Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR News

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This past week marked the unofficial start of the general election for President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Former Republican Senator Rick Santorum's departure from the presidential race cleared the way for Romney and signaled a shift to a new phase of the campaign. For more, we are joined by NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Hi, Mara.

MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel.

Palo Alto, Calif., recently hosted a 12-hour bonanza for software developers, artists and families. The "Super Happy Block Party Hackathon" was a marathon for coders to make new software in a short amount of time. It also featured food trucks, music and homemade robots. Corey Takahashi reports.

Host Rachel Martin talks with Matthew Goodwin, an associate fellow with Chatham House, about anti-immigrant extremism in Europe. Goodwin explains why once-fringe political parties have gained widespread support.

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now, it's time to meet the woman People magazine has hailed as the Cal Ripken of Broadway. Her name is Catherine Russell, and since 1987, Ms. Russell has performed the role of psychiatrist and possible killer, Margaret Brent, in the Off-Broadway thriller called "Perfect Crime." That is more than 10,000 performances. And later this week, Catherine Russell - and the play - will mark a 25th anniversary. Catherine Russell joins us now from our New York bureau. Welcome to the program, Catherine.

CATHERINE RUSSELL: Thank you very much.

A year ago this week, photojournalist Tim Hetherington posted this message on Twitter:

Those words ended up being some of Hetherington's last; he was killed in Misrata, along with fellow photographer Chris Hondros.

Monsieur Lazhar is a French Canadian film, a bittersweet comedy about an Algerian immigrant who gently moves into the role of teacher and comforter for a grief-stricken class of middle-school children in Montreal.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2011. (It lost to Iran's A Separation.) But last month it swept the Genies, Canada's national film prizes, winning best picture, director, actor and three other awards.

Idan Raichel first met Malian guitar luminary Vieux Farka Toure in a chance encounter at an airport in Germany. Raichel, an Israeli pop star and keyboard player, had admired Toure's work— as well as that of his father, the late Ali Farka Toure — for many years before they crossed paths.

On-Air Challenge: You'll be given a two- or three-word description of a famous person. The initial letters of the description are also the initials of the person.