It's All Politics
12:01 am
Fri January 27, 2012

In Florida, The Early Birds May Be The Deciders

Credit Alan Diaz / AP
Early voters cast ballots for the Republican primary in Miami on Monday.

From Pensacola to Miami, the Republican primary is in full swing. Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are blanketing the state with rallies and personal appearances. The airwaves are full of campaign ads.

But Jeanne Casserta has heard enough. With several days left to go in the campaign, she stopped by the library in Coral Springs this week to cast her vote. She said she's heard plenty from both the Romney and Gingrich campaigns.

Read more
Latin America
12:01 am
Fri January 27, 2012

Reading The Tea Leaves: Cuba's Communists Convene

Credit Javier Galeano / AP
Fidel Castro made a surprise appearance at the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba, held April 19, 2011. This weekend, the party will meet for the first time since then, and observers will be looking for insight into who may be on the ascendant in the party leadership.

In Cuba this weekend, President Raul Castro will preside over the first meeting of the island's all-powerful Communist Party since last April. Castro has lowered expectations for any new economic reform announcements, saying that internal party affairs will be the business at hand.

But many Cubans will be watching for signs of who is rising in the party's ranks — and who could take over after Raul and Fidel Castro, both in their 80s, are gone.

Read more
Business
12:01 am
Fri January 27, 2012

Other File-Sharing Sites: 'We're Not Megaupload'

A week has passed since the landing of an indictment that shut down the website Megaupload for copyright infringement and racketeering. But it seems like it's still easy for people like college student Bobby Azarbayejani to find whatever music he wants.

He's used Megaupload before, but since that site's gone he's using MediaFire. It's one of the many sites on the Internet where people share all types of files.

Read more
Latin America
12:01 am
Fri January 27, 2012

State-Of-The-Art Hospital Offers Hope For Haiti

Even before the devastating earthquake in 2010, Haiti's public health care system was perhaps the worst in the Western hemisphere. Then the quake knocked down clinics, killed medical workers and severely damaged the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

Now, Partners in Health, the Boston-based group, has set out to build a world-class teaching hospital in what used to be a rice field in the Haitian countryside.

Read more
Planet Money
12:01 am
Fri January 27, 2012

Jack Abramoff Explains The 'Lobbyist Safecracker Method'

Credit Dennis Cook / AP
Jack Abramoff in 2004. He's the one on the right.

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been making the rounds lately. He's out of prison. He has a new book. He's in a talkative mood. So I figured it was a good time to ask him about the business of lobbying — not about what he did that was illegal, but the ordinary, legal stuff.

The firm he worked for was called Greenberg Traurig. I chose a year at random when Abramoff was working there, and picked a client who I hoped would be fairly typical. I chose Tyco International, a multinational corporation that in 2003 gave Abramoff's firm $1.3 million.

Read more
Africa
12:01 am
Fri January 27, 2012

In Morocco, Unemployment Can Be A Full-Time Job

It is rush hour in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, and time for the march of unemployed college graduates.

They are part of a movement that has become a rite of passage. It's a path to a government career for a lucky few, even though it can take years.

"I have a degree, a master's degree in English, and I'm here ... idle without a job, without dignity, without anything," protester Abdul Rahim Momneh says.

Read more
StoryCorps
10:00 pm
Thu January 26, 2012

After Son's Sudden Death, Shock, Grief, And Coping

Nearly 21 years ago, Dennis Apple and his wife, Buelah, were thrust into a situation parents dread. Their son Denny had come down with mononucleosis. And as they recall, just before bed one night, Denny took his medicine and then talked about where he wanted to sleep.

At the time, Denny was 18; he had begun competing in triathlons near the family's home in Olathe, Kan., outside Kansas City.

Read more
The Two-Way
6:50 pm
Thu January 26, 2012

Later Tonight: Live Blogging The Latest GOP Debate

With just four full days to go before Tuesday's crucial Florida primary, the four remaining major Republican presidential candidates gather tonight for another debate.

This time the setting is the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The host network is CNN. The network's Wolf Blitzer will moderate. The other sponsors are the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network, a center-right advocacy group.

Read more
It's All Politics
6:38 pm
Thu January 26, 2012

In A Campaign Defined By Debates, Some Moments That Really Mattered

Shots - Health Blog
6:07 pm
Thu January 26, 2012

Blood Doctors Call Foul On NCAA's Screening For Sickle Cell

Credit AP
University of Central Florida wide receiver Ereck Plancher died in 2008, after taking part in voluntary strength and conditioning drills. A lawsuit by his family claimed his death was related to complications from sickle cell trait that weren't properly treated. The university is appealing the decision against it.

If you're a college athlete who's talented enough to play a Division I sport, the NCAA requires that you get a blood test to see if you have sickle cell trait.

People with sickle cell trait carry one copy of a gene that can lead to an abnormal type of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells. (Two copies of the gene lead to sickle cell disease.)

Read more

Pages