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4:00 am
Tue February 21, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Tue February 21, 2012 8:07 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And today's last word in business follows up on the business of Jeremy Lin, the Chinese-American sensation for the New York Knicks. You know, if you had a dollar for every news story that has used puns on his name, like linsanity, you would be lincrediably wealthy, but we would never lindulge in such things. So let's go straight to the way people are making money.

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Africa
4:00 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Yemeni Vote Expected To Install Next President

Originally published on Tue February 21, 2012 6:42 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.

One more Arab nation is changing a longtime leader. Yemen's president for 33 years was Ali Abdullah Saleh. Today, millions of Yemenis vote. And they're being asked to ratify a plan under which Saleh's vice president will replace him. NPR's Kelly McEvers is in Yemen's capital Sana'a.

And, Kelly, where exactly are you in the capital city?

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Newt Gingrich
3:44 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Georgia On His Mind, Gingrich Faces Key Primary

Credit Evan Vucci / AP
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waves during a campaign stop Friday in Peachtree City, Ga. Doing well in the state's primary is important for Gingrich because he represented a congressional district there for 20 years.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is facing his most important challenge yet — winning Georgia on Super Tuesday. Georgia is considered Gingrich's home because he represented parts of the state in Congress for 20 years, but he hasn't lived there for more than a decade.

Over the weekend, Gingrich held several rallies, including one in Peachtree City, south of Atlanta, where he stressed that this area has long supported him.

"It is great to be home," Gingrich told the crowd. "I believe that I carried Fayette County in every single election, including the two that I lost."

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Latin America
12:01 am
Tue February 21, 2012

30 Mexican Inmates Escape During Deadly Riot

Credit Julio Cesar Aguilar / AFP/Getty Images
A relative of an inmate observes Mexican police behind the security fence after a riot inside Apodaca prison near Monterrey. At least 44 inmates were killed during Sunday's riot, and about 30 alleged members of the drug cartel Los Zetas were rushed out of the prison.

Originally published on Tue February 21, 2012 8:08 am

Officials in Mexico are offering a reward of nearly $1 million for the capture of 30 inmates who broke out of a prison in the northern state of Nuevo Leon on Sunday.

The governor says the inmates staged a riot, during which 44 people died, to create a diversion for their escape.

It was a jail break that epitomized the Mexican drug war: Rival gang members brutally killed each other, corrupt public officials looked the other way, and dangerous criminals went free.

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Election 2012
12:01 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Romney Outspends GOP Field Combined In January

Originally published on Tue February 21, 2012 6:15 pm

The financial battle for the Republican nomination is tightening. Candidates spent a lot of cash in January — what with contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Also spending a lot of money, as it turns out, were the richly financed superPACS that support the candidates.

Reports filed at the Federal Election Commission on Monday night show just how important a superPAC can be.

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Asia
12:01 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Protests, Self-Immolation Signs Of A Desperate Tibet

Credit freetibet.org
This photo, provided to freetibet.org, shows a man being forcibly detained by security forces in the town of Serther in Tibet following a clash with protesters and police.

In a monastery on the Tibetan plateau, monks swathed in crimson robes chant under silk hangings, in a murky hall heavy with the smell of yak butter. Photos of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama — seen by China as a splittist — are openly displayed, as if in defiance. But Chinese security forces have tightened their grasp on this region, and monasteries appear to be emptying out, gripped by an atmosphere of fear and loss.

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You Must Read This
5:50 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

A Depressive Diarist Chronicles His Descent

Patrick deWitt is the author of The Sisters Brothers.

"Doesn't the act of noticing matter as much as what's noticed?" So asks the narrator of Harry Mathews' masterpiece of minutia, The Journalist.

On the mend from a nervous breakdown (though it's mentioned only in passing — "the steering wheel came off in my hands," he says), he's been encouraged by his doctor to keep a journal. A seemingly benign idea, and he throws himself into the task with gusto — far too much gusto, it turns out, as the journal soon eclipses his entire life.

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All Tech Considered
5:19 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Tech Pioneer Channels Hard Lessons Into Silicon Valley Success

Credit Paul Sakuma / AP
Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded the graphics chip maker in 1993.

Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 4:31 pm

Modern computer games and their fast-paced graphics require an incredible amount of computing horsepower. So much, in fact, that the kinds of chips commonly used for gaming are now being built into some of the world's fastest supercomputers.

If you're a serious gamer, if realistic, detailed graphics get your pulse racing, you should write Jen-Hsun Huang a thank-you note.

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Arts & Life
3:52 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed For A Matrix?

Credit MGM
Design Within Reach? The cool sterility of 2001: A Space Odyssey is just one example of how pop culture expresses an anxiety that's seemingly about technology, but may be as old as time.

When Hollywood imagines the future, from Logan's Run to Avatar, it tends to picture living spaces as sterile and characterless, without any cultural clues to the person who lives there. No record library, no DVDs, no Hemingway on bookshelves ... often no bookshelves.

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Economy
3:13 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

With Business Up, Owners Say Banks Lending Again

Originally published on Tue February 21, 2012 11:26 am

A big reason for the slow recovery has been that the nation's battered banks haven't been able or willing to lend. There are signs that's changing and that bank lending is helping to support stronger growth.

Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank, say his reading of Federal Reserve data has convinced him that banks have finally taken the baton from the Fed and are now making credit more available.

"We've seen a sharp increase in business loans on the books of banks," he says.

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NPR Story
3:00 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Lawsuits Flying Over Florida's Redistricting

Florida's legislature has released its new legislative and congressional maps as part of the once-every-decade redistricting process, and the lawsuits are already flying. Democrats and watchdog groups say the new maps violate constitutional amendments that require districts to be drawn without regard to political parties or incumbents. The process is likely to be tied up in the courts for months, but the proposed maps are already having an impact — including forcing Tea Party favorite, Congressman Allen West, to leave his old district for one that's friendlier to Republicans.

Science
3:00 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Researcher Decodes Workplace Rank From Emails

Eric Gilbert, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, tells Audie Cornish about his latest study on work emails. He looked at how certain words or phrases used in work correspondence can reveal if the message is being sent by someone higher up or further below you on the corporate food chain.

Europe
2:58 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Portugal Plays By The Rules, But Economy Slumps

Originally published on Tue February 21, 2012 11:25 am

The eurozone crisis has focused attention on debt-burdened Greece spiraling into decline. Meanwhile, Portugal is seen as the international creditors' poster-child for obediently slashing spending and welfare benefits.

Nevertheless, the Portuguese national debt continues to grow, and the country is mired in recession and soaring unemployment.

The Portuguese national character has long been identified with Fado music. Raquel Freire, an activist with the local Occupy movement, says the melancholy style helps explain decades of resignation.

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The Two-Way
12:18 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Holiday News Roundup: Mardi Gras, Greece And John Glenn

Credit NASA / AP
An image captured on Feb. 20, 1962, by NASA shows astronaut John Glenn during his space flight in the Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft, weightless and traveling at 17,500 mph. The image was made by an automatic sequence motion picture camera.

The Two-Way is formally off-duty for the Presidents' Day holiday. But not only does the news not take a holiday — often, holidays are the news. Here's a quick roundup of some of today's important and most-discussed stories:

  • Syria is reinforcing its military in what seems to be a bid to control Homs. (AP)
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The Two-Way
11:07 am
Mon February 20, 2012

Baseball's Spring Training Begins; Opening Day Is April 4

Major League Baseball's spring training has begun, as catchers and pitchers have made their way to Florida and Arizona to prepare for the 2012 season. Games in the Grapefruit League and Cactus League won't begin until early March, when all players will report to camp.

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The Two-Way
8:53 am
Mon February 20, 2012

Stephen Colbert Set To Return Tonight, After A Delay In Taping

Credit Fernando Leon / Getty Images
Stephen Colbert, seen here in a file photo from November 2011, postponed production of his Colbert Report due to concerns about his mother's health, according to reports. The show will resume taping Monday, according to Comedy Central.

Originally published on Mon February 20, 2012 11:17 am

The Colbert Report is set to resume production Monday, after a hiatus last week brought on by concerns over the health of Stephen Colbert's mother, according to reports. Lorna Colbert, 91, lives in Charleston, S.C., where the Comedy Central star grew up.

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The Salt
8:00 am
Mon February 20, 2012

George Washington's Ice Cream Recipe: First, Cut Ice From River

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 11:01 am

This year would not be a good year for ice cream. In fact, there would be none at all if we relied on the technique George Washington used at Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate that's perched on the banks of the Potomac River.

His source of ice was the frozen river. Given the warm winter we've had here in D.C. , there's no chance. Seems the weather is nothing like it was on Jan. 26, 1786, when Washington wrote in his journal:

"Renewed my Ice operation to day, employing as many hands as I conveniently could in getting it from the Maryland shore, carting and pounding it."

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Asia
7:34 am
Mon February 20, 2012

S. Korea Conducts Drill, Flouting N. Korean Threat

South Korea conducted live-fire military drills near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea Monday, despite Pyongyang's threat to respond with a "merciless" attack.

North Korea did not carry out the threat as it focuses on internal stability two months after the death of longtime leader Kim Jong Il and prepares for nuclear disarmament talks with the United States later this week. But with American forces scheduled to conduct additional military exercises with ally South Korea over the next few months, tensions are expected to remain high in the region.

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Three Books...
7:00 am
Mon February 20, 2012

Screen Time: 3 Books That Haven't Seen The Reel

Credit iStockphoto.com

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 9:09 am

J.D. Salinger famously refused to sell the film rights to The Catcher in the Rye, saying it was "unactable." It's true the subtleties of such great novels can get lost in translation. But I thought I'd take a look at three of my favorite novels that have never made it to the multiplex in wide release. Each of these will transport you to another time and another place.

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Around the Nation
6:45 am
Mon February 20, 2012

Des Moines Welcomes Thousands Of Bacon Fans

Originally published on Mon February 20, 2012 6:56 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

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