We're getting into crunch time for both the NBA and the NHL. It's the conference finals for the NBA, with LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers on the brink of elimination; they trail the Orlando Magic 3-1. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers took a 3 - 2 series lead over the Denver Nuggets last night. Over in the National Hockey League, Detroit and Pittsburgh will open the Stanley Cup finals this Saturday in Detroit. For more we turn to The Takeaway's sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin.
President Obama is about to announce his Supreme Court pick: Sonia Sotomayor, the first American of Puerto Rican descent to be appointed to the Federal bench in New York City, now in the Appeals Court of the 2nd Circuit. Judge Sotomayor earned a reputation as a sharp, outspoken and fearless jurist, someone who does not let powerful interests bully, rush or cow her into a decision. For more about the potential Justice we turn to Jenny Rivera, who clerked for Judge Sotomayor in the Southern District of New York Court in 1992 and is now a professor at the City University of New York Law School and the Director of the Center for Latino and Latina Rights and Equality. We are also joined by Slate Magazine's Senior Legal Correspondent Dahlia Lithwick.
President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as his first appointment to the court. New Yorkers have long known this judge who grew up in the Bronx in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. Back in 1995, Judge Sotomayor issued an injunction against major league baseball owners, effectively ending a baseball strike of nearly eight months. For what the rest of the nation needs to know about this likely pick to fill the seat of retiring Justice David Souter, we turn to New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny.
Here is a clip of Sotomayor speaking at Duke University in 2005, which has stirred some controversy.
Several administration officials say President Obama has settled on his pick for the Supreme Court. The name that's being floated is Sonia Sotomayor, who's been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1998. Joining us to discuss her background and her record as a judge is Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Correspondent for the New York Times.
"There's something wrong with a society that's 50/50 men and women and there's only one woman on the court." —New York Times correspondent Adam Liptak on the Supreme Court nomination
President Obama is expected to announce that he will fill retiring Justice David Souter's seat on the high court with Sonia Sotomayor. She would be the first Hispanic member of the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is a self-described "Newyorkican" who grew up in housing projects in the Bronx after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She attended Princeton University and Yale Law School before becoming a prosecutor and a federal judge. She also has a bipartisan background, having been appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush and then nominated to the appeals court by Bill Clinton. And did we mention that she helped end the baseball strike? For more about the potential Justice we turn to Slate Magazine's Senior Legal Correspondent Dahlia Lithwick.
Early reports say that President Obama has made his choice for the U.S. Supreme Court. The pick to fill retiring Justice Souter's seat appears to be Sonia Sotomayor. She has been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1998. Before joining the appeals court, she served as a United States District Court judge for the Southern District of New York. The Takeaway turns to Columbia Law Professor Nate Persily for more.
North Korea says it carried out an underground nuclear test, prompting widespread international concern. Pyongyang says the device that it detonated was more powerful than a previous one tested in 2006. Meanwhile, a news agency in South Korea says the country also test-fired a total of three short-range missiles. The Takeaway is joined by Dr. Jim Walsh, a specialist in international security and a research associate at the M.I.T's Securities Studies Program.
"Normally we would have thought of this as bargaining behavior, but North Korea is trying to create a crisis to improve their leverage going into a negotiation." —MIT Security Studies Professor Jim Walsh on North Korea's motivation to test nuclear missiles
In the wake of an outbreak in swine flu in Mexico that has been spreading, a health official for the European Union urged Europeans to avoid non-essential travel to the United States and Mexico. And here in the United States many of our listeners are concerned about travel to Mexico. Rudy Maxa is the Host and Executive Producer of the PBS travel series Rudy Maxa's World. He joins us now with answers to your travel questions.
Polls open today in India, the world's biggest democracy. With over 714 million expected participants the country's historic elections will run for several weeks with results expected sometime in May. But helping expedite the elections is electronic voting, available for the first time across the nation — even in villages with no electricity. For more we are joined Nazes Afroz, who is South Asia editor at the BBC World Service.
The Somali pirates seized an American cargo ship a few days ago and while the rest of the crew escaped and took control of the ship, the captain, is still being held prisoner in a small lifeboat. As FBI hostage negotiators rush to the scene off the Somali coast and U.S. Navy destroyer attempts communications with the pirates, more ships are moving into the area. The captain attempted an escape, but the bandits were able to re-capture him before he could reach the Navy vessel. For the latest we turn to the BBC's Africa Editor Mary Harper. We are also joined by Wangari Mathai, the Nobel Prize winning peace activist who can provide an African perspective on the pirates' actions.
Contributor's Note :
When Somali pirates seized a giant Saudi oil tanker, the Sirius Star, last November, I managed to get a hold of a phone number to call them. But every time I rang them, they would put the phone down as soon as I said I was from the BBC. I became so obsessed with calling them that I programmed their number into my mobile phone so that I could ring them anytime, from anywhere. My twelve year old daughter had seen me repeatedly ringing the pirates, and one day, when we were stuck in a long traffic jam, she asked if she could try. I refused, but she eventually wore me down, and I gave her the phone. She pressed P for Pirates and...the phone rang, and a bizarre conversation ensued between her and a pirate. This opened a crucial door, and the next day I was able to get a real scoop by interviewing not only the pirate, but the captain of the ship who had been taken hostage. All thanks to my daughter, who insisted on dialing P for pirates. — Mary Harper, BBC's Africa Editor
Here is the AP's report on the current status of the hostage situation:
Early this morning in L'Aquila, Italy, the funerals began for some of the 289 people killed in Monday's earthquake. While normally in the Catholic tradition no funerals are allowed on Good Friday, the Vatican granted a dispensation for the funeral mass for the earthquake victims. For more on the somber scene, we turn to BBC Correspondent Helen Fawkes joins us from L'Aquila, Italy.
After a group of Somali pirates seized a freighter sailing under an American flag, the U.S. navy and the FBI have moved in to negotiate for the captain's freedom. The captain is being held hostage in a small life boat after the rest of the crew was released. The New York Times' East Africa Bureau Chief, Jeffrey Gettleman has been following the dramatic twist and turns of the crimes of the Somali pirates for months now and he joins us from the scene of their latest hijacking.
Pope Benedict is continuing his first trip through Africa as Pontiff. He's arriving in Angola right now and, as more than half of Angolans are Catholic, the excitement is high. Searching for hope, peace, and glimpse of the Pope, Angolans are flooding the streets of Luanda, where BBC correspondent Louise Redvers is right now.
While campaigning for president, Barack Obama was extremely critical of the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees. But now his administration is invoking the states-secret privilege to uphold the dismissal of a federal lawsuit involving rendition and torture. Here with us to discuss it is ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner, who argued the case for the plaintiffs.
Watch Rachel Maddow's (melo) dramatic reenactment of the hearing and Ben Wizner's appearance on her show:
The United States economy shrank at its fastest pace in 26 years from October through December. The grim GDP numbers reflect the toll of the credit crisis, but aren't quite as dismal as economists had predicted. For more, we talk to John Authers, Investment Editor for the Financial Times.
Most of us have heard of the hygiene hypothesis. It's the theory that all of our antibacterial soaps and scrubs and sprays are actually weakening our immune systems. But here’s something new: Scientists say you may be able to treat certain diseases like autism and multiple sclerosis by ingesting the same worms we’ve spent all those years trying to kill. The Takeaway talks to Dr. Joel Weinstock, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts University Medical Center.
In one of his final press conferences yesterday, President Bush patted reporters on the back with one hand while his other hand pounded the podium in defense of his presidential decisions. The mercurial nature of the conference left us wondering, is there any connection between how a president leaves office and their post-presidential legacy? To answer that question we turn to David Eisenhower the director of the Institute of Public Service at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and grandson of President Eisenhower.
The unemployment numbers for December are out and the jobless rate hit 7.2 percent. Additionally, payroll employment dropped by 524,000 over the month. While this is pretty much what economists expected, it is still shocking in that it is one of the biggest monthly drops ever in this modern post-war economy. Here to tell us about how the losses have accelerated is Kelly Evans of the Wall Street Journal.
New Movie Releases: 'Men in Black 3' and 'Moonrise Kingdom'
Why Increased Immigration is the Solution for America's Ailing Economy
Is the Private Era in Space Officially Upon Us?
