National / International News

A satellite image combining infrared, near infrared and green light produces a colorful combination. The volcano has been blowing off steam, and lava, this week.

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Britain's Heather Watson suffers a 6-1 6-2 loss to Stefanie Voegele in the quarter-finals of the US Indoor Championship.

Haiti's ex-ruler Jean-Claude Duvalier files a last-minute appeal to avoid attending a court hearing over allegations of crimes against humanity.

Frustration over a change in federal copyright policy making it illegal to unlock a new cellphone has resulted in more than 100,000 signatures on a petition at the White House's website, meaning the executive branch must now respond to the call to overturn the policy.

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The UN's nuclear watchdog says Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuges at one of its nuclear plants, drawing an angry US reaction.

Two soldiers were gunned down by a member of the Afghan army after a row at the gates of their base, an inquest hears.

Two US cardinals are being questioned on cases of child abuse by priests under their supervision, days ahead of a papal conclave in Rome.

The senators cited Hagel's lackluster confirmation hearing performance and his views on Iran. The White House said it would not back down from the nomination.

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The New Y0rk Times Company owns the Boston Globe. It has for 20 years. Now, it wants to sell The Globe. And that got Marketplace thinking: What would it take to expand our media empire, starting with the Boston Globe? Now, we're not going to do a public radio pledge drive to raise money to buy the paper. But if we could? I asked media analyst Ken Doctor, who writes the blog Newsonomics, if we should try.

"This is a great buy," Doctor says, without hesitation. He points out that the Globe's newsroom hasn't been gutted, like other papers. It's 365 staff members strong. Plus, adding The Globe would let Marketplace try for the golden fleece of media: convergence. We could be pioneers who bring words, audio, video and digital everything together in one company. In addition, the paper still makes money -- about $20 million a year. So, what should we pay?

"A hundred million would be about four to five times that annual profit, and that is what these newspapers are going for these days," Doctor says.

So I had Kai Ryssdal call our company's chief operating officer in Minnesota, Dave Kansas.

He said no.

"A hundred million is a steal? For dead trees?" he said.

No way.

Maybe just as well, since journalism professor Jeff Jarvis at City University of New York says the Globe, while a great brand, also has major downsides. Debt, pension, big, old facilities, unions and "other difficulties of life" being just a few on his list. Jarvis says we'd have to be prepared to be the bad guys.

"Could you go through the painful process of reducing the Boston Globe to boston.com?"

Massive layoffs and axing the printed paper edition are inevitable, he says, as the Globe undergoes the same digital march so many other papers have taken. Besides, we don't have that $100 million to invest anyway. Let's just ensure our own survival first.

Welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith instructs his department to "look again" at how the "bedroom tax" will affect disabled people.

Barcelona Football Club are set to play against a joint team of Israelis and Palestinians in July.

Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott is now urging his state to expand Medicaid under President Obama's health care overhaul, a significant policy shift after it was Scott who helped lead the charge against the new health care law.

But the question states like Florida aren't facing isn't just a political one -- it's economic as well.

Think about it: Washington picks up the tab on expanding Medicaid for the first three years, what’s not to love about that?

Starting next year, individuals and families who earn up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $25,000 for a family of three -- will become eligible for Medicaid. And the government will pick up 100 percent of the tab.

Again: What’s not to love?

“Well, first of all they don’t pick up 100 percent of the tab,” says Ed Haislmaier, a senior researcher fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

OK?

“The first three years the federal government pays 100 percent of the benefits costs, not the administrative costs,” he says.

But Haislmaier admits that’s small change. The big hit comes when the three years are up and the federal match starts to taper off to 90 percent.

“In Florida, by 2020, this is going to cost $832 million a year,” says Haislmaier.

Plus, the recession pushed more people into poverty and onto Medicaid and state budgets shrank. Expanding Medicaid now is just too expensive. Haislmaier says it doesn’t matter how sweet the offer from Washington.

“That’s like saying I’m going to give you a car and pay 90 percent. If you don’t have the other 10 percent, that’s not a great deal,” he says.

It’s true, states would have to cough up some dough: $5.5 billion over the next decade in the case of Florida.

Urban Institute economist John Holahan says it’s worth it. For every dollar Florida spends, it gets $12 back from the feds.

“There just aren’t that many ways to get that kind of a return, if you are a state official,” he says.

It all comes down to where the state officials want to spend taxpayer dollars, says Joan Alker of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. No matter what, she say, you can’t wish away the problem of the uninsured.

“This allows states to use taxpayer dollars in a smarter way by giving them primary and preventive care up front rather than waiting until they get sicker and wind up in the emergency room,” she says.

Alker says the reality in some states is elected leaders will have to spend political capital if they want to make financial sense.

Seven Welsh councils say they were supplied with burgers from a company where samples have tested positive for horse DNA.

Japanese scientists have unveiled some of the latest advancements in robotic technologies which they hope will help clean up the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

In early 2012, experiments that made H5N1 bird flu more contagious caused an uproar. People feared that mutant viruses could escape the lab and kill people. To prevent a repeat, the government has unveiled a policy describing how scientists should study dangerous pathogens and toxins.

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In early 2012, experiments that made H5N1 bird flu more contagious caused an uproar. People feared that mutant viruses could escape the lab and kill people. To prevent a repeat, the government has unveiled a policy describing how scientists should study dangerous pathogens and toxins.

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When I was a kid growing up in the last century and there was a new song I liked, I’d wait by the radio to catch it. But that equation has changed, says Camy Jun, a 20-year-old sophomore at Chapman College.

“At home listening to music, I’ll either listen to YouTube or iTunes and I listen to the radio when I’m in the car, but never outside of that,” says Jun.

And when Jun hears a song on the radio she likes, she goes to YouTube to find it. And that’s also where she discovers new music.

“Everybody always knew that there was a lot of consumption and that Youtube is a phenomenal venue to break new artist and break new songs,” said Robert Kyncl, the head of global content at YouTube. He says YouTube’s been part of the music hit-making ecosystem for quite a while now.

“We are part of the ecosytem, we shouldn’t be isolated and sit out there on an island,” Kyncl said.

Billboard has been including data from major streaming music sites like Spotify and Rhapsody but it just started including YouTube today. And that’s put the "Harlem Shake" -- a song that’s also become a popular video meme on YouTube -- to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. "Harlem Shake" is the first song by a virtual unknown to hit the top of the charts.

Andrea Domanick is an entertainment writer at the Las Vegas Sun. She says if artists want a song to be a hit, it’s almost essential to have it on YouTube.

“There’s been maybe one or two occasions where I have not been able to find a song I wanted to listen to on YouTube and it’s been incredibly frustrating,” said Domanick. “And I remember thinking, what, why, how does this person not have this song up? Do they not want people to hear their music?”

Domanick says YouTube is basically the new radio, and it’s about time Billboard acknowledged it.

Rwanda's army admits it is holding more than 280 soldiers accused of desertion on an island in Lake Kivu for re-education.

Google has unveiled its first touchscreen-enabled laptop, the Chromebook Pixel.

With the rise of smart phones and tablet computers, are the days of the games console coming to an end?