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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Tyler Sullivan will return to class Monday with a note explaining why he skipped school on Friday. The fifth-grader had gone with his dad to a Honeywell plant outside Minneapolis, where President Obama was speaking. When the president shook Tyler's hand, he offered to write an excuse note for him.

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Let's turn to Syria now. Syria's president gave his first public speech in five months yesterday. Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian Parliament that his government was not responsible for the massacre in Houla last month, in which more than 100 people were killed, nearly half of them children. Also, there is new Syria-related violence in northern Lebanon, near the Syrian border. And to talk about this we've reached NPR's Kelly McEvers.

Kelly, good morning.

KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: Good morning.

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Bad economic headlines have not stopped the celebration in Britain. Britons are in the midst of a four-day holiday celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne. And yesterday the queen herself led a flotilla of a thousand boats on the Thames. It was described as the largest such river pageant in more than 300 years, and Vicki Barker was there.

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NPR's business news starts with some good news for Spain.

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From jobseekers in Spain, we turn to those here in the U.S. The latest employment numbers revealed that there are still many more Americans looking for work than there are our jobs that need filling. The May jobs report showed the economy added an anemic 69,000 jobs - about half the number that were added in April. Yet, here's the paradox: Despite the high number of people seeking jobs, many employers insist they can't find the right person for the exact positions they have open.

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And for our last word in business today, we go to Tacoma, Washington, home to what is now the newest and largest automobile museum in the country. It just opened over the weekend.

David Madeira is chief executive of LeMay, America's Car Museum. Madeira says part of the museum's largest label is based on exhibition space. It has 165,000 square feet in the four-story building.

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Now, one way Mitt Romney has challenged President Obama is by going after his foreign policy record. Romney has been especially critical of the president's handling of Iran and Syria. But those attacks aside, some analysts say it's been hard to define where Romney stands on key international issues and whether he differs all that much from the president.

Here's NPR's Jackie Northam.

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The summer tourism season is what keeps Branson, Missouri thriving. Last year, Branson's live music venues helped draw more than seven million visitors. And so when a tornado tore through the city's popular strip this past February, Branson's future seemed uncertain. As Missy Shelton of member station KSMU reports, city leaders are working hard to let people know that Branson is open for business.