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Business
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Business News

Originally published on Wed February 29, 2012 11:02 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with an invitation from Apple.

Journalists were invited yesterday by Apple for a product event next month. And that was enough to send the company shares to another all-time high. There's wide speculation the event will introduce the next generation of its iPad tablet. The iPad 3 is expected to have a faster processor and a high definition display. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Business
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And that brings us to our last word in business on this Leap Day: a rare proposal. Traditionally in many European countries Leap Day was considered the only day when a woman could propose to a man. And one restaurant in Swindon, England seems to be capitalizing on that.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

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Election 2012
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Romney Scratches Out Close Victory In Michigan

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney turned back challenges from former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in Arizona., where Romney won easily, and in Michigan, where he eeked out a close win in the state where he was born. Before Tuesday night, Romney's last primary win was in Florida a month ago.

Election 2012
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

29 GOP Delegates In Arizona Go To Romney

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And while Mitt Romney was eking out that win in Michigan, he pretty much walked away with yesterday's Arizona primary. Romney was expected to win in Arizona, but he walloped his closest challenger - that would be Rick Santorum - by 20 percentage points. Helped, in part, by the support of the last Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain.

And while all the attention was on Michigan throughout the night, NPR's Ted Robbins reports that in the all-important delegate count, the Arizona win counts for nearly as much.

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Research News
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Do NASCAR Races Contribute To Motorists' Wrecks?

Originally published on Wed February 29, 2012 11:02 am

New research indicates that five days after major NASCAR races, there is a measurable increase in traffic accidents caused by aggressive driving.

Asia
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Journalists Tracks Drone Strikes Near Afghan Border

Pakistani journalist Pir Zubair Shah has been following drone strikes in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan for more than half a decade. He talks to Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about his recent article in Foreign Policy magazine titled "My Drone War."

Afghanistan
4:00 am
Wed February 29, 2012

After Quran Burnings, U.S. To Review Afghan Mission

Originally published on Wed February 29, 2012 11:02 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The deadly violence in Afghanistan over the burning of Qurans by the U.S. military has brought the American-led NATO mission to a crossroads. Among the dead have been four Americans, two of them by an Afghan policeman inside what was thought to be a highly secure government ministry building. The U.S. pulled all of its advisors from those ministries. The entire international community is on virtual lockdown.

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Business
3:31 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Identity Theft A Growing Concern For Businesses

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Fake business listings and other forms of business identity theft are a growing concern, causing real business owners to worry about protecting reputations and losing customers.

You've heard of identity theft — someone using a person's credit information or a Social Security number for ill-gotten gains. Well, experts say similar crimes are also affecting businesses.

Business identity theft involves posing as a legitimate business in order to get access to credit lines or steal customers. Experts believe that the practice has become more prevalent in the past two years.

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The Salt
3:27 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Newfoundland Gives Whole New Meaning To Ice Cold Beer

The year the Quidi Vidi Brewing Co. started brewing beer with iceberg water, a giant iceberg floated up against the cliffs around St. John's, Newfoundland.

"It was a big berg and it jammed right across the harbor here," says Charlie Rees, the brewery's tour guide.

Rees says Newfoundlanders have a curious relationship with icebergs. On the one hand, they're a fact of life. On the other, when that iceberg was in the harbor's mouth, hundreds of people came down to gawk. He took pictures.

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Economy
3:25 am
Wed February 29, 2012

Record Low Interest Rates Raise Inflation Concerns

The goal of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy is to juice the economic recovery. The low rates should make it easier for people to borrow money, which they'll hopefully spend; the increased demand for goods and services is then supposed to translate into more hiring.

That's what the Fed is banking on. It hopes low interest rates will help with its mandate of achieving maximum employment, but it also has another mandate: to keep prices stable.

"In many cases, those two conflict," says economist Joe Gagnon of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

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