Business

March Madness: Good For Fans, Bad For Business

6:34pm March 23, 2013

by NPR Staff

No matter what team wins, employers are losing out. A recent study estimated the NCAA Division I men's college basketball tournament has already cost American companies at least $134 million in the first two days alone.

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Customers at an Internet and multimedia services store in Yangon, Myanmar. The country is working to expand and improve Internet and mobile phone networks nationwide.

World News

Google's Eric Schmidt Heads To Another Isolated Asian Nation

10:55am March 22, 2013

by Jackie Northam

Schmidt, who recently traveled to North Korea, will be the first senior executive of a major U.S. tech firm to visit Myanmar since it began political and economic reforms. Myanmar plans to vastly expand its telecom infrastructure. But sanctions remain against members of the military, many of whom hold positions in the telecom sector.

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Print versions of Daily Variety, like this one from 2003, will no longer be available on L.A. newsstands. Variety will continue online and in a print weekly, but the daily print edition is being dropped.

Arts

Not Doing So 'Boffo,' 'Daily Variety' Drops Print Edition

10:55am March 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Showbiz info is everywhere now, making it harder to sustain Hollywood's slang-filled must-read as a daily print publication. The magazine printed its last daily this week but will continue online and in a weekly edition. Cultural historian Neil Gabler explains why this shift is significant.

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Florida Pitches New Facilities To Clinch Spring Training

6:00pm March 21, 2013

by Greg Allen

Over the next four years, five major league teams will be renegotiating their spring training leases in Florida. With millions in economic benefits at stake, local communities and the Sunshine State are looking to upgraded facilities in hopes of keeping teams from moving to other locations in Florida and Arizona.

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House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., holds a copy of his budget plan during a news conference last week. On Thursday, the Republican-controlled House narrowly passed the measure. The Senate is not expected to follow suit.

On Message: Budget Votes May Matter ... In 2014

1:36pm March 21, 2013

by Tamara Keith

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's House GOP budget balances in a decade and re-shapes Medicare. That is, it would if the measure passed by the House on Thursday ever became law — which it won't. All congressional budgets are at their core vision documents. They also make nice political weapons.

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Craft beers for sale in Chicago. Craft beer has about a 6 percent market share in the U.S. beer market, which is dominated by Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors.

Craft Brews Slowly Chipping Away At Big Beer's Dominance

1:36pm March 20, 2013

by NPR Staff

Beer is a $200 billion a year business in the U.S., with most of that money going to two companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors. But smaller "craft" breweries are challenging that dominance in a battle that's being waged on grocery store shelves and in local pubs.

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People stand in line outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

National

Supreme Court OKs Discounted Resale Of 'Gray Market' Goods

7:51pm March 19, 2013

by Nina Totenberg

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that U.S. companies that make and sell products abroad cannot prevent those items from being resold in the U.S., even at steep discounts. The decision could have repercussions that extend from U.S. trade policy to local yard sales.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questions Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke during a Senate hearing last month. Senators from both ends of the political spectrum argue that financial reforms are insufficient to protect taxpayers from potential r

Odd Political Bedfellows Agree: Banks Still Too Big To Fail

7:51pm March 19, 2013

by John Ydstie

On the political far left and right, some believe that large banks still pose a threat to taxpayers. These banks are so big, they argue, that the government will step in with support if needed. Still, the more mainstream view in Washington is that the Dodd-Frank reforms are sufficient to handle the problem.

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New Chinese Law: Filial Piety

10:42am March 19, 2013

Filial Piety is the ancient Chinese ethic of young people showing care and respect to their parents and older relatives. Starting this summer if kids don't pay enough attention to their folks, mom and dad can sue. Bloomberg News reports this is part of a broader law requiring kids to care for the elderly.

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World News

Cyprus Proposes Exempting Smaller Deposits From Tax

10:42am March 19, 2013

The government of Cyprus is trying to ease fears over a proposed tax on bank deposits. Newly proposed legislation would exempt savers with smaller accounts. It's part of a bailout plan for that Mediterranean country, negotiated with the E.U. and IMF over the weekend.

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