World Books Review: Driving the Mean Streets of Paris

He’s far too poetic to pass for Martin Scorsese’s Travis Bickle, but the ruminative nighttime cab-driver who narrates “Night Roads,” the fourth novel by Russian writer Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971) wheels guiltily and memorably through the same type of hollowed–out urban apocalypse.

Music Heard on Air for July 13, 2009

A List of Music Featured Between our reports for July 13, 2009

Music Heard on Air for July 13, 2009

A List of Music Featured Between our reports for July 13, 2009

Entire program – July 10, 2009

Today on The World: A report from Ghana, the last stop on President Obama’s overseas trip this week – a conversation with photo-journalist Otto Pohl about his return to Russia to find the man who shot him there 16 years ago, and how the music of gypsy jazz master Django Reinhardt is kept alive and [...]

President Obama in Ghana

The World’s Laura Lynch reports from Ghana as President Obama arrives on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as President.
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Al-Qaeda in North Africa

Security and counterterrorism officials are concerned that a group affiliated with Al Qaeda is gaining strength in North Africa. The group is called “Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” or ACRIM. New York Times reporter Eric Schmitt speaks with Anchor Jeb Sharp.
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Searching for my shooter

Anchor Jeb Sharp speaks with photo-journalist Otto Pohl, who was shot while covering a standoff between protestors and Russian security forces in 1993. Pohl recently returned to Russia to try to find the soldier who shot him.
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View pictures from the shooting incident in 1993

Adding to the Five Foot Shelf

100 years ago, the President of Harvard University claimed you could get a solid liberal education by reading a certain collection of books that would fit on a five-foot shelf. What’s been added to – or taken off – that shelf since? Anchor Jeb Sharp finds out. Listen Which books would you like to see [...]

Curfews in Urumqi

The World’s Mary Kay Magistad has an update on the mood in the Chinese city of Urumqi, where 184 people were killed during riots this week. The riots have ended, but the government re-imposed a nighttime curfew today.
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Unrest in western China

China’s response to ethnic clashes

Anchor Jeb Sharp speaks with Gardner Bovingdon, professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, about China’s response to the unrest in the western province of Xinjiang.
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Asian Americans and gambling

Casino revenues are way down in the economic downturn. But there’s one group of gamblers that seems to be bucking the trend – Asian Americans. The World’s Jason Margolis reports.
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Geo Quiz

Our daily geography puzzler. Listen

Hacking into celebrity cell phones

The News of The World, a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, has allegedly been hacking into thousands of celebrity cell phones. Anchor Jeb Sharp speaks with The World’s Technology Correspondent Clark Boyd to find out how this sort of hacking is done.
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Global Hit and Geo Quiz Answer

The World’s Carol Hills profiles the jazz quartet, Babik. The group is from Buffalo, New York, but their musical inspiration is Belgian-born jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. And for today’s Geo Quiz, we were looking for the European city currently hosting a rock festival called “Exit.” The answer is Novi Sad in Serbia. Listen

Serbian city

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