NPR News

Pages

The Two-Way
4:55 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Venezuela's Chavez To Miss His Inauguration

President Hugo Chavez is too ill to attend his inauguration this week, the Venezuelan government announced Tuesday.

In a letter to the National Assembly, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said the president's medical team said Chavez's recovery should be extended beyond Thursday – the day he is scheduled to be sworn in. The Associated Press reports: "Maduro said Chavez was invoking a provision in the constitution allowing him to be sworn in before the Supreme Court at a 'later date.'"

Read more
Europe
4:25 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

A Dash Of Olive Oil May Preserve Decaying British Cathedral

Credit Nigel Roddis / Reuters/Landov
The stones of York Minster in northern England are decaying. Olive oil may be just the dressing the cathedral needs to preserve its Gothic architecture.

Originally published on Wed January 9, 2013 5:24 am

The British have some stunning cathedrals, and York Minster, in the north of England, is one of the most magnificent of all.

Construction on it began 800 years ago, and a mere 2 1/2 centuries later, work was complete.

The result was one of Europe's largest Gothic cathedrals and one that's had a rough ride through history: It's been pillaged and looted, and damaged by devastating fires and lightning strikes.

Today, there's another threat: acid rain. As a result, the cathedral's stones are decaying.

Read more
Middle East
4:20 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

A Welcoming Way Station For Syrians Fleeing Home

Credit Kelly McEvers / NPR
Beit Qamishlo is a modest house in southern Turkey that caters to Syrian exiles seeking temporary refuge. It also hosts frequent discussions on Syria's future. Here, Malik Dagestani (center), a former political prisoner in Syria, talks about his detention in the 1980s and 1990s.

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 5:37 pm

It's called Beit Qamishlo, or the House of Qamishlo. It's named after a city in northeastern Syria, though the house isn't even in Syria — it's just across the border in southern Turkey.

The house is humble, made of concrete blocks, with tile floors. Arabic slogans are taped on the walls: "Beit Qamishlo is a house for everyone," "It's a window to Syria's future," "Under one roof we plant life together and freedom."

Read more
Shots - Health News
4:17 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

In Canada, Gonorrhea Defeats Another Antibiotic

Credit iStockphoto.com
In the U.S., doctors no longer have the option of treating gonorrhea with a pill. Instead, they are advised to use an injectable antibiotic, which is still effective against the bacteria.

Gonorrhea is one tough germ to beat.

Over the past 70 years, the bug has outwitted four classes of antibiotics, leaving just one set of drugs available to kill it.

Now there's more evidence that the arsenal against gonorrhea is shrinking again.

Canadian doctors have documented the first failure in North America of cefixime, the front-line antibiotic for gonorrhea.

Read more
The Two-Way
4:13 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Fuel Leak At Logan Airport Adds To Trouble For Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Credit Stephan Savoia / AP
A Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet aircraft is surrounded by emergency vehicles while parked at a Terminal E gate at Logan International Airport in Boston on Monday. A small electrical fire filled the cabin of the JAL aircraft with smoke about 15 minutes after it landed in Boston.

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 4:44 pm

A fuel leak Tuesday on a Tokyo-bound Japan Airlines flight forced the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to cancel takeoff and return to the gate at Boston's Logan International Airport. It was the second incident involving a Dreamliner in two days.

Here's how Logan airport described the incident on its Facebook page:

Read more
U.S.
3:53 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Gun Control Advocates Say ATF's Hands Have Been Tied

Credit David McNew / Getty Images
Officers transfer confiscated weapons after a news conference to announce the arrests of scores of alleged gang members and associates on federal racketeering and drug-trafficking charges in Lakewood, Calif., in 2009.

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 5:37 pm

After the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., President Obama asked Vice President Biden to lead a group tasked with drafting policies to reduce gun violence. One of the issues sure to come up in the Biden group's discussions is the role of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Read more
Around the Nation
3:41 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Workshops Help Families Grappling With Alzheimer's Home Care

Credit iStockphoto.com
The nation's largest provider of nonmedical home care for seniors is now offering training to help family caregivers deal with the challenges of caring for an Alzheimer's patient.

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 8:24 pm

There are more than 5 million people with Alzheimer's in the U.S., and most are cared for at home. Now, one company has begun offering training to family caregivers to help them deal with the special challenges of caring for an Alzheimer's patient.

The company, Home Instead Senior Care, is the nation's largest provider of nonmedical home care for seniors. The workshops are free and available to anyone, whether they're clients of the company or not.

Read more
NPR Story
3:32 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

2012 Smashes Record For Hottest Year In The Lower 48

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 5:37 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block.

It's official, federal scientists say 2012 was the hottest year on record for the Lower 48 States. In fact, the average shattered the previous record set in 1998.

Here's NPR science correspondent Richard Harris.

Read more
NPR Story
3:32 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Architecture Critic Huxtable Remembered For Clever, Biting Commentary

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 5:37 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable had a pillow stitched with the words: Ada Louise Huxtable already doesn't like it. That was the zingy caption of a New Yorker cartoon from 1968. The cartoon showed a rough construction site with only a single column erected. A construction worker in a hardhat is holding a newspaper reading Huxtable's scathing critique to the architect. Ada Louise Huxtable, who pioneered architecture criticism, died yesterday in Manhattan. She was 91.

Read more
U.S.
2:55 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

New York Town Up In Arms As Gun Show Approaches

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 5:37 pm

Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is the kind of town tourists visit and never want to leave. In winter there are skiing and snowshoeing; in summer, the horse racing season at its historic racetrack.

But this idyllic town of about 28,000 in the foothills of the Adirondacks is facing a crisis over the Saratoga Springs Arms Fair, an event held several times each year at the city's public exhibition space since 1984.

Read more

Pages