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Dissatisfied with the scope and costs of the biggest fan convention in the country, one fan started a new gathering of her own, and she quickly brought some big names in to help out.

About 2,200 passengers were being flown back to Baltimore after their cruise ship caught fire on its way to the Bahamas. It was the latest black eye for the cruise industry, which is now trying to reassure passengers it's OK for them to sail. An industry group said it has adopted a passenger "bill of rights."

Nadeem Aslam's The Blind Man's Garden explores the consequences of Sept. 11 through the story of two young brothers who go to Afghanistan in late 2001 to help wounded civilians. Aslam says he wrote the book over four and a half years, part of which was spent in total isolation.

Frank Deford puts aside his gripes this week to pay tribute to the poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, first published in the San Francisco Examiner 125 years ago June 3.

While AP West Africa Bureau Chief Rukmini Callimachi was covering the French military intervention in Mali, she gathered six trash bags full of abandoned al-Qaida documents from buildings used by the organization. Included was a copy of a scathing letter sent to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, which described him as a prima donna. He later quit the organization and formed his own group — carrying out attacks that killed 101 people.

There was a U.S. drone strike Wednesday in a Taliban stronghold of northern Pakistan, killing at least four people. It was the first strike since President Obama's speech last Thursday announcing that the use of drones would be scaled back to limit civilian casualties. It's also the first strike since Pakistan held elections earlier this month.

Five years ago when he was 76, a Nepalese climber became the oldest person to scale Mount Everest. Last week, an 80-year-old Japanese climber took the crown. The Nepalese climber has had to give up on his attempt to reclaim the title because of bad weather.

The African-American teen's February 2012 shooting death drew national attention. George Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. He claims self defense. Trayvon's family alleges the young man was racially profiled. The trial will begin June 10.

The Colorado River serves 40 million people across Western states and is critical for farmers and ranchers who rely on its water for irrigation. Drought remains a serious problem as the summer begins. Writer and photographer Peter McBride talks about the state of the region and the response.

Hear a new song by Boards of Canada on this week's All Songs Considered, along with a Sharon Van Etten-Shearwater duet, the funktacular Thundercat, folk singer Laura Veirs and more.