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Planet Money
3:07 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Why Apple (And Lots Of Other Companies) Wound Up In Ireland

Credit Andy Wong / AP

Apple was criticized in a Senate hearing Tuesday for using a complex accounting to minimize the corporate taxes it pays. One key piece of the company's tax strategy: It funnels lots of its profits through subsidiaries in Ireland.

Offering low corporate tax rates has been a fundamental part of Ireland's economic strategy for decades — a way to get foreign companies to set up operations in the country.

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Parallels
3:04 am
Wed May 22, 2013

West Bank Businesses Seek Growth Amid Uncertainty

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 4:35 am

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry heads back to Israel and the West Bank Thursday for more talks on restarting peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. When he was there last month, he walked away with at least one agreement – to improve the West Bank economy. Here's how he put it as he left Israel:

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Research News
3:03 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Quantum Or Not, New Supercomputer Is Certainly Something Else

It's exactly the sort of futuristic thinking you'd expect from Google and NASA: Late last week, the organizations announced a partnership to build a Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center.

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Your Money
3:01 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Instead Of Snoozing In Savings, Let's Put $5,000 To Work

Credit Robyn Mackenzie / iStockphoto.com

If you have a savings account you probably already know this: Your money there is losing value to inflation. Yields are so low that returns are not even keeping up with the cost of living.

I've been watching some of my own savings dwindle. And that prompted me to take up a challenge: I'm taking $5,000 from personal savings and putting it to work. I'm not a financial whiz, pundit or any kind of guru.

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Shots - Health News
3:00 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Boomer Housemates Have More Fun

Today more than 1 in every 3 baby boomers — that huge glut of people born between 1948 and 1964 — is unmarried. And those unmarried boomers are disproportionately women.

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Sweetness And Light
10:04 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Backing Becks: Don't Knock The Soccer Star's Talents

Credit Fred Dufour / AFP/Getty Images
David Beckham spent six years in the U.S. with the LA Galaxy before returning to Europe earlier this year.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 3:06 am

The most unforgiving criticism in sport is directed at any athlete who fans believe is celebrated too excessively above his true talent level — especially those stars who are gloried because they're such pretty people.

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The Two-Way
7:16 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Idaho Terrorism Suspect Waives Detention Hearing

Credit AP
Fazliddin Kurbanov, shown in an undated image provided by the Idaho State Police.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 7:19 pm

The 30-year-old Uzbek national accused of a terrorist conspiracy in Idaho and Utah waived his right to a detention hearing in Boise on Tuesday, and apparently avoided public disclosure of details of his alleged crimes.

According to a federal court document, an attorney for Fazliddin Kurbanov withdrew his client's request for the hearing. Kurbanov confirmed the decision through an interpreter and agreed to remain jailed pending a July 2 trial date.

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The Two-Way
7:10 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Why Oklahomans Don't Like Basements

Credit Joshua Lott / AFP/Getty Images
A heavily damaged home in Moore on Monday. Chances are, it doesn't have a basement.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 8:39 pm

When Randy Keller moved from Texas to the Oklahoma City area seven years ago, he couldn't find the house he was looking for.

"I was moving from Texas, where there are also a lot of tornadoes," says the professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Oklahoma who experienced the 1970 tornado in Lubbock, Texas. "But I just couldn't find one."

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The Two-Way
7:04 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Two Key Candidates Barred From Seeking Iran's Presidency

Credit Ebrahim Noroozi / AP
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy for the country's presidency was rejected Tuesday by the powerful Guardian Council. He's seen here on May 11 registering his candidacy for the June 14 election.

Iran's powerful Guardian Council has disqualified two key candidates — a former president and a top aide to the current president — from running in the June 14 presidential election.

The Guardian Council, which vets all candidates, approved eight names Tuesday but left out former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who was handpicked by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mashaei said he would appeal the decision to the country's supreme leader; Rafsanjani did not comment.

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It's All Politics
5:44 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Former IRS Head To Senate: It Wasn't My Fault

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman testifies Tuesday on Capitol Hill, before a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 6:13 pm

It was the Senate's turn Tuesday to grill the Internal Revenue Service, or more accurately, former agency officials, about its handling of the scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

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Music Reviews
5:43 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Pat Metheny And John Zorn: A Vivid Sound World

Credit Jimmy Katz / Courtesy of the artist
Best known for bright, accessible modern jazz, Pat Metheny takes on an experimental composer's work with the new Tap: John Zorn's Book of Angels, Vol. 20.

Guitarist Pat Metheny is revered for his bright, accessible modern jazz. Saxophonist and composer John Zorn is associated with much knottier, often dissonant experiments.

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The Two-Way
5:43 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Storm Chasers Seek Thrills, But Also Chance To Warn Others

Credit Alonzo Adams / AP
A tornado moves past homes in Moore, Okla. on Monday.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 6:33 pm

Reporter's Notebook
5:43 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Discovering A Family Member's Lost Time In Amsterdam

When I found out that one of my cousins — now 88 — had hidden from the Nazis in Amsterdam, just like Anne Frank, it was a revelation. It made me want to know more about my cousin's life and story.

"I like to analyze what happens and to put it in writing; that gives you neatness in your head, and that is what I'm after," says my cousin, retired Judge Suzanne Hoogendijk. She was 87 at the time, and was talking about why she loved being a judge. But delving into her personal past was another matter.

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The Two-Way
5:23 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

WATCH: Moore Tornado As Seen From Space

Credit NOAA
A NOAA satellite image of the Moore tornado.
The Salt
5:18 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

African Cities Test The Limits Of Living With Livestock

Credit Gianluigi Guercia / AFP/Getty Images
Sheep graze in the street last year in Cairo.

Raising chickens has become so fashionable among some urban Americans that there's now a market for chicken diapers, as we reported this month.

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Shots - Health News
5:14 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

The Scramble At Moore Medical Center As The Tornado Hit

Credit Alonzo Adams / AP
A Moore Medical Center patient sits in the parking lot after a tornado damaged the hospital on Monday.

A massive tornado swept through the Oklahoma City area Monday afternoon, leaving ruin in its path.

Moore Medical Center, which stood directly in the tornado's path, was devastated. But the workers, patients and their families in the hospital escaped.

Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, told Shots Tuesday what he saw.

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The Salt
5:09 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Nutrition Group Says Chocolate Milk Is OK, No Need For Aspartame

Credit Eric Miller / AP
Morgan Barnett, 7, drinks from containers of 1 percent milk and chocolate milk during lunch at a school in St. Paul, Minn., in 2006.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 6:26 pm

A controversial petition by the dairy industry to allow milk sweetened with aspartame or other alternative sweeteners to be labeled on the front of the carton simply as MILK is drawing criticism from the nation's leading group of nutritionists.

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Shots - Health News
4:38 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

A Catch For Insurers That Cut Deductibles For Healthy People

Credit iStockphoto.com
How much is my deductible?

Health insurance deductibles typically only go one direction: up.

It's not unusual for people these days to be responsible for paying thousands of dollars in medical claims before most plan benefits kick in.

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The Two-Way
4:32 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Microsoft Reveals New Xbox One Game System

Credit Ted S. Warren / AP
The new Xbox One entertainment and gaming system was unveiled Tuesday by Microsoft. The console includes live TV and advanced voice commands.

Microsoft unveiled its new Xbox One Tuesday, displaying a device that takes new steps in game consoles' journey to becoming all-purpose entertainment and communication devices. The new console replaces the Xbox 360, which has been on the market for nearly eight years.

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The Two-Way
3:47 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Gandhi Artifacts Could Fetch Steep Prices At Auction

Credit AFP/Getty Images
A picture of Gandhi taken on July 24, 1931 in New Delhi.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 4:12 pm

Artifacts that once belonged to Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Indian independence leader who took a vow of poverty, could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

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