State and National News

Though still only 22, Laura Marling is both an accomplished performer and one of the U.K.'s brightest up-and-coming songwriters. Her first two records were each nominated for the Mercury Prize, and last year she won a Brit Award for best female solo artist. Those are high-profile awards for an artist whose songs unfold in quiet ways, with lyrical depth that rewards repeat listening and a clear alto that gives her songs gravity.

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MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

In Greece, economic and political turmoil have left Greeks feeling divided and deflated. The talk in Athens today was all about new elections and an uncertain future, but it was a different scene in the southern town of Olympia. That's where, earlier today, the Olympic flame was lit for the London games and, as Joanna Kakissis reports, people were able to forget, for just a moment, their many troubles.

The undercover agent who helped thwart the latest underwear bomb plot was a British citizen, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has learned.

"The undercover operation was being directed by British intelligence with help from other international intelligence agencies," Dina tells us. "The British had put some pressure on the Obama administration not to reveal their role in the secret mission."

Who's really hooked on tanning beds?

Odds are she's young, white and lives in the Midwest.

Figures just published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report paint a detailed picture of indoor tanning habits across the country.

Overall, in 2010 about 5.6 percent of adults used a tanning bed, or other device that blasts UV rays at skin to darken it. Tanning sprays didn't count.

The Undead Music Festival, which lifted off last night, has grown every year. On Friday, it will outgrow New York City.

Justin Jones is a local D.C. talent. I've seen him a number of times often as an opening act. I've enjoyed his music but it wasn't until this new record that I went "WOW!" Jones has just finished a powerfully magnificent Americana album called Fading Light. This song, "Miracles" opens with over a minute of hypnotic rock that — if it wasn't played so well and recorded so well — would fit comfortably on a Velvet Underground record.

Richard Mourdock is the first to admit he's lacking in the political flash-and-dash department.

"I never got hit with the charisma stick when I was lying there in the nursery," the newly crowned Indiana Republican Senate candidate told NPR in a recent interview.

But Mourdock, 60, who on Tuesday toppled six-term Republican Sen. Richard Lugar in a GOP primary, is a determined if not dynamic campaigner, those who know him say, and no newcomer to the trail.

The international peace plan for Syria is nearly a month old, and signs are pointing to a conflict that is becoming even more entrenched.

In the latest blow, two massive explosions rocked the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus, on Thursday, killing at least 55 people and injuring hundreds more.