The Salt
3:42 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

Panel: To Safeguard Food Imports, It's Not Just About Inspections

Credit STR / AFP/Getty Images
A worker monitors the loading of containers on to a ship at a harbor in China's Shandong province. Under a new U.S. law, Chinese food exporters will now have to share more food safety information with American food importers.

Locavores, a word with you. Local food may be gaining traction in all kinds of ways, but a report out today from the Institute of Medicine serves as a stark reminder of just how globalized our food system truly is.

Read more
Planet Money
3:35 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

Where Money Meets Power In Washington

Credit iStockphoto.com

"Political fundraiser" has a fancy ring to it — tuxedos, famous singers, billionaires. In fact, most political fundraisers aren't that glamorous.

Think instead of a dozen lobbyists eating breakfast with a Congressman in a side room at some DC restaurant. Off in a corner, someone who works for the Congressman is holding the checks the lobbyists brought to get in the door.

Read more
Around the Nation
3:28 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

Fewer Tribal Ironworkers Reaching For The Sky

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:54 am

Shots - Health Blog
3:22 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

More Fake Cancer Drugs Found In The U.S.

Credit U.S. Food And Drug Administration
The FDA says so far it hasn't gotten any reports of patients receiving the fake Altuzan.

Another batch of phony cancer drugs has made its way into the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says.

U.S.-based medical practices purchased vials of counterfeit medicine labeled as Altuzan from a foreign supplier, FDA spokesperson Shelly Burgess tells Shots. She said the agency doesn't have any reports of patients having received the counterfeit drugs.

Altuzan is the Turkish brand name for Avastin, the FDA-approved blockbuster cancer drug from Swiss drugmaker Roche's Genentech unit. Altuzan is approved for use in Turkey — but not in the U.S.

Read more
Europe
3:11 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

Italian Law Pits Older Workers Against Younger Ones

Italy's technocrat prime minister, Mario Monti, came to office less than five months ago as the country's finances were in a tailspin. And now he could be facing his toughest challenge yet — pushing through changes to labor regulations.

Italian labor rules ensure job security for older workers but can condemn the younger generation to a series of insecure, temporary jobs.

Since taking office, Monti has pushed through a round of tough austerity measures, budget cuts, pension reform and some deregulation.

Read more
The Two-Way
3:11 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

More Violence, As U.N. Mission Races Toward Damascus

The peace plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan and backed the United Nations has yet to curb the violence in Syria.

Reuters reports that even though a U.N. team of peacekeepers is scheduled to arrive in Damascus, today or tomorrow, opposition activists said government forces continued their attack. They said about 80 people have been killed since Tuesday.

Reuters adds:

Read more
The Two-Way
3:10 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

After 567,000 Miles And 48 Years, Florida Woman Parks Her 'Chariot'

Originally published on Wed April 4, 2012 6:05 pm

When 93-year-old Rachel Veitch picked up the newspaper on March 10 and realized that the macular degeneration in her eyes had developed to the point where she couldn't read the print, she knew it was time to stop driving.

But there's much more to the Orlando, Fla., woman's story.

The decision meant she would no longer be getting behind the wheel of her beloved 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente, a car she calls "The Chariot." Veitch has pampered her ride for nearly five decades and 567,000 miles.

Read more
The Two-Way
1:49 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

'The Dog Ate My Tickets': This Time, The Mother Of All Excuses Was Real

Credit Russ Berkman / via KJR
One of the pieced-together tickets.

Imagine you've scored hard-to-get tickets to the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. Now, imagine you're so excited that you make big a deal out of this: You buy plane tickets, you schedule some golfing of your own, you invite three buddies. And then, one day you get home to find only chewed pieces of the tickets attached to the strings that came with them.

Suddenly, it dawns on you: "The dog ate my tickets."

Read more
Business
12:58 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

Yahoo Cuts 2,000 Employees

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with layoffs at Yahoo.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Read more
Economy
12:37 pm
Wed April 4, 2012

Private Hiring Signals Another Strong Jobs Report

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Joanely Carrero restocks shelves at a Target store in Miami. Two reports Wednesday indicated that private hiring grew in March.

Jobs at U.S. businesses increased by 209,000 in March, according to a report released Wednesday by the payroll processing firm ADP. That's in line with expectations for the monthly jobs report due out Friday.

Analysts expect Friday's official employment report from the Labor Department to show that employers added 215,000 in March and that the unemployment rate remained at 8.3 percent, according to Bloomberg News.

Read more

Pages