NPR Topics: News

NPR news, audio, and podcasts. Coverage of breaking stories, national and world news, politics, business, science, technology, and extended coverage of major national and world events.

This blog is one of the best politics, podcast, news, swine flu, npr, religion blogs out there. Add this blog to My Feeds.

Violence Spurs Calls To Rein In The Repo Man

Mar 13, 2010 9:00pm

If you don't make your car payments, someone can be hired to repossess it. They might tow it from your driveway or a parking lot. But sometimes repo men go further, breaking into people's garages or homes. Fights can break out. People get hurt, and some have even been...

Utah GOP Leader Quits After Hot-Tub Confession

Mar 13, 2010 4:32pm

Rep. Kevin Garn, 55, resigned via e-mail days after acknowledging he paid a woman $150,000 to keep quiet about a nude hot-tubbing incident that took place a quarter century ago when she was a teenager....

Obama Wants 'No Child Left Behind' Law Overhauled

Mar 13, 2010 1:16pm

The president's proposed changes call for states to adopt standards that ensure students are ready for college or a career rather than grade-level proficiency — the focus of the current law. The White House also is proposing a $4 billion increase in federal education spending....

Iran Dismantles U.S.-Backed Opposition Groups

Mar 13, 2010 12:16pm

Iranian officials say that several networks were gathering information on nuclear scientists and finding ways to circumvent Internet controls meant to stymie the opposition. Thirty of their members reportedly were arrested....

Fallows On The News: Israeli Flap, Health Care

Mar 13, 2010 12:00pm

Israel set off a diplomatic row during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden when it announced new Jewish settlement construction, and Congressional Democrats are hoping to haul health care legislation over the finish line. Host Guy Raz talks with news analyst James Fallows of The Atlantic magazine about that...

Haiti's Geology Slowly Giving Up Its Secrets

Mar 13, 2010 12:00pm

Researchers studying the origin of the recent deadly earthquake have found signs of an actual fault rupture offshore, and figured out what triggered a small tsunami. But not all the causes of the natural disaster were, in fact, natural....

Suicide Attacks Kill Dozens In Taliban Heartland

Mar 13, 2010 10:42am

A suicide squad detonated bombs at a newly fortified prison, police headquarters and two other locations in Kandahar, killing at least 30 people in the largest city of Afghanistan's southern Taliban heartland....

Second American Woman Is Linked To Terrorism Case

Mar 13, 2010 10:11am

A U.S. official says Colorado mother Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was among seven people — including Colleen LaRose, or "Jihad Jane," of Pennsylvania — arrested in Ireland this week in over an alleged plot to kill cartoonist Lars Vilks for lampooning the Prophet Muhammad....

Child Abuse Scandal Reaches Catholic Church, Pope

Mar 13, 2010 8:04am

It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons....

Week In Review

Mar 13, 2010 5:00am

This week, President Obama postponed his Asia trip to push for a health care vote. Vice President Biden visited Israel and arrived to find Israel had just approved a new batch of settlements — something the Obama administration has been pushing them to halt in the interests of the peace...

Votes Slow To Tally In Iraq

Mar 13, 2010 5:00am

Six days have passed since Iraq's nationwide elections, and there are still no real results. Last Sunday, about 62 percent of eligible voters defied threats of violence to cast a ballot. Guest host Jacki Lyden gets the latest from NPR's Quil Lawrence in Baghdad....

Iraq's Neighbors Watch As Votes Are Counted

Mar 13, 2010 5:00am

The results of Iraq's election could have broader repercussions in the Middle East. Jacki Lyden speaks with Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, about reaction in the Arab world to the Iraq elections....

German Sex Abuse Scandal Includes The Pope

Mar 13, 2010 5:00am

A growing scandal in Europe over child sexual abuse by priests now extends to the Vatican and Pope Benedict. Friday, the Pope's former archdiocese in Germany acknowledged that while he was archbishop, a priest who was suspected of abusing children was transferred to another job — where he committed more...

Beyond The Hype: How Much Health Care Could Cost

Mar 13, 2010 5:00am

The Obama administration has been hammering health insurance companies all week over proposed rate hikes. But the insurers have fired back, saying their hands are tied because the cost of health care keeps going up. NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner wades through the talking points with guest host Jacki...

Settlement Beckons To Sick Sept. 11 Responders

Mar 13, 2010 5:00am

In New York City, the workers who cleaned up Ground Zero and got sick from the toxic air at the site now face a difficult choice. Ten thousand police, firefighters and construction workers filed lawsuits against the city after 9/11. They've now been offered a multi-million dollar settlement — but...