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If you want to sell something to little girls right now, just put a princess on it. Disney princesses alone fuel a $4 billion industry, and Pixar's movie Brave is sure to give that a boost. But it isn't all singing birds and sunshine — some wonder if the princess trend is becoming too niche.

Spain and Italy will meet for the 2012 European soccer championship this Sunday. But at times, racial slurs and harassment from fans have overshadowed play on the field. Italy's Mario Balotelli even threatened not to play if he experienced racial abuse. Host Michel Martin speaks with the Associated Press International Sports Editor Simon Haydon.

Corporations that have been big donors to Susan G. Komen are receiving lots of complaints from abortion-rights supporters. The flap demonstrates the dangers of associating your company with another organization you can't control.

Heart of a Samurai tells the true story of 14-year-old Manjiro, a boy who was shipwrecked, rescued by whalers and taken to America. It was the late 1800s, when Japan was cut off from the outside world — until Manjiro returned and influenced the shogun to open the country to diplomacy.

One of the most daring prison escapes in U.S. history happened 50 years ago Monday. Legend has always held that if the three men who escaped from Alcatraz are still alive, they will return on this anniversary. Unlikely as it seems, NPR's Laura Sullivan — and the U.S. Marshals — plan to be there.

In the last decade, population growth in Western swing states outpaced the national average, according to David Damore, a professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. With the Nevada Republican caucus underway, guest host David Greene talks with Damore about the electoral shift and the issues potential voters in the region view as priorities.

For several election cycles, the presidency has been won or lost based on suburban voters in several key swing states. And some political observers believe that President Obama took the calculated risk that supporting gay marriage rights will boost his campaign in these all-important counties.

The U.S. strategy for leaving Afghanistan calls for U.S. troops to hand off responsibility for security to Afghan forces. The target date is two years away. It's been a slow process so far, with Afghan troops sometimes unwilling, or unable, to assume leadership.

We may romanticize that strawberries are grown down the road, but most of them come from California. And a complex web of plant cloning practices, relocation and fumigation has cropped up to keep it that way. Although scientists are exploring new options, like soil-free growing.

The former leader is from the most powerful family in Greek politics, the third man in his family to be prime minister. But Greece's debt crisis brought down his government, his party and his family's dominant role in running the country.