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Police in Bahrain are accused of using excessive force on anti-government protesters in the days leading up to the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Steve Inskeep talks to John Timoney, a former police chief in Miami and Philadelphia, who now advises the Bahraini police force.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

General Motors is making a bigger effort in what's become the world's biggest car market. At the Beijing Auto Show this week, GM said it plans to open 600 new dealerships in China this year. GM is trying to grow Chinese sales while they still can.

NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Shanghai.

Weeks ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook released its first quarter profits Monday, and they are down 12 percent from a year ago. At the same time, company expenses have nearly doubled. Facebook attributes some of that to market expansion, which requires more employees and infrastructure.

Former Prime Minister Geir Haarde was the first leader to be put on trial for his role in the global financial crisis. Renee Montagne talks to Michael Stothard, a correspondent for the Financial Times, about Haarde being found guilty of negligence for his handling of the financial crisis. He was cleared of three other charges.

Misaki Murakami and his family lost everything in last year's tsunami in Japan. Waves carried his soccer ball — covered in notes from third grade friends — to a beach in Alaska. The ball is being returned.

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As a part of Earth Day celebrations, performance artist Alison Knowles took salad making to the extreme in New York City. Knowles chopped romaine lettuce, carrots and cucumbers to the beat of live music. She then tossed the avalanche of salad off a balcony into a giant tarp, where the salad was served up to audience members.

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Later this week, we get some key data to help judge the state of the nation's housing market. There are some early signs of recovery, but home prices are still falling in many areas, as NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Tomorrow, we'll get the latest word on home prices from what's called the S&P Case-Shiller index. That keeps showing price declines in many areas. Though those price drops have been leveling off, so things definitely aren't as bad as they were.

In its heyday, the textile industry employed 40 percent of North Carolina's work force. Now that employment number is less than 2 percent. But Raleigh Denim has found a way to thrive in North Carolina by making blue jeans the old-fashioned way.

The denim store in Kobe, Japan, sells jeans for $350. The store is able to sell a pair of jeans for that price because it's tapped into a Japanese subculture that is obsessed by 1950s Americana.