Morning Edition on NPR & Classical Music

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

General Motors is making a bigger effort in what's become the world's biggest car market. At the Beijing Auto Show this week, GM said it plans to open 600 new dealerships in China this year. GM is trying to grow Chinese sales while they still can.

NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Shanghai.

Victoria Beckham has teamed up with Range Rover to produce a special edition Evoque luxury SUV. The former Spice Girl, married to soccer star David Beckham, has designed fashion lines before, but says this is her first foray into automobiles.

Wal-Mart could face significant legal liability following a report accusing the company of systematic bribery in Mexico. A report in The New York Times claims Wal-Mart officials in Mexico paid more than $20 million in bribes to help the company open more stores there. The story also says top Wal-Mart executives in the U.S. looked the other way. The company's stock price fell nearly 5 percent Monday.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The scandal that's engulfed Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is taking center stage in London, at the Royal Courts of Justice, once again. Here, his son James Murdoch.

JAMES MURDOCH: I swear by the mighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's follow up now on the situation in Bahrain. The country managed to stage its annual Grand Prix last weekend, which was, as we've reported, taken as a success for a government under intense pressure from protests. But at least one person was found dead after security forces clashed with demonstrators. This morning we've reached John Timoney. He's one of the best-known cops in America, former chief of Philadelphia and Miami, and now advising Bahrain's ministry of interior.

Mr. Timoney, welcome to the program.

Weeks ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook released its first quarter profits Monday, and they are down 12 percent from a year ago. At the same time, company expenses have nearly doubled. Facebook attributes some of that to market expansion, which requires more employees and infrastructure.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And let's turn now to the first political leader to be put on trial for his role in the global banking crisis. Yesterday, a special court in Iceland found that country's former prime minister guilty of essentially mishandling the banking bubble that led to Iceland's financial collapse.

Michael Stothard has been covering this trial for The Financial Times. He joined us to talk more about it. Good morning.

MICHAEL STOTHARD: Good morning.

Misaki Murakami and his family lost everything in last year's tsunami in Japan. Waves carried his soccer ball — covered in notes from third grade friends — to a beach in Alaska. The ball is being returned.

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