Ibrahim Shomali, a Palestinian priest, offers Communion under the olive trees of the Cremisan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. This is part of a regular protest against Israeli plans to build a section of its West Bank barrier here, which would separate Palestinians from their agricultural lands.
Credit Emily Harris / NPR
Israeli army Capt. Barak Raz stands on a concrete wall that is part of the barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. Soldiers climb to this spot during Palestinian protests to disperse crowds with tear gas or a foul-smelling liquid nicknamed "skunk."
Israeli army Capt. Barak Raz climbs a metal staircase to the top of a high concrete wall that is part of Israel's West Bank barrier. From his perch, he overlooks both the Palestinian village of Bil'in and Modin Illit, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, with some 50,000 residents.
The barrier here used to be a fence. After many confrontations with Israeli soldiers, Palestinian villagers won a court case, and the fence was moved off some of their land. But since the barrier was moved closer to an Israeli settlement, it was rebuilt as a wall.
George Plimpton boxed with Archie Moore, played quarterback for the Detroit Lions, and played percussion for the New York Philharmonic. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur. Plimpton was a professional writer. A new documentary about his life makes the case that Plimpton's best story was his own story, as NPR's Joel Rose reports.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: When you listen to George Plimpton's voice, it's like hearing echoes of a New York that no longer exists.
After five marathon sessions debating 150 proposed amendments, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a landmark rewriting of the nation's immigration laws this week — and the bill emerged largely intact.
Three Republicans voted with the panel's 10 Democrats on Tuesday night to forward the bill to the full Senate. That strong showing followed a wrenching choice for Democrats on the committee: whether to risk shattering support for the bill by amending it to recognize equal rights for same-sex couples.
Supporters say Wisconsin farmer Vernon Hershberger's trial isn't just about raw milk: It's also, they say, about the right to get foods from farmers without government intervention.
Credit Maureen McCollum, Wisconsin Public Radio
Activists supporting Hershberger have set up camp across the street from the Sauk County courthouse, in the Al Ringling Theatre.
What is the case against Wisconsin farmer Vernon Hershberger really about? It depends on whom you ask.
To hear the prosecution, it's about licensing, not raw milk: Hershberger, a dairy farmer hailing from the town of Loganville, is on trial this week for operating without three licenses. He's also accused of continuing to sell raw milk to members of his private club after he was ordered not to.
If convicted, the father of 10 faces more than a year in jail and more than $10,000 in fines.
"I'm shocked by the optimism here," Howard Yana-Shapiro, the chief agricultural officer for Mars Inc. said Tuesday to the audience of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C.
Seated there before him were some of the leaders from the wealthiest international organizations and multinational companies of the fight to end hunger. And Shapiro told them they weren't even close.
A British driver who struck a cyclist with her car — and who then bragged about the incident on Twitter — has issued an apology. The incident caused an uproar after the collision Sunday.
"Definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier - I have right of way he doesn't even pay road tax! #bloodycyclist," tweeted Emma Way, in a message that has been widely circulated despite her apparent attempts to delete it, and seemingly her Twitter account, @EmmaWay20.
You've probably seen it in your inbox before: Someone who claims to have come into a fortune needs your help. You can share in the profits — if you send along a deposit or your bank account number. Boston Globe correspondent Finn Brunton talks about the history of the "Nigerian prince" or "419" scam, which actually got its start long before email.
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan, in Washington. Immigration reform heads to the Senate floor, ex-congressman Weiner guns for Gracie Mansion, and Senator Inhofe on the distinction between disaster aid for a superstorm and tornados. It's Wednesday, and time for a...
Finally today, I'm still thinking about that massive Powerball jackpot last weekend. That caused me to think about what's wrong with Powerball — the most important thing, of course, being the fact that I didn't win. You know you feel the same way. I'm sure I would have been a good winner. Like Oprah, I would use my powers for good and not evil. Like, I might buy a Bentley out of the showroom window, just to prove to myself that I could. But then I'd settle down and endow scholarships, and fix up blighted storefronts, and invest in local businesses.
Add this to the list of Democratic worries surrounding the wave of Obama administration scandals: the downstream effect.
It's prime candidate-recruiting season right now — the period in the two-year election cycle when officials in both parties fan out across the map in hopes of persuading prospective candidates to run for Congress. Issues and money always get plenty of attention, but the ability of party leaders to attract strong, capable candidates is vital to success on Election Day.
A man has been killed in what reports described as a machete attack in London, and police have shot two suspects in what British Prime Minister David Cameron says is likely a terrorist incident.
Francesco Schettino (left), the captain of the Costa Concordia, leaves court with his lawyer, Francesco Pepe, last month. A judge has ordered Schettino to stand trial in the wreck of the cruise ship last year.
A judge in Italy on Wednesday ordered the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany last year, killing 32 people, to face charges of manslaughter.
Francesco Schettino, 52, is accused of negligence that led to the grounding of the ship and for abandoning the vessel while a rescue of the 4,200 passengers and crew was still underway.
Swedish firemen extinguish a burning car Tuesday after youths rioted for a third night in a row in the suburbs of Stockholm. The unrest began after police said they shot dead a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in an immigrant neighborhood.
Sweden is one of the wealthiest, most stable and smoothly running countries in the world.
Which would explain why the country's 9.5 million residents may be shocked by the events of the past few days.
For the past three nights, hundreds of youths have been rampaging through parts of the capital, Stockholm, torching cars, setting fires, and throwing rocks at police and fire trucks.
A baby receives a polio vaccine at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia. The country has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world.
Credit Coutrtesy of Google, ORION-ME, Basarsoft
The new polio case occurred in the Dadaab Refugee Camp, located on the southeast border of Kenya.
Two Oregon counties have reportedly rejected property tax increases that would have funded law enforcement and public safety services. The counties once received federal timber subsidies, but those days are over — and now they're scrambling to pay for essential services.
Chuck used to sell marijuana in California. But the legalization of medical marijuana in the state meant he was suddenly competing against hundreds of marijuana dispensaries. So he moved to New York, where marijuana is still 100 percent illegal. Since making the move, he says, he's quadrupled his income. (For the record: His name isn't really Chuck.)
A male sergeant at West Point has been accused of secretly videotaping at least a dozen female cadets, sometimes when they were showering, The New York Times reports.
Gen. John F. Campbell, the army's vice chief of staff, tells the Times that "once notified of the violation, a full investigation was launched, followed by swift action to correct the problem."
Fungi (cyan) surround a human hair within the skin. A study in the journal Nature shows the population of fungi on human skin is more diverse that previously thought.
Credit Alex Valm, Ph.D.
Bacteria (magenta) and fungi (cyan) on a human hair (yellow).
Scientists have completed an unusual survey: a census of the fungi that inhabit different places on our skin. It's part of a big scientific push to better understand the microbes that live in and on our bodies.
"This is the first study of our fungi, which are yeast and other molds that live on the human body," says Julie Segre, of the National Human Genome Research Institute, who led the survey.
The video for Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's newly released song starts by re-creating the conditions of his captivity during the 81 days he was held in police detention in 2011, and later dissolves into a dystopian nightmare.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
Ai monitors the reaction to his new song on Twitter on Wednesday, the day the song was released.
Author Jennifer Gilmore drew heavily on her own experiences with infertility and adoption to write The Mothers, sometimes blurring the lines between fiction and memoir.
After years of trying to conceive, novelist Jennifer Gilmore and her husband decided to pursue a domestic open adoption. They were told they'd be matched within a year; it took four. And along the way they faced complicated decisions and heartbreak.
Former CIA director and retired Gen. David Petraeus helped shape the first draft of "talking points" about the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attacks, according to emails released by the White House and analyzed by The Washington Post.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus is under renewed scrutiny over the role he played in creating the discredited "talking points" about the attack that killed four Americans last year in Benghazi, Libya. The Washington Post has a front-page story Wednesday that suggests Petraeus sought to shape the resulting memo to favor his agency.
America has a love/hate relationship with tattoos, but body ink is becoming more and more mainstream. Host Michel Martin speaks with Fatty, the owner of Fatty's Custom Tattooz in Washington, D.C, about America's fascination with tattoos, and the fading cultural taboos.
Now we'd like to turn to a story that more than five months later is still painful. In the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, the Newtown, Connecticut community had many tough decisions to make. One of them was just what should happen to the elementary school where 26 people were killed.
I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. For the end of our program today, we want to talk about two aspects of American style. In a few minutes, we're going to talk about tattoos. They used to be something you got when you went into the Army or to jail, but now they've gone mainstream. We'll talk with a leading tattoo artist about that in just a minute.
As Moore, Oklahoma continues to recover after this week's deadly tornado, survivors of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado are marking the second anniversary of that disaster today. Host Michel Martin discusses Joplin's recovery, and what lessons it might hold for Oklahoma, with Joplin Mayor Melodee Colbert Kean and school superintendent C.J. Huff.
I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Today, as you would expect, we are continuing to follow events in Moore, Okla., where residents are recovering from the impact of a deadly tornado. We decided to call on leaders from Joplin, Mo. Two years ago today, that town was also hit. So we thought this would be a good time to check in on Joplin's recovery, and see if there are any lessons Joplin residents can offer their neighbors.
Debris litters a park adjacent to a neighborhood that was destroyed by Monday's tornado in Moore.
Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters/Landov
Volunteers form a chain as they retrieve clothing and other household items Wednesday at a home destroyed by a tornado, across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla.
Credit Adrees Latif / Reuters/Landov
A resident walks past a fallen roof after salvaging belongings from her home in Moore. The National Weather Service said Monday's tornado produced winds in excess of 200 mph, making it a top-of-the-scale EF5.
Credit Adrees Latif / Reuters/Landov
A sign reads "God Bless Moore" as workers make repairs to Warren Theatre after the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore was devastated by a tornado.
Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters/Landov
Jon Booth carries debris from his mother's tornado-destroyed home across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore.
Credit Ed Zurga / EPA/Landov
Pastor Roger Murphy unloads a truck full of goods donated by Caliber Collision of Fort Worth, Texas, at OKC Faith Church in Oklahoma City. The goods will be delivered to Feed the Children to be distributed to help the Moore, Okla., tornado victims.
Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
Electric company employees work to restore power in a tornado-devastated neighborhood in Moore. As rescue efforts in wound down, residents turned to the daunting task of rebuilding a heartland community shattered by a vast tornado that killed at least 24 people.
Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
Tornado victim Todd (who only gave one name) looks through a pile of clothing at a roadside relief camp in Moore. The twister flattened block after block of homes as it struck at midafternoon Monday, hurling cars through the air, downing power lines and setting off localized fires in a 45-minute rampage.
Credit Charlie Riedel / AP
Susan Kates salvages items from a friend's tornado-ravaged home on Wednesday in Moore, Okla. Cleanup continues two days after a huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb, flattening a wide swath of homes and businesses.
Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters/Landov
Volunteers form a chain as they retrieve clothing and other household items at a home destroyed by a tornado, across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., on Wednesday.
The powerful tornado flattened entire blocks in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore. The death toll remained at 24, with scores more people injured and displaced.
I freely admit that, until the new Random Access Memories, I wasn't much of a Daft Punk fan. I could appreciate the craft and imagination that went into creating the French duo's mixture of electronic genres — techno, house, disco — but the mechanical repetitions and heavily filtered vocals didn't turn me on in any other way.
Luke Tanner, 7, gets vaccinated for measles at a clinic near Swansea, Wales, in April. Wales is at the center of a measles outbreak that has been linked to one death.
Great Britain is in the midst of a measles epidemic, one that public health officials say is the result of parents refusing to vaccinate their children after a safety scare that was later proved to be fraudulent.
More than 1,200 people have come down with measles so far this year, following nearly 2,000 cases in 2012. Many of the cases have been in Wales.
