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Martha Ballard was a real midwife in the late 1700s who delivered more than 1,000 babies without ever losing a mother. Ballard kept a diary of her life and the town secrets she learned thanks to her profession — and she's at the center of Ariel Lawhon's new novel, The Frozen River. In today's episode, Lawhon tells NPR's Scott Simon how she stumbled upon Ballard's story while pregnant with her own child, and why it was important for her to make a 54-year-old woman the hero of her book.
Deadly winter storms. Looming government shutdown. Former President Donald Trump back in court. CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Keiper with tonight's World News Roundup.
The number one producer of electric vehicles in the world is ... BYD? On today's show, we look at how the Chinese EV manufacturer rose from a battery company to global dominance. It took a mix of obsessive attention to detail, scale, government support and ... guitar-string-related quirks. Plus, we consider whether BYD can crack the U.S. market.
Related Episodes: How electric vehicles got their juice (Apple / Spotify)
How the South is trying to win the EV race (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
On today's show, we look at two indicators of the economic disruptions of the war in Gaza and try to trace how far they will reach.
We start in the Red Sea, a crucial link in the global supply chain connecting to the Suez Canal, with around 15% of the world's shipping passing through it. This includes oil tankers and massive container ships transporting everything from microchips to furniture. With Houthi rebels attacking container ships in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, shipping lines are re-routing, adding time and cost to delivery. We look at how ocean shipping is a web more than a chain of links, and try to see which parts of the web can take up more strain as the Red Sea and the Suez Canal become too dangerous to pass.
Then, we'll consider what escalation could mean for the region's most important export: oil. Five steps of escalation each mean a ratcheting up of costs that knock on to other industries, like food. Some prices are likely to rise faster than others, though.
Since Israel's war against Hamas began, the US has tried to prevent a wider regional war from breaking out.
Now, with US attacks against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, drone strikes in Iraq and fighting across Israel's northern border with Lebanon is that regional conflict the US wanted to avoid, already here?
The last three presidents have tried to shrink the US footprint in the Middle East. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Ben Rhodes. Rhodes was Deputy National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama.
Since Israel's war against Hamas began, the US has tried to prevent a wider regional war from breaking out.
Now, with US attacks against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, drone strikes in Iraq and fighting across Israel's northern border with Lebanon is that regional conflict the US wanted to avoid, already here?
The last three presidents have tried to shrink the US footprint in the Middle East. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Ben Rhodes. Rhodes was Deputy National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama.
Since Israel's war against Hamas began, the US has tried to prevent a wider regional war from breaking out.
Now, with US attacks against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, drone strikes in Iraq and fighting across Israel's northern border with Lebanon is that regional conflict the US wanted to avoid, already here?
The last three presidents have tried to shrink the US footprint in the Middle East. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Ben Rhodes. Rhodes was Deputy National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama.
Georgia DA Fani Willis wades into allegations that she hired her romantic partner to prosecute Trump. She does so from the pulpit of a storied church, yielding more "amens" than answers. Plus, the government preserves Spirit Airlines as the perhaps beloved, certainly belittled Dollar Store of the skies. And we're joined once more by Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project to talk unions, income inequality, and if a toned-down Twitter avatar might make his brand of socialist seem cuddlier.
