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Business
3:00 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Money-Losing Sony Plans To Cut 10,000 Jobs

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

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Business
3:00 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Taxes Lead To Stress Which Leads To Fatal Wrecks

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some other news: Tax day is rapidly approaching, and it turns out that day can hazardous to your heath.

As NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports, researchers found a rise in fatal auto accidents on the day taxes are due.

WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: Back in 1789, Ben Franklin wrote: Nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes. He couldn't possibly have foreseen the linkage reported in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association: 6 percent more people than usual are killed on the roads on tax day.

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Business
3:00 am
Thu April 12, 2012

R.I. Lawmaker Proposes Ban On Driving With Dogs

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Our last word in business is about another driving hazard, DWD: driving with dogs.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Mitt Romney has taken a lot of heat this political season over a decades-old story in which his dog was strapped to the roof of his car while going on a family vacation.

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Theater
3:00 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Philip Seymour Hoffman Is The New Willy Loman

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is starring in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. He talks to Steve Inskeep about the Arthur Miller play which premiered in 1949.

Planet Money
2:22 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Why Didn't Passengers Panic On The Titanic?

Credit via Foreign Policy

As the Titanic was sinking and women and children climbed into lifeboats, the cellist and violinist from the ship's band stood and played. They died when the ship went down. Men stood on the deck and smoked cigars. They died, too.

This behavior is puzzling to economists, who like to believe that people tend to act in their own self interest.

"There was no pushing and shoving," says David Savage, an economist at Queensland University in Australia who has studied testimony from the survivors. It was "very, very orderly behavior."

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Law
2:20 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Does The Case Against John Edwards Go Too Far?

Credit Chuck Burton / AP
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards (left) speaks to the media with attorney Abbe Lowell last October. His trial on alleged campaign finance violations is set to begin Thursday.

Prospective jurors head to court in North Carolina on Thursday to find out whether they'll be chosen to sit in judgment of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards.

Only four years ago, Edwards was running for the White House as a Democratic candidate. Now, he's a defendant, fighting campaign finance charges that could send him away for as long as 30 years.

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Middle East
2:19 am
Thu April 12, 2012

'One-State' Idea Gains Support Of Some Palestinians

Credit Bernat Armangue / AP
Palestinian children play next to Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Abu Dis in 2011. As peace talks between Israel and Palestine remain at a standstill, people are looking to other possible solutions.

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians are at a standstill and have been for almost two years. The stated aim of those negotiations is what is known as the "two-state solution," which means the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state existing in peace alongside Israel.

But as hopes for an agreement diminish, Palestinians — and even some Israelis — are now talking about other solutions to the conflict. Among them, the so-called "one-state solution."

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Media
2:17 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Huckabee Pledges More Civil Alternative To Limbaugh

Credit Gary Kline
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his new radio show will be more "conversation and less confrontation."

Mike Huckabee fell short four years ago in his quest to become the Republican presidential nominee. As of this week, the former Arkansas governor has a new job: national radio talk show host.

The Mike Huckabee Show started Monday with an anticipatory flourish.

"Welcome to the community of conversation. You've just made a right turn, and you've arrived at the corner of conservatism and common sense," he said. "In this show, we're going to be confronting the issues — not the listeners."

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Shots - Health Blog
2:15 am
Thu April 12, 2012

Water In The Time Of Cholera: Haiti's Most Urgent Health Problem

In the teeming city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, millions of people have no reliable water supply.

Many of the underground pipes that did exist were ruptured by the 2010 earthquake. Many public water kiosks are dry.

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Latin America
2:15 am
Thu April 12, 2012

After Taint Of Drugs, Colombia Reinvents Itself

Credit Javier Galeano / AP
A woman looks over vegetables in Carulla Supermarket in Bogota, Colombia. The country, which plays host this weekend to the Summit of the Americas, is a rising star in the region. Foreign investment has quadrupled over the past decade, and it has a new free-trade agreement with the U.S.

Colombia was once associated with cocaine trafficking and powerful drug lords, but today's reality is different: It's stable, a magnet for foreign investment and diplomatically engaged — and this weekend hosts the Summit of the Americas. Increasingly, Colombia is seen as South America's rising star.

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