NPR News

Part one of a two-part series.

From the sky, the country of Kiribati looks like strands of yarn floating on the sea: 33 tiny islands, scattered across an area of the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Alaska.

Nearly half the population, more than 40,000 people, is crowded into just one of those strands –- the capital island, South Tarawa.

'Tis the season of the owner. Forget players. Owners are all the rage in sports. They're threatening to close down the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.

In Washington, they're threatening the First Amendment. In New York, the Mets' owners are accused of being in cahoots with Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. In Los Angeles, they're even making a fine mess of the Dodgers by getting divorced. I can't recall the last time owners made the tabloids getting divorced.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released details Tuesday about something we first reported here Monday.

The agency is breaking up the district office in West Virginia that oversees Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine, where 29 mine workers died in a violent explosion last year.

Pity, pitavastatin.

A year and a half ago, this cholesterol-fighter, sold as Livalo, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sale in the United States. By that time, though, the statin Zocor, for years Merck's best-selling medicine, and Pravachol, a hit for Bristol-Myers, had lost patent protection and were available as cheap generics. Pfizer's Lipitor was still going strong for people who wanted a brand name.

So who needed Livalo?

On Tuesday, Apple announced that users will be able to subscribe to magazines, audio and video services using Apple's App Store — the same one-click system they've used to buy applications and music on their iPhones and iPads.

It's exactly what was predicted when Apple and News Corp. presented a newspaper called The Daily, which will publish exclusively on the iPad.

The catch? Apple wants 30 percent of the money from each subscription.