Last night, Joe Biden made the most important decision in his campaign with a historic pick of Senator Kamala Devi Harris as his vice-presidential candidate. But it’s the next 48 hours that are truly crucial for the campaign to prove they have the chemistry to win the presidency.
Guests: Axios’ Hans Nichols and Jeff Tracy
It’s been about a month since the Chinese Communist Party forced a national security law on Hong Kong. This new law made it illegal for anyone anywhere in the world to promote democratic reform in the region. Recent arrests of top media and political figures have made it clear that Hong Kong’s relatively free political system is over.
Guests: Axios’ Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, and Miriam Kramer and special thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the Asian American Journalists Association.
The number of Covid-19 infections in the U.S. surpasses 5 million. Tens of millions of Americans could be evicted with the eviction ban lapsing. Plus, Hong Kong Publisher Jimmy Lai is arrested under China’s new national security law.
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: the absent student, (9:55) Beirut: a city in ruins, (19:45) and why TV from China’s Hunan province has become so popular.
NPR News Now reports: Protests erupt in Beirut in aftermath of massive explosion, Tik Tok sues U.S., and other world news.
NPR News Now reports: Congress fails to agree on a new stimulus bill, President Trump considers action, and other top news.
Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the world’s pre-eminent classical soloists. For 40 years the German performer has collaborated with distinguished composers and musicians, winning numerous awards. She talks to Monocle’s Robert Bound about Beethoven, her Stradivarius and sending biscuits to John Williams.Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 29 June 1963) is a German violinist. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan, and has had several works composed especially for her, by Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, John Williams and others.
It’s too soon to know what downtown cities will look like after the coronavirus pandemic. What we do know is that no business will be spared. Both small mom and pops and big retailers will have to shut their doors and move away from dense city centers. That could mean landowners, consumers and retailers will have to work together to imagine the new iteration of the American city.
Guests: Axios’ Dion Rabouin, Caitlin Owens, and Sara Goo.
Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the risk of the novel coronavirus infection to pregnant women. Early data suggest expectant women are more likely to get severe forms of the infection and require hospitalization. Meredith describes how the biology of pregnancy—such as changes to the maternal immune system and added stress on the heart and lungs—might explain the harsher effects of the virus.
Also this week, Sarah talks with Gianluca Roscioli about his experiments with commercial razor blades and real human hair. By using a scanning electron microscope, he was able to show how something relatively soft like hair is able to damage something 50 times harder like stainless steel.
NPR New Now: The Beirut explosion killed at least 135 people, the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, and other top news.
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