NPR News

Pages

Planet Money
2:57 pm
Thu January 5, 2012

How A Computer Scientist Tried To Save Greece

Credit Flickr user: MyThoughtsMindMaps
Diomidis Spinellis used a mind map like this to find tax cheats.

Originally published on Mon May 7, 2012 10:13 am

It's like a bad joke. Why did the Greek government borrow so much money?

Because it couldn't get its own citizens to pay taxes.

The Greek government estimates that one third of taxes owed never get paid. And apparently it was far easier to borrow money even at outrageous rates than to make Greeks pay what they owe.

So in 2009, the Greek finance ministry called in an unlikely hero: A methodical, computer science professor at Athens University, Diomidis Spinellis.

Read more
Presidential Race
2:48 pm
Thu January 5, 2012

Spotlight Shines On Late Riser Rick Santorum

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images for Meet the Press
Then-Sen. Rick Santorum is interviewed after a debate with his Democratic challenger, Bob Casey, in 2006. Santorum later lost the Senate seat to Casey.

Rick Santorum has been upsetting elections from the beginning.

He was only 32 years old when he toppled a seven-term incumbent in a majority Democratic district in western Pennsylvania.

Just four years later, Santorum rode the Republican wave of 1994 into the Senate representing Pennsylvania. And from the beginning, Santorum has stood for unwavering social conservatism, especially on the issue of abortion.

"Give the baby a chance to live," said Santorum while delivering a speech on the Senate floor in 1997.

Read more
Europe
2:40 pm
Thu January 5, 2012

Fears Grow Over Faulty French-Made Breast Implants

Credit Sebastien Nogier / AFP/Getty Images
French-made breast implants produced by Poly Implant Prothese company (shown here in a photo taken Jan. 1 in Saint Raphael, southeastern France) have been found to be faulty and are at the heart of a growing health scandal.

A scandal involving French-made breast implants continues to widen.

The implants contain industrial-grade silicone that cause abnormally high rupture rates, according to critics. They have been sold in many countries in Europe and beyond, though not in the United States. Now, the French government has opened a criminal investigation into the company.

French television showed footage on Thursday of investigators and a judge searching the factory of the Poly Implant Prothese company, or PIP, in southern France.

Read more
Animals
2:35 pm
Thu January 5, 2012

Dog Trained As Ultimate Whale Pooper Snooper

Originally published on Sat January 7, 2012 4:33 pm

Killer whales in Puget Sound aren't doing very well. They were placed on the endangered species list in 2005, and there are several hypotheses for why they're not recovering.

In Puget Sound, a team of researchers is relying on a secret weapon with a killer nose to figure out what's wrong with the orcas in Northwestern waters.

'A Treasure Trove Of Information'

Scientists suspect lack of food, boat traffic and pollution are to blame, but no one knows for sure. Some think the answer might be found in the whales' wake — specifically, their poop.

Read more
The Picture Show
2:28 pm
Thu January 5, 2012

Eve Arnold, Photojournalist, Dies At 99

Credit Robert Penn / Courtesy of Magnum Photos
Eve Arnold on the set of Becket, 1963.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 9:09 am

Photographer Eve Arnold died Wednesday, just a few months shy of her 100th birthday. Arnold is best known for her intimate portraits of both the rich and famous — including Marilyn Monroe, Malcolm X and Joan Crawford — and of the down and out.

As Robert Capa, one of the founders of the agency Magnum Photos, once put it: Arnold's work "falls metaphorically between Marlene Dietrich's legs and the bitter lives of migratory potato pickers."

Read more

Pages