Im reporting in the western philippines. We will tell you why these waters are now at the forefront of a tense territorial dispute. But first the Syrian Foreign Ministry says six United Nations inspectors and drivers have been kidnapped in syria. The kidnapping is said to have taken place in the hamma province and it advised the team not to enter a village close to the area but the team did so reco recordless. One confirmed the abduction and another denied it. Of course we will bring you more information as soon as we talk to our correspondents in the region. But now lets go to egypt. It is the second day of the president ial election and its the 10th poll in four years and its expected to endorse or even confirm abdelfattah elsissi as the new leader and the former army chief abdelfattah elsissi and challenger cast their ballots on monday. And we have the european lead election observer there speaking to us earlier from cairo and says political activists and journalists remains a conce
WMFE Tiny Desk Contest
For local musicians and public radio fans, one of the most coveted stages in the country is the tiny desk of NPR host Bob Boilen and his NPR music crew. Every year, there s a nationwide open call for musicians to submit a desk-based performance to their local public radio outlet, where a panel of local experts determines the most worthy area entrant to be sent on to the national judging. The Sh-Booms almost took it all one year! Submissions are currently open until June 7. The rest of us can then thrill to the videos of the local finalists.
Post-vaccination Inertia Is Real Katherine J. Wu
Updated at 4:39 p.m. ET on April 29, 2021.
On my kitchen wall hangs a very small and very adorable cat calendar, with May 23 circled in Sharpie. It’s the day my Pfizer vaccine will, at long last, blossom into “full vaccination,” as sanctioned by the CDC. I’ll be able to safely venture outdoors unmasked and skip post-exposure quarantines. I’ll be able to schmooze with other immunized people indoors perhaps even travel across state lines to visit family members I haven’t hugged since last spring.
In a matter of weeks, social life as I know it will crack open. And a pretty big part of me is flat-out terrified of what lies within that widening maw.
The Atlantic Daily: Design Your Own Ideal Post-pandemic Social Life
Americans may soon be able to gather and go out safely again. Does that sentence fill you with excitement or dread?
The Atlantic
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In the coming months, much of the country will exit this pandemic with a better sense of how they’d like to spend their time. They’ll divide into two camps, my colleague Joe Pinsker predicts:
Andrew Testa / The New York Times / Redux; Mark Peterson / Redux / The Atlantic
A post-pandemic discussion question: You get home from work on a Friday night and change into sweatpants. It’s been an exhausting week. A text message comes in. Your good friend wants to know if you’d like to meet up last minute for a drink, which is something that’s safe to do again. You’d love to catch up, but you’re pretty tired. Do you go?
This choose-your-own-adventure or choose-your-own-lack-of-adventure scenario is one that more Americans will start facing again soon, and their answer will indicate which of two competing post-pandemic impulses they feel more strongly.