The situation in Syria has deteriorated further this week. Government troops once again opened fire on thousands of protesters, armed rebels continued their own resistance, which looks more and more like an insurgency. All this despite a push by the United Nations fro a cease-fire. NPR's Kelly McEvers reports.
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: It's hard to know where to start when it comes to Syria. First, let's go the protests that continued despite the fact that violence is on the rise.
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News, I'm Scott Simon. Murder charges have been filed against the U.S. Army Sergeant accused of killing 17 Afghan men, women and children. Now, an investigative officer will decide whether there's enough evidence to go forward with a court martial. NPR's Pentagon correspondent, Tom Bowman, walks us through the legal challenges ahead for the defense and the prosecution.
Puppeteer Basil Twist poses with Ballerina, the marionette at the center of a tragic love triangle in his adaptation of Petrushka.
Credit Photos by Doriane Raiman / NPR
Marionettes (and their manipulators) perform puppeteer Basil Twist's adaptation of Petrushka, backstage at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.
Credit Steven Menendez
Drag artist Joey Arias performs with the Dream Orchestra — all puppets, all of them handed down to Twist by his grandfather — in Arias With a Twist.
Basil Twist has been called a genius. The art he's a genius at? Puppetry — which he knows can be a hard sell.
"It's not of this time," he says. "It's not of the world we live in now."
But Twist, a highly trained practitioner, brings this art of the past to the present with innovative creations beyond the likes of the Muppets or their foul-mouthed cousins on Avenue Q.