Music

Auto sales are on the rise in Detroit, and not just for people with perfect credit. Chrysler and other companies are targeting customers with subprime credit, and giving them interest rates well above what you might imagine. Host Michel Martin speaks with NPR's Sonari Glinton about who's doing it, and what it might mean for the economic recovery.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, the auto industry is bouncing back and at least some of that recovery is thanks to subprime lending. We talk to NPR's Sonari Glinton about which carmakers are floating loans to customers with less than pristine credit. We'll talk about whether that's a problem or not.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We're going to start the program today by focusing on some pressing international stories. Later we'll try to find out why some demonstrators in Tel Aviv attacked African migrants last week, and we'll also talk about how Israel's government is responding to this. But first we turn to developments in Syria, where the violence that's been going on for a year has taken a particularly vicious turn.

In recent years, J. Tillman has moved from Seattle to Los Angeles, quit his gig as the drummer of Fleet Foxes and abandoned his real name, all to become Father John Misty. On his way into KCRW's studio for a live set, Tillman grabbed a photo of David Lynch off the walls in the hallway — a fitting gesture to his surreal musical alter ego. Here, he shimmies his way through a dedication of sorts to an L.A.

Gross Domestic Product — GDP — may have its limits. But it's a useful, broad measure for looking at national economies. It's basically the total dollar value of all of the goods and services a country produces in a year.

Here are all the countries with GDP of over $100 billion:

Having a very large GDP means a country is an important economic player in the world. But it doesn't necessarily mean the country's citizens are rich.

The man who has represented the interests of Syrians living in Southern California as honorary consul general there has resigned from the volunteer position because he "could no longer bear witness to such barbaric crimes" by the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The music of multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen breaks the constraints of form, yet each track is built around poignant, emotional melodies. Tiersen quickly abandoned the academy training of his early childhood, smashing his violin and adopting the electric guitar instead. He began recording in the summer of 1993, and first found commercial success in his native France with 1998's Le Phare, recorded in two months on the island of Ouessant.

In spite of the early hour and chilly air, Sauti Sol arrived at the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge in Austin, Texas, in good spirits — not to mention colorful jackets that provided a welcome contrast to the cloudy sky. There, the Afro-fusion quartet from Nairobi greeted the morning birds and joggers with a version of its recent single, "Love or Leave." The song amply demonstrates the group's signature acoustic sound, which is anchored by the guitar of Polycarp Otieno and vocal harmonies of Bien-Aime Baraza, Willis Chimano and Delvin Mudigi.

When it comes to businesses providing health coverage for employees, there's a mad dash for the exits, right?

Maybe not, according to a recent survey of more than 1,300 U.S. employers of varying sizes. Consultants at Oliver Wyman's health practice wondered how employers are weighing the increasing costs of providing health insurance and the potential exit strategy paths available under the federal health law (if it survives the Supreme Court).