The European company Airbus reports it took a record number of orders in 2011 — more than 1,400. The surge was driven by demand for its revamped A-320 aircraft which is supposed to be more fuel efficient. Meanwhile Boeing sold only about 800 aircraft last year.
Let's report next on the food supply in this country. With so many Americans out of work, people feel the change in prices at the grocery store. So it's at least a potential relief to learn what the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported about the nation's crop supply the other day. The supply of corn, used in many kinds of food and fuel, is not as tight as expected, so the price of corn quickly fell 50 cents a bushel. But Harvest Public Media's Eric Durban reports it may take time to see a difference.
Delta Airlines planes line up at the terminal at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Southwest Airlines will begin serving the city next month, and hope to lure passengers away from hometown airline, Delta.
Rosamund Bernier is the author of Matisse, Picasso, Miro — As I Knew Them. A longtime contributing editor to Vogue, she was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1999.
In 1947, Vogue magazine sent Rosamond Bernier to Paris to cover European cultural life as it recovered after World War II. She met everyone who was anybody — Pablo Picasso befriended her, Henri Matisse gave her fashion tips, Alice B. Toklas baked for her. Bernier's memoir Some of My Lives is a lively compendium of this movable feast of art and genius — and of the author's own considerable charm.
Opponents of Wis. Gov. Scott Walker will deliver a truckload of petitions to the state's elections board Tuesday in an effort to force a recall election. Thousands of volunteers have spent the past two months canvassing the state collecting signatures.
Organizers are confident Walker will need to face an election this year in order to keep his job. Talk of recalling the governor began nearly a year ago, after he signed a bill into law that strips most public unions of collective bargaining rights.
Pierre Jean Nelson (left) has lived at Champs de Mars, a camp for displaced people, since the quake hit.
Credit Marisa Penaloza / NPR
Last year, the Annex de Martissant area of Port-au-Prince was a camp for displaced people. The area was filled with tents. Today, locals are building sturdier shelters with funding from the American Red Cross.
After Haiti's devastating earthquake two years ago, Americans donated large sums of money. This helped charities and aid groups save lives immediately after the disaster. But it's been much harder for them to help Haitians rebuild their devastated country. In the second of two stories, NPR's Carrie Kahn and Marisa Penaloza report that its difficult to get detailed information about how organizations spend their money.
Immigrants from Senegal protest against racism in Florence, Italy, on Dec. 17, 2011. Four days earlier, an Italian man killed two African street sellers and wounded three others in a shooting spree in Florence.
Credit FIRENZE / PA Photos /Landov
Two Africans were killed and three wounded in a shooting at a street market in Florence, Italy, on Dec. 13. The Italian man who carried out the shooting committed suicide.
The Italian city of Florence prides itself on welcoming foreign migrants. But the killing of two Africans last month has raised new questions about racism in Italy.
With the economic crisis worsening, there are signs xenophobia could increase as Italians start to compete with immigrants for a slice of the shrinking economic pie.
On Dec. 13, a known right-wing extremist opened fire in two separate marketplaces, leaving two Senegalese dead and seriously injuring three others. The killer then shot himself.
All of the Republican presidential hopefuls take on President Obama in their stump speeches, attacking his health care plan, his jobs record and more.
But the shorthand former House Speaker Newt Gingrich uses, calling the nation's first black president the "food stamp president," is raising questions.
It's a theme Gingrich has used since Iowa, and he returned to it during a forum in Charleston, S.C., over the weekend.
Last fall, wealthy Chinese gathered at a Beijing hotel to hear a pitch by Patrick Quinn, the governor of Illinois. He wanted them to invest in a convention center project at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
"You can't have capitalism without capital," Quinn said to the group of potential investors. "So we really are interested in encouraging people from everywhere, particularly here in China ... to consider the state of Illinois as a place to make investments."
The required minimum investment: half a million dollars.
It's often assumed that even in tough times, lawyers can find good jobs. But that proposition is being overturned by a tight legal market, and by a glut of graduates.
The nation's law schools are facing growing pressure to be more upfront about their graduates' job prospects. Many students say they were lured in by juicy job numbers, but when they got out, all they ended up with is massive debt.
Reaching Behind Bars:Prison Show host and former inmate David Babb takes to the air every Friday night at 9 p.m. to deliver news about the Texas penal system and to take calls from listeners, who often have messages for their incarcerated loved ones.
Credit Eric Kayne / for NPR
John Chris Hernandez listens to The Prison Show from his cell at the Eastham Unit penitentiary in East Texas. Hernandez is currently serving a life sentence for murder.
Credit Eric Kayne / For NPR
Janice Oeffner places a ring on the finger of Dawn Williams during an on-air proxy wedding between Williams and a Texas inmate. On-air proxy weddings have become so common that The Prison Show has a wedding coordinator to help guide couples through the paperwork.
Every Friday at 9 p.m., thousands of prisoners across East Texas settle into their bunks, pull out their hand-held radios and tune in to The Prison Show, the only radio show in the country that caters to prisoners and the families they've left behind.
These days, memoirs are often the target of contempt. A scathing slam in New York Times Book Review this year inveighed against "oversharing"; and in the New Yorker, the memoirist was likened to "a drunken guest at a wedding... motivated by an overpowering need to be the center of attention." If the narrative deals with socially unacceptable matters like abuse, addiction, family dysfunction, or even poverty, the scorn gets even thicker.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is considering a bill that would eliminate the state's 6 percent tax on cosmetic medical procedures like Botox by July 2013.
If you watch much TV, you probably know that the Real Housewives of New Jersey are no strangers to the surgeon's knife. And if the state's plastic surgeons get their way, those housewives may be able to save a few dollars on their next procedure.
New Jersey's legislature has voted to phase out the so-called "Botax" — a 6 percent tax on cosmetic surgery and elective procedures like Botox — and the bill is currently on Gov. Chris Christie's desk for approval.
The search for survivors of the Costa Concordia disaster continues Thursday in Giglio Porto, Italy. At least 11 people were killed after the vessel ran aground last week. More than 20 people are still missing.
Credit DigitalGlobe / AP
This satellite image taken Tuesday shows the hulk of the luxury ship.
Credit Laura Lezza / Getty Images
Workers prepare to recover fuel from the damaged ship on Wednesday. The ship was carrying about a half-million gallons of fuel. So far, there is no sign that it has leaked.
Credit Giacomo Aprili / AP
Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco (center) arrives Tuesday at the Grosseto court in Italy for a hearing. In a dramatic phone conversation, De Falco was heard ordering Francesco Schettino, the captain of the stricken cruise liner, to get back onboard and oversee the evacuation.
Credit Giacomo Aprili / AP
Capt. Francesco Schettino (right) is taken into custody by police in Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on Jan. 14. Schettino was released Tuesday and is under house arrest in southern Italy. He is being investigated on possible manslaughter charges and abandoning his ship.
Credit Guardia di Finanza / AP
This photo, released by the Italian border police, shows the Costa Concordia last week, after it ran aground.
Credit Gregorio Borgia / AP
Survivors were transported by ferry to Porto Santo Stefano, Italy. At least two of the missing passengers are American.
Credit Gregorio Borgia / AP
Passengers disembark at a ferry in Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on Saturday.
Credit Italian Coast Guard / AP
A scuba diver makes his way through floating pieces of furniture while searching for people inside the cruise ship.
Credit Gregorio Borgia / AP
A rope, a life vest, a helmet and other recovered items are displayed on an altar during Mass in Giglio on Sunday.
Credit Gregorio Borgia / AP
Rescuers exploded four holes in the hull of the ship to gain easier access to areas that had not yet been searched. Here, a scuba diver recovers a body Tuesday.
Credit Filippo Monteforte / AFP/Getty Images
The Costa Concordia lies stranded in the Giglio harbor on Sunday.
Credit AP
The Costa Concordia sails from Limassol, Cyprus, in April 2009. The ship ran aground off the coast of Giglio Island, Italy, on Saturday, forcing the 4,200 passengers onboard to evacuate.
When Joshua Bell was 21, he recorded an iconic piece of chamber music for piano and violin — the Sonata in A major by Cesar Franck. Today, Bell is 44 and he's recorded it again. It's on his new album, French Impressions, with pianist Jeremy Denk.
All Things Considered host Robert Siegel invited Bell to listen to his old recording for a little session of compare-and-contrast.
"Do you hear the same violinist?" Siegel asks, after playing for Bell the opening bars of his 1989 recording.
Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, pictured here speaking to students in October, announced Monday at an event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., that he was dropping out of the race.
Jon Huntsman billed himself as the Harley-riding, mild-mannered candidate of civility. But his moderate positions never registered with Republican primary voters and left him languishing in the polls.
Huntsman, 51, ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Monday after struggling to keep pace in a largely conservative field. He also failed to distinguish himself as the Mitt Romney alternative, unable to escape the shadow of the other millionaire former governor and Mormon in the race.
The captain of the cruise ship that capsized off Tuscany made an unauthorized, unapproved deviation from the ship's programmed course, a "human error" that led to the grounding of the vessel, the chief executive of ship's Italian owner said Monday. At least six people died in the incident.
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Americans honor Martin Luther King, Jr. today. And those visiting his new 30-foot tall memorial in Washington, D.C. will find a quote that reads: I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. Well, it may be carved in granite, but it's not actually what the civil rights leader said. Fixing a quote embedded in three feet of stone presents quite a challenge, but it will be changed to more accurately honor Dr. King's memory. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Originally published on Mon January 16, 2012 10:01 am
Jon Huntsman staked his presidential campaign on New Hampshire and his bid to become a legitimate competitor on distinguishing himself from front-runner Mitt Romney. But less than a week after a disappointing third-place finish in the Granite State's GOP primary, Huntsman decided to quit the race and back Romney.
Huntsman will endorse Romney, officials said Sunday, because he believes Romney is the best candidate to beat President Obama in November. Campaign manager Matt David said Huntsman will announce his withdrawal at an event in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
In February 1960, college students (from left) Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Billy Smith and Clarence Henderson began a sit in protest at the whites-only lunch counter at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C.
Credit Photo by Horace Cort / AP
A white youth sprays insect repellent above the heads of nearly 100 African-Americans demonstrating at a lunch counter in Atlanta.
They looked so young, the four college students who sat down and ordered coffee at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., on Feb. 1, 1960.
Legal challenges and demonstrations were cracking the foundations of segregation, but a black person still couldn't sit down and eat a hamburger or a piece of pie in a store that was all too willing to take his money for a tube of toothpaste.
Football fans were again glued to their TVs over the weekend, and the latest round of the NFL playoffs did not disappoint. The team with the best record in the regular season, the Green Bay Packers, lost to the New York Giants. And the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, tamping down Tebow mania.
Here to discuss it all is NPR's Mike Pesca. Good morning.
NPR's Sylvia Poggioli looks at what comes next for the crippled cruise ship Costa Concordia. The ocean-liner is nearly half submerged after running aground off the coast of Italy on Friday. So far it's not leaking oil but scientists are concerned about its impact on the largest protected marine park in Europe.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
The civilian government of Pakistan has been under absurd amounts of pressure ever since it won election about four years ago. It's squeezed by the army - which reluctantly surrendered power - by the United States, by a host of insurgents and also by Pakistan's Supreme Court.
And our last word in business today is the doctor is out. Over the summer we told you about a soft drink called Dublin Dr. Pepper. It's a slightly different version of the popular Dr. Pepper soda, made with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It was produced by Dr. Pepper Bottling Company in Dublin, Texas, which had been a family-owned business for more than 110 years.
To talk more about those opponents and what's happening on the campaign trail, we turn now to NPR's Cokie Roberts, who joins us most Mondays. Good morning, Cokie.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So let's - it looks like there's one less rival in the Republican contest, now that former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is expected to drop out today and throw his support to Mitt Romney. Let's talk about the likely effect on the rest of the contenders.
European financial markets started this week with a new reality. They had the weekend to absorb news that Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine European countries - including France, which lost its triple-A status. These countries face exposure to financial trouble in Greece, among other places.
We're going to talk about this with Zanny Minton-Beddoes, the economics editor of The Economist and regular guest on our program. Zanny, welcome once again.
Everyone has nightmares sometimes. But for people with PTSD, it's different.
Sam Brace doesn't want to talk about what he saw when he was a soldier in Iraq eight years ago. In fact, it's something he's actively trying not to dwell on. But what he can't control are his dreams.
Seventy-three temporary wooden shelters were built last month by the American Red Cross together with other nongovernmental organizations in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Some residents of the new settlement, Village Carvil, have already added living space with tarps.
Credit Marisa Penaloza / NPR
Charles Giiagliard, his wife and his five children live in this one-room shack in downtown Port-au-Prince. The Giiagliards are among half a million people who still live in the squalid tent camps seen all over Haiti's capital.
It was two years ago this month that a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands and leaving more than a million people homeless. Through U.S. charities, Americans donated more than $1.8 billion, but some in Haiti haven't seen much of that yet.
Charles Giiagliard, his wife and their five children live in a tiny one-room shack in downtown Port-au-Prince.
