National / International News

New York is now known for pricey restaurants and celebrity chefs. But there are still a few folks who remember buying food from horse-drawn wagons in the city. An audio project aims to preserve these memories, and the voices that share them.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Farhad Manjoo really, really loves his hoodie from American Giant. So much so, he reviewed it for Slate, where he writes a technology column. The headline pretty much summed it up: This is the Greatest Hoodie Ever Made.

What should have been a marketer’s dream posed significant problems for American Giant. Readers bought it -- the headline, and the hoodie. Sweatshirts sold out. Pre-orders sold out. And the company was forced to scale up before it was ready, at a cost of millions of dollars in investment.

Manjoo talked to the CEO of American Giant, who said that since the article appeared in December, those upgrades have allowed their pipeline to operate at 15 to 20 times its prior capacity.

Although the backlog persists. A look at American Giant’s site today shows a four-to-six week wait for hoodies to ship.

Unlike app or software development companies that are able to quickly scale up when a viral story turns a small business into a overnight success, manufacturers are limited by making a tangible object.

“For a business that makes stuff in the real world, for them to scale up takes much more resources, planning and time,” Manjoo said. “It takes a long time to make sweatshirts.”

Because American Giant stakes its reputation on bringing manufacturing back the U.S., the company wasn’t prepared to move operations overseas to try to scale up more quickly.

And, Manjoo says, they think it wouldn’t have been any faster. Quality was one concern. And unlike Apple or other megacorporations known for taking on workers quickly, American Giant didn’t have contacts in the region.

“It’s difficult for a small American business to quickly get new facilities to figure out where to produce more stuff,” he said.

But despite the wait for his second hoodie, the love isn’t gone for Manjoo. He says he still wears his every day.

Read the full column, The Only Problem with the Greatest Hoodie Ever Made, on Slate.

Farmers fear that thousands of sheep and cattle have died in the thick snow that has hit the UK in recent days.

As oral arguments were held Tuesday in the first of two same-sex-marriage cases inside the Supreme Court, the steps and sidewalks outside were transformed into a public forum of sorts on the issue.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

America's minorities are quickly becoming the majority, and the population shift is happening sooner than expected. That's coming as a surprise to older Americans according to demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution. Host Michel Martin talks with Frey about what challenges might come from this 'cultural generation gap.'

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Tell Me More continues the conversation about America's increasingly diverse population. Host Michel Martin looks at how communities and governments are responding to the changes with Danielle Belton of Clutch Magazine, Univision's Fernando Vila, and Howard Dodson, a Howard University historian.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Some areas of the country are barely feeling the impact of sequestration cuts, but the effects are very real in Indian nations. Host Michel Martin finds out more from Amber Ebarb of the National Congress of American Indians and Lacey Horn, Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Millions of Americans are officially jobless, but that doesn't mean they're not earning money. To help make ends meet, many unemployed and underemployed people are working in what economists call the 'shadow economy.' Host Michel Martin speaks with Bloomberg economics reporter Joshua Zumbrun about this trend.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have their acquittals for killing Briton Meredith Kercher in Italy overturned and face a re-run of their appeal.

Martha Lane Fox, an e-commerce pioneer and government adviser, joins the House of Lords.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court ruled that the Fourth Amendment protects a Florida homeowner who was arrested after the dog detected the odor of marijuana near his house.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

The special administrator is charged with overseeing the bank's restructuring and the absorption of a smaller Cypriot bank.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Helicopter search and rescue will move to Caernarfon from Anglesey and a new base will be set up at St Athan as an American firm wins a £1.6bn deal to run the UK service.

Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks and Citigroup are among 278 employers asking the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. They say the 1996 law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages costs them time and money and hurts their ability to create an inclusive work environment.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Dunfermline apply to be placed in administration according to the club's honorary director Jim Leishman.

Old or minor convictions will no longer to be disclosed when people undergo criminal record checks when applying for teaching or nursing jobs.

Mark Simpson went to try to find a woman in Dundrod, County Antrim, who contacted BBC Newsline looking for help.

Vanessa Whitburn, the editor of BBC radio drama series The Archers, is retiring from her role after 22 years.

Pyongyang says its artillery and ballistic missile units are in full "combat posture" for a possible strike against South Korea or American bases in Guam, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Stamps celebrating the 50 years of Doctor Who are the latest in a series of special anniversary stamps. Who collects first day covers?