Saturday, February 15, 2014

NPR Stories: February 2 - 8, 2014



This week on NPR, they developed a Spotify playlist for the winter season. It made me revisit my account and connect it with Facebook, which is now ten years old. For the stories with pictures included, learn about the German Defense Minister a Chinese detention system coming to an end, and a family with multiple generations of doctors. Don’t fall prey to small credit scams, and check out the list.


Sunday, February 2

World Story of the Day

Germany's New Defense Minister: More Peacekeeping Missions Welcome





Ursula von der Leyen is the first woman to hold the job. She has no military experience and is best known for social policies such as expanded parental leave. But she has already said that Germany should play a more active role in foreign missions, and that could involve sending troops into conflict zones.

Story of the Day

Wheels On The Bike Go Round And Round (To Make Music)

Sound designer Steven Baber challenged himself to create a piece of music using only bicycle parts. The result is "Bespoken," an atmospheric piece of music that is all the more beautiful considering the unlikely instrumentation.

Monday, February 3

World Story of the Day

Beirut Bombing Spawns An App To Tell Loved Ones 'I Am Alive'

Bombings are a frequent reality of living in Lebanon, so Lebanese student Sandra Hassan made an app to alert let friends and family know you're okay after violence strikes. It's getting a lot more attention that she had originally imagined.

Story of the Day

Marijuana-Laced Treats Leave Colorado Jonesing For Food-Safety Rules

From sodas to truffles to butter, foods infused with THC — the chemical in marijuana that gives you a high — are already for sale in Colorado. But the federal government still considers pot illegal, so the state has to create from scratch its own system to regulate these foods.

Business Story of the Day

What's Good For Baby Camels Could Be Good For Human Skin

A Jordanian woman brought her camel's milk skin-care line — and a biotech startup — to Missouri. Her company is studying how the long-acting antibodies in camel's milk can help clear up acne.

Tuesday, February 4

Story of the Day

Lots Of Little Credit Charges Add Up To One Big Scam

Fraudsters know that small credit transactions often go unnoticed. That's made it easy for a widespread scam involving unauthorized charges of $9.84 to fly under the radar. Complaints started coming in about the scam soon after a massive data breach in November, but analysts say it goes back months.

Business Story of the Day

Facebook At 10: Amid Doubters, Company Eyes Next Growth Phase

Facebook's big birthday comes amid tales of trouble — that its youngest users don't find it cool anymore. But Facebook doesn't seem fazed. It is, after all, a company that serves almost one-fifth of the world's population and took in more than $7 billion last year.

Wednesday, February 5

World Story of the Day

Countdown To Sochi: Will The City Be Ready?

With the Winter Olympics just days away, the status of preparations in Sochi is mixed: Housing for the athletes has been getting rave reviews, but hotels and other buildings are still unfinished.

Story of the Day

Trade Your Snow Boots For Dance Shoes, And Just Press Play


Don't give in to that midwinter swoon. Listen to this instead: More than 800 of you, our listeners, shared songs to quicken the blood and make you move. Inside, find our Cabin Fever Playlist — 84 tracks meant to wake you from even the deepest hibernation.

Business Story of the Day

Microsoft Picks Insider, Who's An Indian Immigrant, As CEO

Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella is part of a wave of highly educated Indian immigrants who came to America a generation ago with expectations back home that they would succeed. Nadella has done just that and more, taking the reins of one of the world's top companies.

Thursday, February 6

World Story of the Day

China Ends One Notorious Form Of Detention, But Keeps Others






China officially shut down its re-education through labor camp system late last year. But critics say the change was mostly cosmetic and that the government still has a wide range of means to incarcerate critics without legal process.

Story of the Day

A Denver Family Of Doctors Has Seen Medicine Transformed






Bureaucracy and mammoth student loans weren't part of the package for Dr. Michael Sawyer's father and grandfather. Still, like them, he feels medicine is a calling. A fourth generation of Sawyers is thinking about whether to carry on the tradition.

Business Story of the Day

Amtrak Fights Big Oil For Use Of The Rails

Because of an influx of trains hauling crude oil and other freight across the Northern Plains, Amtrak is facing problems with unreliability, long delays, lost revenue and stranded passengers. An advocacy group wants the government to intervene.

Friday, February 7

World Story of the Day

Tijuana Prisoner: I Was Forced To Dig Drug Tunnel To San Diego

The Mexican man says he was one of 17 kidnapped by a cartel and forced to build drug-smuggling tunnels. Now he might be in prison for the rest of his life.

Story of the Day

Woolly Mammoths' Taste For Flowers May Have Been Their Undoing

New research shows a big part of the woolly mammoth's diet was made up of tiny flowers rather than grass. When the flowers disappeared, the mammoths did, too.

Business Story of the Day

Post Office Could Rack Up Billions By Offering Money Services

As the U.S. Postal Service continues to lose money, a new report suggests a way to add to its bottom line: offer banklike services, such as a cash card that would allow customers to load their paychecks and pay bills online. The idea is to provide services that are now unavailable in many communities.

Saturday, February 8

World Story of the Day

Iran's President Rouhani Gets The Benefit Of The Doubt, For Now

Iran is preparing for a national holiday celebrating the Islamic Revolution 35 years ago, and NPR's Peter Kenyon is among the few foreign journalists in Tehran for the event. He's found that the optimism that greeted President Hassan Rouhani's election last year has moderated – but not vanished.

Story of the Day

Abuse Allegations Revive Woody Allen's Trial By Media

Actress Mia Farrow and two of her children have revived allegations that the film director sexually abused his daughter more than 20 years ago. The charges and countercharges are playing out not in the legal system but in social media, on blogs and in big-name publications.


No comments:

Post a Comment