Tuesday, March 16, 2004 The Marketplace Morning Report with Kai Ryssdal and Tess Vigeland is a series of seven 9-minute business news modules airing weekdays. This timely report delivers a global business newscast and a hard-hitting feature report. Visit the archive to browse previous stories. Note: Each of the broadcasts contains some of the newscast items below and one of the features. Since only a few radio markets get all seven broadcasts, we've made them available below.

Broadcasts Listen: 2:50 | 3:50 | 4:50 | 5:50 | 6:50 | 7:50 | 8:50 (times are a.m., Pacific Standard Time)

Newscast Stories From New York: Bridgestone-Firestone is launching a new ad campaign this weekend, hoping to shed its bad reputation from the year 2000 tire recall. Jessica Smith explains what the company's doing. From Seattle: Microsoft is currently facing another antitrust decision, this time from the European Union -- and investors aren't shying away. Jason Paur reports. From Los Angeles: More and more international tourists are choosing the U.S. as their destination, according to a new Commerce Department report. Matthew Algeo has more. From Los Angeles: Movie and television studios are asking the FCC to reduce the quality of the image on your television. Lisa Napoli explains. From Los Angeles: Legal wiretapping doesn't extend to the Internet -- yet. Federal authorities are pushing the FCC to expand the Patriot Act. Julie Small reports. From Beijing: The AFL-CIO want the U.S. to put pressure on China for its labor practices -- but not everyone agrees that more tariffs will help the situation. Jocelyn Ford has the story. From London: As crude oil prices rise to a new all-time high, the international market worries about terrorism and limited supplies. Stephen Beard reports. From New York: Eight directors of Bank of America's Nations Fund will step down after facing charges they allowed improper trading in their mutual funds. Amy Scott reports. Features How U.S. strategic reserves work / Commentary - No Enron scandal for Shell With gas prices at record highs, some lawmakers are calling on the federal government to tap into the nation's strategic reserves. Ashley Milne-Tyte describes how those reserves work. Then, revised estimates of oil reserves at Shell have opened up probes into financial corruption at the oil company. Could this be the next Enron-style scandal? Commentator from "The Economist" Vijay Vaitheeswaran doesn't think so.

Ads blamed for kids' obesity Britain's top health and consumer groups say it's time to cut kids off of junk food -- and junk food advertising. As Marketplace's Stephen Beard reports, the groups blame the ads for the UK's rapidly expanding rates of childhood obesity.