Climategate scientist cleared of charges

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 scientist at the center of the so-called “climategate” fracas has been cleared of charges of scientific misconduct. It’s the latest in a series of independent reports upholding the integrity of climate science following last fall’s “climategate” fracas. Host Marco Werman talks about the latest report with Edward Acton, the Vice Chancellor of the University of East Anglia in the UK, where scientist Phil Jones was in charge of climate research. (Photo: UAE/CRE) Download MP3

• The Independent Climate Change Email Review
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• University response to report

Planned rail would link West Bank and Gaza

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.

There is a proposed project developed by a Santa Monica-based urban design firm and the Rand Corporation to build a national transportation and infrastructure corridor in the Palestinian territories. Called Arc, it would link the West Bank and Gaza by rail line. Host Marco Werman speaks with Doug Suisman of Suisman Urban Design, one of the partners involved in project. Download MP3

• Video of proposed Palestinian infrastructure corridor
• More on The Arc from Rand Corp.

Kid’s TV in more than just English

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.

Once in every while, a “parents group” complains about the content of kids TV, whether it’s a gay Teletubby or single-sex parents of a Postcards with Buster episode. The most recent controversy involving Spanish-speaking Dora the Explorer, which prompts the question: is it confusing with TV characters sprinkle their English with Spanish (Dora) or Chinese (Ni Hao Kai Lan). The World’s Alex Gallafent reports. Download MP3

• Dora The Explorer
• Dora La Exploradora (in Spanish)
• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
• Sesame Street

Spy swap in motion?

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 MP3The 10 defendants in the Russian spies case entered guilty pleas in New York today. That means they’ve admitted to acting as agents of a foreign government while on U-S soil. And now a federal judge has ordered their immediate deportation. In a moment, we’ll hear about some of the names that might be on Russia’s swap list. The most prominent of them is Igor Sutyagin. He’s a Russian physicist imprisoned for passing secret information to the West, something he’s always denied. The World’s Laura Lynch begins our coverage.

Israel to expel Palestinian lawmakers

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
Some Palestinian legislators from East Jerusalem may be expelled and
sent to Gaza. Israel says their link to Hamas means they have to
leave. The World’s Matthew Bell has the story.

German bridge

Today’s Geo Quiz harks back to the Cold War. We’re looking for the name of a bridge that spans the Havel River in Germany. It’s nicknamed the “Bridge of Spies.” Its where the US and the Soviet Union stood face to face and exchanged their secret agents.

Israel and South Africa’s apartheid

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
Anchor Marco Werman talks with Sasha Polakow-Suransky about his book,
“The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid
South Africa.”

Geo Quiz

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
Today’s Geo Quiz harks back to the Cold War. We’re looking for the name of a bridge that spans the Havel River in Germany. It’s nicknamed the “Bridge of Spies.” Its where the US and the Soviet Union stood face to face and exchanged their secret agents. So can you name this bridge that figures in the bygone world of Cold War espionage?

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 bridge in Germany where
the US and the Soviet Union once swapped their captured secret agents. The answer is the Glienicke Bridge, which spans the Havel River in Germany. The World’s David Leveille tells us more about this Cold War “bridge of spies.”

Elizabeth Ayoub mixes culture, beats

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
Singer Elizabeth Ayoub has a rich cultural heritage. Born in
Venezuela to Lebanese immigrants, she was educated at American schools there. Her new album is a reflection of this cultural mix. Anchor Marco Werman has today’s Global Hit.

Music Heard on Air for July 8, 2010

Tunes Spun On The World Between Our Reports For July 8, 2010. Artists featured are Ali Farka Toure, Ry Cooder, Yat-Kha, Urlich Schanuss, Jesse Cook, Bela Fleck.

Audio Slideshow: Idi Amin Slept Here

The Ducor hotel in the Liberian capital of Monrovia was once considered one of the finest hotels in all of Africa. The hotel shut its doors shortly after civil war erupted in Liberia in 1989. During the war, the Ducor became home to thousands of squatters. A Libyan company now has plans to revamp the old hotel.

Entire Program: July 7, 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
Rumors swirl that Moscow and Washington are getting ready for a spy swap. Also, a new report in Britain examines home-grown terror plots on the 5th anniversary of the 7-7 London bomb attacks. Plus, a man in Tokyo complains to his friend that there should be a ceremony to mark divorce, and a booming business is born.

Spy swap rumors

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.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with The New York Times’ Andrew Kramer in Moscow about unconfirmed reports that Washington and Moscow may be getting ready for a swap involving the suspected Russian spies arrested in the US last week. (Photo: AFP) Download MP3

• BBC Coverage

In Liberia, a different kind of factory

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.

A new sewing factory in Monrovia is producing t-shirts bound for the United States. It’s staffed by 32 Liberian women, and an American boss who has returned to his native country. The enterprise is trying to become one of the first start-up factories in the world, and the very first in Africa, to manufacture “fair trade certified” apparel. The women receive a fair wage, health insurance, and a monthly bag of rice. The World’s Jason Margolis reports. (Photo: Jason Margolis) Download MP3

• Audio Slideshow: The Ducor Hotel
• Jason Margolis’ Rebuilding Liberia series
• Jason Margolis’ interview with President Sirleaf (MP3, 12:55)
• Transfair USA