't tell the whole story.

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The Two-Way
3:03 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

South Korea To Get Its First Female Leader

Credit Kim Jae-hwan / AP
South Korea's Park Geun-hye claimed victory Wednesday in the country's presidential election. Park, the daughter of a former military dictator, will be the first female leader of the country. Here, she greets supporters at party headquarters.

Originally published on Thu December 20, 2012 6:47 am

Conservative candidate Park Geun-hye claimed victory Wednesday in South Korea's closely contested presidential election, an outcome that will make her the first woman to lead the Asian nation.

In addition, Park boasts a fascinating personal history that's deeply intertwined with South Korea's evolution in recent decades.

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The Two-Way
2:29 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

Death Penalty Possible In Court Martial Of Army Sgt. Accused Of Afghan Killings

Credit Spc. Ryan Hallock / AFP/Getty Images
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales during an August 2011 training exercise at Fort Irwin, Calif.

The Army staff sergeant accused in the March 11 murders of 16 Afghan civilians and shooting of six others could be given the death penalty if he's convicted of all the charges officially filed against him this week, a General Court-Martial Convening Authority announced Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 39, prosecutors say, attacked two villages near his base in southern Afghanistan. Among the 16 people killed, nine were children.

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Music Reviews
1:57 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

Tunes To 'Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard' To

Credit Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Music by guitarist Fields Ward appears in the new collection Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard: Hard Time, Good Time & End Time Music, 1923-1936.

Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 9:32 pm

The first thing to note about the collection of old-timey music Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard is that it resulted from a record-discovery event that happens less and less often, and soon will likely never happen again. The music was recorded between 1923 and 1936. Most of the sides on the set are taken from 78s collected by the late Don Wahle of Louisville, Ky., and rescued from Dumpster destruction in 2010 by compiler Nathan Salsburg. Nineteen of the songs have never been reissued. Piles of moldy vinyl left behind by the deceased were once commonplace. No longer.

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Shots - Health News
1:44 pm
Wed December 19, 2012

NIH Moving To Revamp Funding Process For Bird Flu Research

Credit Prakash Mathema / AFP/Getty Images
A health official culls chickens on a poultry farm in a village on the outskirts of Katmandu, Nepal. Chickens suspected of being infected with H5N1 bird flu were found in the area in October.

Originally published on Wed December 19, 2012 3:32 pm

Flu researchers may be close to ending an unusual moratorium on some controversial scientific work that has lasted almost a year.

That's because officials at the National Institutes of Health say they will be moving swiftly to finalize a new process for deciding whether or not to fund proposed experiments that could potentially create more dangerous forms of the bird flu virus H5N1.

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