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The first trial connected to the Boston Marathon bombing is underway. The defendant is not the surviving suspected bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. It's Tsarnaev's friend - a 20-year-old from Kazakhstan who is accused of obstruction of justice. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.

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Brazil faces Germany today in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

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Deep into the tournament, Brazilian fans have developed a game day routine.

INSKEEP: So we present to you now, with NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Sao Paulo, Brazil's World Cup ritual in four acts.

MONTAGNE: Act one - getting to the game.

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In recent weeks we've been reporting on changes in Cuba. One is Cuba's small but growing private sector. The government is letting entrepreneurs open their own businesses, which leaves many trying to find the goods their customers want. The U.S. trade embargo means you can't just order from a distributor in Florida. But Cubans can still get U.S. goods. NPR's Greg Allen visited stores in the Miami suburb of Hialeah.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: On the map, it's right next to Miami. But culturally speaking, Hialeah is just as close to Havana.

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Preliminary results are out for the run-off in Afghanistan's presidential elections. And the winner seems to be former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani. His opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, was considered the front-runner after winning 45 percent of the vote in the first round back in April. Now Ashraf Ghani appears to be winning with almost a million more votes than Abdullah. NPR's Sean Carberry joins us from Kabul. Good morning.

SEAN CARBERRY, BYLINE: Hi, Renee.

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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Weddings are always a whirlwind - from the engagement to the wedding photos, which for a couple in Saskatchewan, Canada involved a real tornado. As the bride and groom posed for a close-up, down the road from their ceremony a funnel cloud swirled behind them. The tornado touched down far enough behind them that the wedding photographer was able to capture the moment - perhaps the best wedding photo-bomb ever. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Remember that old safety advice - if your fireworks don't go off, lean over the top and shake them. That's a joke but this is not. John Fletcher of Michigan celebrated Independence Day by setting off 10,500 firecrackers attached to his body. He's done this for years. In the past, he's fractured ribs and been knocked unconscious. This year, he only got a bloody nose. Though he admits, he says, he is a little nuts. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Let's take a moment to remember Edward Shevardnazde. He was the foreign minister for the Soviet Union in the 1980s. That means he was one of the faces of the Soviet Union during its final period of reform under Mikhail Gorbachev. When that union broke apart, Shervardnazde became the president of his home republic, Georgia. And he has died at the age of 86. We're going to talk about Shevardnazde with Pavel Palazhchenko. He was an interpreter for both Gorbachev and this Shervardnazde. He's on the line. Welcome to the program.

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And here's our last word in Business today.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT")

THE BEATLES: (Singing) It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog. It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log.

INSKEEP: You hear the screaming in the background. "A Hard Day's Night" premiered at London's Pavilion Theater on July 6, 1964.

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