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Afghanistan
5:26 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Viral Images, The Military's Recurring Nightmare

Credit YouTube
A still frame taken from a YouTube video purportedly shows Marines who desecrated three dead men thought to be members of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military says it's investigating a video that appears to show Marines desecrating the corpses of Taliban fighters killed in Afghanistan. Regardless of those findings, the outrage in the Islamic world is likely to be severe, as with other disturbing images that have surfaced during U.S. wars in Muslim countries over the past decade.

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Shots - Health Blog
5:19 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

UConn Claims Resveratrol Researcher Falsified Work

The already shaky case for the anti-aging powers of resveratrol, a substance in red wine, is looking a little shakier.

After a three-year investigation, the University of Connecticut Health Center has told 11 scientific journals that studies they published by resveratrol researcher Dipak K. Das may not be trustworthy.

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The Salt
5:08 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Could A Soda Tax Prevent 26,000 Deaths Per Year?

Credit Joel Saget / AFP/Getty Images
Researchers say that if the price of soda gets higher, people will drink less of it, which will lead to fewer deaths.

A new study in the journal Health Affairs estimates that a penny-per-ounce tax on soft drinks and other sugary beverages could prevent about 240,000 cases of diabetes, 8,000 strokes, and 26,000 premature deaths per year.

Yes, death by soda.

So the analysis got me thinking: Our behavior is hard to predict, right? I know mine is.

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The Two-Way
4:39 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

How Do Land Birds End Up In A Tiger Shark's Belly?

Scientists are facing a riddle. For two years, researchers at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama have been studying the diets of Tiger Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and they found that the sharks not only eat sea creatures, but also make a habit of eating land birds. Yep that's right woodpeckers, catbirds, kingbirds and swallows have all been found in their bellies.

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Shots - Health Blog
4:11 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Biggest Bucks In Health Care Are Spent On A Very Few

Credit Ricardo Reitmeyer / iStockphoto.com
A relatively small number of patients account for some of the biggest spending on health care.

So you know how on Monday the federal government reported that the $2.6 trillion the nation spent on health care in 2010 translated into just over $8,400 per person?

Well, a different study just released by a separate federal agency shows that second number doesn't actually mean very much.

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The Two-Way
3:31 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Judge Declares Natalee Holloway Legally Dead

An Alabama judge signed an order that declares Natalee Holloway, the teenager who went missing in Aruba while on a high school graduation trip, legally dead. Holloway was last seen in 2005.

The AP reports:

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It's All Politics
3:31 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Bill Janklow's Death Gives South Dakota Tribal Leader Chance To Vent

When someone dies, the eulogies roll in, the higher the stature of the departed, the more stately the praise.

And that's certainly somewhat true for Bill Janklow, South Dakota's former congressman and governor who died Thursday from his brain cancer.

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Latin America
3:19 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Ordinary Life Resurrected, Slowly, In Haiti

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:28 pm

In Port-au-Prince, a radio blares from speakers in front of a guy selling pirated CDs on Delmas, a main street in the Haitian capital. Women sitting along the side of the road hawk everything from vegetables to cigarettes to pharmaceuticals. Overloaded tap-taps, the pickup trucks that serve as the main form of public transportation here, chug up the hill.

The scene is one that's remarkable for being unremarkable: Though it occurred this week, it could just as easily have been Port-au-Prince two years ago, before a massive earthquake destroyed much of the capital.

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The Two-Way
3:13 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Foxxconn Resolves Dispute With Workers Who Threatened Suicide

Earlier this month, a group Chinese workers at Foxxconn spent two days on the roof of one of the companies factories in central China. As The Telegraph reported, the workers were threatening to commit suicide to protest their working conditions.

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The Salt
3:08 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Why X-Rayed Food Isn't Radioactive, And Other Puzzles

Credit Lui Kit Wong / MCT /Landov
Irradiation is most often used to kill insects, parasites, or bacteria in or on spices, which are typically dried outdoors in before being shipped.

Earlier this week, we were surprised to learn that food manufacturers increasingly X-ray foods to screen for foreign objects that can break a tooth. That sounds like a good idea.

But the notion of X-rayed food also sparked a lively debate in The Salt's comments section on whether this poses a health threat. After all, we do know that some X-rays can damage DNA in the human body. So what does radiation mean for food?

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The Two-Way
3:04 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Court Martial Recommended For Bradley Manning In WikiLeaks Case

An investigating officer has recommended that Army private Bradley Manning face court martial on multiple criminal charges related to the downloading of nearly 1 million war logs and secret diplomatic cables. Manning is accused of taking the files and them passing them on to WikiLeaks.

If he does face a court martial and is convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

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Movie Reviews
3:02 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

An 'Iron Lady' Fully Inhabited By Meryl Streep

I admit I was biased against the Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady. Not, you understand, against Thatcher and her Tory politics. Against Meryl Streep and her accents. Which are great, no doubt. But I went in resolved not to fall for her pyrotechnics yet again. I wanted realism.

Well, it didn't take long to realize that I was watching not only one of the greatest impersonations I'd ever seen — but one that was also emotionally real.

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NPR Story
3:00 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Walton Discusses Aftermath Of Haiti Quake

Melissa Block talks to David Walton of the nonprofit group Partners in Health about the two-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti.

Presidential Race
3:00 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Obama Takes Aim At Republican Comments

When President Obama talks about the causes of the recession and the road out of it, he has consistently found fault in the financial services industry — and stressed the importance of making things. Now, with the Republican presidential nomination within reach of former venture capitalist Mitt Romney, those same words from Obama can sound mighty pointed.

Presidential Race
3:00 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Amid Recent Criticism, Romney Pushes Back

After facing an onslaught of criticism about his work as a venture capitalist, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney pushed back Thursday. At a press conference in South Carolina, he said jobs were created, thanks to his work at Bain Capital. NPR's Ari Shapiro joins Melissa Block from Greenville, S.C.

Remembrances
3:00 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Former S.D. Gov., U.S. Rep. William Janklow Dies

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:12 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

William Janklow, a former Republican governor and congressman from South Dakota, died today at a Sioux Falls hospice center. He was 72 years old. Janklow announced in November he had an inoperable brain tumor.

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The Two-Way
2:40 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

In Alaska: Nome Still Waits For Fuel, Big Shovels Headed To Cordova

Credit Spc. Balinda O'Neal, Alaska National Guard / AP
A member of the Alaska National Guard clearing a walkway in Cordova earlier this week.

Originally published on Mon January 16, 2012 8:55 am

  • Tony Gorman, reporting from Valdez
Environment
2:32 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Scientists Turn Focus To Ozone, Soot, To Fix Climate

Credit Deshakalyan Chowdhury / AFP/Getty Images
An Indian street dweller prepares food on the streets of Kolkata. A growing number of scientists say that reducing black carbon — mostly soot from burning wood, charcoal and dung — would have an immediate and powerful impact on climate.

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:12 pm

Politically, climate change is off this year's campaign agenda. Jobs, the economy and social issues are front and center.

But scientists are working as hard as ever to figure out how much the Earth is warming and what to do about it. Some now say it's time for a new strategy, one that gets faster results.

Talk to Durwood Zaelke, for example. Zaelke is a grizzled veteran of the climate wars: He was in Kyoto in 1997 when the world's nations drafted a treaty promising to curb warming, and he has watched that promise fizzle while the planet's temperature continues to rise.

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The Two-Way
2:08 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

Bill Janklow, Former U.S. Rep and S.D. Gov., Has Died

Bill Janklow, an institution in South Dakota politics who was known for his brashness and pushing things to completion, has died at age 72.

The AP has the basics:

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The Two-Way
1:05 pm
Thu January 12, 2012

After Monitor Quits, Arab League Defends Its Syrian Peace-Keeping Mission

Credit YouTube
In this frame grab from an amatuer video posted on YouTube, members of the Arab League monitor the recent violence in Syria.

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