In Bahrain, demonstrators are demanding the release of imprisoned activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. He has been on hunger strike for more than two months and his family now fears for his health. Guest host Viviana Hurtado speaks with his daughter, Zainab al-Khawaja and Middle East expert, Joshua Landis.
This is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. I'm Viviana Hurtado. Michel Martin is away. She's visiting Syracuse University and member station WRVO is Oswego, New York. Still to come, we take a look at some of the political upheaval in the Middle East. As another deadline has come and gone, the violence continues in Syria. More on that in a few minutes.
Carole King initially found it extremely difficult to navigate the social hierarchies of high school. The Grammy Award-winning songwriter was a few years younger than her fellow classmates and was often dismissed as being "cute."
"And it was like, no, I don't want to be cute, I want to be beautiful and smart," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "And that wasn't happening, and then I connected through music. So music became a way of identifying my particular niche. How lucky for me."
After hearing that football coach Bobby Petrino had not only lied about who he was with when he had a motorcycle accident on April 1, but that he was also having an affair with that young woman, had paid her $20,000 and had arranged for her to get a job with the university, Arkansas Razorbacks fans are saying they agree with the decision to fire him.
President Obama, with millionaires and their assistants, makes a point on the "Buffett Rule" in Washington, DC, Wednesday, April 11, 2012.
For President Obama, the Buffett Rule is the political equivalent of a Swiss army knife, a tool he clearly intends to use any number of ways as he fights to be re-elected and deny the White House to Republican Mitt Romney.
From the Democrats' perspective, the proposed rule, which would require that superwealthy taxpayers with at least $1 million in taxable income after deductions, pay taxes at a minimum 30 percent rate, has so much going for it, they can hardly stop talking about it.
Apple Inc. and other publishers have conspired to limit competition and fix the prices of e-books, the U.S. Justice Department alleges in a suit filed today.
Credit Reunion des Musees Nationaux/Art Resource, NY / The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's exhibit examines Christian Byzantium and Islam as they first came into contact in the Middle East in the seventh to ninth centuries. This ivory carving is from what is known as the Grado Chair, a Christian artifact from the Eastern Mediterranean or Egypt in the seventh to eighth century.
Credit The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Silver chalices made in Syria in the sixth or seventh century. They are known as the Attarouthi Treasure, named after the prosperous Byzantine merchant town of Attarouthi.
The yearlong tumult of the Arab Spring has reached all the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
A stunning and timely new show, "Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition," covers exactly the places caught up in modern day revolts, and many of the developments from more than a millennium ago are closely linked to the events of today.
As al-Jazeera and other news outlets report being told by activists that Syrian government forces are shelling the city of Homs and attacking and arresting opponents of President Bashar Assad in other places, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan continues to press for a true ceasefire to take effect on Thursday.
Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan before a court hearing last month.
Patrick Sullivan, the former sheriff in Arapahoe County, Colo., who's serving a 38-day sentence for trying to trade methamphetamine for sex with a man, isn't being held any longer in a jail that bears his name.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is embracing the Internet parody that shows her supposedly texting politicians and celebrities. The site has become an Internet sensation since it was launched last week.
Surrounded by members of his family, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum announces he will suspend his campaign at the Gettysburg Hotel on Tuesday in Gettysburg, Pa.
Credit Brendan Smialowski / Getty
HALEY BARBOUR Announcement: April 25, 2011
The two-term Mississippi governor and former chairman of the Republican National Committee cited a lack of passion for the presidential slugfest. "A candidate for president today is embracing a 10-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else," Barbour said in a statement. "His (or her) supporters expect and deserve no less than absolute fire in the belly from their candidate. I cannot offer that with certainty, and total certainty is required."
Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty
MIKE HUCKABEE Announcement: May 14, 2011
The former Arkansas governor, ordained Southern Baptist minister, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses and runner-up to John McCain in the ultimate delegate count that year announced on his Fox News Channel program that he wasn't running again. "All the factors say go, but my heart says no," Huckabee said. "And that's the decision that I have made."
Credit Andrew Burton / Getty
DONALD TRUMP Announcement: May 16, 2011
The businessman/reality TV star declared that if he ran he'd win, but that he wouldn't run. "I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly," Trump said in a statement. "Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector."
Credit Michael Conroy / AP
MITCH DANIELS Announcement: May 23, 2011
The second-term Indiana governor, former political director for President Ronald Reagan and former budget director for President George W. Bush broke the news to supporters via email. "If you feel that this was a non-courageous or unpatriotic decision, I understand and will not attempt to persuade you otherwise. I only hope that you will accept my sincerity in the judgment I reached." Daniels told The Indianapolis Star that his wife and daughters had the final say. "Simply put, I find myself caught between two duties. I love my country; I love my family more."
Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty
TIM PAWLENTY Announcement: Aug. 14, 2011
The former two-term Minnesota governor became the first official candidate to leave the race, announcing his decision hours after a third-place finish in the Iowa straw poll. "There are a lot of other choices in the race," Pawlenty explained. "The audience, so to speak, was looking for something different."
Credit Jeff Zelevansky / Getty
CHRIS CHRISTIE Announcement: Oct. 4, 2011
The first-term New Jersey governor went so far as to make a late-September speech on "Real American Exceptionalism" at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library in Simi Valley, Calif. But a week later (and despite being implored by some Republican leaders to enter the race) Christie called a news conference at the New Jersey statehouse to decline. "Now is not my time. ... I have a commitment to New Jersey that I simply will not abandon."
Credit Charlie Neibergall / AP
SARAH PALIN Announcement: Oct. 5, 2011
The former Alaska governor and John McCain's running mate on the 2008 Republican ticket used conservative talk radio to make official what most observers already had figured out. "Not being a candidate, really you are unshackled and you're able to be even more active," Palin said on Mark Levin's radio show. "I need to be able to say what I want to say."
Credit Joe Raedle / Getty
HERMAN CAIN Announcement: Dec. 3, 2011
While denying allegations of sexual harassment and claims of an extramarital affair, the former Godfather's Pizza executive, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo., and conservative radio talk show host said "continued distractions" were forcing him from the race. Cain had been the surprise winner of September's Florida straw poll and gained attention for his simplified "9-9-9" tax plan.
Credit Jim Cole / AP
GARY JOHNSON Announcement: Dec. 28, 2011
The former two-term governor of New Mexico, who had been excluded from most of the Republican debates, announced he was leaving the GOP race to seek the Libertarian Party's nomination. At a debate where he was included, on Sept. 22 in Orlando, Fla., Johnson voiced one of the most memorable TV moments of the campaign season: "My, uh, next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration."
Credit Eric Gay / AP
MICHELE BACHMANN Announcement: Jan. 4, 2012
The day after a sixth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, the Minnesota congresswoman left the race. "Last night, the people in Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to step aside," Bachmann announced. Her candidacy reached a high point in August, when she won the Iowa Republican Party's straw poll. But that victory was blunted, and much of her Tea Party support diverted, that same weekend when Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined the race.
Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
JON HUNTSMAN Announcement: Jan. 16, 2012
Six days after calling a third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary his "ticket to ride," the former Utah governor left the race and endorsed his fellow Mormon and longtime rival. "Today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency. I believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat Barack Obama. Despite our differences and space between us on some of the issues, I believe that candidate is Mitt Romney."
Credit David Goldman / AP
RICK PERRY Announcement: Jan. 19, 2012
Under pressure from some conservatives to throw his dwindling support to Newt Gingrich in an effort to halt the Mitt Romney train, the Texas governor did just that two days before the South Carolina primary. Declaring "no viable path forward" for his own campaign, Perry said: "I know when it's time to make a strategic retreat."
Credit Matt Rourke / AP
BUDDY ROEMER Announcement: Feb. 23, 2012
After struggling to be taken seriously by the Republican establishment or get access to the all-important televised debates, the former Louisiana governor and member of Congress — and former Democrat — left the GOP race to seek the nomination of both the Americans Elect movement and the Reform Party.
Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty
RICK SANTORUM Announcement: April 10, 2012
With the delegate math stacked against him and his 3-year-old daughter in the hospital over Easter weekend, the former Pennsylvania senator huddled with his family at the kitchen table where his candidacy began and decided to end his White House bid. The campaign has been "miracle after miracle," he said in a speech in Gettysburg, Pa. "This race was as improbable as any race you'll ever see for president."
Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty
JOHN THUNE Announcement: Feb. 22, 2011
The junior senator from South Dakota became the first major figure to remove himself from contention after openly exploring a run for the presidency. "I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America's future here in the trenches of the United States Senate," Thune said in announcing his decision.
It may be hard to remember, but more than a dozen high-profile Republicans seriously explored 2012 presidential bids or actively entered the race. With Mitt Romney now the presumptive nominee, here's a look at how the field got winnowed to two.
Acehnese women hug each other shortly after the powerful earthquake hit the western coast of Sumatra in Banda Aceh.
A powerful, 8.6-magnitude earthquake and an 8.2-magnitude aftershock off the west coast of Northern Sumatra today led authorities to warn that potentially devastating tsunamis might roar across the Indian Ocean.
But to the relief of millions who were immediately reminded of the devastating tsunami that rolled across that ocean in 2004, the waves generated by today's temblors were minor and the tsunami "watch" was canceled just before 9 a.m. ET.
The other welcome news: Initial reports indicated that damage from the quakes themselves may not have been extensive.
A huge earthquake shook the ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia Wednesday. Early measurements by the U.S. Geological Survey give it a strength of 8.7. Surrounding nations have issued tsunami warnings.
In Tulsa, Okla., the families of the three victims killed during a shooting rampage Friday are planning funerals. Police say William Allen, 31, Bobby Clark, 54, and Donna Fields, 49, were shot in a predominantly black neighborhood on the north side of Tulsa by two white men.
Fields was walking home after playing a game of dominoes with friends. She was called Donna, but her given name was Dannaer. Her brother Kenneth says she was named after an aunt.
After years of flagging sales, the embattled consumer electronics chain finds itself leaderless. Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn abruptly resigned Tuesday after the company launched an investigation into his "personal conduct." No word from the chain on the specifics of their probe.