Politics
5:06 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Why Mitt Romney's Dog Is Getting A Lot Of Press

Originally published on Tue December 20, 2011 9:30 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

New York Times columnist Gail Collins feasts on the foibles of elected officials, with a lively take on politicians past and present. As NPR's David Folkenflik reports, this election season, Collins has brought a laser-like focus to a shaggy dog story with a political tie.

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Asia
4:52 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Anger Spreads Over Chinese Government Land Grabs

As residents of the Chinese village of Wukan continue their rebellion against local government land seizures, NPR is uncovering evidence of the scale of the problem. Many villages around Wukan — which has been sealed off by police and paramilitary troops — also accuse corrupt officials of selling off their land.

Business
2:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

The Last Word In Business

Linda Wertheimer has the Last Word in business.

NPR Story
2:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Business News

Originally published on Tue December 20, 2011 6:14 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a mobile phone patent wars.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WERTHEIMER: Smartphone makers have filed dozens of lawsuits against one another for patent infringement. Yesterday, a federal agency handed Apple a limited victory in a closely watched case. It's one of the first of many mobile patent disputes to be decided.

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NPR Story
2:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

North Koreans Honor Kim Jong Il

In North Korea, streams of mourners are paying their last respects to the country's longtime leader who died over the weekend. In the three days since Kim Jong Il's death, little has emerged about what's next in North Korea other than a state funeral has been set for next week.

NPR Story
2:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Gingrich Holds Iowa Town Hall Meeting

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is accusing his Republican opponents of what he says is reprehensible behavior — running attack ads in Iowa against the former House Speaker. Before a crowd of supporters in Hiawatha, Iowa, Gingrich stressed that the negative GOP attack ads are bad for the party and bad for voters.

Asia
10:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

India's Techies Angered Over Internet Censorship Plan

Credit Sajjad Hussain / AFP/Getty Images
An activist of Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena hold placards and roses outside the residence of Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal in New Delhi.

Originally published on Tue December 27, 2011 10:01 pm

India has the world's largest democracy, and one of the most rambunctious. Millions of its young people are cutting edge when it comes to high-tech.

Yet the country is still very conservative by Western standards, and a government minister recently said that offensive material on the web should be removed.

The way it was reported in India, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal started the whole row by assembling the heads of social networking sites at a meeting in his office in New Delhi.

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Movies
10:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

From Bond To Blomkvist: Daniel Craig's Next Big Role

Actor Daniel Craig is used to taking on iconic characters. In 2006, he famously shook up the 007 franchise as a new, blond James Bond. And his latest on-screen character, though he has somewhat less swagger and not nearly as much style, is almost as well-known.

In David Fincher's film of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Craig plays investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, the leading man in a trio of thrillers by Swedish author Stieg Larsson that has sold 65 million copies worldwide.

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Religion
10:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

Vatican Declares Boy's Recovery A 'Miracle'

In February 2006, 5-year-old Jake Finkbonner fell and hit his head while playing basketball at his school in Ferndale, Wash. Soon, he developed a fever and his head swelled. His mother, Elsa, rushed him to Seattle Children's Hospital, where the doctors realized Jake was battling a flesh-eating bacterium called Strep A.

"It traveled all around his face, his scalp, his neck, his chest," she recalls, "and why it didn't travel to his brain or his eyeballs or his heart? He was protected."

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Africa
10:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

New Law Aims To Shine Light On Conflict Metals

Credit Lionel Healing / AFP/Getty Images
Workers dig at a mine in Chudja, near Bunia, north eastern Congo. The conflict in the Congo, a nation rich in mineral resources such as gold, diamonds, tin, and cobalt, has often been linked to a struggle for control over its minerals resources.

Delly Mawazo Sesete wants American consumers to know what is in their smart phones, computers and other electronics and where U.S. companies like Apple are getting those rare metals.

Sesete says that, without knowing, consumers in the U.S. could be fueling conflicts in Eastern Congo. The human rights activist is from a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where armed groups are wreaking havoc and get much of their funding from mining rare metals.

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