All Things Considered

Monday-Friday 3-5PM
Michele Norris & Robert Siegal
Melissa Block
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4:22pm

Fri January 27, 2012
Education

Higher Drop-Out Age May Not Lead To More Diplomas

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on every state to require students to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18. "When students don't walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma," he said.

The White House cited studies that showed how raising the compulsory schooling age helps prevent kids from leaving school. And while some of that is true, some of it is also wishful thinking.

For New Hampshire Deputy Commissioner of Education Paul Leather, the president made the right call in his address.

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3:58pm

Fri January 27, 2012
Planet Money

Rethinking The Oreo For Chinese Consumers

Credit Kraft Foods

Everyone knows what an Oreo cookie is supposed to be like. It's round, black and white, and intensely sweet. Has been for 100 years. But sometimes, in order to succeed in the world, even the most iconic product has to adapt.

In China, that meant totally reconsidering what gives an Oreo its Oreoness.

At first, though, Kraft Foods thought that the Chinese would love the Oreo. Who doesn't? They launched the product there in 1996 as a clone of the American version.

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3:01pm

Fri January 27, 2012
Middle East

U.N. Atomic Agency To Visit Iran For New Probe

Originally published on Fri January 27, 2012 5:19 pm

Credit Ronald Zak / AP

A senior delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency visits Iran on Sunday in a renewed attempt to probe aspects of Iran's nuclear program that could be connected to nuclear weapons work.

For years, the IAEA has been trying to get answers to some very uncomfortable questions about Iran's nuclear program.

Iran insists it has only a peaceful, civilian nuclear program, and so far it has refused to discuss evidence that it is engaging in some nuclear weapons work. But international pressure on Tehran is growing.

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2:42pm

Fri January 27, 2012
Movies

Movie Titles That Might Have Been

Originally published on Fri January 27, 2012 5:19 pm

Shrek, Hitch, Gattaca: What's in a name? Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet — but for Hollywood the question is more like, "Would that rose, by any other name, sell as many tickets?"

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2:19pm

Fri January 27, 2012
Winter Songs

Shredding To Metallica, Dancing To 'Jump'

Credit Adrian Dennis / AFP/Getty Images

2:00pm

Fri January 27, 2012
Education

Obama Stresses Importance Of College Affordability

President Obama told students in Michigan that their universities should stop raising tuition so much faster than the rate of inflation.

3:29pm

Thu January 26, 2012
It's All Politics

Candidates Campaign On An Economic Silver Bullet: Worker Retraining

Credit Julie Jacobson / AP

There are not many things that Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney agree on, but when it comes to job training there is common ground.

"It is time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work," President Obama said during his State of the Union address Tuesday.

Earlier in the week, Newt Gingrich offered a similar solution for helping those facing long-term unemployment.

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3:03pm

Thu January 26, 2012
The Two-Way

An Emotional Moment: Sen. Mitch McConnell Meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi

Originally published on Thu January 26, 2012 5:21 pm

Credit Khin Maung Win / AP

Mitch McConnell, the senate Republican leader from Kentucky, was the original author of the United States' sanctions on Myanmar.

So these last six months have been astounding for him. Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, has gone through an amazing transformation. Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's leading opposition figure, has announced she will seek public office and the U.S. has reestablished diplomatic ties with Myanmar.

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2:33pm

Thu January 26, 2012
Theater

In Broadway's 'Wit,' A Documentary Of Our Demise

In her dressing room at the Friedman Theatre, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has a nightly ritual: She rubs Nivea cream all over her scalp to soothe the razor burns.

Being completely bald is just one of the many demands of the character she plays in Wit -- a brilliant college professor named Vivian Bearing, who's battling ovarian cancer.

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2:00pm

Thu January 26, 2012
Presidential Race

Republicans Prepare To Debate In Florida

Melissa Block talks with NPR's Mara Liasson about Thursday night's Republican debate in Jacksonville, Fla.

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