NPR Topics: News http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1001&ft=1&f=1001 NPR news, audio, and podcasts. Coverage of breaking stories, national and world news, politics, business, science, technology, and extended coverage of major national and world events. en Copyright 2010 NPR - For Personal Use Only NPR API RSS Generator 0.93 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:51:00 -0400 http://media.npr.org/images/npr_news_123x20.gif News http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1001&ft=1&f=1001 I-95 A 'Trap' For Migrant Fruit Pickers When the growing season ends in the North, migrant farm workers along the East Coast will head south, often on Interstate 95, in search of work. For the undocumented workers who make up the majority of that labor pool, the journey can be harrowing. Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:51:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129580744&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129580744&ft=1&f=1001 When the growing season ends in the North, migrant farm workers along the East Coast will head south, often on Interstate 95, in search of work. For the undocumented workers who make up the majority of that labor pool, the journey can be harrowing.

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]]> A Chinese Village Sacrifices For The Greater Good More than 300,000 are being relocated for what's being called the largest engineering project in China's history. Water from the massive Danjiangkou Dam is going to be transported to the north. In the village of Guangmenyan, 353 people are leaving their homes forever. Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:21:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129639773&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129639773&ft=1&f=1001 More than 300,000 are being relocated for what's being called the largest engineering project in China's history. Water from the massive Danjiangkou Dam is going to be transported to the north. In the village of Guangmenyan, 353 people are leaving their homes forever.

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]]> Mental Stimulation Postpones, Then Speeds Dementia Keeping an active mind helps stave off the development of dementia. But being mentally active might speed up Alzheimer's once it hits, according to new research from Chicago's Rush University Medical Center. Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129628082&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129628082&ft=1&f=1001 Keeping an active mind helps stave off the development of dementia. But being mentally active might speed up Alzheimer's once it hits, according to new research from Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.

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]]> On Jobs, U.S. Now Ranks Worse Than Similar Nations The U.S. unemployment rate surged far higher and has remained higher than in other major industrial countries. It's now at 9.6 percent. The big shift came when American companies cut workers more aggressively than foreign firms in the face of the financial crisis. Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129638136&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129638136&ft=1&f=1001 The U.S. unemployment rate surged far higher and has remained higher than in other major industrial countries. It's now at 9.6 percent. The big shift came when American companies cut workers more aggressively than foreign firms in the face of the financial crisis.

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]]> Weakened Earl Hits Mass. With Wind, Rain, Surf The storm swooped into New England waters as a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph after sideswiping North Carolina's Outer Banks, where it caused flooding but no injuries and little damage. Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:13:22 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129594806&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129594806&ft=1&f=1001 The storm swooped into New England waters as a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph after sideswiping North Carolina's Outer Banks, where it caused flooding but no injuries and little damage.

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]]> Report: Blackwater Created Shell Companies The report Friday night on the newspaper's website says Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has asked the Justice Department to see whether Blackwater misled the government when using the subsidiaries to gain government contracts. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:04:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129642172&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129642172&ft=1&f=1001 The report Friday night on the newspaper's website says Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has asked the Justice Department to see whether Blackwater misled the government when using the subsidiaries to gain government contracts.

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]]> Texas Opens Inquiry Into Google Search Rankings The antitrust inquiry disclosed by Google late Friday is just the latest sign of the intensifying scrutiny facing the company as it enters its adolescence. The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:50:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129642071&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129642071&ft=1&f=1001 The antitrust inquiry disclosed by Google late Friday is just the latest sign of the intensifying scrutiny facing the company as it enters its adolescence. The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition.

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]]> Fire at Tennessee Mosque Site Ruled As Arson U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Steven Gerido said Friday that lab tests confirmed an accelerant was used in the fire early Saturday in Murfreesboro. The site is the location for a new Islamic center, which has drawn vehement opposition. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:36:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129637632&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129637632&ft=1&f=1001 U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Steven Gerido said Friday that lab tests confirmed an accelerant was used in the fire early Saturday in Murfreesboro. The site is the location for a new Islamic center, which has drawn vehement opposition.

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]]> 'Where Is Her Head?' A Classic Campaign Trail Moment Some of the things politicians and reporters hear and see when they're out and about deserve a second or third listen. Check out what NPR's Don Gonyea picked up when he visited a county fair in Ohio. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:18:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/03/129637046/-where-is-her-head-a-classic-campaign-trail-moment?ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/03/129637046/-where-is-her-head-a-classic-campaign-trail-moment?ft=1&f=1001 Some of the things politicians and reporters hear and see when they're out and about deserve a second or third listen. Check out what NPR's Don Gonyea picked up when he visited a county fair in Ohio.

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]]> A Friendship Tested By Deep Gaza-Israel Divide Mohammed Saqar from Gaza and Dana Levy from Israel met when they were teenagers at a peace camp in the U.S. They once both believed in peace in the Middle East. Now, 14 years later, they are still friends -- but both have lost hope for Israel and Gaza. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:22:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129602459&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129602459&ft=1&f=1001 Mohammed Saqar from Gaza and Dana Levy from Israel met when they were teenagers at a peace camp in the U.S. They once both believed in peace in the Middle East. Now, 14 years later, they are still friends -- but both have lost hope for Israel and Gaza.

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]]> Obama To Offer Plan To Spur Job Growth As summer comes to an end this weekend, "Recovery Summer" too sputters to an end. The Obama administration's hopes that the spring's jobs growth would continue were not realized. On Friday, the president said he'd be proposing new plans to give the economy a bit more juice. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635630&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635630&ft=1&f=1001 As summer comes to an end this weekend, "Recovery Summer" too sputters to an end. The Obama administration's hopes that the spring's jobs growth would continue were not realized. On Friday, the president said he'd be proposing new plans to give the economy a bit more juice.

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]]> Economic Recovery Still A Long Way Off The unemployment rate grew in August from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent. But that's mostly because 114,000 temporary Census jobs ended. The job decline is less than most economists expected as the private sector added 67,000 new jobs last month. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635602&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635602&ft=1&f=1001 The unemployment rate grew in August from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent. But that's mostly because 114,000 temporary Census jobs ended. The job decline is less than most economists expected as the private sector added 67,000 new jobs last month.

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]]> Castro Appearance Adds To Speculation About Role In his first public speech in four years, a military-clad Fidel Castro stood on the steps of the University of Havana and addressed thousands of students. He warned them U.S. and Israeli tensions with Iran are pushing the world toward nuclear war. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635610&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635610&ft=1&f=1001 In his first public speech in four years, a military-clad Fidel Castro stood on the steps of the University of Havana and addressed thousands of students. He warned them U.S. and Israeli tensions with Iran are pushing the world toward nuclear war.

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]]> Rwanda Condemns U.N. Report On Congo 'Genocide' The United Nations has delayed the release of a report detailing a decade of gruesome attacks against civilians in the Congo after Rwanda protested the findings. Drafts of the report leaked to the media last week and accused Rwandan troops of slaughtering Hutus in Congo in the 1990s. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635622&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129635622&ft=1&f=1001 The United Nations has delayed the release of a report detailing a decade of gruesome attacks against civilians in the Congo after Rwanda protested the findings. Drafts of the report leaked to the media last week and accused Rwandan troops of slaughtering Hutus in Congo in the 1990s.

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]]> North Korea Signals Succession Plans Under Way For the first time in decades, North Korea is set to hold a Workers' Party Conference -- as early as this weekend. Observers say North Korea's ailing ruler, Kim Jong Il, could be set to pass the reins of the world's only communist dynasty to a third generation, his third son, Kim Jong Un. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:27:00 -0400 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129628873&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129628873&ft=1&f=1001 For the first time in decades, North Korea is set to hold a Workers' Party Conference -- as early as this weekend. Observers say North Korea's ailing ruler, Kim Jong Il, could be set to pass the reins of the world's only communist dynasty to a third generation, his third son, Kim Jong Un.

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