Weekend Edition on WUKY

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TAMARA KEITH, HOST:

This week a young man in Texas became the first American to plead guilty to terrorism charges related to the recent fighting in Iraq.

Michael Wolfe, 23, was arrested just before he boarded a plane. He was on his way to join ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Sunni extremist group that has been storming its way across Iraq for the past two weeks.

ISIS and hundreds of other rebel groups in Syria have inspired thousands of young men around the world to leave their homes and join the fight.

Yosemite National Park, in California's Sierra Nevada, is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the law that preserved it — and planted the seeds for the National Park system. At the same time, the park faces the challenge of protecting the natural wonders from their own popularity.

Since President Abraham Lincoln signed the 1864 law that protected this land, visitors have been enjoying the park's spectacular features, from Half Dome to the giant sequoia grove — and the moonbow at Yosemite Falls.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

One of the things many countries can agree on is the importance of protecting Iraq's cultural and religious heritage in the midst of this conflict. There are holy sites in the country that have existed for thousands of years.

Last week, Iran's president vowed to cross the border to defend Shiite shrines in Iraq. And thousands of Shia Muslims in India have said they'll do the same. That would widen the conflict even more.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Secretary of State John Kerry is a ending week-long diplomatic trip through Europe and the Mideast. Secretary Kerry went from Baghdad to Erbil and then on to Brussels and Paris. He finally ended up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he warned that the Sunni Muslim group ISIS is a threat to the whole region, not just Iraq.

NPR's Jackie Northam has been traveling with Secretary Kerry. She joins us from the last stop on his journey in Shannon, Ireland. Jackie, thanks for being with us.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Time for sports.

The knockout round of the World Cup - maybe want to make that the South American Cup, since so many of the teams left standing are from the home hemisphere.

Team USA is there, too, even after it lost to Germany on Thursday. We're joined now by Howard Bryant of espn.com and ESPN The Magazine. Howard, thanks for being with us.

HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)

SIMON: (Laughing) Careful, I might bite.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Negotiators trying to ensure that Iran has only a peaceful nuclear program have less than a month to reach an agreement. A week of talks in Vienna yielded the potential beginnings of a deal. But thorny problems remain unresolved.

As NPR's Peter Kenyon reports, U.S. and Iranian negotiators also spent time fending off questions about the crisis in Iraq.

What's behind the man who is below The Blue Room?

This week, conservators at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., revealed that underneath Pablo Picasso's noted 1901 painting The Blue Room is another painting of a mustachioed man in a jacket and bow tie, resting his face on his hand.

Experts have long suspected something more must be below, as there were brushstrokes that didn't match the composition of the nude, bluish woman. Now, advanced infrared technology has revealed the man with the mustache, who also wears three rings on his fingers.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Today's the start of a new series on WEEKEND EDITION - Summer Stargazing. What better way to begin than with the summer solstice? Early this morning in England, pagans and non-pagans rose to watch the sunrise in perfect alignment with the ancient pillars of Stonehenge.

Lily Born, 11, has designed a spill-proof cup for people with Parkinson's disease. She and her dad, Joe Born, talk with NPR's Scott Simon about the invention she's named Kangaroo Cups.