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Middle East
4:38 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

What Gaza Says About Possible Iran-Israel Showdown

Credit Jack Guez / AFP/Getty Images
An Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome defense system, designed to intercept incoming rockets. This missile was fired from the southern Israeli city of Ashdod in response to a rocket launched from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip on Nov. 18.

Originally published on Sun November 25, 2012 10:01 am

In the Gaza Strip fighting, where a cease-fire was reached Wednesday, the Israeli military pounded Gaza with hundreds of airstrikes. Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules Gaza, launched hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel.

The weeklong battle temporarily diverted attention from Iran, the archenemy of Israel and a key ally of Hamas. Israeli leaders have threatened to strike Iran over its nuclear program.

Yet the Gaza fight may offer insights into what a possible confrontation between Israel and Iran would look like.

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Music Reviews
4:35 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Samuel Yirga: A Prodigy Reviving Ethiopian Jazz

Credit Courtesy of Worldisc
Yirga's debut album is called Guzo.

Originally published on Tue November 27, 2012 3:50 pm

Samuel Yirga is a pianist from Ethiopia. A 20-something prodigy, Yirga is too young to have experienced the Ethio-jazz movement of the early 1970s, but he has absorbed its music deeply — and plenty more as well. With his debut release, Guzo, or "Journey," Yirga both revives and updates Ethiopian jazz.

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The Two-Way
4:09 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

VIDEO: Maine Newscasters Quit On Live TV

Credit YouTube
A screen shot of the Bangor, Maine newscast.

Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 4:13 pm

'It's All Politics': NPR's Weekly News Roundup
4:09 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

It's All Politics, November 20, 2012

Credit Alex Brandon / AP

Originally published on Fri November 30, 2012 12:50 pm

The election may be over, but the bickering continues, and not just between NPR's Ron Elving and Ken Rudin. As President Obama defends his United Nations ambassador, Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to lambast her for "misleading" reports about what happened in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Plus: Mitt Romney's "gifts" that keep on giving. And Rep. Allen West concedes in Florida.

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Deceptive Cadence
4:04 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Max Richter Recomposes 'The Four Seasons'

Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 5:57 pm

Composer Max Richter has done a brave thing for any artist in any medium: He's messed with a classic, specifically, Vivaldi's four violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. He has a new album simply titled Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons.

Richter says that as a child, he loved The Four Seasons. But as he grew older, that passion faded.

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All Tech Considered
3:57 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Parent Over Shoulder: Apps Help Mom Snoop Online, But Should She?

Credit iStockphoto.com
As more teens get mobile devices, parents are using apps to track their every tweet and post.

Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 5:57 pm

When his teenage son ventured into social media, Virginia father Mike Robinson wanted to make sure he could keep tabs on him. Robinson works in IT, so he rigged a surveillance system that works no matter what kind of device either of them is on.

"It's sort of like a version of remote desktop that enables you to run the program kind of silently in the background," Robinson says.

One day, checking in from his iPhone, Robinson discovered that his son had come across an adult meet-up site on Facebook.

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StoryCorps' National Day Of Listening
3:33 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Remembering A Father And Connecting Generations

Religion
3:24 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Cartoonist On Sikh Superhero Who Fights Prejudice

Transcript

CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

We want to go now to a place where art and culture intersect. We've heard a lot about the shooting that took place at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin over the summer, and the questions and the soul-searching over that tragedy are still going on, both inside and outside the Sikh community. One man, though, says he has an idea to make the country a more tolerant place for Sikhs and everybody else, actually, and it comes in the form of comic strips.

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The Two-Way
2:30 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Reports: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Will Announce Resignation

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) in 2009.

Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 3:09 pm

Update at 3:02 p.m. ET. Jackson Resigns:

After much controversy over an extended medical leave and facing an ethics investigation, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a Democrat from Chicago, resigned from Congress today.

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Jackson said he resigning effective immediately so he can "focus on restoring my health."

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The Two-Way
2:10 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

How Did Thanksgiving End Up On Thursday?

Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 5:30 pm

Move Thanksgiving to Friday? That's what F.B. Haviland asked President Hoover in 1929.

Didn't happen. But while we're on the subject, ever wonder why we carve our gobblers on the fourth Thursday of November? Hint: It's not because Thanksgiving Thursday is more alliterative than Thanksgiving Friday.

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