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British writer Christopher Hitchens was once the literary lion of the left. But after Sept. 11, 2001, he surprised many with his robust support for the Bush administration's war on terrorism. It has cost Hitchens friends and allies, and left others wondering how it happened.

A Washington Post reporter has found that the support of Somali women was instrumental in the recent takeover of the country's capital, Mogadishu, by Islamist militias. Host Debbie Elliott talks to the reporter, Craig Timberg.

A measles outbreak in Boston is showing how the global economy opens opportunities for one of the world's most contagious viruses. Disease detectives say a computer programmer from India brought the virus to Boston's tallest office tower. The outbreak reveals that millions of Americans in their 30s and 40s are vulnerable to measles, even though they were vaccinated years ago.

North Korea declares that it has a right to carry out long-range missile tests, despite international calls for the communist state to refrain from launching a rocket believed capable of reaching the United States. The statement came as France and the U.N. secretary-general raised the alarm over a potential test.

In a story that has enthralled many Italians, the pretender to the Italian throne, Victor Emmanuel, has been jailed over his alleged involvement in a sex scandal. The prince prefers to stay in jail rather than be granted house arrest in a nearby rented villa -- because, he says, there is no air conditioning. The lead investigator in the case, Henry John Woodcock, has become a minor celebrity. He is a Neapolitan with an English father. Transcribed wiretaps that have been published by the media reveal an underworld of right-wing politicians promising showgirls jobs in TV in exchange for sex -- which is said to take place inside the foreign ministry.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is in the United States, and one issue he faces here is human rights. Most U.S. companies in China won't touch the issue, but businessman John Kamm made it a second career. Kamm has spent the last 16 years helping to free scores of Chinese political prisoners.

Neurobiologist James McGaugh, one of the world's experts on human memory, says that a woman he calls AJ has a one-of-a-kind memory. In an interview with NPR, she talks about what life is like for someone who can remember things she’s done and news events from almost every day of her life for the past 25 years. Her life is like a split-screen movie, with the past running almost as vividly as the present.

Falun Gong demonstrators have been plentiful in the area around the White House this week, often standing in silence while holding banners. The signs spell out their grievances and detail the tortures the group says have been used against it in China.

Debra McCoskey-Reisert remembers her brother, Bobby McCoskey, who died from COVID. Bobby loved the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic, because they played it at dances he attended.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with author Jhumpa Lahiri about her latest book 'Translating Myself and Others,' and the impact translating has had on her own writing in both Italian and English.