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The Torch
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

'Tremendous Honor:' Opening Ceremony Dancer To Perform For The World

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 11:44 am

The London Summer Olympics officially begin today with the opening ceremony. Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire has put together the latest Olympic kickoff spectacle. As NPR's Philip Reeves reported yesterday, a preview video has been released.

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Around the Nation
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

L.A. Council Bans Pot Shops After Regulation Struggle

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 11:44 am

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to shut down all of the medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. That's no easy task. There are more than 800 of them — more than the number of Starbucks coffee shops in Los Angeles. But after years of struggling to regulate pot shops, city officials have decided to prohibit them altogether.

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Shots - Health Blog
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

GOP Says Coverage For The Uninsured Is No Longer The Priority

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says covering the uninsured shouldn't be Republicans' top health priority.

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 11:44 am

For decades, the primary goal of those who would fix the U.S. health system has been to help people without insurance get coverage. Now, it seems, all that may be changing. At least some top Republicans are trying to steer the health debate away from the problem of the uninsured.

The shift in emphasis is a subtle one, but it's noticeable.

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Inside Rebel-Held Syria
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

In Syrian Conflict, Both Sides Vie To Control Message

Credit Bunny Coleman for NPR
Most civilians have fled the Syrian town of Derat Azza after protracted shelling by Syrian troops. Shops are closed, and rebels are trying to tightly control any information flowing out of the town.

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 8:17 pm

Last of five parts

The most striking thing you see when you drive into the Syrian town of Derat Azza is that it's devoid of ordinary people. Shops are closed, shuttered.

The only people you see seem to be rebels.

It seems like the only difference between this town and others in the area is that the regime made up its mind to target it. And once the regime did, there was nothing the people could do.

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StoryCorps
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

'I Didn't See The Gun, And I Didn't Hear The Bullet'

Credit StoryCorps
Edith Green and her granddaughter visited a StoryCorps booth in 2005, where Edith shared her story of surviving a shooting.

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 11:59 am

In 1980, Edith Green, a divorced school teacher, lived alone in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., just north of New York City.

One night, she struck up a friendship with a young man she had met at a friend's house — a relationship that would change her life forever.

"It was a very platonic relationship," she told her granddaughter. "I just didn't see this coming at all."

Edith, 54 at the time, told the man that she would be attending a play with a friend one evening.

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AIDS: A Turning Point
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

Greece's Latest Crisis: Rising HIV Cases

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 11:58 am

One of the alarming consequences of the financial crisis in Greece appears to be a sharp rise in the rate of HIV infection.

The country, which is struggling through a historic debt crisis and a deep recession, still has one of the lowest HIV infection rates in Europe. But budget cuts to health and social services seem to be driving a recent and dramatic increase, especially among injecting drug users.

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Planet Money
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

How To Set Up An Offshore Company

Originally published on Thu August 2, 2012 2:51 pm

Setting up an offshore company in a tax haven is surprisingly easy. A simple Google search offers up thousands of companies willing to help you do it.

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Poetry
1:13 am
Fri July 27, 2012

Honoring The Games, And The Past, With Poetry

Originally published on Sun July 29, 2012 10:34 pm

In the days of the ancient Greeks, poetry and sport went hand in hand at athletic festivals like the Olympics. Poets sang the praises of athletic champions and, at some festivals, even competed in official events, reciting or playing the lyre. Here at NPR, we're reviving that tradition with our own Poetry Games.

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Shots - Health Blog
7:50 pm
Thu July 26, 2012

Two More Nearing AIDS 'Cure' After Bone Marrow Transplants, Doctors Say

Credit Eric Risberg / AP
Timothy Ray Brown, shown in May 2011 with his dog Jack in San Francisco, is the only man ever known to have been fully cured from AIDS. Brown is known as the "Berlin patient" because he had a bone marrow transplant in a German hospital five years ago.

Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 1:28 pm

The so-called Berlin patient is famously the only person in the world who has been cured of HIV. But he may soon have company.

Two people in Boston also seem to be free of HIV after undergoing bone marrow transplants for cancer, just as the Berlin patient did five years ago. The crucial difference is that the Boston patients have not yet stopped taking anti-HIV drugs — although that may happen in the coming months.

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The Two-Way
7:20 pm
Thu July 26, 2012

Picking Up The Pieces: Family Remembers Shooting Victim Micayla Medek

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Grandma Marlene Kenobbe (L) comforts consoles Kailyn Vigil during Micayla Medek's funeral at the New Hope Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado.

Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 9:12 pm

The families of the Aurora, Colo. shooting victims continued to pick up the pieces today.

The Denver ABC affiliate reports that the family of Micayla Medek, 23, who was killed in the theater, held a funeral service today.

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