Weekend Edition Sunday features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Weekend Edition Sunday debuted on January 18, 1987, with host Susan Stamberg. Two years later, Liane Hansen took over the host chair, a position she held for 22 years. In that time, Hansen interviewed movers and shakers in politics, science, business and the arts. Her reporting travels took her from the slums of Cairo to the iron mines of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; from the oyster beds on the bayou in Houma, La., to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park; and from the kitchens of Colonial Williamsburg, Va., to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
In January 2017, Lulu Garcia-Navarro became host of Weekend Edition Sunday. She is infamous in the IT department at NPR for losing laptops to bullets and hurricanes. She comes to Weekend Edition Sunday from Rio de Janeiro where she was posted as NPR's international correspondent in South America. She has also been NPR's correspondent based in Mexico and spent many years in the Middle East based in Israel and Iraq. She was one of the first reporters to enter Libya after the 2011 Arab Spring began and spent months painting a deep and vivid portrait of a country at war. Her work earned her a 2011 George Foster Peabody Award, a Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club, and an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Alliance for Women and the Media's Gracie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement. She has received other awards for her work in Mexico and most recently, the Amazon in Brazil.
Every week listeners tune in to hear a unique blend of news, features and the regularly scheduled puzzle segment with Puzzlemaster Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group about Iran's objectives in launching what Tehran said was a retaliatory drone and missile strike against Israel.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with the Brookings Institution's Natan Sachs about how Israel's possible responses to the overnight attack by hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers about friendships, divinity studies, and the music from her new album, "Don't Forget Me."
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with David and Nathan Zellner about their new, absurd film "Sasquatch Sunset," which is about a family of sasquatches.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with Scott Manas of Miami, Florida and puzzle master Will Shortz.
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How many porta-potties does it take to relieve the Boston Marathon? A look at the "potty math" behind keeping thirty thousand runners and numerous spectators comfortable.
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Self-loathing because of our looks can be second-nature for many of us. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Hilde Ostby about her memoir, "My Belly," which examines what's behind that feeling.
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Venezuela faces a deadline this week to commit to holding free and fair elections or face the return of US oil sanctions.
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With support from U.S. forces, Israel's defense systems took down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles that were launched in what President Biden called "an unprecedented attack."
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Amid an attack by Iran, President Biden vows continued support for Israel and House leaders say they'll take up an aid package this week.