Paralympic Games in Vancouver

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The Vancouver Winter Olympics may be over but athletes from around the globe are still competing in British Columbia, this time in the Paralympics. Rick Hansen is following the Games in Vancouver. He’s a former Canadian Paralympian and an activist for people with spinal cord injuries. Jeb Sharp talks with him. Download MP3(Photo: Nicholas Wolaver)

• BBC coverage
• Rick Hansen Foundation
• Rick Hansen videos

Touch screen production proves toxic

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Touch screens on high-tech gadgets may be fun to use, but making them is another story. Kathleen McLaughlin is a reporter with Global Post based in China. She’s found that in at least one Chinese factory that produces touch screens, workers were exposed to a toxic solvent that violated local codes and was used without proper safety equipment. Host Jeb Sharp speaks with Kathleen McLaughlin. Download MP3 (Photo: Mikael Häggström)

• Global Post: Kathleen McLaughlin’s series “Silicon Sweatshops”
• Photo Gallery: Silicon Sweatshops
• The World: Lead recycling in Senegal
• The World’s Technology Podcast

Tech Podcast: Wikileaks, Hacktivism, and Four Views of the ‘Net

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This week’s Technology Podcast highlights some of the material the BBC has been producing as part of its special series of reports, called SuperPower, on the Internet. We’ve got an interesting and in-depth look at the website Wikileaks, as well as a report on the rise on online activism, or “hacktivism” as some call it. You can also hear a series of four short opinion pieces from some big digital thinkers on the future of the global Internet.

• Download this episode of the Technology Podcast
• Subscribe to the Tech Podcast via iTunes
• Subscribe to the podcast via RSS
• More links and pictures from this episode

Young soldiers in Iraq

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Anchor Jeb Sharp speaks with New York Times correspondent Dexter Filkins about the many young soldiers he’s met while covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Filkins has written a personal essay on young soldiers at war for this weekend’s New York Times Magazine.

• “Lost Soldiers” by Dexter Filkins
• Slideshow: the shrine down the hall

Obama cancels Indonesia trip

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President Obama has postponed a scheduled three-day trip to Jakarta until June because of the pending vote in Congress over the President’s massive health care bill. Anchor Jeb Sharp has details.

Global warming opportunities

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Melting ice in the Arctic could mean better business opportunities for China. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad explains.

• SIPRI report: China prepares for an ice-free Arctic

Geo Quiz

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Our daily geography puzzler.

Immigrant activists mobilize again

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Latino voters in the West turned out in record numbers to vote for President Obama in 2008. Now they are mobilizing again for immigration reform, as Kirk Siegler reports.

Geo Answer

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The answer to today’s Geo Quiz is Trinidad and Tobego.

Indian Jazz Suites

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A few years back, a classical Indian dance guru crossed paths with a young tap dancer. They met at an event called “The Festival of the Feet.” The two wound up improvising together on stage and decided to join forces. This weekend, Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith celebrate the fifth anniversary of their project — Indian Jazz Suites — with the start of a new tour. Reporter Ruxandra Guidi has the story.

• Tour dates
• Global Hit on Facebook
• Global Hit archive

Music Heard on Air for March 19, 2010

Tunes Spun On The World Between Our Reports For March 18, 2010. Artists featured are Kila, Lamine Konte, Ensemble FisFuz, Claro la Luna.

Swearing in Irish, storytelling in Scots, rapping in Khmer

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Two takes on the Irish language: one from Patrick’s dad, who was a schoolboy in the early years of Ireland’s independence, when studying Irish was an exercise in nation-building. Then, an interview with Manchan Magan who made a TV series about traveling around Ireland speaking only Irish. Next, we hear from Alexander McCall Smith: his latest offering in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is a children’s book in the Scots language. Finally, hip-hop artist Boomer Da Sharpshooter who grew up speaking English but now raps in Cambodia’s main language, Khmer. Download MP3

Caribbean nation

This Caribbean nation is an archipelago that shares maritime boundaries with Venezuela. The country’s tourism ministry recently sponsored an international art competition for schoolchildren. An 11-year -old boy in Scotland won for his picture of a steel pan drum. So, where are we?

Entire program – March 18, 2010

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Today on The World: What the Arab world is saying…and NOT saying…about the diplomatic spat between Israel and United States; Also, a new bridge links Sudan’s capital city to a tiny island lost in time; and the nation of Cyprus badly needs water, but it won’t take help from neighboring Turkey.

The Arab view of US-Israeli relations

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dismissed the idea that US-Israeli relations are in crisis amid a quarrel over Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. The spat has certainly been getting a lot of attention in both the US and Israel. But what’s been the reaction in the Arab world? The World’s Jason Margolis has more. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• The East Jerusalem issue
• Jerusalem’s controversial archaeology