The sexy history of spy swaps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As the cold-war ear spy swap begins to wind down, host Marco Werman talks with Edward Lucas, author of the book The New Cold War: Putin’s Russia and the Threat to the West about the swiftness of the swap and who got the better deal. Download MP3

States, Feds battle over border control

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Millions of Mexicans have crossed the US Mexico border illegally. That prompted the Arizona legislature to pass a tough immigration enforcement law, which is scheduled to take effect July 29th. The Obama administration has sued Arizona. The President argues that immigration is the responsibility of the federal government, not individual states. Host Marco Werman speaks with UCLA professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez, who researched the history of federal vs. state control of US borders and immigration. (Photo: Gordon Hyde, courtesy of the US Army) Download MP3

Basques, Catalans shrug off Spain’s World Cup fever

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The climax of the World Cup soccer tournament is upon us. The championship match pits the Netherlands against Spain. Dutch fans insist that their team will surprise the odds-makers and win it all. Fans in Spain are no less enthusiastic about their team, but some other Spanish soccer fans couldn’t care less. We’re talking about the independence-minded people who live in the Basque Country and in Catalonia. Sizable minorities in both regions say they don’t feel Spanish. The World’s Gerry Hadden explains. Download MP3

Mali’s Vieux Farka Toure rocks World Cup ceremony

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The vuvuzela was heard at every World Cup match in South Africa. Thousands of them in unison were annoying and dangerous to the ears. But there were pleasing sounds at the World Cup. Malian musician Vieux Farka Toure played at the opening ceremony at the Orlando stadium in Johannesburg. Download MP3

• Check out Vieux’s Myspace page for tour dates

Spy swap complete

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
A plane from New York and plane from Moscow landed in Vienna today,
exchanged passengers, and took off again. Thus ended the US and
Russia’s largest swap of accused spies since the days of the Cold War. The World’s Laura Lynch reports from London.

Italian journalists strike over wiretapping bill

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Most of Italy’s journalists went on strike today. They’re protesting
a bill by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that would tighten rules on
wiretapping and imposes fines on journalists for publishing phone
transcripts. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Sergio Romano, the
political commentator for Corriera della Serra in Milan.

Catchy names for Japan’s many political parties

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
This weekend Japanese voters will be choosing members of Japan’s Upper House. A dozen parties are on the ballot, and some of the newer ones have come up with some unusual names to try to appeal to apathetic voters. Akiko Fujita has more from Tokyo.

UN condemns attack on warship

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
The U-N Security Council today unanimously condemned the attack that sank a South Korean warship earlier this year. But it stopped short of directly blaming North Korea. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Colum Lynch, who covers the UN for The Washington Post.

Mexico scouts soccer talent in the US

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Lots of Mexican boys on both sides of the U-S border dream of playing pro soccer. Scouts from Mexico’s pro teams make regular trips to the US to find good players to bring back home. Reporter Linda Lutton of WBEZ in Chicago followed a couple of those scouts on their talent hunt in America. (Photo: Linda Lutton) Download MP3

Geo Quiz: World Cup oracle

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
For today’s Geo Quiz we’ve got our eye on a German city along the Emscher River. The city’s located in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The coal mines and steel plants there closed down years ago. But the city’s sprawling shopping mall called the Centro is open for business. So is its aquarium. It seems the resident octopus is something of an oracle. Somehow the mollusk named Paul has an uncanny knack for predicting the outcome of World Cup matches.

Geo Answer

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
For today’s Geo Quiz, we were looking for a city on Germany’s Emscher
River where an octopus named Paul has shown an uncanny ability for
predicting the outcome of World Cup soccer matches. The answer is
Oberhausen in Germany. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Daniel Fey,
the spokesman at Oberhausen’s Sea Life Aquarium, where Paul the
octopus makes his predictions.

Geo Quiz

For today’s Geo Quiz we’ve got our eye on a German city along the Emscher River. The city’s located in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The coal mines and steel plants there closed down years ago. But the city’s sprawling shopping mall called the Centro is open for business. So is its aquarium. It seems the resident octopus is something of an oracle.

Music Heard on Air for July 9, 2010

Tunes Spun On The World Between Our Reports For July 9, 2010. Artists featured are Yoshida Brothers, Moriba Koita, Silina Musango, Kerekes Band, Ali Akbar Khan.

Entire Program: July 8, 2010

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Signs that a rumored US Russian spy swap may be under way though
U S and Russian officials aren’t commenting. Also, a British scientist at the center of a scandal that threatened public confidence in climate science is cleared of misconduct charges and a California-based urban design firm has a vision for a future Palestinian transit system.

Cold-war echoes in rumored spy swap

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It seems straight out of a John le Carre novel. A western spy pulled from a Russian prison close to the Arctic Circle. Russian spies arraigned in New York. Rumors swirling of a spy-swap, just like in the Cold War. Marco Werman speaks with Yuri Maloveryan from the BBC’s Russian service in Moscow to learn more about the other characters who may be involved in the rumored Russian spy swap. (Photo: Alexey SAZONOV/AFP/Getty Images) Download MP3