Economy
4:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Employment Opportunities Grow, Layoffs Decline

The Labor Department today reported the nation's jobless rate remained unchanged at 8.3-percent for the month of February, as businesses added 227,000 jobs to payrolls.

Africa
4:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

U.S. Command Fights Terrorists On African Soil

Originally published on Mon March 12, 2012 11:09 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Back in January, Navy Seals rescued an American aid worker who was held for months by Somali pirates. That moment shone a spotlight on the U.S. military's newest regional command - Africom, the U.S. Africa Command, which was created in 2007. One of its biggest concerns is dealing with terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and its regional affiliates. Renee spoke with the head of Africom, General Carter Ham.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning.

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Middle East
4:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Pace Of Iran's Nuclear Program Is 'Overestimated'

Iranians have agreed to meet with Western officials to discuss their nuclear program, amid increasing Western concern about its purpose. Steve Inskeep talks to Paul Pillar about his article in The Washington Monthly entitled "We Can Live with a Nuclear Iran." Pillar teaches in the security studies program at Georgetown University.

NPR Story
4:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Kansas Is Up Next With GOP Nominating Contest

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Kansas holds its Republican presidential caucuses tomorrow. Rick Santorum has been the most active candidate in that state. He's trying to stop Mitt Romney's momentum again. Kansas Public Radio's Stephen Koranda has more.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick...

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NPR Story
4:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Viral Video Educates World On Ugandan War Lord

The American non-profit group Invisible Children aims to raise awareness about Ugandan war lord Joseph Kony. A video the group made has gone viral on the Internet. Steve Inskeep talks to Barbara Among, a journalist with Uganda's Daily Monitor, to find out what Ugandans think of the campaign.

NPR Story
4:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Review: 'Salmon Fishing In The Yemen'

The new film Salmon Fishing in the Yemen stars Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor. It's a pleasant fantasy whose few attempts at seriousness are best forgotten.

The Picture Show
3:53 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Before And After: Japan's Wreckage And Recovery

Credit Toru Yamanaka and Roslan Rahman / AFP/Getty Images
Yuko Sugimoto (right) stands reunited with her 5-year-old son, Raito, on a road in Japan's Miyagi prefecture, 2012. This photo was taken at the same place where she was photographed immediately after the tsunami in March 2011.

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. (JST) Japan changed as a nation. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the largest to ever hit the island nation, and subsequent tsunami claimed more than 16,000 lives. One year later, the recovery efforts continue, as does the mourning.

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Movie Interviews
12:01 am
Fri March 9, 2012

'Friends,' Kids And Beating The System

The new comedy Friends With Kids explores how babies change the relationships of everyone around them. It's written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt — who may be best-known for the 2001 indie hit Kissing Jessica Stein, about a single straight girl in New York who test-drives a romance with another woman — and features much of the cast that made Bridesmaids a breakout hit last summer.

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Planet Money
12:01 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Meet Claudia, The High-Tech Cow

Credit Adam Davidson / NPR
Technology at rest.

Here's the secret of the modern dairy farm: The essential high-tech advances aren't in machinery. They're inside the cow.

Take a cow like Claudia. She lives at Fulper Farms, a dairy farm in upstate New Jersey. Claudia is to a cow from the 1930s as a modern Ferrari is to a Model T.

In the 1930s, dairy farmers could get 30 pounds of milk per day from a cow. Claudia produces 75 pounds a day.

To appreciate a cow like Claudia, you have to know where to look.

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History
12:01 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Girl Scouts: 100 Years Of Blazing New Trails

Originally published on Mon March 12, 2012 11:09 am

It's hard to imagine Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Lucille Ball as part of the same club. But they were all, at one time, Girl Scouts. Founded 100 years ago in Savannah, Ga., the Girl Scouts now count 3.2 million members.

Girl Scout cookies have become as much of an American tradition as apple pie. At a busy intersection in Brookline, Mass., a gaggle of Girl Scouts stand behind a folding table piled high with boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and Shortbreads.

"They are really, really good," the troop collectively assures a prospective buyer.

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