Presidential Race
5:52 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Romney Campaign Stokes VP Tension With New App

Originally published on Tue July 31, 2012 6:35 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

As Mitt Romney returns from Poland, the suspense continues to build over who he'll pick as his running mate. And Romney's campaign has been stoking the tension. Earlier this month, they offered a lottery to supporters who donated a mere $3. The prize, a meeting with Romney and his V.P. pick. Last week, the woman in charge of the search for a vice presidential candidate, Beth Myers, tweeted out the names of several top contenders, sending the Twitter world into a tizzy.

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Presidential Race
5:50 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Political Stumbles Mark Romney's Trip Abroad

Originally published on Sun August 5, 2012 2:04 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrapped up a week-long foreign trip today with a speech in Warsaw. Romney hailed Poland as a symbol of economic and political freedom and met with Polish leaders before boarding a plane for the U.S.

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World
5:48 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Opera Unfolds When A Cuban Cabaret Is Shut Down

Originally published on Wed August 1, 2012 3:18 pm

Ulises Aquino was already one of Cuba's best-known baritones when he founded his own company, Opera de la Calle, or Opera of the Street, in 2006. By combining Cuban rhythms and dance with his formal musical training, he won fans at home and abroad.

Aquino also considers himself a good "revolucionario," meaning he's a loyal supporter of Cuba's socialist system. And when President Raul Castro urged Cubans to increase productivity by starting small businesses, Aquino answered the call.

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Business
5:48 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

BP Blames $1.4 Billion Loss On Lower Energy Prices

Originally published on Tue July 31, 2012 6:35 pm

BP released its latest quarterly earnings on Tuesday and the oil giant's earnings are way down. The company cited lower oil and natural gas prices, and the lingering effects from the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Media
5:48 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Shield Anonymous Commenters? More Papers Say 'No'

Credit Sandy Clemons / Courtesy of Linda Cook
Linda Cook eventually revealed herself as the commenter who made a disparaging remark about an Idaho Republican Party official online.

Originally published on Tue July 31, 2012 7:09 pm

The Internet is slowly becoming a less anonymous place. YouTube has a new policy encouraging commenters to use their real names, and many news sites have switched to a login system run by Facebook.

News sites that still allow anonymous comments are finding there are legal risks. The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, Wash., has spent the last few months trying to protect the identity of a reader who saw a photo of a Republican Party official in Idaho named Tina Jacobson, and then posted a disparaging comment.

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Election 2012
5:48 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Romney Tries To Shape Distinct Iran Policy

Credit Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Mitt Romney speaks in Jerusalem on Sunday, backing "any and all measures" to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Originally published on Tue July 31, 2012 11:40 pm

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says America's national security priority should be preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and he was talking tough about this in his recent stop in Jerusalem.

"History teaches with force and clarity that when the world's most despotic regimes secure the world's most destructive weapons, peace often gives way to oppression, to violence, or to devastating war," Romney said. "We must not delude ourselves into thinking that containment is an option."

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The Two-Way
5:20 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Fannie, Freddie Regulator Holds Firm Against Mortgage Write-Downs

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Many experts say reducing mortgage principal can help troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes. But the regulator who oversees two of the nation's largest mortgage holders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has rejected the idea.

A federal regulator is blocking the government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from reducing the principal that homeowners owe on their mortgages in order to avoid foreclosures.

Tuesday's decision came from Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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It's All Politics
5:10 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Obama And Bush's Shared First-Term Obsession: Battleground States

What does President Obama have in common with his immediate White House predecessor?

Both men spent a disproportionate amount of their first terms making appearances in battleground states, Brendan Doherty, a political scientist at the U.S. Naval Academy, writes in a post on The Monkey Cage political-science blog.

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The Torch
4:58 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

With A Tiger's Help, Orange Juice Helps Lighten The Mood At Olympics

Credit Vickie Walton-James / NPR
On their bottles, Innocent declares itself the juice of champions — before adding, "rather than bang on about it, we thought we'd show you a picture of a tiger running through his pre-swim checklist." The drinks are a welcome sight at the Olympic media center.

When you spend hours on end at a media center, even if it's on an assignment as terrific as the Summer Olympics, the refreshments can get to be, well, familiar.

But no contempt has been bred here. That's partly because of Innocent brand juice — the "official smoothie and juice of the London 2012 Olympic games," as the label says.

And any drink that can make us chuckle on deadline is greatly appreciated. Especially if it's what's on the outside of the bottle that makes us laugh.

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The Party Line
4:12 pm
Tue July 31, 2012

Obama, Romney Seek Breakaway States To Join 'Base Regions'

No matter how you cut it, this year’s presidential race, from a national view, is one of the closest that we have seen a very long time.  According to various tracking polls, such as at Talking Points Memo, the race is a coin-toss

While this will be the feature of many commentators and pundits going into the conventions and the general campaign, the national picture isn’t where the focus necessarily should be — but rather on the states.

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