State and National News

Pages

Business
3:00 am
Tue April 10, 2012

For $1.1 Billion, Facebook Snaps Up Instagram

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Facebook likes Instagram. That's the top of our business news.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: And they did more than just click the little thumbs up. Facebook is buying the photo application Instagram and the price is higher than it has ever paid for an acquisition - $1 billion; this for a company with only around a dozen employees. As somebody joked yesterday, why didn't they just download it?

As NPR's Laura Sydell reports, some analysts say the purchase is a defensive move.

Read more
Business
3:00 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Machine Evens Sushi-Making Playing Field

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And our last word in business today: sushi bot.

It's where raw fish and robots meet up. More specifically, it's a cutting-edge sushi-making machine. A company called Suzumo introduced a prototype at a food expo in Tokyo last week.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: It is true that a skilled chef can train for a long time. However, with Suzumo sushi-making machine everyone can make stable quality sushi very easily.

Read more
Around the Nation
3:00 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Police: Suspects Confess To Tulsa Shooting Spree

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

We're going to spend this part of the program in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a deadly shooting spree in a black neighborhood has revived memories of a long ago race riot.

INSKEEP: First, we have an update on the news here. Police in Tulsa confirm that the two men accused of shooting five black people and killing three confessed shortly after they were arrested on Sunday.

Read more
Business
3:00 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Microsoft To Buy Patents From AOL For $1.1 Billion

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Moving on to another billion dollar tech deal, Microsoft has agreed to pay AOL over $1 billion for hundreds of patents. Microsoft outbid several rivals, including Amazon and eBay, in a deal which saw AOL's stock price jump by over 40 percent. The over 800 patents include internet search, email and customized advertising and are seen as a push by Microsoft into the lucrative smartphone and tablet market.

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
2:43 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Calif.'s Prescription-Drug Monitoring System Feels Pain From Budget Cuts

Credit Sarah Varney / KQED
At Universal Pain Management, Dr. Francis Riegler confers with Trudy Roberts, the clinic's nurse practitioner, over a patient's record of prescription drug purchases.

This is a story about what can happen when no one is looking. For the patients at Universal Pain Management, a medical clinic in northern Los Angeles County, Dr. Francis Riegler is always looking.

Riegler huddles with the clinic's nurse practitioner over a computer printout. The one-page report from the state's drug-tracking system shows that a patient was on the hunt for more Vicodin, a powerful pain reliever that he was already getting from Riegler's clinic.

Read more
Business
2:42 am
Tue April 10, 2012

For Freelancers, Landing A Workspace Gets Harder

The recession brought widespread unemployment across the U.S., but it also prompted a spike in the number of freelance or independent workers.

More than 30 percent of the nation's workers now work on their own, and the research firm IDC projects the number of nontraditional office workers — telecommuters, freelancers and contractors — will reach 1.3 billion worldwide by 2015.

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
2:40 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Bird Flu Studies Mired In Export Control Law Limbo

Credit PR Newswire
An electron microscope view of the bird flu virus.

Scientists who created mutant forms of bird flu want to see their research published, and an influential advisory committee recently gave them the green light after a debate that lasted for months.

But one of the manuscripts is now being blocked from publication because of Dutch legal controls on the export of technology that could potentially be used for weapons.

It's just the latest example of how complicated international export control laws have affected the debate over what to do about two studies on bird flu.

Read more
Europe
2:39 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Unemployed Greeks Look To Create Their Own Jobs

Credit Joanna Kakissis / NPR
Panos Papadopoulos, 28, is the co-founder of BugSense, which makes a service to track bugs in mobile phone applications. He also mentors other young entrepreneurs at CoLab, a business incubator in Greece.

In Greece, more than 21 percent of the working-age population is jobless. For Greeks under age 25, the rate is more than double that.

Some young Greeks are frightened that the economy, now in free fall, will take years to recover, so they're leaving for jobs abroad. A few entrepreneurs, however, are trying to start businesses during the worst recession in decades.

A magnet for these young entrepreneurs is CoLab, a business incubator in a weathered building near the Athens Cathedral in the city center. CoLab opened in 2009, with just one occupant — a Spanish travel writer.

Read more
Law
2:38 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Federal Court To Weigh Graphic Cigarette Labels

Credit AP
This image provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows one of nine new warning labels it wants cigarette makers to use. Tobacco companies have sued, claiming the mandate is unconstitutional.

The question of how far the government can go in forcing a business — in this case cigarette makers — to warn consumers about its product is before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration wants large, graphic warning labels to scare smokers, but tobacco companies say that violates their right to free speech.

Read more
Planet Money
2:16 am
Tue April 10, 2012

Why Matzo Makers Love Regulation

Credit Mike Derer / AP
Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz at the Manischewitz factory in 2007

For more, see our video, Inside The Matzo Factory, and see Adam Davdson's latest NYT Magazine column

The matzo business may be the most heavily regulated business in the world.

Read more

Pages