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The secretary of state's comments are the sharpest to date from a top Obama aide. He also said, though, that "innocent people are not being abused" and that the intelligence gathered by the National Security Agency has prevented terrorist attacks.

Ma Jian, vice-minister in the Ministry of State Security, has reportedly been detained, possibly for insider trading. He would be the highest-ranking official to be caught in the ongoing probe.

China is the world's top coal consumer but slow economic growth and pollution concerns are lessening demand. Chinese energy officials say more than 1,000 coal mines will be closed this year.

Fans in France are left to ponder what might have been after a penalty-kick loss to Italy in the World Cup's championship game. The turning point may have been the ejection of the team's top player in overtime.

The United Nations Security Council is delaying its formal response to North Korea's July 5 missile tests, as diplomats give China time to persuade its longtime ally to cooperate. The tests are challenging China's credibility as an effective diplomatic broker.

It is less than three months before the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, and Patrick Quinn is closer than he has ever been to achieving his Olympic dream. He hopes to represent the U.S. in doubles luge at the Games.

At a time when soul music is heavily tricked-out, singer Maxwell likes to pare things down, inviting listeners in with his smooth, fluttery singing and raw emotion. In 2001, Maxwell scored a top-selling album, then disappeared. He's back with a new album, BLACKsummers' Night.

In their day, acts like Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy would keep audiences young and old as transfixed as the biggest stars on television today. It's hard to imagine that ventriloquists and their wooden sidekicks would be such big hits -- on radio. NPR's Bob Edwards talks to the author of a new book about the bygone era of ventriloquism.

One hundred years ago today, lyricist Dorothy Fields was born. She wrote dozens of hit songs for Broadway shows and Hollywood musicals, including Sweet Charity, which is currently being revived on Broadway. Jeff Lunden has this appreciation.

A chance meeting in a German airport resulted in a CD collaboration between Israeli pop star Idan Raichel and Vieux Farka Toure, the guitarist from Mali. The result, The Tel Aviv Session, is magic.