Business

The pay equity issue, which President Obama and Democrats are making a central theme of the 2014 midterm election campaign, is often framed as a women's issue. But Democrats are expecting it will also have crossover appeal to men.

For many men, it's a matter of self-interest: Two-income families are part of a long-term trend, as many families find two paychecks essential to cover the bills in an era of rising prices and stagnant, if not falling, wages.

In the political battle between Ukraine and Russia, one of the biggest pawns is chocolate.

That's because the current front-runner in Ukraine's presidential race is Petro Poroshenko, known as "the Chocolate King." His billion-dollar empire was founded on candy factories.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Now it's time for our money coach conversation. That's the part of the program where we talk about the economy and personal finance.

Microsoft is ending support Tuesday for Windows XP, which means the company won't be fixing any fresh problems that crop up with the 12-year-old operating system. "PCs running Windows XP after April 8, 2014, should not be considered to be truly protected," says a company statement.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And today's last word in business is: Bliss.

That's the name of an iconic photograph that you might associate with this sound.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FOR WINDOWS XP OPERATING SYSTEM)

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Bliss is the default computer desktop image you see on your computer when you launch Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. The photo features rolling green hills, a blue sky with white clouds. The colors are so vivid you might think it's fake.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It is that time of year, millions of Americans are scrambling to file their tax returns before April 15th. Some owe money. Some who had too much withheld from paychecks will get refunds. And some workers will actually get money from the government. Not a refund - hard cash, in the form of the Earned Income Tax Credit - one of the government's major anti-poverty programs. You might have heard about it. You might even qualify for it.

The nation's airlines are running late more often and losing more suitcases. But passengers are complaining less, that's boosted airline quality ratings to their highest level ever.

During her grilling before Congress last week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra insisted the new General Motors is different and better than the old one.

So as GM begins to fix nearly 2.6 million vehicles for an ignition-switch defect that has been linked to at least 13 deaths, we decided to put that claim to the test.

Exactly how new is the new GM?

NBC's Saturday Night Live answered with a parody version of Barra's explanation:

When Emily Amanatullah was a graduate student studying management, she couldn't help noticing that a lot of the classic advice in the field was aimed more at men than women. Negotiation tactics in particular seemed tougher for women to master.

"You realize they're pretty at odds with how women comport themselves and how they're expected to comport themselves," she says.

She started to talk to other women and to examine her own behavior. All the women she spoke to said they hated advocating for themselves at work. But they had no trouble speaking up for colleagues.

Why hasn't fish farming taken off in the United States?

It's certainly not for lack of demand for the fish. Slowly but surely, seafood that's grown in aquaculture is taking over the seafood section at your supermarket, and the vast majority is imported. The shrimp and tilapia typically come from warm-water ponds in southeast Asia and Latin America. Farmed salmon come from big net pens in the coastal waters of Norway or Chile.