Weekend Edition Sunday is NPR's Sunday morning news magazine, carried by 794 public radio stations nationwide. Every week, the show features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the crisis in Ukraine.
Weekend Edition Sunday debuted on January 18, 1987, with host Susan Stamberg. Two years later, Liane Hansen took over the host chair, a position she held for 22 years. Recent hosts include Audie Cornish (2011–2012), Rachel Martin (2012–2016) and Lulu Garcia-Navarro (2017–2021.)
In 2022, Ayesha Rascoe was named the host of Weekend Edition Sunday. Previously, Rascoe was a White House correspondent for NPR and covered three presidential administrations. Her White House coverage has included a number of high-profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she's also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed. He was 86 years old. Khamenei was unwavering in his steadfast antipathy to the U.S. and Israel.
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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, and its retaliation, could lead the Middle East into a wider war.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about Congressional authorization for the U.S. strikes on Iran.
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U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran enter a second day as President Trump warned of increased intensity if Iran retaliates.
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Social media platforms are awash with videos and images of the strikes on Iran. What they do and don't show.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Shashank Joshi, defense editor at The Economist, about the U.S. decision to carry out military strikes on Iran without its traditional European allies.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, CEO of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, about the sorts of tactics Iran can deploy in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes.
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Paramount has outbid Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, a major shake-up that has many in the film industry worried.
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The Middle East reacts to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Ray Takeyh, senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, about possible outcomes now that the U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran.