NPR News

Greg Mitchell writes daily for The Nation.

Anthony Shadid, 43, perhaps the most respected US reporter covering numerous wars and battles zones throughout the Middle East and North Afrida in the past dozen years, died today in Syria. He reportedly suffered an asthma attack. His body was then carried across the border to Turkey by his New York Times colleague, photographer Tyler Hicks.

When world renowned vocalist k.d. lang appeared on Mountain Stage for the second time in October 2004, she brought along a small band, a four-piece string section and songs from her album Hymns of the 49^th Parallel.The album includes songs written by heralded Canadian song crafters like Neil Young ("Helpless"), Leonard Coehn ("Hallelujah"), Bruce Cockburn ("One Day I Walk") and lang herself ("Still Thrives" and "Constant Craving," both co-writes with Ben Mink).

Noam Scheiber is a senior editor at The New Republic.

A question: Does it matter who wins the upcoming Michigan primary? I can only foresee two scenarios in which it does: First, if Romney were to lose to Santorum decisively, one could imagine the GOP establishment waking up the next morning and scouring the country for a white-knight alternative. At that point all hell breaks loose, and you and I are as likely to be the GOP nominee as Mitt Romney.

On this week's show, we chat about the horror show that was last Sunday night's Grammy Awards. How do we feel about the romp of Adele and the Best New Artist triumph of not at all new artist Bon Iver? The old-timers parade? The difficult matter of how the event was affected by the death of Whitney Houston? It takes Glen all the way to the one-minute mark to make up a new word that we adore, so believe us when we tell you that there's plenty of lively talk.

The streets of Benghazi have turned into the world's most joyous parking lot.

Every single vehicle, moving slower than a toddler walking, is honking its horn in a variety of patterns to celebrate the first anniversary of the revolution.