Search results for

Commentator Ev Ehrlich says computers and the Internet may allow the economy to reach even greater levels of growth and productivity.

In the first part of a summer series on celebrity gardens, NPR gardening expert Ketzel Levine visits actor John Spencer at his home in Bel Aire, California and tours his garden. Spencer is a transplant from New Jersey, and he favors roses, delphiniums, hollyhocs, and the like. Levine points out that those plants don't appear as healthy as the ones that are native to Southern California.

NPR's Brenda Wilson has a special report on South Africa's explosive AIDS epidemic. The crisis is rooted in South Africa's history and the movement of its people. Labor migrations have occurred in South Africa since the beginning of the century. In the decade of the 1970's, under Apartheid, three-and-a-half-million black South Africans were forcibly relocated to rural homelands. The number of men who moved to industrial centers for work, living away from their wives and families for months at a time, significantly increased. Then, in the late 1980's, as white South Africans were being forced to relinquish political power, AIDS hit the country. Greater freedom for blacks brought an increase in travel between homelands and industrial centers and the AIDS epidemic moved with the people. Dependence on cheap, black labor and the removal of black South Africans to the homelands is continuing to drive the epidemic. A tenth of the population of South Africa is now infected with the AIDS virus.

Democrats charged with writing a platform for their party and their presidential nominee met in St. Louis today to hear ideas and discuss policy. The platform committee is led by elected officials known as centrists within the party, and their mission is to craft a document that Vice President Al Gore will be comfortable talking about. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports on Mexican president-elect Vicente Fox's plans for restructuring key government ministers in an effort to fight endemic corruption. Fox is stripping the all-powerful Interior Ministry of much of its duties, and creating a new ministry in charge of federal police and intelligence services. He's also taking some powers away from the attorney general's office.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on Toysmart, an online toy retailer that is declaring bankruptcy and wants to sell its customer list, despite the privacy policy posted on its Web site that said it wouldn't do that. The federal government could take action, if it decides the company deceived customers.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports on a surprising leader in the high tech industry: Finland. Finnish technology companies like Nokia are among the most dominant players today, though the country hasn't always been so forward-thinking.

Fewer jobs than expected were added to company payrolls in June. That's further evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing down a bit. The number of new jobs grew by a scant 11,000 during the month -- excluding the number of temporary government workers hired to help with the census. The news gave stock and bond prices a lift. Investors are hoping that the latest report will persuade the Federal Reserve that it no longer needs to raise interest rates. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Robert talks to Defense Secretary William Cohen, about tonight's test, and the pros and cons of developing a missile defense system.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports economic growth is slowing which means that bond prices are on the rise. Economists believe that growth will slow down during the later half of the year.