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Asia
2:51 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

Money Pours In To Help Chinese Artist Pay Tax Bill

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Credit Frank Langfitt / NPR
Outspoken Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei (shown inside his compound on the outskirts of Beijing) was detained by the government for nearly three months. Now, the government says he owes $2.4 million in taxes and fines. Supporters are sending him money, raising nearly $1 million so far.
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Credit Frank Langfitt / NPR
Last week, supporters delivered donations over the wall of Ai's compound in Beijing — 100 yuan notes folded into paper airplanes.
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Credit Sam Yeh / AFP/Getty Images
A man admires Forever Bicycles, a work by Ai Weiwei, at the Taipei Fine Art Museum last month.
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The Chinese government slapped artist Ai Weiwei — one of China's most famous dissidents — with a $2.4 million tax bill last week. The move was widely seen as punishment for Ai's relentless criticism of the Communist Party.

Since then, in an outpouring of support rarely seen for a government critic, thousands of people have loaned Ai nearly $1 million to help pay the fine.

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Herman Cain
2:30 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

Cain Donors Stand By Their Man For Now

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Credit Eric Thayer / Getty Images
Herman Cain speaks at a press conference Nov. 8 in Scottsdale, Ariz. to rebut charges of sexual harassment.
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Credit Dave Martin / AP
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain met with supporters in Talladega, Ala. on Oct. 28, before allegations of sexual harassment against him surfaced.
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When talking to people who have given to a candidate's campaign, you'd expect to find true believers.

"I liked what I heard and he seemed to be the kind of person that I would like to see be president of the United States," says Carl Ploeger, who has donated twice to embattled GOP hopeful Herman Cain.

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The Salt
2:20 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

Reading, Writing And Roasting: Schools Bring Cooking Back Into The Classroom

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Credit Dawes School Edible Garden Project via Slow Foods USA
Students of the the Dawes School Edible Garden Project, a program of Slow Food Chicago.
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By Allison Aubrey

Lots of kids have tried lentils. But what about Ethiopian-style lentils, accompanied by injera bread, couscous and cucumber salad?

Fourth graders in Santa Fe, N.M. prepared this lunch feast themselves as part of a nutrition education program called Cooking with Kids. And nutrition experts say programs like this one are not just about expanding timid kids' palates.

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World Cafe
2:16 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

Megafaun On World Cafe

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Credit Sara Padgett
Megafaun.
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When DeYarmond Edison broke up in 2006, its guitarist and singer Justin Vernon moved to Wisconsin to create Bon Iver, and the other three members — Joe Westerlund and brothers Brad and Phil Cook — stuck around North Carolina and formed Megafaun.

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Energy
2:10 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

'Power For The Planet'? Company Bets Big On Fusion

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Credit Brett Beadle for NPR
A section of the fusion machine being tested at General Fusion's facility outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. General Fusion is hoping to implement a long-shot strategy that could produce fusion energy in the next few years.
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Credit Brett Beadle for NPR
Michel Laberge, president and chief technology officer of General Fusion, says the fusion machine he is developing "is an insanely ambitious project."
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Credit Brett Beadle for NPR
Banks of capacitors are a key part of General Fusion's machine. The capacitors, which charge up and release bursts of electricity, will be used to heat gases to 1 million degrees Celsius in preparation for a fusion reaction.
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Credit Brett Beadle for NPR
General Fusion is relying heavily on funding from venture capital firms, which are generally accustomed to quick turnarounds. This project is pioneering the idea that such firms can have the patience to invest in longer-term projects.
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The world would be a very different place if we could bottle up a bit of the sun here on Earth and tap that abundant and clean energy supply. Governments have spent many billions of dollars to develop that energy source, fusion energy, but it's still a distant dream. Now a few upstart companies are trying to do it on the cheap. And the ideas are credible enough to attract serious private investment.

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NPR Story
2:00 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

Penn State's Patero Announces His Retirement

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By editor

Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Patero announced his retirement Wednesday, as his football program continues to be rocked by allegations of child sex abuse and cover up.

NPR Story
2:00 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

'Modern Warfare 3' An Invitation To Non-Gamers

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While DVD sales plummet in the U.S. and book publishers fear for their futures, pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 totaled some nine million copies. Jamin Warrren of Kill Screen Magazine talks about how Modern Warfare 3 is extending an invitation to non-gamers to belly up to the console.

The Record
2:00 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

How Spotify Works: Pay The Majors, Use P2P Technology

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Credit Diana Levine / Courtesy of Spotify

Ken Parks, head of Spotify's New York office: "With a streaming service like Spotify that gives you access to everything in the world instantaneously, those distinctions between ownership and access tend to disappear."

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By Joel Rose

If you've ever tried listening to music on a web site, you've probably had the experience of waiting ... and waiting ... for a song to start. The cloud music service Spotify thinks it's found a way around to get music to your computer faster; employing some of the same technology the music industry has been fighting against for years.

One of the first things you notice about Spotify is how quickly it starts playing the song you want to hear — even if it's not already stored on your computer. There's no wait for buffering or downloading. Spotify feels, in a word, instant.

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The Two-Way
1:56 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

IMF Chief: World Could 'Face A Lost Decade'

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International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde delivers her speech at the International Finance Forum in Beijing.
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By Eyder Peralta

Speaking as world markets began to react to the gloomy prospects of the Italian economy, the head of the International Monetary Fund added a little more darkness to the picture. Radio Free Europe reports on comments Christine Lagarde made at the International Finance Forum in Beijing:

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Latin America
1:52 pm
Wed November 9, 2011

Mexican Deportees Strain Cities South Of The Border

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Credit Alfredo Estrella / AFP/Getty Images
A group of illegal immigrants from Central America deported from the United States eat at a shelter near the Mexico-U.S. border, in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, July 28, 2010. Last year, the U.S. deported a record number of immigrants — and the Mexican border towns where they are being released face serious problems coping with the influx.
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Credit Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images
U.S. Border Patrol agents patrol along the border fence between Arizona and Mexico, July 28, 2010.
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For many Mexican migrants who've just been deported from the United States, the border city Reynosa is where the American Dream dies.

Maria Nidelia Avila Basurto is a Catholic nun who heads a church-run shelter for deportees in Reynosa, in the northeast corner of Mexico, just across from McAllen, Texas.

"Many of them arrive with nothing," she says. "We have to give them everything — clothes, shoes, everything."

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