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AUSTIN, TX - APRIL 18: Infowars founder Alex Jones interacts with supporters at the Texas State Capital building on April 18, 2020 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Sergio Flores/Getty Images) Sergio Flores/Getty Images hide caption

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Sergio Flores/Getty Images

Elon Musk allows controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back on X

Jones has been banned from most major social media platforms for spreading falsehoods, like saying school shootings are faked, and that survivors and parents of slain children are crisis actors.

Veteran Chinese AIDS campaigner Doctor Gao Yaojie, right, talks with students about AIDS prevention during a series of university lectures in Shanghai, Nov. 30 2006. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

Gao Yaojie, a pioneering activist who exposed China's AIDS epidemic, dies at 95

A trained gynecologist, Gao became well-known across China for her relentless activism in exposing a man-made AIDS crisis and for her educational work to remove the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

Gao Yaojie, a pioneering activist who exposed China's AIDS epidemic, dies at 95

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David Rogers Sr., right, sorts through belongings on the second floor of his son's damaged home in the West Creek Farms neighborhood on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023, in Clarksville, Tenn. Central Tennessee residents and emergency workers are continuing the cleanup from severe weekend storms. Mark Zaleski/AP hide caption

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Mark Zaleski/AP

Weather

Tennessee tornado recovery is complicated by freezing temps

Agencies across Middle Tennessee are assessing the full extent of Saturday's deadly tornadoes and bracing for a difficult and lengthy recovery amid dangerously cold temperatures.

Doug Layton, Jr. shows a trailer full of equipment he's acquired since being released from prison. He says he does painting and home repairs on the side, "trying to be productive in society." Debbie Elliott/NPR hide caption

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Debbie Elliott/NPR

Seeking redemption for aged and infirm prisoners amid Alabama's high bar for parole

A former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice runs a legal nonprofit, Redemption Earned, that helps aging and sick inmates win release from prison. Last year, 10% of Alabama prisoners received parole.

This image made with the Hubble Space Telescope and released by NASA on Aug. 10, 2020, shows the star Alpha Orionis, or Betelgeuse, a red supergiant that is about 700 million light years from Earth. AP hide caption

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AP

A massive star called Betelgeuse will be briefly obscured by an asteroid Monday night

The astronomical event, known as an occultation, is expected to occur for no longer than 15 seconds but could offer scientists new insights into the star and the asteroid that will obscure it.

Goi Chee Kong shows a picture of his son Goi Zhen Feng, who died after falling prey to human trafficking, during a press conference in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on Sept. 21, 2022. Goi said he believed his 23-year-old son was forced to work for groups involved in online scams. Vincent Thian/AP hide caption

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Vincent Thian/AP

Online scamming industry includes more human trafficking victims, Interpol says

Cyberfraud is considered human trafficking's newest form of exploitation, according to the global crime-fighting organization. Victims are largely found in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Shanta Bai is a "debt bondage" worker in the sugarcane fields of India — accepting payment in advance for a certain number of days. Record heat has made it more difficult to put in hours, and drought has hampered the harvest. Earlier this year, she was held captive in a chicken coop with her husband and several others who were told they had not put in enough time to repay their debts. Ruchi Kumar for NPR hide caption

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Ruchi Kumar for NPR

Captive in a chicken coop: The plight of debt bondage workers

India outlawed this form of forced labor: An employer pays a cash sum in exchange for weeks of labor and extracts penalties if terms are not met. But it persists — and appears to be on the rise.

President Biden speaks during an event in Washington in October arguing for his administration's "Bidenomics" agenda. But Biden has struggled to convince voters his agenda is helping. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The economy is a trouble spot for Biden despite strong signs. Here's why

Despite job growth, low unemployment and record spending, Americans are in a sour mood about the economy — and that could spell trouble for President Biden's reelection chances.

Haze obscures the Dubai skyline including Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. The United Arab Emirates is choking under "alarmingly high" air pollution levels fed by its fossil fuel industry, Human Rights Watch warned on December 4. The oil-rich country hosts the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai. Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images

What it means for an oil-producing country, the UAE, to host U.N. climate talks

The United Arab Emirates is a major oil-producing nation, and that's drawing attention to the role oil and gas has at this year's COP28 climate negotiations.

Zone G in a quarantine center turned housing units. The complex is divided into nine zones, named after letters from A to L, a design that was meant to make quarantine management convenient. Inside each window of the building is a 190-square-foot studio, equipped with a bed, a sofa and a bathroom. Aowen Cao/NPR hide caption

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Aowen Cao/NPR

A year after lifting COVID rules, China is turning quarantine centers into apartments

Dozens of makeshift centers were built and now stand empty. Now authorities want to revive a stagnating economy and attract young workers to cities by turning the structures into affordable housing.

A year after lifting COVID rules, China is turning quarantine centers into apartments

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A young bison calf with its herd at Bull Hollow, Okla., on Sept. 27, 2022. American bison, or buffalo, have bounced back from their near extinction due to commercial hunting in the 1800s. Many tribes are participating in their restoration. Audrey Jackson/AP hide caption

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Audrey Jackson/AP

With bison herds and ancestral seeds, Indigenous communities embrace food sovereignty

KFF Health News

Native Americans are returning to raising buffalo and plants that tribes have grown for millennia. It's a way to reconnect with historic traditions, and to bring healthy eating to their communities.

Chuck E. Cheese, the frontman for the animatronic Munch's Make Believe Band at the Chuck E. Cheese location in Northridge, Calif. This animatronic band is the last remaining one in the United States as locations remodel in favor of screens and interactive dance floors. Maggie Shannon for NPR hide caption

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Maggie Shannon for NPR

Kids are losing the Chuck E. Cheese animatronics. They were for the parents, anyway

The kids "eatertainment" chain is saying goodbye to its animatronics band. But not all are ready to let go of the fuzzy robot characters of their youth. One stronghold will keep the nostalgia alive.

Kids are losing the Chuck E. Cheese animatronics. They were for the parents, anyway

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Murder in Boston is a three-part docuseries about the 1989 murder of Carol Stuart by her husband Charles Stuart. But it wisely focuses not on the murder itself, but on the police investigation — both its origins and the deep scars it left. HBO hide caption

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HBO

'Murder in Boston' is what a docuseries should look like

In 1989 Charles Stuart killed his wife in what he claimed was a carjacking by a Black man. A series about that murder and the police investigation that followed is more than another true-crime story.

Dans la tour (In the Tower)/Self-Portrait of Leonor Fini with Constantin Jelenski, 1952, oil on canvas © Estate of Leonor Fini, Courtesy Galerie Minsky & Weinstein Gallery hide caption

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© Estate of Leonor Fini, Courtesy Galerie Minsky & Weinstein Gallery

'She was a pure creator.' The art world rediscovers Surrealist painter Leonor Fini

Although not as well known as contemporaries like Dalí and Ernst, Fini was part of every major Surrealist exhibition. And her personal life was almost as fantastic as her Surrealist art.

'She was a pure creator.' The art world rediscovers Surrealist painter Leonor Fini

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Ryan Roth's single vote made all the difference. Ryan Roth hide caption

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Ryan Roth

He won his seat on council by a single vote — which he cast himself

Every election we're told that each vote counts. Ryan Roth, the newly-elected city council member for Rainier, Wash., is now proof that it does.

He won his seat on council by a single vote — which he cast himself

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Opening night at La Scala theater, in Milan Italy, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023. The tradition of Italian opera singing is among the 55 cultural practices to be inscribed to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List this year. Luca Bruno/AP hide caption

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Luca Bruno/AP

55 cultural practices added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage

More than 70 countries put forward nominations aimed at safeguarding a wide variety of diverse and unique traditions at a meeting in Botswana this week.

Skiers participate in last year's "Santa Sunday" event at the Sunday River resort in Newry, Maine. Marina French/Sunday River hide caption

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Marina French/Sunday River

Unique ways Americans celebrate the holidays, from skiing Santas to Festivus feats

Here's how communities across the U.S. put their own spin on Christmas, Hanukkah and even Festivus celebrations — from Santas who ski and surf, to trees made of tumbleweed, sand and lobster traps.

Unique ways Americans celebrate the holidays, from skiing Santas to Festivus feats

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A woman is facing charges after pouring what appears to be gasoline on the porch of the Queen Anne style house in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr. spent the first 12 years of his life. The home was not damaged. Historic American Buildings Survey/ Library of Congress hide caption

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Historic American Buildings Survey/ Library of Congress

Visitors to Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth home stop a woman from setting fire to it

"That action saved an important part of American history tonight," Atlanta's police chief told media gathered at the scene late Thursday.

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