Morning Edition

Wal-Mart remains under a cloud after The New York Times reported the retailers expansion in Mexico involved systematic bribes. To get a sense of how that might play out, Steve Inskeep talks to Peter Solmssen, a managing board member and general counsel for Siemens. The German engineering and electronics conglomerate was involved in its own bribery scandal.

South Sudan is the country that voted to break away from Sudan. They've been jostling for control of border zones, including oil fields. And just as the two sides were sitting down to negotiate, fighting broke out.

In a new report, the employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas predicts more jobs for teenagers this summer. While the jobs picture is improving, CEO John Challenger says teen hiring is still several years away from returning to pre-recession levels.

Two stories out of China — the escape of a blind dissident from house arrest and the corruption scandal involving a top politician and his family — have attracted international attention. But inside China, the picture is different. The government has successfully suppressed the story about the dissident, Chen Guangcheng, such that most Chinese have never even heard of him. The Communist Party has waged a smear campaign against the fallen official, Bo Xilai, whom citizens see as a loser in a power struggle, a corrupt politician or both.

Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire is the latest politician to appear on the campaign trail with presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. That's fueled speculation that Ayotte is being considered as a running mate.

The average caregiver is 49 years old. Cheryl Matheis, senior vice president for policy at AARP, tells Steve Inskeep when a worker has to leave their job to care for a relative, they lose on average $325,000 in lifetime income — from lost wages, Social Security and pensions.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Over the course of more than 60 years in the media business, Rupert Murdoch has earned a reputation as a blunt-spoken businessman who comes out swinging. Well today, British parliamentarians didn't pull their punches against him. They released the findings of an investigative panel that spent months looking into the illegal phone-hacking practices at Murdoch's News of the World, the now-closed British tabloid.

The nation's second-largest bank is planning to layoff about 2,000 people at its investment banking, commercial banking and wealth management units, according to The Wall Street Journal. The cuts are notable because they include high earning employees in operations that account for most of Bank of America's profits since the financial crisis.

More than 10 years ago, Norah Jones hit the national stage with her melancholic love song "Don't Know Why," in the process selling millions of copies of her debut album and becoming a Grammy winner.

But Jones' new album is different. She may sound like a fragile performer, but don't get her wrong: At 33, she's recorded a breakup album with attitude.

Microsoft is committing $300 million to the venture with Barnes & Noble. They are working to create a new subsidiary of the bookseller. The two companies are hoping to energize sales of the Nook tablet.

Clive Palmer says he wants to build Titanic II to sale from London to New York. Like the builder of the original, Palmer says, "It is going to be designed so it won't sink."

Peggy McAlpine wasn't happy when she lost her world record. The Scottish woman was 100 when she became the oldest person to paraglide. That title was recently taken away by an American woman. So at age 104, McAlpine took the the skies again and regained the record.

Saudi Arabia is considering Egypt's request to restore diplomatic ties after the kingdom recalled its ambassador over the weekend. Relations between the two Arab countries are at their lowest point in three decades.

The International Labor Organization issued a report Monday warning that austerity measures imposed in many countries are hurting the job market, as well as failing to effectively reduce deficits. The major European economies received the brunt of the report's criticism. The report predicts a 3 percent rise in the global unemployment rate for 2012.

Tuesday marks one year from the day President Obama announced to the nation that Osama bin Laden had been killed. To underline the significance of the anniversary, the administration sent its counter-terrorism expert out on the airwaves Sunday. It also launched a controversial campaign ad about the raid against the al-Qaida leader.

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And let's turn now to Africa and a story we'll be following this week. Sudan has declared a state of emergency along its border with South Sudan, the new country there, further raising fears that these two nations are heading toward all-out war. Earlier this month, South Sudan invaded and briefly occupied Sudan's main oil field. This followed aerial bombardments of South Sudan's border regions by the Sudanese air force.

Teams in the NBA playoff have begun their quest to be the champion. The headline story of the weekend: Chicago superstar Derrick Rose is out with a torn knee ligament.

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Every day more than a quarter billion dollars worth of goods passing over a single U.S. border crossing - the Ambassador Bridge - which stretches across the Detroit River, from Detroit to Canada. U.S. and Canadian officials say traffic jams on that bridge are hampering the flow of international commerce and they say a second major crossing from Ontario to Detroit is needed. The question, now, is who would control that bridge. We have a report from Quinn Klinefelter of WDET.

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Steve Inskeep talks to John Peet, Europe Editor of The Economist about eurozone economies, and the backlash against austerity measures.

The structure will open in Tokyo next month. The building is nothing but a tower of steel and concrete — no offices, no apartments.

Michael Jordan, one of the greatest players in basketball history, has one more record. It's not likely a record he wanted. He's the owner of the NBA's worst team ever. The Charlotte Bobcats have seven wins and 59 losses.

William Lawlis Pace died in California this week. He holds the record for the person alive the longest with a bullet in his head. Back in 1917, his brother accidentally shot him with a rifle. Doctors left the bullet in place, feeling it would do more damage to remove it.

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NPR's business news starts with impressive earnings for Amazon.

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INSKEEP: Amazon released its first-quarter earnings for 2012, which far exceeded Wall Street expectations. As NPR's Steve Henn reports, that sent Amazon's stock price soaring.

Sales of previously owned homes are up more than 10 percent from last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. At the same time, the number of homes for sale is at the lowest levels in years. The result, say many real estate firms, is that most of the offers being made these days come with competing bids.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Seems like only a month or two ago that some pundits saw almost no way that Mitt Romney could easily sew up his party's nomination, and they spun out elaborate scenarios of a contested convention. Actually, it was only a month or two ago that some pundits were saying that. But now Romney's nomination is assumed, especially after he won five primaries this week. And that leaves him a full half year to make his case against President Obama.

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Now f or Jessica Evers Jones, the anniversary of the LA riots is also a birthday. Jessica entered the world dramatically. On that first day of the riots, her pregnant mother, Elvira Jones, was shot in the stomach outside her home. Elvira was rushed to the hospital and Jessica was delivered by emergency C-section. Surgeons removed a bullet from her elbow. She was famous before she was a week old.

Commentator John Ridley moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago, not long before the riots.

Look, I was always going to end up in Los Angeles. From the time I was a kid in Wisconsin, for me, L.A. was the city. It had sunshine, palm trees, a black mayor, even a police force whose legend was preached nightly on hit TV shows.