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Archive for November 6th, 2009

Entire program – November 6, 2009

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Today on The World: A look at military mental health caregivers in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings; A hotel in Berlin today offers the creature comforts of a 1970s Eastern Bloc guesthouse; and mixing it up with British songwriter Gemma Ray.

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Muslims in the armed forces

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President Barack Obama has said the “entire nation” is grieving after a shooting that killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas. The President ordered all flags at the White House and other Federal buildings to be flown at half-staff. US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a US-born Muslim opened fire at the Army base on Thursday. His cousin told the media that Hasan had been battling racial harassment because of his “Middle Eastern ethnicity”. The tragedy casts a light on Muslims serving in the US military. The World’s Matthew Bell reports. Download MP3 (AP Photo:David Morris, Killeen Daily Herald)

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Electricity for rural Nicaragua

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georgina-marque150Correspondent Eliza Barclay reports from Nicaragua how two American brothers tried a technological fix to alleviate poverty in that Central American country, and our Science Forum invites you discuss aid projects online with environmental engineer Anu Ramaswami of the University of Colorado in Denver. Download MP3


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East German guesthouse nostalgia

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hotelThe World’s Europe Correspondent, Gerry Hadden, is in Berlin working on stories for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. He spent last night in the Ostel hotel. It’s a hotel refurbished to resemble a guesthouse in 1970s communist East Germany. Gerry gives us a tour. Download MP3 (Photo: Gerry Hadden)


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Gemma Ray

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gemma-ray-zoltar150As long as there have been cool themes and rhythms, musicians have been recycling them. The trick is how to pull that off without sounding derivative. Take the songs of British singer-songwriter Gemma Ray. They sound familiar, but when you stop and listen, you know you’ve never heard this before. Download MP3


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Global Political Cartoons: Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2009

tom150Afghan President Hamed Kharzai has the last laugh in this week’s cartoons. He literally thumbs his nose at the rest of us. Meanwhile, President Obama tries to keep the embattled president on message. And, the H1N1 flu is living up to its pandemic image. It’s everywhere!

>>> Click here to start the cartoon slideshow

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How Happy is the Economy?

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McDonald's

The U.S. recession is over! (Technically speaking by one measure.) That’s because the nation’s gross domestic product is back in positive territory. But for the 10 percent of Americans who are out looking for work, it sure doesn’t feel like much of an economic recovery. Should GDP be the bar by which we judge economic health? And what about measuring a nation’s economic prowess by Big Mac sales? Many have argued that the mark of economic progress, or the triumph of American capitalism depending on your vantage, is when a nation serves up McDonald’s. By that argument, what does it say about a nation when its golden arches disappear?

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The stress of treating combat stress

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Tulane University trauma expert Charles Figley about the kind of work that the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, did. Hasan is an Army psychiatrist with a specialty in treating combat stress.

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Discussing the Goldstone Report

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The UN endorsed a controversial report yesterday that accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes in Gaza. On that same day, the report’s author, Judge Richard Goldstone met in a public forum with a former Israeli ambassador to discuss the report’s accusations. Correspondent Amy Bracken reports from Waltham, Massachusetts.

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Mentoring Afghan police

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Earlier this week an Afghan policeman turned on five British soldiers and killed them. It’s not the first time that the people being trained to take over security in their country have attacked the very ones who provide that training. Retired Captain Doug Beattie says he twice encountered situations that made him question the loyalty of his Afghan allies. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with him.

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Winning the trust of Afghans

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with US Army Major James Gant about his experience navigating tribal loyalties in Afghanistan in order to help the secure their support for Allied troops there.

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Geo Quiz

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Our daily geography puzzler.

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Geo answer

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A Swiss company called Solar Impulse is in the very early stages of mounting what it hopes will be the first solar-powered flight around the world. For today’s Geo Quiz, we asked just how long a flight that would be if the flight plan circled the earth at the equator. The answer is 24,901 miles…or approximately 25,000 miles.

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Music Heard on Air for November 6, 2009

Tunes Spun On The Word Between our reports for November 6, 2009. Artists featured are Calamus, Bela Fleck, Moriba Koita, Justin Adams, Juldeh Camara, Jonthan Richman and The Modern Lovers, Mady Kouyate.

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Understanding Chinese, birds and Glaswegians

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White-crowned-Sparrow

We select our top five language-related stories from the past month. Among them: Some birds develop distinct dialects based on the decibel levels of their habitats; Companies doing business in Glasgow are offered interpreters to translate the local dialect; And Chinese expats do battle over which script U.S. schools should use to teach Chinese – traditional characters, favored in Taiwan and Hong Kong, or simplified characters, used in mainland China.

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