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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Let's hear some of the sounds from last night in Aurora, Colorado. That's where thousands of people gathered to remember victims of last Friday's shooting. Twelve people were killed. And the explosives rigged in the suspect's apartment suggest it could have been far worse.

NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Police in Aurora, Colorado spent the weekend disarming a snarl of bombs and incendiary devices inside the apartment of James Holmes. He's the man police arrested early on Friday, just after they say he opened fire in a crowded movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58. Holmes is described as a 24-year-old who'd been studying at the University of Colorado. He's expected in court later this morning.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The 19th International AIDS Conference is underway in Washington. More than 20,000 people are in this city from around the world to discuss the latest developments in the effort to prevent the spread of HIV and help people who already have it. NPR health and science correspondent Richard Knox is here to talk about the meeting. Richard, good morning.

RICHARD KNOX, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: Natural that you'd have a big meeting like this in Washington, global capital, but there's also a story about AIDS in Washington, D.C.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

First of five parts

It's sunset in the village of Atima. The old police station clearly was part of the government at one point. The police basically left and now the police station itself is a headquarters for the rebels.

The flag on top of the police station is no longer the Syrian flag, but the flag of the revolution. It's a bit in tatters, but it's still there.

Yoselyn Gaitan, an 8-year-old with a shy smile, sits quietly in an exam room at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., wearing a tiny hospital gown. She looks a little uneasy as she waits to be brought back to the operating room for the final surgery on her cleft palate.

Kelly Schraf spots her through the curtain and tiptoes into her room.

Every morning, Shannon Orley parks as far away as possible from her office in Anchorage, Alaska. And on the sprawling Providence Alaska Medical Center campus that is really far away.

"Right around 1,000 steps each way. Definitely worth it," Orley says.

Thirty years ago, we first began hearing about AIDS — then a mysterious, unnamed disease that was initially thought to be a rare form of cancer that affected gay men. Scientists soon learned that it was neither of those things, and, in fact, it was a virus that everyone was vulnerable to.

That vulnerability became apparent when, in 1991, basketball superstar Magic Johnson announced that we would retire immediately because he had contracted HIV.

President Obama is in Aurora, Colo., on Sunday, meeting with the families of the victims of the deadly theater shootings that killed 12 people and injured 58 more. He'll also attend a memorial service and meet briefly with local officials.

Outside the movie theater where Friday's rampage occurred, there's a makeshift memorial at the edge of a hot and dusty lot. There are hundreds of candles and flowers, American flags and signs memorializing the victims.

"It's a sad time, very sad time," said William Cloud, a local professor, who came by to pay his respects.