Slovenia or Slovakia?

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The United States plays its second game of the soccer World Cup tomorrow and the Geo Quiz asks: who is the US playing? Slovenia? Or is it Slovakia? Some people are having trouble telling the difference. The World’s Alex Gallafent tries to sort it out for us. Download MP3 (flickr image: Jaime Silva)

• World Cup 2010 on The World
• Slovenia info
• Slovakia tourism portal

Egypt’s “most reliable news source”

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What happens when you take rice, macaroni, lentils, and chickpeas, and mix it all together with fried onions and tomato sauce? You get koshary, one of Egypt’s national dishes. Koshary is also the name of Egypt’s newest satirical online newspaper, El Koshary Today. Reporter Julia Simon went out for koshary in downtown Cairo with the paper’s staff and she sent this report. Download MP3

• El Koshary Today
• America’s “finest news source”

World Sacred Music Festival

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The appeal of American gospel in Fes, Morocco is the subject of our Global Hit today. Reporter Betto Arcos recently attended the World Sacred Music Festival in Fes. Attendees were there to hear gospel songs from The Blind Boys of Alabama. Download MP3

• World Sacred Music Festival
• The Blind Boys of Alabama

The Girl in the Picture

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The picture of a girl screaming as she ran naked down a road after suffering extreme burns in a napalm attack became the one of the most famous photos of the Vietnam War. When the image was taken in 1972 a British TV news crew led by War Correspondent Christopher Wain was filming as well. Wain helped to save nine-year-old Kim Phuc’s life that day – but they haven’t seen each other for nearly 38 years. Now, exclusively for BBC Radio 4, the pair has been reunited. Download MP3

• Nick Ut describes the day he photographed Kim Phuc
• More Best of the BBC
• BBC Radio 4

Ultra-orthodox Jews protest court ruling

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Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews took to the streets in Jerusalem today to protest a Supreme Court order to integrate their religious girls’ school. The ultra-Orthodox Jews of European heritage are refusing to allow their daughters to study with other ultra-Orthodox girls whose parents were born in Arab countries. Correspondent Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.

Is it time to ease up on BP?

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The World’s Laura Lynch reports on the growing resentment in Britain against the continuing punishment of BP. Some complain that as BP’s share prices fall, American investors will also be the ones to lose.

Cuba fears gulf spill contamination

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U.S. and Cuban officials have put aside nearly 50 years of frigid relations to hold talks on how to prepare for possible oil contamination from the BP oil spill. Some say oil from the BP spill could reach Cuba’s shores. Anchor Marco Werman finds out more from the BBCs Michael Voss, who’s in Havana.

Was ethnic cleansing an aim of Kyrgyzstan violence?

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Ethnic fighting in southern Kyrgyzstan took at least at 190 lives this week. Guardian correspondent Luke Harding is in Osh where he’s been talking with survivors. He tells host Marco Werman that he sees increasing evidence that the violence was the result of a well-planned campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Colombian front-runner

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In Colombia, the man who led the successful military campaign against the Marxist FARC rebels is now leading in the polls ahead of Sunday’s presidential election. Correspondent John Otis has the story.

Estonia leads in cyber-security

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The World’s Clark Boyd heads for Estonia, which is hosting a major cyber-security conference this week.

Geo Quiz

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Our daily geography.

Music Heard on Air for June 17, 2010

Tunes Spun On The World Between Our Reports For June 17, 2010. Artists featured are Ali Farka Toure, Ry Cooder, Bassekou Kouyate, Ngoni ba, Orchestra Lissanga, Jesse Cook, Mongo Santamaria.

Entire program – June 16, 2010

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Today on The World: Mourning the dead in the wake of violent ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan; Also, Chinese workers are increasingly demanding safer working conditions; Plus a new report finds a high rate of female genital mutilation in Kurdish northern Iraq.

The surge in Afghanistan

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Top Pentagon officials appealed to Congress for patience on Wednesday despite setbacks in the Afghan war, describing the conflict as a “roller coaster” of ups and downs and insisting progress was being made. The current strategy hinges on surging US forces into southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency, before starting a possible gradual withdrawal in 2011. Ben Gilbert reports from Kandahar. Download MP3 (flickr photo: Isafmedia)

• Infrastructure for Afghanistan offensive
• Meeting with Afghan elders
• Ben Gilbert’s photos from Afghanistan

Kyrgyzstan’s Soviet past

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Fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek people in southern Kyrgyzstan has left more than 180 people dead, and thousands of Uzbeks have crossed the border to Uzbekistan. Marco Werman talks with Peter Zeihan of the global intelligence company Stratfor about the historical background of the two former Soviet republics. Download MP3

• Q&A: Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic violence
• In pictures: Aid arrives in Kyrgyzstan
• Ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan