Search results for

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports the Tokyo stock market revived today after massive losses last week, but the market is jittery. It's unclear whether the Japanese government will stick to its new policy of non-intervention in times of crisis in the market.

- In an attempt to give business majors some on-the-job training, Washington University in St. Louis is providing entrepreneurs with students to help them write up business plans. NPR's Chris Arnold reports the program provides business people with inexpensive help, the students with real-life business experience and the possibility of dividends for both if their joint efforts are successful.

A jury today awarded punitive damages in the amount of 25 million dollars to the Brown and Goldman families in the O.J. Simpson wrongful death civil trial. NPR's Ina Jaffe talks with Robert about the effect this award will have on the financial status of Mr. Simpson, what Simpson's options are regarding an appeal, and what the families' reactions appear to be to the judgment.

Robert talks to NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Gisenyi, Rwanda, about the mass return of refugees from the nearby town of Goma, Zaire. Relief agencies are scrambling to handle the unexpected crush of roughly half a million people who returned over the past four days. As the throngs have headed home, families have been separated, and relief agencies are caring for a few thousand children who can't find their parents. Meanwhile, returnees face the situation of returning home to find their houses occupied by squatters.

Writer Alice Van Buren takes us to a cafe in Paris. There we meet Bruno, the bald accordionist and discover how the ambience of this bohemian restaurant helps articulate her affection for the City of Lights.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports that the United Nations is taking short-term security measures to more carefully screen mail and trying to make long-term security plans. But specialists in terrorism say bombs sent through the mail are hard to stop. Letter bombs addressed to an Arabic-language newspaper were disarmed at U-N headquarters in New York yesterday.

The federal government has released 50 years of previously classified data on the Arctic Ocean, collected by the U.S. and Russian armed forces. Some believe the data will provide new clues into how global climate has changed over the past half-century. NPR's David Baron reports.

NPR's Dean Olsher sends us an audio postcard from the lobby of a downtonwn Washington law firm. High-powered intellectual property lawyers sing Christmas songs alongside the guys from the mailroom. They sound great, for litigous amateurs.

Linda Wertheimer's upbringing in New Mexico always included special tamales on Christmas Day. Today, Linda talks with Patricia Quintana, from her family home in Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico. Quintana is the author of several cookbooks on regional Mexican food. Her latest is The Best of Quintana. She tells how to make the sweet tamales traditionally made with red colored maza -- corn meal dough -- for Christmas and New Year's. Afterwards, Linda checks in with Mela Leger in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as her family arrives for what she calls their traditional "tamale wars" on Christmas day.

Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Eric Weiner in Jerusalem about today's peace talks between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-tahn-YA-hoo) and Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. The talks ended without an agreement. But U-S envoy Dennis Ross said the meeting was nontheless "extremely productive. " At issue is Hebron (HEH-bruhn) - a West Bank town where Jews have settled - and the withdrawal of Israeli troops there.

Commentator Leonard Rosen compares himself and his family's holiday visits to the seasonal migration of birds, whales and other animals, whose instints force them to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to get "back home." In observing the travel patterns of millions of people during the holiday season, Rosen notes that people also have that instinctual urge to "get up, move, go back."

NPR's Vicki O'Hara reports that President Clinton today announced his decision to waive for another six months a controversial provision of a law that tightens the U.S. embargo against Cuba. The president said he will once again suspend that part of the so-called Helms-Burton Law which would allow Americans who had property confiscated by the Cuban government to sue foreign firms doing business on that property today. Mr. Clinton said he expects to continue suspending this provision every six months, so long as America's European allies continue to pressure Cuba to improve its human rights record.

Noah talks with Peter Stark, a writer who lives in Missoula, Montana. They discuss Stark's article "The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death," which appears in the January 1997 issue of Outside Magazine. The article is a kind of tribute to the short story "To Build A Fire," by Jack London and it talks about the physical symptoms of hypothermia. It also describes the physiological and mental processes involved when a person freezes to death.

The city of Hong Kong will cease being a British colony exactly six months from today, and local opinions about the changeover are running high. NPR's Mary Kay Magistad talks with four Hong Kong residents about their apprehensions and expectations as the handover date nears.

Noah talks to people who have been affected by the cold weather gripping the Midwest. He talks to Jim Miller, who owns and operates a wind farm in Brit, Iowa; and to Antonio Manzanares (man-zuh-NAH-rays) in Rio Arriba (REE-oh ah-REE-bah) County, New Mexico. Miller says that the high winds and denser cold air are good for his farm's productivity. Manzanares describes working with sheep in bitterly cold weather.

The Pinkwater clan has newly acquired an Inuit puppy named Lulu. The dog proves to have a remarkable intelligence and aptitude for training. She is curious, perceptive, and willing to be trained. Commentator Daniel Pinkwater thinks that her bloodline includes some wolf.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistad reports on "Comrades, Almost A Love Story," a film by Hong Kong director Peter Chan. As Hong Kong makes the transition to Chinese control, Chan and other filmmakers are coming to terms with new rules regarding artistic freedom. His film follows a young man and a young woman who have recently moved from China to Hong Kong and the social dislocation they face.

South Korea today returned the remains of 24 North Korean infiltrators after North Korea apologized for trying to slip the men into South Korea by submarine in September. With that apology, Ted Clark reports that the way is clear for improvement of diplomatic, military and economic relations between the United States and North Korea.

NPR's John Ydstie concludes his series on reforming the social security system with an examination of the plan favored by the advisory council's chairman, Ned Gramlich. Gramlich's proposal occupies the middle ground between the other two plans. It also relies on the financial markets to boost retiree benefits, but without redirecting a large chunk of the payroll tax into personal retirement accounts.

Tom Gjelten reports that the Clinton administration is stepping up its military aid to Colombia for its fight against drug cartels. Most of the cocaine sold in the U.S. comes from Colombia. But the effort to assist the Colombians is coming under fire; critics say the United States should not be sending aid to Colombia's military because of its notorious human rights record.