Do illegal migrants receive more in benefits than pensioners?
Was Energy Secretary Ed Miliband right to celebrate a ?record breaking? renewable energy auction?
Is one divided by zero infinity?
Why don?t we spend more on evidence that government spending works?
And how long does it actually take to turn around an oil tanker?
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Charlotte McDonald
Producers: Natasha Fernandes, Bethan Ashmead-Latham and Nathan Gower
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Editor: Richard Vadon
The news to know for Wednesday, September 11, 2024!
We're recapping last night's high-stakes presidential debate, from key moments and arguments to the post-debate reaction, and we’ll tell you which candidate is already calling for debate number two.
Also, we’ll share the candidates’ plans to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks as America remembers.
Plus, when Hurricane Francine is set to make landfall on Louisiana’s coast, why time is crucial for a historic (and risky) space mission now underway, and what to expect at tonight’s 40th anniversary of the MTV VMAs.
Those stories and even more news to know in just over 10 minutes!
Climate change is contributing to erratic weather where cocoa beans are grown and threatening the global chocolate supply. Record rainfall last year led to fungal infections among cacao trees and dwindled supply of cocoa beans. Heat is also making it more difficult for cocoa beans to thrive. So, for day three of Climate Solutions Week, we look at one innovation in the food industry: chocolate substitutes.
As big chocolate manufacturers rush to stockpile cocoa beans, some companies like Planet A Foods are looking for a more sustainable solution: an alternative that looks like chocolate, tastes like chocolate and feels like chocolate... without chocolate.
You can read more of international correspondent Rob Schmitz's reporting here.
Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at shortwave@npr.org – we'd love to hear your ideas!
It was 23 years ago Wednesday that terrorists hijacked four U.S. commercial airline flights, turned the planes into weapons, crashed them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, and in the process killed nearly 3,000 people. Today, America is at risk of another equally as deadly terrorist attack, a national security expert says.
The threat of another 9/11-type terrorist attack on America “is higher now than it was in the months and years preceding 9/11 for a couple of reasons,” says Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation.
First, Greenway says the terrorist threat level against the U.S. is high because of “our posture abroad, our approach to our adversaries, … [and] our neglected military capacity and capability and focus.”
But America’s greatest vulnerability to another terrorist attack, he says, is “the fact that we've invited terrorist organizations to exploit our open borders, and now they are really hiding within our own population and enjoying the benefits and concealing themselves in their activities inside of our own borders.”
Greenway deployed in support of Operation Relentless Pursuitand Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001 in the war on terrorism. He also served as a senior intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and then on the National Security Council.
Listen to our interview with Greenway marking the anniversary of 9/11 on today’s edition of “The Daily Signal Podcast."
In what may be the last huge moment of the campaign, Kamala Harris pulls off an overwhelming win: drawing a clear contrast with Donald Trump, presenting herself as a change candidate, and luring her opponent into getting angry, defensive, and confused. Jon, Lovett, Dan, and Tommy react to Harris's best moments, Trump's tantrums, the crazy pet-eating story, and Taylor Swift's big post-debate endorsement.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
Is fundamental change possible in a polarized two-party system? Zachary and Emma speak with Forward Party Founder Andrew Yang to discuss the current state of the primary system in the United States and what positive change might look like. They talk about what ranked choice voting is, some key benefits of that system, and the hurdles it faces. They discuss the likelihood of achieving popular but challenging reforms like term limits and stock trading in Congress. The conversation also touches on the dysfunction within the current political system, the incentives that reinforce that dysfunction, and the need to reconfigure the system to reward doing the right thing so that good public servants keep their jobs.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Over 25 years ago, author Leslie Rasmussen connected with a stranger over challenges with their fertility. That friendship inspired her 2023 novel, The Stories We Cannot Tell, which follows two very different women who contend with excruciating decisions around their pregnancies. In today's episode, Rasmussen talks with NPR's Leila Fadel about her years-long fertility struggle, the difficulty of discussing the decision to terminate a pregnancy, and the political context surrounding her novel following the fall of Roe v. Wade.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Who won Tuesday night's presidential debate? Ravi breaks down Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump's performances, voter reactions, and Taylor Swift's post-debate endorsement of Harris.
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