On Sundays, Weekend Edition combines the news with colorful arts and human-interest features, appealing to the curious and eclectic. With a nod to traditional Sunday habits, the program offers a fix for diehard crossword addicts-word games and brainteasers with The Puzzlemaster, a.k.a. Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times. With Hansen on the sidelines, a caller plays the latest word game on the air while listeners compete silently at home. The NPR mailbag is proof that the competition to go head-to-head with Shortz is rather vigorous.
Another trademark of Sunday's program is "Voices in the News," a montage of sound bites from the past week, poignant in its simplicity. Hansen also engages listeners in her discussions with regular contributors, who cover a wide range of national and international issues.
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The UK's two-party system is fracturing. Anti-establishment parties trounced the traditional parties, Labour and Conservative, in local elections. There are calls for the prime minister to step down.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe looks ahead to President Trump's visit this week to China with Patricia Kim of The Brookings Institution.
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Under the Trump administration, the State Department is seeing an exodus of diplomats. Among the reasons: a newly aggressive politicization of U.S. foreign policy.
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Nearly every state in the country has one or more cowboy churches. The theology might not be different from other churches but the worship music is often bluegrass or gospel with a twang.
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Two months ago, a gunman drove through the preschool at Temple Israel, the largest synagogue in Michigan. Every child and teacher survived, but the community is still displaced and navigating the trauma of the attack.
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The White House waits for Iran's response to the latest deal to end the war, as President Trump prepares for a meeting in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jingping later this week.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Patrick Harker, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, about Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's tenure at the central bank, which ends this week.
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A French aristocrat moves to Kansas and founds a silk-making socialist utopia. Then things get weird. The story of the founding of Silkville, Kansas, in 1870.
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The Savannah Bananas began when one couple emptied their bank accounts for a dream: to add joy, fun and ultimately singing and dancing to baseball. 11 years later, it's an entertainment juggernaut.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to "Today" show co-host Sheinelle Jones about her new book, "Through Mom's Eyes: Simple Wisdom from Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans."