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World
7:14 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Record Soap Bubble Holds 181 people

Canadian performing artist Fan Yang set a Guinness record for number of people enclosed in a soap bubble. Yang burst the previous record by getting 181 people — arms at their sides — to resist the urge to poke the bubble as it slowly rose around them.

Movie Interviews
6:04 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Jake Gyllenhaal On The Rewards Of Role Research

Credit Scott Garfield / Open Road Films
To prepare for his role as Officer Brian Taylor in End of Watch, actor Jake Gyllenhaal did ride-alongs with law enforcement.

The new police drama End of Watch puts two beat cops in the middle of escalating danger when a violent drug cartel begins operating in a South L.A. neighborhood.

The cops are patrol partners played by actors Michael Peña and Jake Gyllenhaal. The characters' cop-car friendship is one that extends beyond their jobs. The nature of their work makes them more like brothers, something director David Ayer pushed to bring alive on the screen.

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Election 2012
6:04 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Romney Argues For The Proper Role Of Government

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been busy after a tape emerged of him telling wealthy donors that nearly half of Americans see themselves as victims dependent on the federal government. Now he's trying to make those remarks part of a broader argument: What is the proper role of government and who should pay for it?

Election 2012
6:04 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Latest Presidential Election Fundraising Numbers Are Out

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 6:58 am

Fundraising reports filed Thursday night by the presidential campaigns look a lot like recent public opinion polls. They show President Obama with a slight advantage in monthly fundraising last month — while Republican Mitt Romney has the edge by some other measures.

Election 2012
6:04 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Obama Pressed On Slow Changes To Immigration Law

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 6:25 am

President Obama says he hasn't given up on overhauling immigration law despite opposition from Republicans in Congress. Obama faced some tough questions during a forum on Univision including what would be different if he won four more years in the White House.

Media
5:06 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Smaller Audience, Bigger Payoff For Glenn Beck

Credit Kris Connor / Getty Images for Dish Network
Since leaving Fox News in 2011, Glenn Beck has found his way back to TV. His Internet television network, The Blaze TV, is now available to subscribers of the Dish Network.

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 3:43 pm

By the time Glenn Beck left the Fox News Channel in June 2011, both sides seemed ready, even eager, to part ways. Beck announced he would move on to bigger and grander ventures with his own production company, Mercury Radio Arts, but some media critics, such as Variety's Brian Lowry, shrugged then and since.

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Planet Money
4:03 am
Fri September 21, 2012

The Downside Of Tax Havens? Paperwork.

Credit Lam Thuy Vo / NPR
Unbelizable and Delawho? company documents, along with our official company stamp.

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 3:44 pm

We were curious how hard it would be to set up an offshore company, so this summer we bought two. We at Planet Money are now the proud owners of "Unbelizable Inc." in Belize and "Delawho? LLC" in Delaware. The whole process was quick and easy.

At least that's how it seemed at first — until we got an email from David Buckley, a tax lawyer at Rogin Nassau, telling us we had just walked into an IRS sinkhole.

Buckley described it as "a minefield of U.S. tax obligations," and he said he was worried about me. (The companies are in my name.)

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Shots - Health Blog
3:36 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Swedes Perform Pioneering Uterine Transplants; Americans Not Far Behind

Credit Johan Wingborg / University of Gothenburg
A surgical team with Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, performs the first mother-to-daughter uterine transplant.

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 9:39 am

A Swedish medical team has transplanted uteruses from two women in their 50s to their daughters. Meanwhile, Shots has learned that an Indiana group is recruiting women willing to undergo womb transplants in this country.

"We could go ahead tomorrow if we found the perfect candidate," Dr. Giuseppe Del Priore told Shots.

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Europe
3:35 am
Fri September 21, 2012

A Stiletto, A Lamppost And The Soul Of Berlin

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 10:09 pm

Something horrible has happened in Berlin.

You won't see it on TV or in the newspaper, but I know about it. So do my neighbors.

That's because there's a lamppost on our street, festooned with a note that reads, "A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT HAS HAPPENED." And naturally, once you see a note like that, you have to find out more.

As it turns out, the note was written by 29-year-old Maira Becke. But before I reveal her calamity, I must first explain the significance of lamp posts here in Berlin.

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It's All Politics
3:34 am
Fri September 21, 2012

You've Got Mail: Campaigns Still Rely On Snail Mail

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 5:08 pm

For those of you who feel you've had quite enough of the political ads airing every night on your TV screens, well, get ready for another sort of deluge.

In the coming weeks, candidates will bombard your mailboxes with ads. It may seem old-fashioned, but the consultants who devise direct-mail campaigns have become sophisticated about knowing whom to reach and what to say.

"It's almost because of the changing media landscape that direct mail remains relevant," says Anil Mammen, who runs a small direct-mail shop in Washington, D.C.

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