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Law
6:55 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Congolese Warlord Sentenced By Court In The Hague

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 7:52 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

It's been a decade since the first permanent International Criminal Court was created. Today, it delivered its first-ever sentence. The Hague-based court ordered a Congolese warlord to serve 14 years in prison. Thomas Lubango was convicted in March of recruiting and using children as soldiers in his militia. During a four-year conflict, Lubango forced children to fight for him, taking up arms and machetes which they used to slaughter Lubango's tribal enemies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Business
6:00 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Patriot Coal Files For Chapter 11

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 7:52 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Coal demand is at its lowest in more than two decades. That's, in part, because of milder winters and a shift to cheaper natural gas. Coal companies are also facing tough new rules proposals from the Environmental Protection Agency for building new coal-fired power plants. Shares for most coal producers have taken a big hit because of these factors and the slow global economy.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

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Race
6:00 am
Tue July 10, 2012

NAACP Issues HIV-Aids Manual For Black Churches

Originally published on Fri July 13, 2012 11:41 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The number of African-Americans contracting HIV and AIDS runs considerably ahead of the rest of the population. And now the NAACP hopes to harness the power of the black church to help. During its annual convention this week, the civil rights group unveiled a new HIV/AIDS manual. As NPR's Cheryl Corley reports, it's designed to help ministers talk to their congregations about the problem.

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Business
6:00 am
Tue July 10, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 7:52 am

Over a decade ago, Britton Nicholas Newlife bet with a bookmaker that Roger Federer would win Wimbledon seven times. The bet was for $2,300 and the odds were 66-1. Newlife died three years ago, but he left his betting ticket to the international charity Oxfam. On Sunday, Federer won his seventh Wimbledon title. Oxfam will receive more than $150,000 in winnings.

Black Lung Returns To Coal Country
4:45 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Black-Lung Rule Loopholes Leave Miners Vulnerable

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 10:41 pm

Part two of a two-part series.

Thousands of coal miners continued to suffer and die from black lung during the 40 years that tough new limits on exposure to coal dust were supposed to provide protection.

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It's All Politics
4:43 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Romney Outraises Obama By $35 Million In June

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 2:02 pm

The latest fundraising numbers are in for the two presidential campaigns, and the amounts are eye-popping. President Obama and the Democratic Party raised $71 million, which is an enormous haul. But it was dwarfed by Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee, which together raised $106 million in the month of June.

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Election 2012
3:57 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Bush Tax Cuts: The New Middle-Class Norm

Credit Courtesy of Randi Cartmill
Josh Walling and Randi Cartmill with their children, Jacqueline, Josh and Ryan. Josh Walling says his family, whose household income is below the national median, would lose a substantial amount of money if the Bush tax cuts expired.

Originally published on Thu July 26, 2012 2:42 pm

The first in an occasional series, Fiscal Cliff Notes, which breaks down the looming "fiscal cliff" of expiring tax cuts and deep automatic spending cuts set to hit around the first of year.

Much of the political focus when discussing the Bush-era tax cuts is on the wealthy, but they're not the only ones who would be affected if the tax cuts are allowed to expire at the end of this year.

The vast majority of American taxpayers would take a hit, including Randi Cartmill and Josh Walling, who live in Madison, Wis., with their three children.

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Dead Stop
3:52 am
Tue July 10, 2012

A City's History Writ Small, In One Cemetery

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 2:07 pm

On Florida's northeast coast, trams filled with families and school groups run constantly in St. Augustine, hitting nearly all of the old city's historic sites.

But down a side street lies an important piece of St. Augustine's history most visitors don't see, because it's only open one day a month.

"This is Tolomato Cemetery. It was formerly the parish cemetery for what is now the cathedral parish," says Elizabeth Gessner, who heads the cemetery's preservation association.

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Middle East
3:51 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Walls Of Palestinian Homes Come Tumbling Down

Originally published on Sat July 14, 2012 8:46 am

Israel has dramatically increased its demolitions of unauthorized Palestinian homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a recent United Nations report.

Last year, 1,100 Palestinians — more than half of them children — were displaced, an 80 percent increase from the previous year. And demolitions this year continue at a high rate.

For Sami Idriss, the Israeli bulldozers came while the 26-year-old Palestinian was at work.

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American Dreams: Then And Now
3:28 am
Tue July 10, 2012

'Globals' Generation Focuses On Experience

Credit Courtesy of Jennifer Larr
Jennifer Larr (center) is seen here in Rwanda at the Gashora Girls Academy, where she was a teacher in 2011. Larr is part of a new generation of young adults focusing on travel, studying abroad and global experiences.

Originally published on Thu July 19, 2012 2:58 pm

Jennifer Larr has the itch to go abroad. She's 26 years old and has already spent a year studying in France and two years in Rwanda with the Peace Corps, and she is headed to Uganda this summer for an internship. She's also a graduate student, studying international relations at UCLA.

Larr is part of a growing number of 20- and early 30-somethings whose American dream has moved beyond suburban homes and traditional nuclear families, and it's one that now goes even beyond U.S. borders.

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The Record
3:28 am
Tue July 10, 2012

My American Dream Sounds Like Rubén Blades

Credit Echoes / Getty Images
Blades, shown in 1970.

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 8:54 am

Africa
3:25 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Mubarak's Dream Remains Just That In Egypt's Desert

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 8:57 am

In the middle of southern Egypt's windy desert, wheat fields stretch as far as the eye can see on a 24,000-acre farm. It's part of a grandiose project called Toshka that was dreamed up 15 years ago by the government of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's authoritarian leader who ruled the country for three decades before being ousted last year.

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Asia
3:17 am
Tue July 10, 2012

China's Post-Olympic Woe: How To Fill An Empty Nest

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 11:31 pm

As the opening date for the London Olympics nears, Beijing's acclaimed Olympic venues are saddled with high maintenance costs and are struggling to get by. And the most famous, the Bird's Nest stadium, has been repudiated by its own creator, dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Even the state-run government mouthpiece, the China Daily, worries that Beijing's iconic structures risk becoming "white elephants."

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Business
3:15 am
Tue July 10, 2012

For Manufacturing Jobs, Workers Brush Up On Math

Credit Duane Burleson / AP
Brian Gasiewski removes the external housing for an industrial shock absorber from a CNC, or computer numerical control, machine at Fitzpatrick Manufacturing Co. in Sterling Heights, Mich.

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 7:52 am

Politicians have touted modern manufacturing as the solution for lifting the economy and providing good jobs.

But today's manufacturing work requires strong math skills — not just adding and subtracting, but a good grasp of fractions, decimals and basic trigonometry. And job applicants who want to go into manufacturing often don't have what it takes.

So colleges and nonprofits, especially throughout Illinois, are stepping in to bridge this skills gap by combining manufacturing training with basic reading and math.

Doing Math On The Job

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It's All Politics
3:14 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Democrats Say Anonymous Donors Unfairly Influencing Senate Races

Credit Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 12:25 pm

In Senate races, Democrats are fighting to preserve their thin majority. Their party campaign committee wants the Federal Election Commission to crack down on some of the Republicans' wealthiest allies — outside money groups that are using anonymous contributions to finance a multimillion-dollar onslaught of attack ads.

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