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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All this morning, we have been following the aftermath of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas last night. When volunteer firefighters in the city of West, Texas - that's about 20 miles north of Waco - first arrived to battle a fire at the plant, they encountered a disaster in the making.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We're told this fire was burning at the site of a couple of storage tanks, each of which had the capacity to carry 12,000 gallons of ammonia.

North Korea on Thursday says it is ready to resume talks with the U.S. and South Korea if they end joint military exercises and the United Nations drops sanctions.

The official KCNA news agency carried the statement from North Korea's National Defense Commission calling for a resumption of dialogue.

"The first step will be withdrawing the U.N. Security Council resolutions cooked up on ridiculous grounds," the statement said.

Korean-American rapper Dumbfoundead used to get the mic pulled out of his hands at rap battles. But the Los Angeles artist has steadily won fans and made a name for himself in the world of hip-hop. Host Michel Martin talks with NPR'S Karen Grigsby Bates about what his success says about the evolution of rap.

Listeners are invited to submit short poems on Twitter to celebrate National Poetry Month. Curator and poet Holly Bass gives an update on recent tweets about tragedy in Boston, and other topics.

Angela Davis was once on the FBI's most wanted list. But decades after her brush with the law as a political activist, she remains a hero to some, and a villain to others. Host Michel Martin talks with Shola Lynch, the director of the new documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The nation's attention turns this morning to a tiny city in Texas. It's simply called West. It is the site of a fertilizer plant from which a message went out to police radio last night.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: There has been an explosion on the fire scene. There are firefighters down at this time. Again, there has been an explosion on the fire scene. There are firefighters down at this time.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf's bodyguards spirited him out of an Islamabad courtroom Thursday to avoid his arrest on treason charges after a judge revoked bail.

Police in the courtroom made no attempt to detain Musharraf, 69, who was whisked away by his security detail to his residence in a suburb of the capital.

The BBC's Orla Guerin described the scene at the courthouse as "a moment of high drama and farce."

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Texas Fertilizer Plant Blast Killed Several, Injured Dozens

-- Boston Marathon Explosions: Thursday's Developments

Paul Kevin Curtis, the 45-year-old Mississippi man arrested Wednesday in connection with the possibly ricin-tainted envelopes sent to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is "better known to some as a celebrity impersonator," The Clarion-Ledger writes.

The Jackson, Miss., newspaper adds: