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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Coming up, my weekly Can I Just Tell You essay.

First, though, we want to introduce you to a multiplatinum-selling artist with four albums to her credit, many awards, the face of a model, the voice of an angel. Her name is Lira.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEEL GOOD")

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Later in the program, we'll hear about some important provisions in the health care overhaul bill that go into effect today. Now, a number of these provisions remain controversial but we're going to step aside from the politics for a minute to try to find out what they mean for individuals. That's coming up later in the program.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Later in the program, we are going to talk about that massive power outage in India that left more than half the country in the dark this week. Officials say that power has now mostly been restored. But we are going to hear from a columnist and author who says that it is actually a symptom of a much bigger problem in the country than the admittedly very large problem of such a massive power outage. We'll have that conversation in just a few minutes.

"August 1st will be another day that will destroy investor confidence just like the May 6th [2010] flash crash."

That rather ominous sounding pronouncement comes from Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC in Chatham, N.J., in a Bloomberg News report about what happened early this morning on Wall Street.

For the first time ever, the United States Postal Service has defaulted on a payment to the Treasury.

The USPS warned of a default in a statement on Monday. It it would not make the $5.5 billion payment due today and that it would also default on a $5.6 billion payment due Sept. 30. Both of those payments are federally mandated and go toward prefunding retiree health benefits.

British cyclist Bradley Wiggins has won the gold medal in the men's individual time trial event, beating Germany's Tony Martin by 42 seconds. He took 50 minutes and 39 seconds to cover the course of 49 kilometers (just under 30.5 miles).

Martin took silver, and the bronze went to Britain's Chris Froome, who played a vital support role as Wiggins' teammate in his Tour de France victory last month.

Good morning. Things are hopping at the London Games, with 20 medal events today. And conversations are still buzzing about the scandal in Olympic badminton, over players intentionally throwing matches. Here are some highlights from this morning's news:

- The U.S. women's quadruple sculls team has won a bronze medal, ending a 28-year American medal drought in the sport. It's also only the second U.S. medal.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The Olympics are a quest to be the best. But some Olympians are accused of purposely playing badly at badminton. The Badminton World Federation has launched disciplinary proceedings against four women's doubles pairs. First, the world champions, who are Chinese, faced off against opponents from South Korea. And spectators started booing when the players seemed to be making simple errors on purpose.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Eight Olympic badminton athletes have been thrown out of the London Games after being charged by the Badminton World Federation with "not using one's best efforts to win a match" — which is against the rules of the sport. Because even some journalists may have forgotten badminton's rules, it seemed time to take a fresh look.