Guy Raz talks with NPR sports correspondent Mike Pesca about the numbers behind the NBA's labor troubles.

Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Mara Liasson about Tuesday night's GOP presidential debate on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

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GUY RAZ, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Guy Raz.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.

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And I'm Guy Raz. Our inbox was full of love for a story we aired yesterday. Alex Chadwick, a former colleague of ours, told us about his summer trip down the rapids of the Green and Colorado Rivers.

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: How do you think we should ride?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Hey, diddle diddle. I mean...

DECHRISTOPHER: What does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Right down the middle.

The Israeli government and the Palestinian militant group Hamas announce agreement on a prisoner exchange that will include Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas militants and held in Gaza for the past five and a half years. Robert Siegel talks to Sheera Frenkel.

Only a few months ago, the bank Dexia was rated one of the most stable in Europe. But, within the past few days, it's become the first casualty of the Greek debt crisis, saved only by interventions by the Belgian and French governments. Robert Siegel talks with Stanley Pignal, Brussels correspondent for the Financial Times, for more.

Slovakia, the second poorest of the 17 nations that use the euro, has complicated plans to help Greece and other debt-ravaged countries. The Slovakian parliament was due to be the last to approve the expansion of the eurozone bailout fund. But internal divisions in the ruling coalition caused the government to collapse instead.

The Obama administration wants states to focus more of their attention on the lowest performing schools, where large numbers of students are failing state tests year after year.

So the Department of Education is inviting all states to apply for waivers from the No Child Left Behind law.

The waivers could win relief for schools where a small number of students are falling short of federal requirements.

But advocates for minority and special education students worry their students will be ignored.

The 'Failing School' Stigma

Worldwide tuberculosis cases are declining annually for the first time, according to a report just out from the World Health Organization. Deaths from the disease have also sunk to the lowest level in a decade.

The AP, along with several other news sources including Al Arabiya and Haaretz, are reporting that Israel and Hamas have reached a prisoner-swap deal that will free Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Schalit, if you remember, was captured by Palestinian militants in 2006 and his father, Noam, has led a popular effort to free him.