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In Mexico, the problem of drug trafficking is well publicized, but you can't say the same when it comes to the problem of drug addiction.

While nowhere near the levels seen in the U.S., Mexico is battling a growing problem — in the past decade illicit drug use has grown by more than a third.

Tijuana's Drug Boom Reflects Mexico's New Problem

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While millions admit to using marijuana, cocaine and meth, addiction is not talked about openly, especially among the country's rich or famous, but one former champion boxer has set out to change the image of recovering addicts and rehabilitation.

Rise Out Of Poverty

In the 1980s and '90s, Julio Cesar Chavez was known for his strong chin, feared for his left hook and widely called one of the greatest "pound-for-pound" fighters of his era — and one of the greatest Mexican boxers of all time.

His rise to fame is truly a rags-to-riches story. He was one of 11 children, and his family was so poor for a time that they lived in an abandoned train caboose. His mother washed and ironed clothes for a living. Chavez says that he started fighting when he was 8 years old, and that he always dreamed of making enough money to buy her a home.

With six world titles in three weight divisions and more than 80 career knockouts, Chavez bought her the house and much more.

"I had it all — money, women, fame, cars, yachts, everything a man could want — but it didn't give my life meaning," says Chavez. "I felt nothing. So what did I do? The most stupidest thing I could."

He found refuge in drugs and alcohol.

'That's When The Failures Began, The Defeats'

In the living room of his home in Tijuana, Mexico, sitting in an overstuffed leather reclining chair, Chavez is surrounded by prizefighting photos and championship belts.

One of the framed pictures depicts what Chavez says was his most famous fight. It's a shot of him and Meldrick Taylor in the ring in 1990 in Las Vegas. Chavez had been trailing most of the fight, but with seconds left on the clock in the final round he landed a solid right and sent Taylor tumbling. The ref stopped the fight, giving Chavez the win.

Despite the dramatic victory, Chavez says that drinking and drugs soon began to get the best of him.

"At first I [could] control it, but I just needed more alcohol and more cocaine and more and more," he says. "That when the problems really started. That's when the failures began, the defeats."

Four years later, against Frankie Randall in Las Vegas, Chavez took a solid blow in the 11th round, getting knocked to the ground for the first time in his career.

Chavez would go on to lose five more fights before retiring in 2005. He says he spent many more years after that addicted. His marriage ended, some of his friendships were ruined and his health suffered.

Then four years ago, while at a doctor's office and anesthetized for a procedure for his ulcers, his son called an ambulance and took him, unconscious, to rehab.

"I woke up in the clinic in a room with the IV still in my arm, and I just ripped it out and started cussing at everyone," says Chavez.

But he stayed for nearly 6 months — and has been clean since.

An Anti-Addiction Ambassador

At 5-foot-7 and looking fit and trim, Chavez says addiction is not talked about openly in Mexico, and that the public is not forgiving of its fallen stars, and they suffer alone for fear of criticism. But that hasn't stopped him from telling his story, or from helping out addicts.

At Clinica Bajo del Sol in Tijuana, a rehab center Chavez opened, some 40 men and women, say a prayer before dinner. The spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean contrasts with the coils of barbed wire topping the entire facility's high brick walls.

Clinic psychologist Guillermo Rangel Mendoza says that Chavez frequently shares his story with the patients, which helps, but that the types of drugs taking off in Mexico in recent years — including meth, heroin and Ecstacy — weren't problems back in Chavez's days.

The surge in designer drug use here frightens Chavez. He recently opened another a clinic in Sinaloa, and says he wants to open at least two more as soon as possible.

Julio Cesar Chavez of Mexico stands in his corner after receiving a head butt from Frankie Randall in the eighth round of their 1994 WBC Super Lightweight Championship fight. The scheduled 12 round fight was stopped after the incident, and the judges awarded the fight to Chavez. John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images

He seems to be changing Mexico's perception of recovered addicts. Earlier this year, a 20-foot bronze statue of Chavez went up in the main square in his boyhood home of Culiacan, the capital of Sinoloa. He's now a regular analyst on ESPN en Espanol and on TV Azteca in Mexico. And President Enrique Pena Nieto dubbed him an anti-addiction ambassador at a recent conference on combating Mexico's growing drug problem.

"I felt excited, happy and proud," says Chavez about the recent accolades. "At the same time I feel the pressure, the commitment. I really have to stay clean now."

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Mexico

Prison is perhaps the last place anyone would expect to learn about investing and money management.

But at San Quentin Prison, Curtis Carroll's class is a hot item. The 36-year-old has gained a reputation for his stock-picking prowess. He's even earned the nickname "Wall Street."

"You know, growing up in the neighborhood everything was always associated with white prosperity, black not."

- Curtis Carroll

Carroll and prison officials have teamed up to create a financial education class for inmates. He starts off the class with a motivational speech.

"Financial education for me has been a lifesaver," he says. "And I have always been passionate about trying to make money. The problem with that money is it was focused in the wrong area — crime."

Carroll is serving up to life in prison for a murder he committed when he was 15. When he first entered, he was illiterate. Then one day Carroll grabbed what he thought was the sports page of a newspaper so his cellmate could read it to him. What he actually picked up was the business section. An older inmate asked Carroll if he knew anything about markets.

"I was like, 'The markets what?' " he says. "And he was like, 'Man, that's the stocks.' And I was really like, 'Man, nah.' "

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The inmate then told Carroll that's where white people keep their money.

"I was like, 'Whoa, white folks?' I mean anywhere white people make their money I want to be there," he says. "You know, growing up in the neighborhood everything was always associated with white prosperity, black not."

Carroll scraped together hundreds of dollars by cashing in unused postage stamps he acquired selling tobacco to prisoners. His first investment was in high-risk penny stocks, making just enough money to keep investing. The whole process motivated him to learn to read. Now, Carroll makes thousands of investments. He maintains notebooks filled with the daily stock price fluctuations of hundreds of companies.

Zak Williams, a graduate of Columbia Business School, says Carroll knows what he's talking about. He's one of several volunteers who assist Carroll with teaching the financial education class. But Williams also says Carroll's strategies are heavily based on short-term, high-risk investments. Instead, William emphasizes the long term.

"We need to take an approach that's enabling for an inmate to not have to take out a loan or a credit card line that might be considered predatory, high interest," Williams says. "We want to prevent that practice in favor of saving and responsibly investing."

San Quentin prison spokesman Sam Robinson says Carroll has learned a valuable life skill.

"Most of the skills that address rehabilitation inside of prisons have to do with vocational trades, anger management and victims-awareness type of education," he says.

The class also touches on the personal component. Prisoners are counseled about their emotional connection to money and the possible pitfalls. Rick Grimes, who is also serving a life sentence, says the lessons are valuable, teaching him to manage his money in prison and also invest money to give to his son.

"I can benefit by helping my family," Grimes says. "It still feels good to give back to my community even though I can't get out right now."

Many of the prisoners in this class will one day get out. And that feeling of being part of a community, and knowing how to manage their finances, could help make their re-entry more successful.

prisoners

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Wall Street

Sorry bacon lovers, we've got some sad news about your favorite meat.

To get those sizzling strips of pork on your plate each morning takes more antibiotics than it does to make a steak burrito or a chicken sausage sandwich.

i

The love of meat is exploding in Asia, and with it, comes antibiotic consumption by chickens, top, and pigs, bottom. Green represents low levels of drug used; yellow and orange are medium levels; and, red and magenta are high levels. PNAS hide caption

itoggle caption PNAS

The love of meat is exploding in Asia, and with it, comes antibiotic consumption by chickens, top, and pigs, bottom. Green represents low levels of drug used; yellow and orange are medium levels; and, red and magenta are high levels.

PNAS

Pig farmers around the world, on average, use three times as much antibiotics as cattle ranchers do, per pound of meat. Poultry farmers fall somewhere between the two.

That's one of the conclusions of a study published Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It's the first look at the amount of antibiotics used on farms around the world — and how fast consumption is growing.

The numbers reported are eye-opening.

In 2010, the world used about 63,000 tons of antibiotics each year to raise cows, chickens and pigs, the study estimated. That's roughly twice as much as the antibiotics prescribed by doctors globally to fight infections in people.

"We have huge amounts of antibiotic use in the animal sector around the world, and it's set to take off in a major way in the next two decades," says the study's senior author, Ramanan Laxminarayan, who directs the Center for Disease Dynamics Economics & Policy in Washington, D.C.

With half of the world's pigs living in China, the country tops the list as the biggest antibiotic consumer in farming.

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The European Union banned the use of antibiotics to boost animals' growth in 2006. At first, the ban had little effect on the amount of drugs given to pigs. Carsten Rehder/Corbis hide caption

itoggle caption Carsten Rehder/Corbis

The European Union banned the use of antibiotics to boost animals' growth in 2006. At first, the ban had little effect on the amount of drugs given to pigs.

Carsten Rehder/Corbis

But the U.S. isn't far behind in second place. We use about 10 percent of the world's total. Brazil, India and Germany round out the top five for consumption of farm animal consumption of antibiotics.

What frightens Laxminarayan is the huge rise in farm drug use, especially in middle-income countries. "We project in the next 20 years, world consumption antibiotics in animals will double," he says. "The implications for the effectiveness of our antibiotics could be quite devastating."

As people around the world get richer, they want to eat more meat. Who can blame them, right? But all those extra chicken wings and pork chops come primarily from factory farms.

The Salt

Antibiotic Use On The Farm: Are We Flying Blind?

"These [farms] are hard to implement without drugs because a lot animals are kept very close to each other on these farms," Laxminararyan says. "The antibiotics prevent infections and encourage the animals to grow." (Scientists still aren't sure how the drugs boost animals' growth.)

At the same, drugs on farms is essentially a free-for-all.

"In most countries around the world, there's virtual no regulation for antibiotic use on the animal side, including the U.S.," Laxminararyan says. One exception is the European Union, which banned drugs to boost animal growth. Farmers there can still give animals antibiotics to prevent infections.

The Salt

How Using Antibiotics In Animal Feed Creates Superbugs

Here in the U.S., there are "voluntary guidelines" for farmers but no enforced regulations. "You can actually go to the Eastern Shore in Washington and buy antibiotics in sacks, or in pounds, for your chickens" he says. "They're literally the same antibiotics you get at a pharmacy with a prescription but at a far lesser cost."

Most of the drugs in animals are used at very low concentrations, mixed with food and water. "It serves as a substitution for good hygiene and herd health on factory farms," Laxminararyan says. "But we've found that when animals have good nutrition, good genetics and there is good hygiene on the farm, the added value of antibiotics is quite minimal."

The more antibiotics used in agriculture worldwide, the more drug-resistant bacteria emerge on farms — and sewage systems and water supplies.

Pharmaceutical companies and agricultural groups say there's no evidence that these drug-resistant bacteria are a threat to people's health. And Laxminararyan agrees there's little direct evidence that antibiotics in animals hurts people.

"But the circumstantial evidence, linking use in animals to drug-resistant bacteria in humans, is exceedingly strong," he says.

Just a few years ago, scientists in Arizona showed that a methicillin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus in pigs started infecting farmers. The "pig MRSA" accounts for only a small proportion of human infections worldwide. But scientists think it has the potential to spread.

antibiotics in animals

antibiotic resistance

agriculture

Global Health

There's a researcher at the RAND Corporation who has been building a reputation as a curmudgeonly skeptic when it comes to trendy ways to fight America's obesity epidemic.

First, Roland Sturm took aim at the idea that "food deserts" — areas without well-stocked grocery stores — cause unhealthy diets and obesity. His studies found that they do not. When Los Angeles decided in 2008 to ban new fast-food restaurants in some of the city's poorest neighborhood, Sturm was skeptical that it would help lower obesity rates.

Now Sturm, an economist, has taken a close look at what LA's fast-food ban has accomplished. He concludes in new paper published online by the journal Social Science & Medicine that there's no evidence it had any effect at all. In fact, obesity rates in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods the law was aimed at increased faster than in other parts of the city or other parts of the county.

The Salt

Have Big-Box Superstores Helped To Make Us Fat?

The Salt

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Advocates of the measure saw it as a powerful tool to help improve diets. Opponents, like fast-food chains, said "the sky is falling," Sturm tells The Salt. In reality, he says, "this has had no measurable impact."

In part, he says, it's because the fast-food ban took aim at an inconsequential target. It merely blocked new construction or expansion of "stand-alone fast-food" restaurants. Yet Sturm found that in South LA, the area covered by the ban, free-standing restaurants are relatively uncommon. They are far outnumbered by restaurants in strip malls and small food shops such as corner stores, none of which are restricted by the new city ordinance.

In the years since the ordinance was enacted, he says, the distribution of food outlets in this part of LA has remained more or less the same. Small corner stores are common, and so are fast-food restaurants in strip malls. No new free-standing fast-food restaurants have opened, but they were rare to start with.

Finally, he says, "social norms have not changed, either." Surveys of diet and obesity show no changes that can be attributed to the new fast-food restrictions. Fast-food consumption and obesity rates continued to increase in all areas of LA from 2007 to 2011-2012, and the increase was greatest in the areas affected by the fast-food restrictions. There was one notable exception: Soda consumption declined, but this was true across the city, not just in South LA.

Barry Popkin, a professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says he wasn't surprised at all by Sturm's observations. "That little ban was just too trivial," he tells The Salt. Many studies have now concluded that physical access to food "is less important than people think."

"Trivial" not how Kelly Brownell, a professor of public policy, psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, characterizes it, though. "I would not agree that this was a trivial measure, as it could be precedent setting, and in communities without many fast food restaurants, setting limits could help prevent problems," Brownell writes in an email. But he says he also wasn't surprised that the ban wasn't effective.

Sturm says he never set out to be an obesity policy killjoy. "I have no horse in that race, I care about getting facts right," he says. He admits, though, that the notion of supermarket proximity reducing obesity "always seemed fishy" even before he looked at the data.

And sometimes, he says, altering aspects of food environment can affect diets and obesity. He's come to the conclusion, for instance, that food prices matter. He's analyzed data from the U.S. and from South Africa, and in both cases, when fruits and vegetables were cheaper, people ate more of them, compared to less-healthy foods.

Popkin agrees. Diets won't change significantly, he says, "until we start changing the relative price of food," making nutritious food more affordable.

fast food

obesity

Los Angeles

Fitness & Nutrition

Low oil prices are causing a drop in new drilling and exploration in North Dakota, but not as much as you might expect.

Take the boom town of Watford City, over in the northwestern corner of the state and in the heart of the Bakken oil patch. Its population has tripled since 2010, and today, continues to climb.

SERIES: The Great Plains Oil Rush

A massive oil boom is dramatically transforming North Dakota's western plains.

When I visited a year ago for our series on the Great Plains Oil Rush, the price of oil was above $100 a barrel. When I went back recently — with the headlines warning of a crash coming fresh in my mind — it was below $50; a 50 percent decrease in a year. I figured I'd come upon empty hotels, the skeletons of half-built condos and people out of work ...

Yeah, not so much.

'Still Hiring'

My hotel room still cost about $200 a night. The Cashwise grocery store was still packed with roustabout men hauling out cases of Red Bull and boxes of Hungry Jack pancake mix (just about every state in the nation was represented via the license plates in the parking lot). And outside town, the drill rigs were still lighting up the frozen prairie like Christmas trees.

If there's a slowdown in North Dakota, it isn't really being felt in Watford City.

"I think it's still growing," said Ashley Bones. "There are still people buying homes and a lot of people coming in here still looking for jobs."

A view of the main street in downtown Watford City, which is usually bustling as people shop and work. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption David Gilkey/NPR

I met Bones, 28, in the airy lobby of a local bank where she works as a loan officer. She told me that she moved to Watford City from Wyoming two years ago to be closer to her Dad. Well, that, and the promise of good jobs.

"They're still hiring," she said. "There are still signs for $14 an hour, $17 an hour at Walmart."

Most nights Bones also helps out with the bookkeeping for the oil field services company her husband works at. The two met here a year ago. He came from Oregon. And one telltale sign that the oil boom is still cruising along here is that the couple rents a trailer for $2,000 a month. And they consider that a deal.

"It's about a thousand dollars a room right now [in town], it's been like that ever since I got here," Bones said. "It's not going down any, in fact, some are going up."

Growing Pains

Make no mistake, you definitely still detect some anxiety in Watford City about what might happen in the next few months if oil prices stay where they are, or drop further. There are stories about layoffs and some businesses in town closing.

After all, the number of active drilling rigs — the "rig count" as the industry tracks it — has dropped by 40 percent compared to this time last year in North Dakota. But you have to remember that last year set records. And the most oil-rich parts of the Bakken formation happen to lie beneath Watford City. That's why production is actually increasing, despite the low oil prices, and it's why the situation over at the schools seems unchanged in the year since I last visited.

At the elementary school, the friendly assistant principal, Kerry Stansfield, showed me a crowded gym — students were having recess inside because it was below -10 wind chill. Next it was a quick peek at modular homes that many of the teachers have to live in. Then it was over to see four portable classrooms where the third grades are packed into.

"We've had to remodel this several times," Stansfield told me.

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Ashley Bones talks to her stepdaughter, Faith, as she picks her up from elementary school in Watford City, N.D. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption David Gilkey/NPR

Ashley Bones talks to her stepdaughter, Faith, as she picks her up from elementary school in Watford City, N.D.

David Gilkey/NPR

Like Watford City's population, the school district's enrollment has tripled in five years. And they're planning for it to grow another 50 percent in the next five years. Last Spring, voters approved a plan to build a new high school. It was a big relief around here.

"We're going to be moving," Stansfield said. "High school is going to the new high school, middle school is going to stay at the old high school."

A Slow Down Ahead?

One thing that has changed with oil prices being more volatile is that teachers and staff are seeing more of what they call "boomerang kids." That is, those that are here for five or six weeks at a time, then their parent heads to another oil field down south, then, they're back.

Sometimes teachers like Pam Moen only get one or two days notice.

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4 min 14 sec

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"It's a challenge," she says. "A lot of spots, spottiness, with what they've learned and where we're at."

A native of North Dakota, Moen moved to Watford City after spending more than a decade teaching in the Las Vegas area. She taught through the housing boom, then bust, there. Like a lot of people, she doesn't see a bust happening around here.

"We're not really seeing the slow down here, necessarily, in Mackenzie County," Moen said. "I think we still have 50 plus rigs drilling right now, it's just busy where I live."

Busy and still growing, that definitely sums up life in Watford City right now. But at the same time, it's easy to see why people like Moen maybe wouldn't mind a bit of a slowdown. It would give them a chance to breathe a little, to catch up.

oil prices

The graying city mayor agrees to meet a few hours before he heads to the battlefront. He is haggard after living in exile since June, when the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, swept into his city — al-Sharqat, Iraq, a hour's drive north of Tikrit.

Ali Dodah al-Jabouri has a reason for fight: Islamic State militants killed his brother and 18 other relatives. But as part of a prominent Sunni Arab tribe, he is joining an unusual alliance with Iraqi Shiite militias backed and armed by Iran.

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Al-Shargat Mayor Ali Dodah Khalaf Jabouri sits with Hani Abdul Karem Jabouri and Sabri Ahmed Jabouri. Each lost family members who were killed by Islamic State fighters, and all are now working with Iran-backed Shiite groups to retake their city. Deborah Amos/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Deborah Amos/NPR

Al-Shargat Mayor Ali Dodah Khalaf Jabouri sits with Hani Abdul Karem Jabouri and Sabri Ahmed Jabouri. Each lost family members who were killed by Islamic State fighters, and all are now working with Iran-backed Shiite groups to retake their city.

Deborah Amos/NPR

He was once fought Iran in a long and costly war an officer in Saddam Hussein's army. Now, he is changing his business suit for a military uniform to take part in the assault on Tikrit in the Sunni heartland. Tikrit is well known as the birthplace of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, but the fighting force is predominantly Shiites. Sunni tribes are a token force.

Jabouri says that the Islamic State is a common enemy, and that Tehran gained his loyalty because Iran has put boots on the ground and offered support while the Americans dithered.

"The Americans gave us nothing," he says. "No one helped us when ISIS came — not American, not Turkey. But Iran helped us, with guns, tanks and rockets."

There is a wide consensus from Baghdad to Washington that the best way — and possibility the only way — to defeat the Islamic State is to turn at least part of the Sunni Arab community against the militants, but so far the Jabouri tribe represents a minority. Many Sunnis have not risen against the Islamic State, out of fear, self-interest, or because they see the Shiite militias as even a worse option than ISIS.

Jabouri says the Shiite militias have gained momentum against the militants, pushing them out of Sunni areas south of Tikrit.

His city, al-Sharqat is a victim of the Islamic State and geography, located on a highway between the larger urban centers of Mosul, which the militants captured in June, and Tikrit. They've declared al-Sharqat part of their self-declared Islamic caliphate.

More militants have arrived in al-Sharqat recently, on a northward retreat from pro-government forces hitting Tikrit. Jabouri says he's going back to his city to kill them.

A decade ago the Jabouri tribe fought al-Qaida militants alongside Americans. Many Jabouris joined the Sunni Awakening movement organized and funded by the U.S. military. This time, Jabouri says he's fighting alongside Iraq's Shiite militias and the Iranians because they are willing to fight ISIS now.

"The Americans said we need two years" to liberate Tikrit and Mosul, says Jabouri. The Shiite militias and their Iranian advisers launched an offensive in early March.

The Tikrit assault reflects the influence Iran wields in Baghdad. Tehran set the date for the military campaign, according to Western sources, and helped train and arm the militias — paramilitary groups organized under a secretive Iraqi government group called the Popular Mobilization Committee, or Hashid Shaabi.

But as the militias have pushed out the Islamic State militants, there has been a major snag — Shiite revenge attacks, documented with photos. One particularly gruesome image that appeared on Twitter showed a Shia militiaman posing with the severed head of an ISIS fighter.

A Human Rights Watch report this week documents looting and burning of civilian homes in Sunni villages — charges the paramilitary commanders vigorously deny.

Washington has warned Baghdad of funding cuts if the militias are not reigned in. Baghdad has finally gotten the message, says Zaid al-Ali, author of "The Struggle for Iraq's Future"

The Two-Way

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Shiite Militias In Iraq: Savior Or Menace?

"The prime minister made a very negative statement about criminal elements within the Popular Mobilization Forces," al-Ali says. "He made big deal that they will be punished."

It's a crucial message for the major battles to come, he says, especially in Islamic State-controlled Mosul, where there are more than a million mostly Sunni civilians who view Shiite-dominated Baghdad with fear and distrust.

"If there are terrible abuses in Tikrit, then of course ISIS will thrive on that — and they will tell people in Mosul 'this is what is going to happen to you,' " al-Ali says. "Whereas if people are allowed to go back home in Tikrit and the city doesn't suffer terribly, it will send a powerful message to Mosul: 'This is the right side of the battle.' "

Police General Ali al-Jabouri believes he is on the right side of the battle. He's been fighting in Tikrit, another member of the Jabouri tribe who has sided with Shiite militias in the fight against ISIS. General Jabouri says he's heard about Washington's complaints.

"I don't think they have the full picture," he says. "I know who killed my brother, but I'm not going to make any trouble with civilians. Now, maybe the militias don't know that."

The Shiite militias and the charges of abuse are now a concern across Iraq, but for these members of the Jabouri trip, the fight against ISIS is a higher priority.

Islamic State

Tikrit

Sunnis

Shiites

Iran

Iraq

Australia has announced that it is revoking self-government on tiny Norfolk Island, where ancestors of the original HMS Bounty mutineers settled in the mid-19th century.

The move was announced after it became clear that the island, a former penal colony with just 1,800 inhabitants, was facing bankruptcy.

"The reality is, infrastructure on Norfolk Island is run down, the health system not up to standard and many laws are out of date with all other Australian jurisdictions," Assistant Minister for Regional Development Jamie Briggs said in a statement quoted by The Australian Associated Press.

Residents of Norfolk will begin paying federal taxes to Canberra in July 2016. In return, they will get access to social services, including Medicare and the pharmaceutical benefits, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Descendants of the Bounty mutineers – 193 men, women and children — arrived on Norfolk Island in 1856 after setting sail from Pitcairn Island 4,000 miles to the east, where only a small number of residents remained behind.

The original mutineers seized control of the Bounty in 1789, setting Capt. William Bligh and loyal members of his crew adrift in a small boat.

Bligh eventually reached Timor with all hands. The mutineers, led by Master's Mate Fletcher Christian, first called at Tahiti, where the men retrieved local brides, and then settled on isolated (and mischarted) Pitcairn Island, where they hoped to evade British authorities. Today, Pitcairn, Britain's smallest colony, is home to fewer than 50 islanders – all related to the original mutineers.

Beginning in 2000, police uncovered widespread allegations of child sexual assault on Pitcairn that went back decades on the largely autonomous island. Eventually, most of the island's residents were caught up in the scandal, either as alleged perpetrators, accomplices or victims. Four years later, seven island men, including Mayor Steve Christian, a descendant of Fletcher Christian, were found guilty of charges related to sexual offenses.

Asia Pacific

Australia

A Chanel handbag is classic, designed to withstand upheavals in fashion and taste. But not price. The Paris-based fashion house has announced that the prices will go up in Europe, and down in Asia.

The move will affect the 11.12, the 2.55, and the Boy Bag models.

At the moment, there's a significant difference in cost between the two regions. Hana Ben-Shabat, a retail and consumer goods specialist at A.T. Kearney, tells NPR that a bag that costs $3,500 in Europe can run up to $6,000 in China.

Chanel will narrow that price gap, bringing the two regions more in line. The Wall Street Journal says the classic handbags are expected to rise 20 percent in Europe and decline 21 percent in China. It says prices of those bags will also decline in Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam and Russia, but will remain unchanged in the U.S.

In a statement, Chanel said the decision will enable the company to offer products at a "harmonized" price to customers wherever they are in the world, according to Reuters. Chanel says the decision is driven in part by the depreciating Euro, which has slid to a 12-year-low.

Ben-Shabat says the new prices are expected to eliminate this so-called gray market.

"People would actually take the trip to Europe and buy in quantities that they can go back to China and charge more than they pay for it but less than the local market and make money on that." Ben-Shabat says by aligning prices, Chanel will get rid of the incentive.

"This behavior is really undermining the brand because the product starts to show up on all sorts of websites where Chanel or any other luxury brands really don't have control any more of that," she says.

But Ben-Shabat says the move by Chanel to lower costs in China may be a way to re-energize that important market. Sales in luxury goods there have slumped recently because of slower growth, and an anti-corruption crackdown.

Chanel's price changes are set to take effect on April 8. The Swiss watchmaker, Tag Heuer, announced that it also plans to realign its prices. Other luxury goods companies are expected to follow suit.

Euro

Economy

China

Fashion

Chanel

Roars of disapproval rang out in Australia's Parliament Thursday, after Prime Minister Tony Abbott called Labor leader Bill Shorten "the Dr. Goebbels of economic policy." In the ruckus that ensued, three lawmakers were ejected and another walked out.

"I withdraw, I withdraw," Abbott said after making his comment during Question Time. But Labor members were up in arms, with some of them standing to denounce Abbott's comparison of Shorten to Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda chief of Adolph Hitler's Nazi government.

Amid the din, Speaker Bronwyn Bishop also stood — to demand that everyone else be silent and sit down.

"There will be silence," she said, before ejecting Labor member Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish. Dreyfus had left his seat to shout across the table at Abbott; he also continued yelling as Bishop spoke.

When Bishop was asked to reconsider the ejection, "given the nature of what the prime minister said," she refused.

From Australian broadcaster ABC:

"That prompted Labor backbencher Mr. Danby, who is a prominent member of Melbourne's Jewish community, to rise to his feet and declare that 'if he's out, I'm out over this.'"

After walking out, Danby later told ABC, "He's the Prime Minister — he is supposed to have standards."

In Parliament, a senior member of Abbott's Liberal party, Christopher Pyne, stood to say that Dreyfus had once "used exactly the same description about Tony Abbott when Tony Abbott was the leader of the opposition."

In the yelling that continued, a voice in the chamber could be heard saying, "You are a disgusting, disgusting man."

ABC notes that this is the second controversial Nazi reference for Abbott in recent weeks: "Last month, the Prime Minister was forced to apologize after accusing the Opposition of presiding over a "Holocaust" of job losses in the defense sector."

Tony Abbott

Australia

There comes a day in every car owner's life when she knows, it's time. For Carolyn Ballard of Atlanta, that was on a hot day last July, while driving her SUV with misfiring cylinders.

"I drove to the dealership with the car literally chugging along," she says. "I mean, in traffic on the interstate. I was just sweating, thinking I've just got to get to the dealership so I can get rid of this, before I put any more money into it."

Ballard wanted a late model Honda Accord that she'd seen on the dealership's website. By the time she got there, it was gone. But there were plenty of new Accords.

"I don't know what the average marriage lasts in the U.S. today. Might be less than the average car loan."

- Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel

"I said 'if you can get my payments under $250 a month I will consider taking this car,'" she says.

No problem. Ballard got a loan from Wells Fargo at a rate of 2.5 percent. But for 74 months. That's six years.

Six-year car loans used to be in the minority. They're now the norm and loans of seven or eight years are even becoming popular. New car sales in the U.S. are booming and longer car loans are playing a role. Nearly a third of new loans are now 74 months or longer.

But some worry the trend will hurt the auto industry in the future. Others worry it's hurting consumers right now. Ed Kim, an analyst with AutoPacific, says one thing driving the trend is the cars themselves.

"Consumers are demanding a lot more technology in their vehicles, infotainment technologies," he says. "There's also a lot more safety features that are in vehicles right now. Emissions and efficiency technology that are in vehicles right now, that are making vehicles cost a lot more."

But Kim says the main reason is many consumers haven't recovered from the recession. So that new car payment has to be stretched out over more years.

Economy

Increase In Subprime Car Loans Could Lead To Trouble

News

Auto Loan Surge Fuels Fears Of Another Subprime Crisis

Melinda Zabritski isn't too worried for consumers. She's with Experian Automotive, a subsidiary of the credit rating agency Experian. She says longer car loans often make sense, especially for people on a tight budget.

"Well if we all had the luxury to take a 36- or 48-month term, but the bottom line is you know the average consumer just can't afford that," she says.

That reasoning drives consumer advocate Mike Sante nuts. He's with Interest.com and says people on a budget are precisely the ones who shouldn't be taking out long loans.

"They're a way to get people into cars that are more expensive than they should really be buying," he says. "It's these kinds of decisions that you make, that will truly determine how much money you have later in life."

Sante argues that people should pay off their cars within four years, which can mean buying a less expensive or used car.

While it's relatively easy to get a long loan at certain automakers, Honda is trying to buck that trend. After all, the equity that owners still have in their vehicles come trade-in time is a big selling point for Honda. Long loans destroy that equity.

Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel says loans beyond five years are just too long to pay off a car.

"I don't know what the average marriage lasts in the U.S. today," he says. "[It] might be less than the average car loan."

Mendel hopes his competitors start using more discipline. But that may be wishful thinking. When interest rates go up, a new car will become even more expensive, which will likely push more consumers into longer loans.

car loans

CAR

Honda

One of the nation's savviest politicians is in an unexpected fight.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's former White House chief of staff, is in an unprecedented runoff election next month.

The challenger, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, contends that Emanuel favors the rich and powerful over working-class Chicagoans. But Emanuel is firing back, attacking Garcia for having no plan to deal with the city's deep financial problems.

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Samantha Hernandez, 17, poses for a selfie with Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia during the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago. Paul Beaty/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Paul Beaty/AP

Samantha Hernandez, 17, poses for a selfie with Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia during the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago.

Paul Beaty/AP

Emanuel is the first incumbent Chicago mayor to be forced into a primary runoff — and it's a race that's signaling a deeper, growing divide between liberal and more moderate Democrats.

Several national progressive groups, including Democracy for America, MoveOn.org and the American Federation of Teachers, have banded together to take the fight to Emanuel in what they see as a fight between the "Elizabeth Warren Wing" and the "Wall Street Wing" of the Democratic Party.

Taking It To The Streets

Garcia walked through the Englewood neighborhood on the city's South Side with a natural ease that comes from three decades in Chicago politics, shaking hands with residents, talking with them about their jobs, families, and schools. And, of course, asking for their support.

For many residents of this mostly African-American community, the attention is welcome.

"I'm a neighborhood guy," he told residents.

That is the key distinction Garcia is trying to make in his campaign to unseat Emanuel, the first-term mayor: that he is of the neighborhoods and for the neighborhoods, while Emanuel's policies benefit the wealthy downtown.

i

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, ahead of a televised debate Monday. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, ahead of a televised debate Monday.

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

"Chicago neighborhoods are hurting," he said. "They haven't seen much recovery since the recession, and that will be the paradigm shift under my administration."

Garcia walked door to door on this block during recent campaigning, in particular because it's home of one of the 50 schools Emanuel's administration closed two years ago.

Carrissa Johnson, 38, who works in the Social Security Administration, says her son now has to walk a longer, more dangerous route to school. And she's also upset about the lack of investment in Englewood and neighborhoods like it under Emanuel.

"I don't think that he really cares about the inner community," she said. "I think everything goes more so up north than comes here."

Johnson admitted she "really doesn't know too much about" Garcia, but she added, "I don't think that it can get any worse, because Emanuel is not really doing his job, so I think that a change is very much needed."

Money Talks

Progressives have highlighted the millions of dollars Emanuel has spent to underscore the perception that he favors the well-heeled and well-connected.

Campaign finance reports show Emanuel has raked in about eight times as much as Garcia has. Emanuel has raised close to $20 million, including a recent $1.4 million haul from just eight wealthy donors, as of Wednesday.

Garcia, meanwhile, has raised $2.6 million, much of it from the Chicago Teachers Union, other unions, and progressive groups such as Democracy for America.

Looking to boost those figures, Garcia has a trip scheduled Thursday to Los Angeles to raise money from Latino business and community leaders.

'A Total Disconnect"

Helping lead Garcia around this neighborhood that has almost as many vacant lots and boarded-up buildings as there are occupied homes and businesses was Bishop James Dukes, pastor of nearby Liberation Christian Center. Dukes said he endorsed and worked for Emanuel's campaign four years ago.

"It's a total disconnect," he said of Emanuel now. "At no point does the administration seek the advice and help of those who are in the community until voting time — until they need us. ... In the meantime, all the decisions are made in a silo."

The message that Emanuel seems disengaged from the city's poorer neighborhoods, that he's arrogant and even abrasive, appears to be getting through to the mayor. He opened a recent campaign ad this way:

"They say your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. I'm living proof of that. I can rub people the wrong way, or talk when I should listen. I own that."

It's the first ad Emanuel started airing after failing to get more than 50 percent in February's election, forcing him into this runoff.

Emanuel told voters he's driven to make a difference. That can require tough, even unpopular choices.

"Look, I'm not going to always get it right," he said. "But when it comes to fighting for Chicago and Chicago's future, no one's going to fight harder."

Trying To Rally Unions

Emanuel has clashed with many of the city's unions, most notably Chicago's teachers, who enlisted Garcia to challenge Emanuel.

The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, which played a critical role on the ground during President Obama's two presidential campaigns, endorsed Garcia, too.

Many in labor worry about Emanuel's close relationship with Illinois' Republican billionaire Gov. Bruce Rauner, who often criticizes unions.

Emanuel met this week with several African-American labor leaders to try to allay their concerns. When one leader said, "We cannot let Illinois become a right-to-work state," Emanuel quickly agreed, adding, "I think right-to-work takes the rug from underneath the middle class."

On that and other issues, many of the labor leaders said they came away satisfied.

"We're looking for opportunities for people of color that look like us and a pathway to careers," said Will Irving, who is with Laborers Local 1001, "and I think we've accomplished a steppingstone out of this meeting."

When it comes to Emanuel, Irving added, "There are opinions that people have; there are facts about what the mayor has done. The mayor has done a lot of good things with the schools."

Irving also cited Emanuel's efforts in helping develop pathways to careers in the trades, among others, and said the mayor is more inclusive than he gets credit for.

"We have had a seat at the table," Irving said.

Laborers Local 1001 President Nicole Hayes echoed that.

"I think he has done a great job," she said, adding, "Under his leadership, the last four years, we've acquired almost 400 new positions with him. So we're endorsing him."

Earl Jackson of Plumbers Local 130 said his group is throwing its support to Emanuel.

"He's doing a good job," Jackson said.

Emanuel Comes Out Fighting

Never the political equivalent of a shrinking violet, at a debate Monday night, Emanuel hammered Garcia for failing to detail how he would fix city finances.

"Let me be clear here, there's a real difference," he said. "Chuy, you laid out a commission, not a plan."

Garcia didn't back down.

"This mayor has provided corporate welfare to his cronies, millionaires and billionaires in Illinois," he hit back, "and he promised four years ago to put Chicago's fiscal house in order, [but] we're in a financial free fall."

With less than three weeks to go until the April 7 runoff, Emanuel has a sizable lead in the latest polls.

Progressive groups concede defeating Emanuel is an uphill climb, but they are already satisfied with forcing him into a runoff. And they are confident their message is resonating beyond Chicago.

Domenico Montanaro contributed to this report.

Chicago mayor

Rahm Emanuel

Barack Obama

On a recent snowy afternoon on a farm in central Illinois, Dan Byers parked his pickup at the end of a dirt road and looked over some of his fertile land. A few years ago, high grain prices earned farmers here about $400 per acre for their corn and soybean crops. This year, it's possible that every acre Byers farms will cost him $50.

"It just takes a certain amount of fixed money to put a crop in and raise it," says Byers. "At today's prices, not much of anything works right now until there's a rebound."

Across the country, a number of farmers are likely to take a big pay cut this year. Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects farmers will earn a third less than they did last year.

The Salt

Why Farmers Aren't Cheering This Year's Monster Harvest

That blow to the bottom line is rippling through farm towns.

Economy

As Commodity Prices Plunge, Groceries May Be Next

Record corn production with no increase in demand – as well as a leveling off market for ethanol – have led to the lowest prices in six years: $3.80 a bushel, down from an all time high of $8.49 a bushel in August 2012.

Some farmers won't break even this planting season, which could force them to tap into their savings. That's bad news for Corn Belt towns whose prosperity depends largely on farmers and businesses linked to farming.

Frank Hofreiter owns the New Holland farm equipment dealership and employs 17 people in East Havana, Ill.

When corn prices peaked, Hofreiter sold close to $11 million worth of shiny blue tractors in a single year. He says he doesn't expect to crack $3 million in 2015.

"Everybody's just trimming back and not doing much buying on new equipment," says Hofreiter. "Especially big, large equipment — anything over $20,000."

i

Kyle Garman, a technician at the the New Holland dealership in East Havana, Ill., takes apart the feeder head on a large combine. Owner Frank Hofreiter says farm customers are opting to repair old equipment rather than buy new. Abby Wendle/Harvest Public Media hide caption

itoggle caption Abby Wendle/Harvest Public Media

Kyle Garman, a technician at the the New Holland dealership in East Havana, Ill., takes apart the feeder head on a large combine. Owner Frank Hofreiter says farm customers are opting to repair old equipment rather than buy new.

Abby Wendle/Harvest Public Media

Hofreiter hasn't let anyone go yet. So far the company's machine shop — attached to the back of the dealership — is keeping employees busy. But if repair work falls off, Hofreiter said he'll have to cut employees' hours.

The industry leader John Deere reports that its sales are down by 40 percent from this time last year. That prompted the company to lay off nearly 2,000 workers in recent months – and more cuts could come.

"And you'll see more when the economy's like this, guy's will spend more on repairs," he says. "Instead of maybe guys, that tractor's got a bad engine, we'll trade it off today, well, no, we'll see if we can patch it together and fix it back up."

Todd Schaeffwer owns a bar down the road from the dealership. He estimates that three-quarters of his customers work in the farm sector.

"People will probably get laid off," Schaeffwer says. "We'll have to get back behind the charbroiler, behind the bar. Rather than just managing it, we'll have to work and manage it."

The Salt

From War To Plow: Why USDA Wants Veterans To Take Up Farming

Even as grain prices plummet, grain farming isn't getting any cheaper. The fixed costs of seed, fertilizer and chemicals are about the same as when corn was selling for twice as much.

Land is one of the biggest expenses. Sky-high prices put it out of reach for many farmers, so they rent acreage instead. The rising price of grain pushed rents to unprecedented levels. And even though prices have fallen, many landowners are refusing to lower the rent.

Scott Irwin is a professor of agriculture and consumer economics at the University of Illinois. He says high rents are forcing some renter farmers to breach their contracts.

"We're seeing stories of farmers who had signed multiple-year, cash-rent leases at those high rates actually just walking away from the leases this winter," Irwin says.

If corn prices stay low, rents will eventually have to follow. But in the meantime, many farmers are struggling to pay for their rented land.

Dan Byers rents some of the land he farms. While his budget's tight, he says he's paying up and staying put.

"In our situation, we've got some very long term relationships," Byers says. "You don't want to screw those up."

He'll continue to farm even though it's not likely to be profitable. With corn production expected to remain high, the USDA is predicting that prices will continue to fall well into next year.

Abby Wendle is a reporter with Tri States Public Radio and Harvest Public Media, a public radio reporting collaboration that focuses on agriculture and food production.

The Federal Reserve moved a step closer toward ending its zero interest rate policy. In a statement released moments ago, the Fed dropped a pledge to be "patient" before raising rates. But, the Fed's Open Market Committee said, it is unlikely to raise rates in April.

"The Committee anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term," the Fed said in a statement. "This change in the forward guidance does not indicate that the Committee has decided on the timing of the initial increase in the target range."

Fed officials had long signaled that they would be patient before raising rates.

As the Wall Street Journal reports:

"The central bank for years has been using carefully chosen words about the likely level and direction of short-term rates as policy tool, hoping promises about the future will influence other borrowing costs today, such as the level of long-term rates on mortgages or car loans.

"The approach has become particularly important since December 2008, when the Fed pushed its benchmark federal funds rate to zero amid the financial crisis and began promising it would stay there for an extended period."

But with unemployment rate falling and inflation moving toward the Fed's 2 percent target, policymakers may have decided it was time to be less assuring about rates.

Rates, of course, are just one thing Fed policymakers have their eye on. As Jacob Goldstein of NPR's Planet Money team reported on today's Morning Edition, when the economy seems strong enough, the Fed will start pulling that money – approximately $3 trillion of it — out of the economy. He says:

"The economy will start humming again at some point. Banks will start lending out all that money. If that happens too fast, it could be a problem: Inflation could take off. To be clear, that hasn't happened yet: Inflation is still quite low.

"Eventually, Fed officials will start destroying the money they created — winding down quantitative easing. But figuring out exactly when to do this is fraught. Do it too soon, and you plunge the economy back into another recession. Wait too long, and inflation takes off."

Federal Reserve

interest rates

The Federal Reserve moved a step closer toward ending its zero interest rate policy. In a statement released moments ago, the Fed dropped a pledge to be "patient" before raising rates. But, the Fed's Open Market Committee said, it is unlikely to raise rates in April.

"The Committee anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term," the Fed said in a statement. "This change in the forward guidance does not indicate that the Committee has decided on the timing of the initial increase in the target range."

Fed officials had long signaled that they would be patient before raising rates.

As the Wall Street Journal reports:

"The central bank for years has been using carefully chosen words about the likely level and direction of short-term rates as policy tool, hoping promises about the future will influence other borrowing costs today, such as the level of long-term rates on mortgages or car loans.

"The approach has become particularly important since December 2008, when the Fed pushed its benchmark federal funds rate to zero amid the financial crisis and began promising it would stay there for an extended period."

But with unemployment rate falling and inflation moving toward the Fed's 2 percent target, policymakers may have decided it was time to be less assuring about rates.

Rates, of course, are just one thing Fed policymakers have their eye on. As Jacob Goldstein of NPR's Planet Money team reported on today's Morning Edition, when the economy seems strong enough, the Fed will start pulling that money – approximately $3 trillion of it — out of the economy. He says:

"The economy will start humming again at some point. Banks will start lending out all that money. If that happens too fast, it could be a problem: Inflation could take off. To be clear, that hasn't happened yet: Inflation is still quite low.

"Eventually, Fed officials will start destroying the money they created — winding down quantitative easing. But figuring out exactly when to do this is fraught. Do it too soon, and you plunge the economy back into another recession. Wait too long, and inflation takes off."

Federal Reserve

interest rates

In 1616, Hernando Arias de Saavedra, the governor of the Spanish province that included Buenos Aires, banned the population from drinking a green herbal drink called yerba mate.

The governor had seen the region's indigenous Guaran people carrying this drink with them everywhere they went. It was a filthy vice, the Spanish had decided. And it was spreading like wildfire among the Spanish colonists — as far away as what is now Bolivia, Chile and Peru.

"All Spaniards, men and women, and all Indians, drink these dusts in hot water," one dismayed Jesuit priest wrote, lamenting, "And when they don't have with what to buy it, they give away their underpants and their blankets ... When they stop drinking it they fade away and say they cannot live."

That passion for mate (unlike the governor) is still very much alive and well today in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil, where it is known as chimarro (pronounced she-ma-how).

Indeed, in 2013, mate was officially declared a "national infusion" of Argentina, where an estimated 250,000 tons of herb are consumed every year. Paraguay has a National Terer Day (terer is a drink made with yerba mate, but it's drunk cold). The brew is now a common sight in health stores and specialized coffee shops in the U.S.

Technically, mate is not a tea, but rather, an infusion. "Tea" refers to a drink made from the leaves of the evergreen Asian shrub camellia sinensis, whereas the leaves in mate come from Ilex paraguariensis, a shrub with small greenish-white flowers that grew especially abundant in Paraguay.

i

(Left) A bombilla, the metal drinking straw with a strainer at one end that's used to sip yerba mate. (Right) Mate leaves. Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo/NPR

(Left) A bombilla, the metal drinking straw with a strainer at one end that's used to sip yerba mate. (Right) Mate leaves.

Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo/NPR

"The Guaran people put mate in small calabashes and drank it as a cold infusion, through hollow straws," historian Luca Glvez recounts in her book De La Tierra Sin Mal Al Paraso: Jesuitas Y Guaranies. "They also chewed on it to have more energy on their walks, a tradition which has disappeared."

I've heard variations on this Guaran legend of how mate came to be: The moon had been told by the sun about all the joys of the jungle that she could not see in the darkness of the night — the birds, the leaves, the flowers. She got very curious, and one day came down to earth in the form of a young woman. She went exploring, and was almost attacked by a yaguaret (a jaguar), but a Guarani hunter saved her. The moon was so grateful, she gave the Guarani people the gift of mate.

So how did this ancient drink go from prohibited brew to beloved South American pastime? Thank the Jesuits.

According to Glvez, the missionaries may have been critical of Ilex paraguariensis, but they also began cultivating it towards the end of the 17th century, believing it was perhaps not only good for health, but also a good substitute for alcoholic drinks.

Turns out, the Jesuits had a green thumb: Mate soon became the most profitable industry on the missions, and it was sold from Buenos Aires to Peru. It even came to be known in certain circles as "the Jesuit tea." In 1747 one Jesuit priest wrote: "it is the herb of Paraguay, which here and in Chile, and in much of Peru, is what chocolate is to Spain, and even more common, for it is used by the rich, the poor and the slaves."

Another Jesuit who loves drinking mate? Pope Francis. "What's that bowl-pipe thing he carries around and frequently takes a hit off?" Gawker wondered aloud a few years ago. "It's a mate cup with a silver straw. And it's how you drink the caffeine-loaded 'national infusion' of Francis' homeland, Argentina."

Pope Francis sips his mate as he arrives for his general audience at St. Peter's Square in December. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

Mate is woven into the very fabric of the region's culture. In The Voyage Of The Beagle, Charles Darwin writes about the comfort of a warm sip: "When it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little arbor of bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef), took our mate, and were quite comfortable."

One of the first tango-like songs to be penned, in 1857, is called "Tom mate, che" ("Drink mate che), by Spanish musician Santiago Ramos. He sings: "A girl said, when she saw me, this porteo kills me. Drink mate, che, drink mate. Here on the River Plate, we don't do chocolate." (A porteo is a person from Buenos Aires.)

Brazilian poet and musician Jayme Caetano Braun used the drink to describe aging: "V chupando despacito/Que triste matear solito/Quando a velhice nos bate." (Sucking slowly/ how sad to drink mate alone/ when old age hits us.)

There's a whole art to preparing a hot mate. Here's how I was taught. First, you have to get a good container for the brew. Cups made of bone are particularly gorgeous. I love the traditional way of drinking it, in a dried calabash gourd. Otherwise, I go for wooden cups. Plastic or metal cups are no-nos for me — you lose that great aged-wood flavor.

A lot of gourds are passed from generation to generation and have a sentimental value (I have my grandfather's gourd at home). But if you buy a gourd made of wood, calabash or cow bone, you must prep it. I was taught to give it a wash and fill it with wet yerba. Leave the leaves there for a day, then rinse and repeat a few times.

As for the mate itself, I've seen it sold in small packages at trendy health-food chains, but it just won't give you that many servings. Go to a South American specialty store and buy a few pounds for a few bucks, you'll thank me for it.

i

My yerba mate gourd Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo/NPR

My yerba mate gourd

Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo/NPR

Now that you have your herb, and you've cured the gourd, you are ready to drink a nice hot mate. Fill the gourd about half way in with the dry tea leaves. Next, cover the gourd with your hand or a piece of paper, and shake it just a little, so that the powdered leaves rise to the top and you don't end up drinking them.

There are a lot of different methods to prep mate, but here's what I was taught: Heat water until it is about to break into a boil. Tilt the gourd and pour in the water so that only half of your leaves get wet.

That wet section is where you are going to stick your bombilla, a metal straw with a strainer at one end. Once the bombilla is in, pour more water into that wet little pouch, then start sucking on the metal straw.

How To Make Yerba Mate

After adding the tea leaves, 1. Cover the gourd with your hand, tilt and lightly shake out the dust. 2. Pour the hot water so only half your mate leaves get wet. 3. Insert the bombilla into damp area. 4. Add water to the depression created by the spoon.

Source: NPR

Credit: Ryan Kellman/Meredith Rizzo

I know a lot of purists who look with disdain upon those who add sugar to the drink. But there are so many great ways to prep and flavor mate. I sometimes toast orange and lemon peels, then add them to the gourd. A friend of my father's used to pour hot milk instead of water. I've heard of people pouring alcohol or coffee into their mate. That's a little much, if you ask me, because mate already has plenty of caffeine.

A lot has been said about the health benefits of mate. My grandpa swore by it, and he lived until almost 100. But he also went dancing every weekend, which probably did more to keep him young.

The drink is popularly used to lose weight, a virtue which is debated. One study found that a mix of mate and other herbs administered to overweight patients helped them feel full faster. And while research suggests mate contains plenty of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals, don't go guzzling it by the gallon. Some studies have also hinted at a link between heavy consumption and an increased risk in oral and lung cancers – especially in smokers.

"When it comes to teas or herbals that might have medicinal properties, it's not a regulated thing," Katherine Zerasky, a registered dietician with the Mayo Clinic, tells The Salt. "[Drink] it in moderation, and within the context of a healthy diet."

And don't forget to keep it social. The beauty of mate is that you share it with friends and family: Pour yourself some hot water, drink until the gourd is dry, then pass it along to the next person.

yerba mate

Tea Tuesdays

mate

foodways

South America

At first glance, it's a typical scene: Two teenage girls lean their heads together engrossed in conversation as they munch on tuna salad on a bagel and fries.

But listen to Memory Banda, 18, from Malawi and 16-year old Achie (whose last name is not provided because of her age) from Ethiopia, and you'll hear an earful about a lot of things you wouldn't expect, They're talking about how tough it is to be young and female in Africa. They're discussing how child marriage and female genital mutilation are just two of the obstacles to girls getting an education. They're commiserating about the challenge of getting health care and of finding jobs that will let them lead a better life.

But they're not just griping. Memory and Achie each push for change in their communities.

The teens came to New York last week to speak on some panels at the United Nations 59th Commission on the Status of Women. They were brought to the conference by Let Girls Lead, a nonprofit group based at the Public Health Institute. (The Gates Foundation is a funder of both the Public Health Institute and NPR.)

I got to join the girls for lunch and conversation. Here is an edited and condensed version of our interview.

The two of you are so comfortable with each other, it's as if you have known each other forever. But you just met last week?

Achie: Yes, we just met last week, and we're best friends on Facebook now! We are about the same age, we're both petite and we share the same goals to help women.

Memory: Also, both of us also like to write in our spare time — she writes essays, I write poetry. I write in both English and in Chichewa, which is my native language at home [which is Chiradzulu in the Southern Region of Malawi]. She won a prize for one of her essays!

What was the prize-winning essay about?

Achie: The topic was what would you see if you envisioned yourself as a satellite, what you saw and what you would like the change in the world. I wrote about how Africans need to stand up together and voice a desire for change and a vision for the future. I write mostly in English. Amharic is the language we speak at home.

What made you want to work for women's rights?

Memory: In my community in southern part of Malawi the tradition is that once a girl reaches puberty, you go to an initiation camp where we are taught how to be a woman — how to satisfy a man. As part of that you go through a sexual initiation with a man.

And did you?

Memory: I did not. This was a hard decision. My family and friends were calling me a stubborn little girl because it felt to them like I was embarrassing the family. But for me it was a life decision. I knew that some girls come back pregnant, they get married, they cannot go to school, and if the men run away from their responsibility the girls are left on their own with the children. That was not for me.

But when my younger sister reached puberty, she went to the camp. She ended up getting pregnant and had to marry to the person who impregnated her. She was 11. This is what I saw and what I wanted to change.

What are you doing to help make change happen?

Memory: I had the idea to put up posters in my neighborhood offering free lessons to the adolescent mothers. And 20 girls joined the class. That led to my working with Let Girls Lead to help create networks for girls and advocating to help stop child marriage..... So if you ask me what is it like to be a teenager here, it was a struggle. You get anxious as adolescence approaches because you know what you're going to go through.

Achie, tell us about your life in Addis Ababa.

Achie: I live in a nice neighborhood, and go to a good school, but this is not the life that many young girls in Ethiopia have.

Early marriage is also a problem in my country. There are traditional views about women, and they are not expected to go to school. There is also female genital mutilation. In my family there is nothing like that, but I would volunteer in organizations [to tutor] and I would talk to girls and hear their stories. Listening, you just have a feeling of how heavy a burden they are carrying and you cannot be quiet about it. When they share with you what they have experienced, you feel part of it and you want to act on it.

How has volunteering changed you?

Achie: I used to be a really shy girl and even if an opportunity was in front of me I would underestimate myself and not do it. That is how I was until I was 14.

At that time, I was working as a summer volunteer tutoring children from ages 5 to 16, and even though I was among the youngest of the volunteers, I was asked to lead one of the programs as a school coordinator. I was afraid, but I said yes, and it was my best decision. I opened up. I became less shy and more outspoken.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Memory: I have the dream of becoming a lawyer. And also journalism.

Achie: I plan on being an engineer, though haven't decided yet what type. And if I/when I get the opportunity to study in the U.S., I would love it. And I'm also planning on doing more work for empowering girls.

Goats and Soda

Meet The 15-Year-Old From Rural Guatemala Who Addressed The U.N.

What do you do in your free time, when you're not studying or working to help women?

Memory: I like to hang out with my friends. I'm an addict of writing, poems about women, and young girls and coping with being a teenager. And my favorite sport at school is lawn tennis. I am the only girl on the team.

Achie: I design dresses. I don't make them, I sketch them for fun. They are modern, but with a traditional Ethiopian sense. I also play basketball, even though I am short. And I have a blue belt in Tae Kwan Do.

malawi

Ethiopia

As scholarly buzzkills have long told us, corned beef isn't really Irish. So what to do if you want a taste of the Emerald Isle on Saint Patrick's Day? Instead of green, maybe look for the yellow — a pat of Irish butter. Although most Americans are familiar with images of Ireland's green rolling hills, few realize that they're the secret to a deliciously buttery empire.

"It goes back to the Emerald Isle," explains Pat O'Keeffe, deputy editor of Irish Farmers Journal. "The green land is our competitive advantage. Those rolling green hills are great for growing grass. You need frequent and regular rainfall, and we've got plenty of that."

The actual Irish cows themselves aren't that different from their American counterparts — in both countries, over 90 percent of milkers are Holstein Friesians, those iconic black-and-whites. What it comes down to is what the cows are eating.

Irish cows graze on those temperate rolling green hills from March to October, and are only milked during those months. (A small number, O'Keeffe estimates 10 percent, are milked year round for drinking, or fluid, milk, but butter's the real business.) Grass-fed milk produces a rich butter, yellow with natural beta-carotene. The polyunsaturated fats in fresh grass also make for pats that are softer than those from hay or grain — all the better for spreading across your scone. Like most European dairy, Irish cream also has a higher butterfat content, creating soft butter with a richer mouthfeel. And the end result?

i

Holstein Fresian dairy cows make their way towards pasture in County Cavan, Ireland. Irish cows graze on the country's rolling green hills from March to October, and most are only milked during those months. Tom Stoddart/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Tom Stoddart/Getty Images

Holstein Fresian dairy cows make their way towards pasture in County Cavan, Ireland. Irish cows graze on the country's rolling green hills from March to October, and most are only milked during those months.

Tom Stoddart/Getty Images

"I have to be careful for an American audience," Pat O'Keeffe hedges for a diplomatic moment, "but we'd say it's [like the difference between] chalk and cheese."

And those feelings of nostalgia (and unabashed superiority) toward Irish butter can run deep, even after leaving Ireland. When Dublin-born Lisa Jacobs' family emigrated to the United States, her parents continued to seek out Irish butter. And when she dropped out of law school to start making cheese in the similarly green-and-rainy Pacific Northwest, her father not-so-gently suggested that Jacobs Creamery make him some good, Irish-style butter. Jacobs even smuggled some grass and wildflower seed to cultivate the cows' fields, seeing if she could capture some of that Irish terroir in her hand-churned product.

But far before this modern evangelism, Irish butter had its fans. Ancient stashes of butter dating back 1,000 years — and up to 3,000 years — are routinely dug out of the Irish peat bogs. Scholars speculate the butter was either a high-value offering, buried ritualistically, or else a foodstuff stored in the bog as a primitive refrigeration technique. (Either way, the phenomenon is given the irresistible term "bog butter.") Although this millennia-old butter isn't quite ready for toast, butter is a long-lived product. Which means it can be shipped — and it was.

i

Butter samples from the first quarter of the 20th Century in Ireland. Cork Butter Museum hide caption

itoggle caption Cork Butter Museum

Butter samples from the first quarter of the 20th Century in Ireland.

Cork Butter Museum

"Cork butter was the first global food brand," explains Peter Foynes, director of the Cork Butter Museum (and yes, there is a butter museum).

The Cork Butter Exchange was established in the late 18th century, and in its day was the largest butter market in the world. Irish butter was tied to British expansion, as buckets made their way onto ships loaded for the sugar routes, or crossed the Atlantic to feed troops fighting to quell the American Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of casks left Ireland every year, heading everywhere from Australia to Brazil, France to the West Indies. Miles of "butter roads" helped even remote rural farmers bring their butter into the global marketplace.

But after this peak — Foynes puts it in the 1870s — Irish butter production began to trail off, due to a number of factors. Colonies had steadily been establishing their own agriculture, rendering Irish exports less important. But the biggest blow came in 1879, with the mechanical separator.

i

Butter is inspected inside a creamery in Dublin, Ireland, during the first quarter of the 20th century. Cork Butter Museum hide caption

itoggle caption Cork Butter Museum

Butter is inspected inside a creamery in Dublin, Ireland, during the first quarter of the 20th century.

Cork Butter Museum

Even as farmers mechanized the butter-churning process, they had long been hampered by separating — patiently waiting for the to-be-churned cream to rise to the top (a process that takes 24-36 hours, depending upon the temperature). With the centrifuge-like mechanical separator, that wait time is eliminated. Unfortunately, Irish farmers were late adopters — by the time they mechanized, the industry was 20 years behind. By the early 20th century, the Cork Butter Market had closed.

But luckily for lovers of good Irish butter, its grass-fed richness has made a comeback. Farms banded together to form the Irish Dairy Board in 1961, which developed popular Kerrygold Irish butter. (The company says it's now the No. 4 butter in the U.S.) And the next decade's E.U. membership brought with it milk subsidies, laying the bedrock for increased dairy production (and even over-production, leading to established quotas). Later fears of saturated fats hit the Irish butter industry, as they did all dairy, but recent data seems to be moving consumers beyond those margarine moments, and back to the full, sunny swipe of butter.

"Some of the science — or alleged science — has changed," notes Irish ag journalist Pat O'Keeffe. But like a good Irishman, he was never swayed. "It was always a good product. Butter today is still as good as it was."

And with the 30-year-old E.U. dairy quotas set to expire on April 1, this product could be on the brink of a new buttery era.

st patrick's day

food history

butter

food science

foodways

Ireland

As scholarly buzzkills have long told us, corned beef isn't really Irish. So what to do if you want a taste of the Emerald Isle on Saint Patrick's Day? Instead of green, maybe look for the yellow — a pat of Irish butter. Although most Americans are familiar with images of Ireland's green rolling hills, few realize that they're the secret to a deliciously buttery empire.

"It goes back to the Emerald Isle," explains Pat O'Keeffe, deputy editor of Irish Farmers Journal. "The green land is our competitive advantage. Those rolling green hills are great for growing grass. You need frequent and regular rainfall, and we've got plenty of that."

The actual Irish cows themselves aren't that different from their American counterparts — in both countries, over 90 percent of milkers are Holstein Friesians, those iconic black-and-whites. What it comes down to is what the cows are eating.

Irish cows graze on those temperate rolling green hills from March to October, and are only milked during those months. (A small number, O'Keeffe estimates 10 percent, are milked year round for drinking, or fluid, milk, but butter's the real business.) Grass-fed milk produces a rich butter, yellow with natural beta-carotene. The polyunsaturated fats in fresh grass also make for pats that are softer than those from hay or grain — all the better for spreading across your scone. Like most European dairy, Irish cream also has a higher butterfat content, creating soft butter with a richer mouthfeel. And the end result?

i

Holstein Fresian dairy cows make their way towards pasture in County Cavan, Ireland. Irish cows graze on the country's rolling green hills from March to October, and most are only milked during those months. Tom Stoddart/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Tom Stoddart/Getty Images

Holstein Fresian dairy cows make their way towards pasture in County Cavan, Ireland. Irish cows graze on the country's rolling green hills from March to October, and most are only milked during those months.

Tom Stoddart/Getty Images

"I have to be careful for an American audience," Pat O'Keeffe hedges for a diplomatic moment, "but we'd say it's [like the difference between] chalk and cheese."

And those feelings of nostalgia (and unabashed superiority) toward Irish butter can run deep, even after leaving Ireland. When Dublin-born Lisa Jacobs' family emigrated to the United States, her parents continued to seek out Irish butter. And when she dropped out of law school to start making cheese in the similarly green-and-rainy Pacific Northwest, her father not-so-gently suggested that Jacobs Creamery make him some good, Irish-style butter. Jacobs even smuggled some grass and wildflower seed to cultivate the cows' fields, seeing if she could capture some of that Irish terroir in her hand-churned product.

But far before this modern evangelism, Irish butter had its fans. Ancient stashes of butter dating back 1,000 years — and up to 3,000 years — are routinely dug out of the Irish peat bogs. Scholars speculate the butter was either a high-value offering, buried ritualistically, or else a foodstuff stored in the bog as a primitive refrigeration technique. (Either way, the phenomenon is given the irresistible term "bog butter.") Although this millennia-old butter isn't quite ready for toast, butter is a long-lived product. Which means it can be shipped — and it was.

i

Butter samples from the first quarter of the 20th Century in Ireland. Cork Butter Museum hide caption

itoggle caption Cork Butter Museum

Butter samples from the first quarter of the 20th Century in Ireland.

Cork Butter Museum

"Cork butter was the first global food brand," explains Peter Foynes, director of the Cork Butter Museum (and yes, there is a butter museum).

The Cork Butter Exchange was established in the late 18th century, and in its day was the largest butter market in the world. Irish butter was tied to British expansion, as buckets made their way onto ships loaded for the sugar routes, or crossed the Atlantic to feed troops fighting to quell the American Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of casks left Ireland every year, heading everywhere from Australia to Brazil, France to the West Indies. Miles of "butter roads" helped even remote rural farmers bring their butter into the global marketplace.

But after this peak — Foynes puts it in the 1870s — Irish butter production began to trail off, due to a number of factors. Colonies had steadily been establishing their own agriculture, rendering Irish exports less important. But the biggest blow came in 1879, with the mechanical separator.

i

Butter is inspected inside a creamery in Dublin, Ireland, during the first quarter of the 20th century. Cork Butter Museum hide caption

itoggle caption Cork Butter Museum

Butter is inspected inside a creamery in Dublin, Ireland, during the first quarter of the 20th century.

Cork Butter Museum

Even as farmers mechanized the butter-churning process, they had long been hampered by separating — patiently waiting for the to-be-churned cream to rise to the top (a process that takes 24-36 hours, depending upon the temperature). With the centrifuge-like mechanical separator, that wait time is eliminated. Unfortunately, Irish farmers were late adopters — by the time they mechanized, the industry was 20 years behind. By the early 20th century, the Cork Butter Market had closed.

But luckily for lovers of good Irish butter, its grass-fed richness has made a comeback. Farms banded together to form the Irish Dairy Board in 1961, which developed popular Kerrygold Irish butter. (The company says it's now the No. 4 butter in the U.S.) And the next decade's E.U. membership brought with it milk subsidies, laying the bedrock for increased dairy production (and even over-production, leading to established quotas). Later fears of saturated fats hit the Irish butter industry, as they did all dairy, but recent data seems to be moving consumers beyond those margarine moments, and back to the full, sunny swipe of butter.

"Some of the science — or alleged science — has changed," notes Irish ag journalist Pat O'Keeffe. But like a good Irishman, he was never swayed. "It was always a good product. Butter today is still as good as it was."

And with the 30-year-old E.U. dairy quotas set to expire on April 1, this product could be on the brink of a new buttery era.

st patrick's day

food history

butter

food science

foodways

Ireland

The divide between Republicans and Democrats on pot politics is narrowing, President Barack Obama said in an interview Monday.

"What I'm encouraged by is you're starting to see not just liberal Democrats but also some very conservative Republicans recognize this doesn't make sense including sort-of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party," the president said in an interview with Vice News.

During the wide-ranging interview, Obama noted that the American criminal justice system is "so heavily skewed toward cracking down on non-violent drug offenders" and has has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, as well as taking a huge financial toll on states. But, Obama added, Republicans are beginning to see that cost.

"So we may be able to make some progress on the decriminalization side," Obama said. "At a certain point if enough states end up decriminalizing, then Congress may then reschedule marijuana."

Reclassifying marijuana as what's called a Schedule 2 drug, rather than a Schedule 1 drug is part of a bill being pushed by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican weighing a potential White House bid, as well as Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

The unlikely trio of lawmakers unveiled their bill, which would also remove federal prohibitions on medical marijuana in the more than a quarter of states where it's already legal, last week.

"We, as a society, are changing our opinions on restricting people's choices as far as medical treatments," Paul, who has been a vocal critic of the so-called war on drugs, said last week.

"There is every reason to try and give more ease to people in the states who want this — more freedom for states and individuals," Paul added.

Paul's emphasis on states' rights is in line with the Republican belief that the federal government should keep its hands out of local affairs. But this is also a political sweet spot as a majority of Americans back more liberal marijuana laws.

In fact, 51 percent of Americans said they favor legalization of marijuana, according to the most recent Gallup survey. That's part of a decade-long trend more in favor of legalization. In 2004, nearly two-thirds of Americans were against it.

Support for legalization has increased over the last decade, polls have shown. Gallup hide caption

itoggle caption Gallup

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 23 states and in Washington D.C., and voters in four states and Washington D.C. have approved marijuana for recreational use. But it remains illegal at the federal level.

"Members of Congress tend to be between five to 10 years behind the public on this issue," Dan Riffle, the director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in an interview. "Medical marijuana is more popular in this country than baseball and apple pie, and it's certainly more popular than Congress. What this bill means, and what it shows, is Congress is finally catching up to the public on this issue and recognizes that this is a slam dunk."

While it might not drive the voters that tend to make up the vote in early presidential primary states, it came up at last month's Conservative Political Action Conference.

At the recent gathering, which typically draws droves of young conservative activists to the Washington D.C. area, nearly two-thirds of the 3,000 people who participated in the straw poll said they want to see marijuana legalized for either recreational or medicinal purposes.

At CPAC, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asked whether he believed Colorado's recent decision to legalize marijuana was a good idea or bad idea.

Cruz initially responded with a joke.

"I was told Colorado provided the brownies here today," he said.

He added that states have the right to legalize marijuana, despite his personal position on it.

"I actually think this is a great embodiment of what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called the laboratories of democracy," Cruz said. "If the citizens of Colorado decide they want to go down that road, that's their prerogative. I don't agree with it, but that's their right."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, asked the same question, echoed the same argument.

"I thought it was a bad idea," Bush said, "but states ought to have that right to do it. I would have voted no if I was in Colorado."

On the other side of the aisle, Democrat Hillary Clinton — who most expect to jump into the presidential race – sounded... a lot like Ted Cruz.

"On recreational [marijuana], you know, states are the laboratories of democracy," she told CNN in June. "We have at least two states that are experimenting with that right now. I want to wait and see what the evidence is."

Clinton said she supports medical marijuana for "people who are in extreme medical conditions."

2016 Presidential Race

Ted Cruz

Jeb Bush

Kirsten Gillibrand

marijuana

Rand Paul

cory booker

Hillary Clinton

Barack Obama

Officials in Vanuatu are still assessing damage from what President Baldwin Lonsdale says was "a monster" — Cyclone Pam, a strong storm that hit the small nation in the South Pacific with winds that damaged or destroyed 90 percent of the buildings in the capital, Lonsdale says.

"This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu. I term it as a monster, a monster," he said. "It's a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu. After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out."

At least eight deaths have been blamed on the cyclone; a full tally of casualties and damage may still be days away. Some 33,000 of Vanuatu's more than 260,000 people live on outer islands, many of which were cut off from communication by the storm.

"The scale of humanitarian need will be enormous and the proud people of Vanuatu are going to need a lot of help to rebuild their homes and their lives," Oxfam Country Director Colin Collet van Rooyen says. "Entire communities have been blown away."

Neither Lonsdale nor the leader of Vanuatu's disaster management agency were in their country when the cyclone hit late Friday and early Saturday; they were attending a global conference on disaster risk reduction in Japan. As Reuters reports, the group left for Japan last Tuesday, before Pam veered toward their nation's chain of more than 80 islands.

"We don't know what happened to our families," Lonsdale said today. "There is a breakdown of communication so that we cannot reach our families. We do not know if our families are safe or not. As the leader of the nation, my whole heart is for the whole people of the nation."

i

An aerial view of damaged houses in Port Vila, Vanuatu, Monday. Cyclone Pam hit the South Pacific nation on Saturday with hurricane-force winds, huge ocean swells and flash flooding. Pool/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Pool/Getty Images

An aerial view of damaged houses in Port Vila, Vanuatu, Monday. Cyclone Pam hit the South Pacific nation on Saturday with hurricane-force winds, huge ocean swells and flash flooding.

Pool/Getty Images

The Vanuatu delegation has used its presence in Japan to plead for help from neighboring nations and relief agencies. Rapid-response teams from Australia, New Zealand and the U.N. were sent to Vanuatu over the weekend.

Vanuatu is commonly ranked as one of the world's most vulnerable places for natural disasters to occur. It faces risks that include earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, and flooding.

As we reported Saturday, "Most of Vanuatu's structures are built of lightweight material such as bamboo and designed to withstand earthquakes, but not cyclones."

The BBC reports: "The air here is very thick with smoke because the cleanup has already begun — the debris is being chopped down, collected and burned. There is a sense here that people will rebuild but it only takes a brief moment in the capital to realize that this rebuilding effort will take many months if not years."

Vanuatu

cyclones

Picture yourself standing at a bus station in Nairobi, Kenya. The unwritten rule is that none of these minibuses (shared taxis, called matatus) will leave until they have enough passengers. That can be around 20 or more people. So every matatu has a tout shouting at top volume — even banging on the side of the bus — to corral more customers.

All of a sudden, what looks like a discotheque on wheels pulls up.

Music blasts from souped-up speakers. Strobe lights flash on the inside walls and seat backs. The exhaust pipe is purposely pinched to rev like a motorcycle. And unlike the drab greens of the average van, this one is painted with airbrushed portraits of Jimi Hendrix and Elvis and Johnny Cash — as well as lyrical fragments from the songs of the Beatles and Maroon 5.

Commuters make a beeline for the magical bus.

Nairobi's famous matatu art is making a comeback.

Kenya's president recently lifted a 10-year ban on matatu art. Bus owners are sending their vehicles to garages and paying artists like Roy Mungai, a.k.a. Great (who designed the Rolling Stone bus above) about $1,000 per vehicle. No surprise — a painted, souped-up matatu can charge double the fare of a plain one.

Which makes one wonder: Why did Kenya's government banish graffiti from its public transportation in the first place? And why would commuters pay twice as much to ride an artsy matatu?

Let's start with the appeal to commuters. A bus with graffiti turns out to be the speediest way to get from point A to point B. If young people prefer a painted bus that plays loud music, and they seem to, then it fills up faster. It leaves sooner. It gets places on time. And thus it's more popular with anyone who can afford the extra fare.

i

Roy Mungai (a.k.a. Great) adds color to the windshield. Gregory Warner/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Gregory Warner/NPR

Roy Mungai (a.k.a. Great) adds color to the windshield.

Gregory Warner/NPR

It's a circle: Graffiti triggers enough of a change in commuter behavior that what may look like irreverent art is actually a source of profit for private bus owners. And that's why matatu owners have been flaunting the ban — and pressuring the government to allow artists to work.

As for the ban, the reason was road safety. Back in the day, artists would pretty much cover the windows and the windshield, leaving just a narrow strip for the driver to see through. Visibility was so limited that drivers would have to open the windows just to know where they were.

Understandably, many Kenyans are fearful now that the artists are back in business. They say the government caved to rich and powerful matatu owners.

i

Yes, that is the late Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi. On a bus. In Nairobi. Gregory Warner/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Gregory Warner/NPR

Yes, that is the late Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi. On a bus. In Nairobi.

Gregory Warner/NPR

But the new generation of graffiti artists won't be blocking every inch of glass. Although that doesn't mean they'll be reining in their wilder instincts.

Roy Mungai, 27, is one of the bus decorators. Mungai studied 3D animation in college. Before he picks up a can of spray paint or steps into the garage, he'll map out his ideas on his laptop with CorelDRAW. He goes by the name "Great."

Many matatus in Nairobi are homages to various themes or brands, and Mungai's are no exception. The Rolling Stone matatu plays off Kenya's love of rock music. His newer projects include a riff off the logo of Rockford Fosgate, a maker of car sound systems, as well as an ironic tribute to the NYPD (complete with Keith-Haring-esque silhouettes of police beating civilians).

Despite his boastful name, Great is humble about his work. He grew up in a Nairobi slum admiring what he enviously calls "real matatu graffiti."

And he argues that the distinctive look of a matatu bus is actually a plus when it comes to the welfare of pedestrians. If you're run over by a speeding matatu and lucky enough to still be conscious, his advice: Don't worry about memorizing the license plate. Just focus on the three-foot-tall spray-painted face of the late Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi speeding away from you.

graffiti

Kenya

Officials and activists from around the world gathered in New York this week to mark the 20th anniversary of the landmark 1995 World Conference on Women.

Although there were a lot of depressing statistics discussed at the current meeting, there was one piece of good news that many kept citing as reason for hope: Since 1995 the rate of women worldwide who die in childbirth has dropped by more than 40 percent.

When you look deeper into that statistic, there's even more reason to celebrate. Sometimes a rosy global health statistic can overstate the extent of change. A few large countries that improve their situation pull up the average, masking the fact that everyone else has stagnated or worse. But the maternal mortality rate has plunged by 40 percent or more in at least 76 countries — that's close to half of the world's nations.

Goats and Soda

For Babies, Preterm Birth Is Now The No. 1 Cause Of Death

What's more, many of the countries where maternal mortality rates did not fall significantly are wealthy nations in North America and Europe where the rate was low to start with.

Meanwhile, a few of the countries where pregnant women faced the greatest risk back in 1995 have seen the greatest improvement. In Afghanistan, the number of women dying in childbirth per 100,000 live births plunged from 1,200 in 1995 to 400 by 2013 — that's about a 66 percent drop. The maternal death rate also declined spectacularly in Angola, Laos and Rwanda.

That said, maternal death remains a serious problem. Globally the maternal mortality rate remains high at 210 deaths per 100,000 live births. And every year 289,000 women die from childbirth — most of them from preventable causes and almost all of them, in places with minimal resources.

Goats and Soda

Dangerous Deliveries: Ebola Leaves Moms And Babies Without Care

Improving maternal health worldwide will require a heavy focus on sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 62 percent of annual deaths. Southern Asia is the other hotspot — a fourth of maternal deaths occur there.

But the data suggest that two countries in particular need attention: India and Nigeria. Taken together, they are the site of about one-third all global maternal deaths.

Both countries have already made great strides. Nigeria's maternal mortality rate in 2013 is almost half the rate it was in 1995, for instance.

The solution to bringing the mortality rate down further seems to lie in doing more of what has already worked so well. According to several studies, a major reason maternal mortality rates have fallen is that more women are getting access to skilled attendants at birth. About three-fourths of women who die during child birth have major complications that a health worker could address. For instance, severe bleeding can be stopped by injecting the mother with oxytocin after birth, or an infection can be avoided through proper hygiene. In several regions, more women have access to contraception — which allows them to avoid dangerous pregnancies too soon after a previous birth or an unsafe abortion.

maternal health

pregnancy

babies

Global Health