NPR News

Pages

Latin America
6:56 am
Fri October 5, 2012

U.N. Troops Expected In Haiti For Another Year

The U.N. Security Council is likely next week to approve Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's recommendation that the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti be extended for one more year. The mission has been there since 2004 when a violent uprising forced the then president into exile.

Middle East
6:36 am
Fri October 5, 2012

U.S. Hopes U.N. Rebuke Will Deter Syrian Regime

The U.S. is backing its ally Turkey — saying it was right to respond by twice firing on Syrian military positions after a Syrian mortar shell killed five Turkish civilians. The U.S. hopes the Turkish action and strong U.N. and NATO statements will deter Syria from any further provocations.

Economy
6:00 am
Fri October 5, 2012

Campaigns Wait To See If Jobs Data Will Help Or Hurt

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 12:45 pm

For the first time since President Obama took office, the unemployment rate is back at 7.8 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. It's been above 8 percent for nearly four years. The number of new jobs added was in line with expectations — 114,000.

Business
5:33 am
Fri October 5, 2012

Bacon Shortage Is Hogwash

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 5:48 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We are going to rip the lid off the pork panic at NPR's business news.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: This called for serious investigation. A group of British pork producers sent fear into the hearts of bacon lovers worldwide by predicting an impending pork shortage. They say drought will make pork too expensive to produce, so farmers will sell off their herds.

But Boise State Public Radio's Scott Graf reports that here in the United States, experts say the notion of a bacon shortage is hogwash.

Read more
Research News
5:33 am
Fri October 5, 2012

Scientists Use Stem Cells To Create Eggs In Mice

Scientists in Japan report they have created eggs from stem cells in a mammal for the first time. And the researchers went on to breed healthy offspring from the eggs they created. While the experiments involved mice, the work is being met with excitement — and questions — about doing the same thing for humans someday.

Monkey See
5:33 am
Fri October 5, 2012

Picking The Best Bond: Connery And Craig Rise To The Top

Credit The Kobal Collection
The Gold Standard: In NPR's survey, most readers chose Sean Connery (above, in Goldfinger), as the best James Bond. Daniel Craig placed second in our survey.

It's official: Sean Connery IS James Bond, according to NPR readers who weighed the question this week. The final results show that Connery set the gold standard as 007, the spy known for his playfulness, his ruthlessness — and his ability to look good in a suit. Today marks the Bond film franchise's 50th anniversary.

Read more
NPR Story
5:33 am
Fri October 5, 2012

Venezuela Election

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 8:58 am

Venezuelans go to the polls Sunday in an election that will decide if President Hugo Chavez remains in power. Polls indicate it's his most serious electoral challenge since taking office nearly 14 years ago, and it's mobilizing large numbers of voters in Venezuela — and in the U.S.

Nearly 20,000 Venezuelans living in Florida are registered to vote, and most arrived in the past decade, since Chavez took power. He upended the old power structure, installing a socialist government that seized property and nationalized industries.

Read more
NPR Story
5:33 am
Fri October 5, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 7:11 am

Beekeepers in eastern France were upset to find their bees were producing honey in unusual shades of blue and green. A nearby biogas plant processed waste from an M&M's factory. The bees were snacking on the candy coating. The waste treatment plant says it's storing the candy waste more securely.

Sports
5:03 am
Fri October 5, 2012

U.S. Speedskater Admits To Sabotaging Rival's Skates

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 6:50 pm

American speedskater Simon Cho says what he did was "wrong" when he yielded to what he claims was persistent pressure from a coach to tamper with another skater's blades at the World Short Track Team Championships in Poland last year.

"Tampering with someone's skates is inexcusable," Cho told NPR in his first interview about the incident. "And I'm coming out now and admitting that I did this and acknowledging that what I did was wrong." The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune also spoke with Cho earlier this week after the NPR interview.

Read more
Planet Money
3:43 am
Fri October 5, 2012

No One Trusts China's Unemployment Rate

Credit Mark Ralston / AFP/GettyImages

Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 4:09 pm

Ask an economist like Eswar Prasad, who used to work at the International Monetary Fund, "So, do you know, what the unemployment rate in China is?"

And he'll answer, "We don't."

The official unemployment rate, put out by the government, Prasad says, is 6.5 percent, but according to him, "that number has no credibility at all."

He's not the only dubious one.

Read more

Pages