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Think moccasins, turquoise jewelry and sheep butchering. The competition tests Miss Navajo hopefuls on their knowledge of traditions and language.

Actor Stephen Tobolowsky's new book is made up of essays, anecdotes, stories and insights shuffled in and out of order, like cards in a deck. Everything in the book is true, Tobolowsky says: "True trumps clever any day of the week."

In the book Yankee Miracles, Ray Negron tells his story of rising up through the ranks of Yankee baseball from bat boy to head of community outreach for one of the most storied teams in major league baseball. He talks with host Scott Simon.

Once again this week, European officials sat down and tried to figure out what to do about the debt crisis. Investors seem to like the plan they came up with, and stock prices rose. But the program still faces hurdles, including a major court ruling in Germany next week. Host Scott Simon speaks with NPR's Jim Zarroli.

The French port city of Marseilles is in the grip of gang warfare, as young men fight for control of drug trafficking, often using sophisticated weapons left over from the Balkan wars. The gangs are pushing professional criminals and syndicates aside. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley describes the mood with host Scott Simon.

Actor-writer-director Jon Favreau could watch Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets a million times. "As a young boy being able to see an R-rated violent movie with language in it was exciting," he says, "but what I didn't realize as I was younger was that I was watching a master filmmaker."

The State Department is deploying a new, elite force onto the precarious stage of international diplomacy. More than 80 top chefs from across the nation were inducted into the first-ever American Chef Corps on Friday.

Turkish officials recently arrested several suspected Iranian spies. But these cases are but a pale echo of Turkey's heyday as a mecca for spies. During World War II, Istanbul was a crossroads that swarmed with agents. It has inspired authors from Eric Ambler to John le Carre — a tradition that continues today.

Many people were reminded of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys when they helped close out the 2012 Olympic Games in London with their biggest hit, "West End Girls." The duo, however, has continued to make new music since forming in 1981, and have just released their 11th studio album, Elysium.

Paul Ryan gained national attention and praise from conservatives with bold proposals to cut the deficit and balance the budget. But critics say the Republican vice presidential nominee's talk doesn't match his record. To others, he is more a small-government conservative than a deficit hawk.