State and National News

This April, roots-rock singer-guitarist Bonnie Raitt released her first album in seven years, Slipstream. It's classic Raitt, mixing bluesy slide-guitar riffs with her soulful voice and a pop-friendly sensibility.

The delivery system, however, is brand-new. After years of working with the majors, Raitt decided to start her own label, Redwing Records. Raitt runs Redwing with the help of a tiny staff; Slipstream is the first release in its catalog.

The U.N. said Saturday it was suspending its monitoring operations in Syria because of an "intensification of armed violence" over the past 10 days.

"Innocent civilians — men, women and children — are being killed everyday," Gen. Robert Mood, head of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, said. "[The violence] also poses a significant risk to my unarmed observers."

Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader of Myanmar, also known as Burma, spoke in Norway Saturday, formally accepting the peace prize she was awarded in 1991 while under house arrest. Her supporters portrayed the moment as a belated victory for democracy and human rights.

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The United Nations is suspending its observer mission in Syria because of growing violence there. The official announcement came today from the head of the mission, General Robert Mood. The statement released from U.N. headquarters in Damascus cited rising violence over the past 10 days, and charged that both parties - the Syrian military and the armed rebels, known as the Free Syrian Army - are putting civilians lives at risk - and the lives of their monitors. NPR's Deborah Amos is in Damascus. Deborah, thanks for being with us.

After some unexpected political drama this week, Egyptians are choosing a president Saturday, and the choice reflects the deep divisions in the country that has been unsettled since its revolution last year.

On the one side is Mohammed Morsi, candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic group that dominated the parliamentary elections back in December and January.

Two weeks ago Johan Santana threw a no-hitter for the New York Mets. It was his first. More remarkably, it was the first Mets no-hitter ever. Santana succeeded where Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Doc Gooden had failed. For baseball lovers, a no-hitter is a thing of beauty. For Mets fans like me, Santana's achievement is a cause for jubilation.

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Before Pixar or Walt Disney, was there Paleolithic Man?

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SIMON: The Chauvet prehistoric cave paintings in France have always glimmered with a mystery: why do the depictions of ancient animals seem to show beasts with several heads and multiple limbs? Are the multi-headed creature figures from mythology, folk art, or some kind of lost world?

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