Politics
6:06 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Why Mitt Romney's Dog Is Getting A Lot Of Press

Originally published on Tue December 20, 2011 10:30 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

New York Times columnist Gail Collins feasts on the foibles of elected officials, with a lively take on politicians past and present. As NPR's David Folkenflik reports, this election season, Collins has brought a laser-like focus to a shaggy dog story with a political tie.

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Asia
5:52 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Chinese Villagers Angry At Government's Land Grab

As residents of the Chinese village of Wukan continue their rebellion against local government land seizures, NPR is uncovering evidence of the scale of the problem. Many villages around Wukan — which has been sealed off by police and paramilitary troops — also accuse corrupt officials of selling off their land.

Election 2012
3:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Gingrich Holds Iowa Town Hall Meeting

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is accusing his Republican opponents of what he says is reprehensible behavior — running attack ads in Iowa against the former House Speaker. Before a crowd of supporters in Hiawatha, Iowa, Gingrich stressed that the negative GOP attack ads are bad for the party and bad for voters.

NPR Story
3:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Tue December 20, 2011 7:14 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Perhaps after you'd had a few glasses of holiday brew, this next item will look better. Our last word in business is: Ugly Christmas Sweater.

While searching for a way to help her kids pay for college, Anne Marie Blackman spotted a trend she thought she might capitalize on: The holiday-themed sweaters she found online, they didn't seem ugly enough. So, she started My Ugly Christmas Sweater, Inc. for people hoping to win a prize cheese wheel for the scariest holiday sweater at a party.

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NPR Story
3:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

Business News

Originally published on Tue December 20, 2011 7:14 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a mobile phone patent wars.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WERTHEIMER: Smartphone makers have filed dozens of lawsuits against one another for patent infringement. Yesterday, a federal agency handed Apple a limited victory in a closely watched case. It's one of the first of many mobile patent disputes to be decided.

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NPR Story
3:00 am
Tue December 20, 2011

North Koreans Honor Kim Jong Il

In North Korea, streams of mourners are paying their last respects to the country's longtime leader who died over the weekend. In the three days since Kim Jong Il's death, little has emerged about what's next in North Korea other than a state funeral has been set for next week.

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Tom Cole is an editor on NPR's Arts Desk. He develops, edits, produces, and reports on stories about art, culture, and music for NPR's news magazines Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. Cole has held these responsibilities since February 1990.

Prior to his work with the Arts Desk, Cole worked for three and a half years as an associate producer for NPR's daily classical music program Performance Today, and also for Morning Edition, where he coordinated and edited news reports and produced music programming.

From April 1979 to July 1986, Cole worked for NPR member station WAMU-FM in Washington, DC. He was the production manager for the daily operation of studios, and also served as a reporter, writing and producing music features that were broadcast locally and nationally. In addition, from October 1985 to November 1986, Cole worked for Voice of America as a producer for VOA Europe.

Since 1977, Cole has been the host and producer of a weekly three-hour program of music and interviews broadcast on public radio station WPFW-FM in Washington.

Over the course of his career, Cole has produced or collaborated on a number of public radio projects. He co-edited the Peabody Award-winning NPR documentary, "I Must Keep Fightin' : The Art of Paul Robeson." He was also an advisor, contributor, and co-editor of the Peabody Award-winning " series, The NPR 100, the top 100 songs of the 20th century.

A native of Washington, D.C., Cole has studied classical guitar at The American University and privately. He also studied comparative literature at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.

Chompsgiving To Chew Year's: Holiday Dishes
11:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

Wassail: ISO A Snowflake Of Drink

Credit Larry Crowe / AP
A cup of wassail, a mulled warm drink.

Part of an ongoing series on unique holiday dishes:

From caroling to consumption, wassail is an old English tradition for the holiday season. A favorite of Charles Dickens and the subject of many carols, wassail is actually synonymous with drinking "to your health." But figuring out exactly what you are drinking is another matter.

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Violence At California's Psychiatric Hospitals
11:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

In Calif. Mental Hospitals, Assaults Rarely A Crime

Credit Nick Ut / AP
Metropolitan State Hospital employees and supporters gathered outside the hospital in Norwalk, Calif., this summer to protest repeated assaults at the hands of mental patients, and what they called dangerous working conditions.

Originally published on Wed December 21, 2011 1:16 pm

Part of an ongoing series

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Asia
11:01 pm
Mon December 19, 2011

India's Techies Angered Over Internet Censorship Plan

Credit Sajjad Hussain / AFP/Getty Images
An activist of Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena hold placards and roses outside the residence of Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal in New Delhi.

Originally published on Tue December 27, 2011 11:01 pm

India has the world's largest democracy, and one of the most rambunctious. Millions of its young people are cutting edge when it comes to high-tech.

Yet the country is still very conservative by Western standards, and a government minister recently said that offensive material on the web should be removed.

The way it was reported in India, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal started the whole row by assembling the heads of social networking sites at a meeting in his office in New Delhi.

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