Ongoing Coverage:

Podcasts & RSS Feeds

All ContentRSS
View all podcasts & RSS feeds

Now Playing

Loading streams...

NPR News

Pages

Around the Nation
11:01 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

Monsanto Accused In Suit Tied To Agent Orange

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Jeff Brady / NPR
The town of Nitro has its beginnings in 1917, when the U.S. government created it as a place to locate a munitions plant.
Credit Jeff Brady / NPR
The former Monsanto chemical plant site along the Kanawha River, where for more than 20 years, the plant produced a herbicide that is the principal component of Agent Orange.
Credit Jeff Brady / NPR
A gate into the former Monsanto chemical plant near Nitro, W.Va. A class-action lawsuit filed against Monsanto (and subsequent company Solutia) claims the company improperly polluted the town with dioxin.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

For about two decades, ending in 1971, a former Monsanto chemical plant in West Virginia produced the herbicide 2,4,5-T which was used in "Agent Orange" — the defoliant the military sprayed over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Now, Monsanto faces a class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of people living where the herbicide was manufactured in Nitro, W.Va.

Read more
Presidential Race
11:01 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

Romney Leads Gingrich In Money; Obama Bests Both

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Millions of dollars have been spent on television ads during this campaign cycle.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Wed February 1, 2012 9:10 pm

As the Republican candidates were rallying their supporters in Florida on Tuesday night, their campaigns were quietly sending disclosure reports to the Federal Election Commission in Washington. The big picture: Mitt Romney had more money than Newt Gingrich. President Obama had more than either of them. And a few of the new superPACs filed donor lists filled with high rollers.

Tuesday's disclosures run only through Dec. 31 but still reveal some essential truths.

Read more
Middle East
11:01 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

In Booming Istanbul, A Clash Between Old And New

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Peter Kenyon / NPR
Rapid building in Istanbul is remaking the city, and activists are seeking to preserve historic places. The Haydarpasa train station, which dates to the 19th century, is closing for renovations. But longtime station workers suspect the city will convert the station into a luxury hotel or other commercial property.
Credit Peter Kenyon / NPR
Demonstrators in Istanbul's Taksim Park protest against several development projects that would also include forced evictions from working-class neighborhoods. Yves Cabanne, a professor from University College in London, speaks to the crowd.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Wed July 25, 2012 2:43 pm

On a frigid January morning, bundled-up travelers step off a ferry and scurry toward the imposing stone walls of the Haydarpasa train station, a 19th century landmark in Istanbul, a city full of history.

The people boarding this morning are nostalgic. They're longtime station employees, taking one of the last train runs to Eskesihir, where the station's first director-general is buried.

They're going, as it were, to give him bad news — that Haydarpasa's 150-year service as a public transportation center may be coming to an end.

Read more
World Cafe
4:17 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

CANT On World Cafe

Credit Bek Andersen
Chris Taylor, who has worked with Grizzly Bear and others, now performs under the name CANT.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

Chris Taylor may not be a household name, but you've probably encountered some of his work. Taylor was the bassist, producer and backing vocalist of Grizzly Bear on Yellow House and Veckatimest, in addition to running his own record label, Terrible Records.

Read more
Europe
2:54 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

For Hungarian Borrowers, A Mortgage Nightmare

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Laszlo Balogh / Reuters/Landov
A woman passes by a real estate agency in Budapest, Hungary, in January. As the Hungarian currency plunges to new lows, ordinary citizens are struggling to repay foreign-denominated loans.
Credit Peter Kollanyi / AP
Hungary now has the highest sales tax in the European Union — 27 percent. Here, a woman goes grocery shopping in the capital, Budapest, in January.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Tue January 31, 2012 7:16 pm

Since the U.S. housing bubble burst, many Americans have found themselves struggling to pay off mortgages that are worth more than their homes.

Now, imagine if those mortgages were in a foreign currency that has soared in value compared with the domestic currency — the one in which paychecks are issued.

As Hungary's currency plummets to record lows, this is exactly the plight of some 1 million Hungarians, who, during better financial times, took out mortgages and consumer loans in Swiss francs.

Read more
It's All Politics
1:55 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

Campaigns Embrace Twitter: Who Let The Snark Out?

Credit Pete Souza / White House
President Obama traveled in the presidential limo with his dog, Bo. Adviser David Axelrod tweeted this photo from the White House Flickr account to tweak the Romney campaign.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

O, for the love of Fido. In the messaging wars between presidential campaigns, there's no hiding the women (Newt Gingrich's ex-wife) or the children (as school janitors), and now not even the pets.

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
1:26 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

Many In High-Risk Insurance Pools Face Lifetime Coverage Limits

Credit iStockphoto.com
Share
E-mail
Comments
By Michelle Andrews

Thanks to the health care overhaul, most people no longer have to worry about getting sick and running out of health insurance coverage.

The law eliminated lifetime limits, which ran in many plans from $1 millon to $2 million.

Unfortunately, though, the change doesn't apply to plans that enroll some of the sickest people: those who buy coverage in so-called high-risk insurance pools because they have medical problems that make them uninsurable in the private market.

Read more
The Two-Way
12:58 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

VIDEO: A Bunny That Thinks It's A Sheepdog

Credit YouTube
A rabbit tries to herd a flock of sheep.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

Originally published on Tue January 31, 2012 1:01 pm

Read more
Economy
12:50 pm
Tue January 31, 2012

GOP Candidates Reopen Debate Over Gold

Credit Michal Cizek / AFP/Getty Images
If president, Newt Gingrich says he would appoint a monetary policy commission to reconsider returning to the gold standard.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

The glitter of gold has provided some added luster to the Republican primaries in the past couple of weeks, as Newt Gingrich recently suggested it might be a good idea to re-establish the link between the value of the dollar and gold.

"I would appoint a commission to look into gold and to look into hard money, because a dollar you save today ought to be worth a dollar 30 years from now," Gingrich said while recently campaigning in South Carolina.

Read more
The Two-Way
11:50 am
Tue January 31, 2012

U.S. Intelligence Chief: Iran Is More Willing To Launch Attack On U.S.

Credit Jacquelyn Martin / AP
From left, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and CIA Director David Petraeus take their seats on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, prior to testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By Eyder Peralta

As part of his yearly report to the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, the United States' intelligence chief said that depending how threatened Iran feels, it may be more willing to launch an attack against the U.S.

Read more

Pages