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4:26 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

High Court Sides With Regulators In Drug Patent Case

Originally published on Mon June 17, 2013 5:45 pm

The Supreme Court sided with government regulators in an important case involving the pharmaceutical industry and patent law. At issue were contracts between "brand-name" pharmaceutical companies and "generic" producers in which the brand-name company paid the generic not to compete. The court said the Federal Trade Commission could challenge such contracts.

Europe
4:26 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

Northern Ireland A Poignant Location For G-8 Summit

Originally published on Mon June 17, 2013 5:45 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

In his speech in Belfast, President Obama talked at length about the transformation of that city from conflict zone to a city bustling with normal healthy daily life. He got the biggest burst of applause when he tossed in a bit of Irish vernacular.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Students lounge at cafes asking each other, what's the crack?

BLOCK: What's the crack? Translation, how you doin'? Are you having fun?

OBAMA: So to paraphrase Seamus Hayden(ph), it's the manifestation of sheer bloody genius. This island is now chic.

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The Two-Way
3:59 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

FTC Can Sue Firms In 'Pay For Delay' Drug Deals, Court Rules

Credit Reed Saxon / AP
The Supreme Court has ruled that the FTC can challenge arrangements between makers of generic drugs and makers of brand-name products such as AndroGel, seen here on a computer monitor screen.

When the maker of a brand-name drug pays a maker of generic drugs to not produce a lower-priced version of their product, the Federal Trade Commission can challenge the arrangement on antitrust grounds, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The ruling may end the era of what regulators call "pay-for-delay" deals.

The justices voted 5-3 to allow a case to go forward in which the FTC is challenging one of many such deals. Several companies are involved in the case, including Solvay Pharmaceuticals, maker of AndroGel, and generic-drug maker Actavis.

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Parallels
3:20 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

The Elusive Quest For An Iranian Moderate

Originally published on Mon June 17, 2013 4:36 pm

Ever since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the U.S. has been in search of moderate Iranian leaders who could steer the country away from its hostile standoff with America.

To cite one famous example, President Ronald Reagan's administration secretly sold weapons to Iran in the mid-1980s in the belief it could work with the country's "moderate" elements even as Iran remained under the control of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

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Shots - Health News
2:31 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

When Sibling Fights Go Beyond Harmless Kid Stuff

Credit iStockphoto.com
Beheading Barbie is the kind of aggression that can cause sibling distress.

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 9:45 am

I'll never forget the time my big brother sank his fork in the back of my hand after I snitched food off his plate.

But all siblings fight, right? So I was more than a little skeptical of a study saying that sibling aggression can cause serious mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

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Author Interviews
2:24 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

WWII 'Deserters': Stories Of Men Who Left The Front Lines

Originally published on Mon June 17, 2013 5:11 pm

Few citizens are more honored than military veterans, and there's particular reverence for those who defeated the Nazis in World War II. Like any war, however, World War II was complicated and traumatic for those on the ground, and not a few deserted from the front lines.

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The Two-Way
2:16 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

Pew: Americans Agree U.S. Should Stay Out Of Syrian Conflict

Credit Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP/Getty Images
A Syrian boy holds an AK-47 assault rifle in the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in April.

Americans are polarized about many things, it seems, but according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & Press, they agree that the United States should stay out of the Syrian conflict.

Seventy percent of those polled said they oppose the U.S. and its allies sending arms to anti-government groups in Syria. Just 20 percent favor it.

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Law
2:03 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

Supreme Court Rejects Arizona's Proof Of Citizenship Law

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

On a Monday, this is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene. We're reporting this morning on a decision just out from the U.S. Supreme Court. The court tossed out an Arizona law that required proof of citizenship for its voters. In a 7-2 decision the justices said the state's voter-approved Proposition 200 interfered with federal law.

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The Salt
1:58 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

Sandwich Monday: The Wendy's T-Rex Burger (R.I.P.)

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 4:13 pm

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today not to mourn the nine-patty T-Rex Burger, but to celebrate its life. It was pulled this week, far too young, from the menu of a rogue Manitoba Wendy's that served it to two or three people a day. It is survived by the few people who ate it and survived.

Said a Wendy's spokesperson: "For obvious reasons, Wendy's ... neither condones nor promotes the idea of anyone consuming a nine-patty hamburger in one sitting."

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Book Reviews
1:42 pm
Mon June 17, 2013

In 'TransAtlantic,' The Flight Is Almost Too Smooth

Originally published on Mon June 17, 2013 3:22 pm

Here we go into the wild blue yonder again with Colum McCann. In his 2009 novel, Let the Great World Spin, McCann swooped readers up into the air with the French aerialist Philippe Petit, who staged an illegal high-wire stunt walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. Strictly speaking, Let the Great World Spin was not a Sept. 11 novel, and yet almost everyone rightly read it as one, since McCann's tale commemorated the towers at the literal zenith of their history.

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