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Critic Tom Manoff has discovered 17th-century Italy and the music of Anno 1630. In the project, three musicians take the music of little-known composers from the early Renaissance period and perform it, using an ancient newly refurbished organ, harp and violin. The CD Anno 1630 is on the Winter and Winter label.

Richard Clarke, who served as the top White House counter-terrorism official under three presidents, says George W. Bush's administration did not consider terrorist threats to be urgent in its first seven months, despite Clarke's urgings. Speaking on Capitol Hill to a national commission investigating U.S. policies before Sept. 11, 2001, Clark said terrorism was given extraordinarily high priority in the Clinton administration. Also Wednesday, CIA Director George Tenet told the panel that terrorist intelligence was not properly integrated among different agencies. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is among the senior officials set to testify at public hearings on the Sept. 11 attacks Tuesday. The White House has called false the claims made by former terrorism official Richard Clarke that the Bush administration focused on Iraq rather than al Qaeda after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler and NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.

Leaks of any kind are rare at the Supreme Court, but in 1973, the original Roe decision was leaked to the press before the court formally announced it. The chief justice was furious.

The Florida Department of Health last year began moving forward with rules to award the license and scheduled an application period in March.

Numerous organizations are trying to advance a United Nations call to get medicines to developing countries, but the challenges of following through on such health initiatives are formidable. In Africa, nearly 30 million people are living with HIV, but only 2 percent of people who need AIDS treatment receive it. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports.

In the 16th century, Copernicus published a book that launched the scientific revolution. In it, he declared the planets revolved around the sun, not Earth. But modern day scholars say the book was barely read in its day. Author Owen Gingerich talks with NPR's Robert Siegel about whether that claim is true.

Britain's biggest bookie has stopped taking bets on the existence -- current or past -- of life on Mars. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Warren Lush, spokesman for Ladbrokes betting service, about the decision, which Lush says stemmed from NASA's scientific findings announced this week.

Shiite Muslims take steps to ensure their safety as the Ashoura celebration draws to a close. Iraqis establish checkpoints to protect the Kadhimiya mosque, site of one of several bomb attacks Tuesday that left hundreds of Shiite pilgrims dead or wounded. Criticizing U.S. security efforts, Shiites renew calls for an armed militia. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Ivan Watson.

Bombings at Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and Karbala have led to increased demands for Shiite militiamen to be given authorization to help maintain security in Shiite areas. Officials of the U.S. occupation authority remain opposed to the idea. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide steps down, bowing to months of protests and a growing armed rebellion that had taken over several cities. International attempts to broker a power-sharing agreement between Aristide and the opposition proved fruitless, leading several nations -- including France and the United States -- to call for Aristide to step down. NPR's Liane Hansen talks with NPR's Gerry Hadden from Port-au-Prince.

NPR's John Ydstie talks with Robert Fatton about the latest developments in Haiti's crisis, and the factors contributing to the country's instability. Fatton is a professor at the University of Virginia and author of Haiti's Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy.

The child care industry is pivotal for parents being able to work and for children's early learning. It struggles to compete for workers in a smaller labor market. A Miami day care offers a snapshot.

One hundred years ago, big bandleader Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa. A master of marketing and pop sensibility, Miller turned out one hit record after another with his orchestra between 1938 and 1944. "In the Mood," "Moonlight Serenade" and other Miller hits stirred dancers, inspired wartime America and became classics. Tom Vitale reports.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger welcomes a vital political success, as California voters approve a bond measure aimed at helping finance the state's debt crisis. The governor engineered the measure's passage, overcoming its initial unpopularity. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and columnist Phil Matier of The San Francisco Chronicle.

E. Lockhart's prequel to We Were Liars works perfectly well, too, as a standalone coming-of-age novel about grief, addiction, young love, and learning to navigate the world.

For decades, U.S. manufacturing firms have moved factory jobs overseas to cut payroll costs. Now, an increasing number of technology jobs are being sent overseas to countries such as India, Russia and the Philippines. Commentator -- and programmer -- Paul Ford is struck by the irony that the system built by programmers is the very mechanism that allows these jobs to move overseas. Paul Ford writes online at ftrain.com.

The U.S.-backed Haitian Council of Sages chooses businessman Gerard Latortue as Haiti's interim prime minister. The council noted Latortue's experience in the United Nations and frequent visits to Haiti as qualities that make him a good candidate, despite his living outside of Haiti for most of the past 40 years. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and council member Anne-Marie Issa.

Figures from the Commerce Department show foreign employers added 3.4 million U.S. workers between 1986 and 2001 -- almost equaling the 3.5 million jobs U.S. companies moved offshore in the same period. Department data suggests many white-collar service jobs are also flowing from abroad to the United States. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Assuming an on-stage microphone had been turned off on Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry was heard describing the Bush-Cheney administration as "crooked." Republicans reacted angrily, but President Bush also has made embarrassing off-mic comments that ended up on the air.

NPR's Lynn Neary reports on a new study by the Center for Excellence in Journalism that the public is increasingly skeptical of news reports because many view news organizations as immoral.

A large explosion destroys the Mount Lebanon Hotel in downtown Baghdad, sparking fires, damaging nearby buildings and causing an unknown number of casualties. Rescuers are still pulling bodies from the rubble. Earlier, angry Iraqis pushed back U.S. soldiers trying to help. Hear NPR's Madeleine Brand and Los Angeles Times reporter John Daniszewski in Baghdad.

Ten coordinated explosions tear through trains and stations along a commuter line in Spain, killing at least 190 people and wounding 1,200 others at the height of Madrid's morning rush hour. Spain's interior minister says a van has been found near Madrid that contained seven detonators and a tape in Arabic. Jerome Socolovsky reports from Madrid.

NPR's Juan Williams talks to Mary Beth Cahill, campaign manager for Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry. Cahill says Kerry plans to respond forcefully to negative ads by the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

Supreme courts in many states are debating whether to define marriage as a union between opposite genders. But in recent rulings, judges are treating gay and lesbian couples as if they are married -- especially when it comes to dividing assets and assigning child custody when couples split up. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.