The Two-Way
10:20 am
Thu July 26, 2012

Guilt First, Trial Later: Murder Charge For Chinese Politician's Wife

Credit Kyodo / Reuters /Landov
Gu Kailai, left, and her husband, Bo Xilai, in 2007. She's been charged with murder.
  • Louisa Lim, reporting for the NPR Newscast

China's Xinhua news agency ends its report this morning on the murder case against a prominent politician's wife with this remarkable passage:

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Shots - Health Blog
10:18 am
Thu July 26, 2012

'Calling My Children' And The Faces Of AIDS

Credit David Binder

Originally published on Sat February 2, 2013 10:06 am

Photographer David Binder began documenting stories about AIDS in the late 1980s and became well known for humanizing the epidemic for various publications, including Life magazine and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Credit Mito-Habe Evans

Tom Huizenga is a music producer, reporter and blogger for NPR Music. He hosts NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence.

A regular contributor of stories about classical music on NPR's news programs, Huizenga regularly introduces intriguing new classical CDs to listeners on the weekend version of All Things Considered. He contributes to NPR Music's "Song of the Day."

During his time at NPR, Huizenga spent seven years as a producer, writer and editor for NPR's Peabody Award-winning daily classical music magazine Performance Today, and for the programs SymphonyCast and World of Opera. He produced the live broadcast of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess from Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, concerts from NPR's Studio 4A and performances on the road at Summerfest La Jolla, the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and New York's Le Poisson Rouge.

Huizenga's radio career began at the University of Michigan, where he graduated in 1986. During his four year tenure, he regularly hosted several radio programs (opera, jazz, free-form, experimental radio) at Ann Arbor's WCBN. As a student in the Enthnomusicology department, Huizenga studied and performed traditional court music from Indonesia. He also studied English Literature and voice, while writing for the university's newspaper.

After college Huizenga took his love of music and broadcasting to New Mexico, where he served as music director for NPR member station KRWG, in Las Cruces, and taught radio production at New Mexico State University.

Huizenga lives in Takoma Park, MD, with his wife Valeska Hilbig, a public affairs director at the Smithsonian. In his spare time he writes about music for the Washington Post, overloads on concerts and movies and swings a tennis racket wildly on many local courts.

Deceptive Cadence
9:52 am
Thu July 26, 2012

A Know-It-All's Guide To Olympic Music

Credit Tony Duffy / Getty Images
Among all things official at the Olympics, like the flag, is music composed for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 6:24 pm

The Torch
9:34 am
Thu July 26, 2012

Let's Catch Up: Egypt Rocks Pirate Brands, And Flag-Gate

Good morning, and welcome to "Day -1" of the 2012 Summer Olympics. That NASA-like designation is due to events already having begun in the soccer competition, before Friday's Opening Ceremony. Men's soccer begins play today.

Here are some stories that popped up overnight:

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The Two-Way
9:24 am
Thu July 26, 2012

Cheer Up Toronto, 16-0 Loss Isn't A Major League Worst

Credit Brad White / Getty Images
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Romero gave up eight runs in 1 1/3 innings Wednesday night. It was a "complete embarrassment," he told the Toronto Star afterward. His team lost 16-0.

Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 3:03 pm

As bad as the players on the Toronto Blue Jays must feel about losing to the Oakland Athletics by a score of 16-0 Wednesday night, they can at least take comfort in knowing that other teams have suffered worse losses in the past.

As Yahoo Sports recounted:

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The Two-Way
8:55 am
Thu July 26, 2012

Jobless Claims Drop, Previous Week's Increase Erased

The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 35,000 last week, to 353,000, the Employment and Training Administration just reported.

That brings the level about back to where it was three weeks ago and down near a four-year low — but also keeps claims in the range where they've been trending for about the last year.

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The Torch
8:39 am
Thu July 26, 2012

Olympic Glitch Riles North Korean Players Before Soccer Match [VIDEO]

Credit Graham Stuart / AFP/Getty Images
Supporters of North Korea's women's soccer team were dismayed to see the start of Wednesday's match delayed, after a video screen displayed the South Korean flag next to photos of the North Korean players.
The Two-Way
7:57 am
Thu July 26, 2012

Reports: Notebook From Colo. Shootings Suspect Arrived At School After Attack

Credit Joshua Lott / Getty Images
A medical building on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo.

Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 2:48 pm

A "suspicious package" that the University of Colorado's medical school in Aurora says was delivered to the school on Monday was "a notebook sent through the mail by suspected killer James Eagan Holmes before [last] Friday morning's massacre," The Denver Post reports.

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