Entire program – December 23, 2009

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Today on The World: A verdict is expected soon after a quick trial for Chinese’s most prominent dissident; Also, a rumbling volcano forces 47,000 to evacuate in the Philippines; Plus a Mennonite community thrives in one of Mexico’s most violent states.

Chinese dissident on trial for subversion

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Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (pictured with his wife Liu Xia in 2002) has gone on trial in Beijing on charges of “inciting subversion of state power”. Liu, a prominent government critic and veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, could be jailed for 15 years if convicted. He has been in jail since 2008, after being arrested for writing a document calling for political reform in China. The US, EU, and human rights groups say the trial is politically motivated and have called on Beijing to release Liu. China has dismissed criticism of the trial as an “unacceptable” attempt to interfere in its internal affairs. Mary Kay Magistad reports.

• BBC coverage
• Human Rights Watch: “Trial travesty of justice”

Mexican Mennonites

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The northern Mexican State of Chihuahua is one of Mexico’s most violent, riven by almost daily murders, kidnappings and armed robberies linked to Mexico’s drug trade. But Christian Mennonites, who above all are pacifists, are also a part of the state’s tapestry. The World’s Lorne Matalon traveled to Chihuahua to meet some of them.
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• Illustrated transcript
• Lorne Matalon’s pictures of Chihuahuan Mennonites
• Lorne Matalon’s Mexico stories

Philippine volcano ‘may erupt within days’

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Scientists in the Philippines have raised the alert level for the volatile volcano Mount Mayon, amid fears of an imminent eruption. The cone-shaped volcano has already been emitting lava and ash for days. About 40,000 people who live near Mount Mayon have been moved to temporary shelters. Marco Werman gets the latest from reporter Sunshine DeLeon in Manilla. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• In pictures: Filipinos flee volcano

Coquito Masters

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You might say that coquito is the Puerto Rican version of eggnog. About 200 coquito connoisseurs gathered this past weekend in New York to compete in the annual Coquito Masters contest. Debbie Quinones is the founder of the International Coquito Federation. Marco Werman talks with her. Download MP3 (AP Photo:El Museo del Barrio, Federico Rodriguez-Caldentey)

• Coquito recipes
• New York Times coverage
• Coquito Masters contest

China portrayed as obstacle at Copenhagen

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with British environmental activist Mark Lynas about China’s actions in the Copenhagen climate summit. Lynas wrote an article in today’s Guardian’s called “How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room.”

The year of Obama

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The World’s Alex Gallafent takes a look back at the year of Obama in foreign policy.

Tevye’s enduring popularity in Ukraine

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The writer Sholem Aleichem captured the life of Jewish shtetls a hundred years ago in his short stories about Tevye the Milkman. Those stories were the basis for the musical, Fiddler on the Roof. Correspondent Brigid McCarthy reports on the enduring popularity of Tevye in Ukraine today.

Geo Quiz

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Our daily geography puzzler.

Geo answer

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For today’s Geo Quiz, we were looking for a French economic center that’s home to a new hotel where people can live like hamsters. The answer is city of Nantes …in western France…and the hotel is called…what else? La Villa Hamster. Anchor Marco Werman finds out more from one of the hotel’s owners.

Global Hit

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Correspondent Betto Arcos tells us about Carlos Varela, a Cuban musician who is lobbying Congress to change the US travel ban to allow Cuban and American artists to travel freely to each other’s countries.

War costs for Afghanistan; Helmand dam project halted; CIA “black sites” in Lithuania

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This episode of The World’s American Influence podcast gets into the costs of the war in Afghanistan; the background to a huge reconstruction project that’s been in hold, the Kajakai dam in Helmand province, Afghanistan; and finally, Lithuania comes clean on the two CIA-run “black sites” that were located outside the capital, Vilnius. Download MP3

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Music Heard on the Air for Weds, Dec 23, 2009

Between the stories on The World, we heard from Mario Grigorov, Jan Garbarek, Oran Etkin, Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder, and Praful

World Books Podcast: Pornografia Redux

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Hailed by Milan Kundera as one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century, Polish novelist and playwright Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969) has not garnered the readership in English he deserves. That may change with the efforts of Danuta Borchardt, who has translated three of Gombrowicz’s novels. Her latest translation is of his 1966 novel “Pornografia.” (She won a National Translation Award for her version of “Ferdydurke,” Gombrowicz’s classic black comedy about the virtues of immaturity.) World Books editor Bill Marx talks to Borchardt about the erotic gamesmanship in “Pornografia,” the hazards of translating from the Polish, and why she decided to translate Gombrowicz in the first place.

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• Bill Marx’s Arts Fuse blog

Lorne Matalon’s Mexico Stories

Lorne Matalon has been reporting from Mexico for The World since November 2007. He has covered the Mexican ‘war on drugs’ from the frontlines, going on patrol with the Mexican armed forces. Lorne also covered immigration and economic stories from south of the border. He has also reported from Venezuela for The World.