Music Heard on Air for May 23, 2011

Tunes spun on The World between our reports for May 23, 2011. Artists featured are: Oki Dub Ainu Band, Ali Farka Toure, Moriba Koita, Les Yeux Novis, AfroCubism.

Returning Home to Japan

The flight attendants take away our breakfast trays, leaving less than an hour before landing at Tokyo’s Narita airport. I look at the flight map on the screen, and see the airplane icon hover over the northern tip of Honshu, the largest of the Japanese archipelago. The map shows Tokyo in the distance, and Fukushima in the forefront. I wonder if the airline’s flight map always showed this farming region. I wonder if it will now be an untouchable place in people’s minds, occupying the same place as Hiroshima and Nagasaki [...]

Marco Werman in Japan

Syrian Troops Kill Protesters

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Syrian security forces shot dead at least 20 people as mass protests again swept across the country after Friday prayers. Deaths are also being reported at protests in other parts of the country. The rallies come a day after President Barack Obama called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to lead a transition to democracy or “get out”. Reporter Ben Gilbert caught up with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Ben Gilbert reports. Download MP3

Latest Syria news from the BBC

Mumbai Attacks Accused Rana on Trial in Chicago

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Anchor Marco Werman talks with senior ProPublica reporter Sebastian Rotella about the trial in Chicago of Tahawwur Rana in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Rotella has written extensively on this case in the Washington Post. Download MP3

Sebastian Rotella’s reporting on the Rana trial

Israel’s Netanyahu in Washington

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the White House on Friday, one day after he blasted President Obama’s proposal that the future borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines. Anchor Marco Werman talks with The World’s Matthew Bell in Jerusalem. Matthew also reports on how much the personal relationship between Obama and Netanyahu matters to Israeli observers. Download MP3

Analysis: What does Obama’s stand on the 1967 borders achieve?

Why Sven Svensson Could be the Next Big Thing

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Another Scandinavian thriller, The Snowman by Jo Nesbo, is out. Nesbo’s books are global bestsellers like those by Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell. And like his predecessors, Nesbo’s books are grim, violent and political. The World’s Alex Gallafent asked some interested Scandinavians how they might freshen up the Nordic noir genre. They came up with a new storyline. Download MP3

Video: The Mysterious Bookstore in NYC

John Leguizamo’s ‘Ghetto Klown’ Music

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Actor John Leguizamo talks with anchor Marco Werman about a compilation of music he put together for the Fania label. He uses this music in his one-man Broadway show “Ghetto Klown”. Download MP3

Video: Trailer for “Ghetto Klown”

Home of the Prime Meridian

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Time to synchronize our clocks now to the Geo Quiz: we’re searching for a district of London. It’s home to the Royal Observatory which looks out over the River Thames. The observatory marks the location of the prime meridian. That’s 0 degrees longitude. It serves as the starting point for all time zones spanning the globe. Download MP3

Slideshow: Old Railway Maps of the World

Tokyo Power Company Loses Billions

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The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, reported net losses of more than $15 billion Friday. Seijiro Takeshita, director of Mizuho International in London, says a new structure is needed in Japan to cope with crisis management. Download MP3

The Taliban’s Account of Kandahar Jailbreak

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Last month’s escape of more than 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners from a Kandahar jail stunned and embarrassed Afghan authorities. Now, the Taliban have published their own account of how they tunneled into the jail, and even describe the mistakes they made along the way. Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Taliban expert at Kings College in London, translated the Taliban account and speaks to anchor Marco Werman about the Taliban’s version of the great escape. Download MP3

PRI’s The World(05/20/2011: Matthew Bell, Alex Gallafent)

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Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House and again rejects President Barack Obama’s Mideast proposal; Also, Syrian refugees describe the violence back home as new protests erupt there. And the Taliban’s own account of last month’s shocking Kandahar jailbreak. Download MP3

Waiting for Water

Steep conical hills of brown sand and stone ring the city of Lima. Massive cement water tanks cap many of the summits, some bearing a slogan of the city’s powerful water utility, Sedepal: Agua Para Todo (water for all). To an inhabitant of the eastern United States, where water is generally plentiful, and where few lack a working tap, the motto appears at first to be either simply a statement of fact or an easily achievable promise [...]

Music Heard on Air for May 20, 2011

Tunes spun on The World between our reports for May 20, 2011. Artists featured are: Jesus Alemany, The Chambers Brothers, Ry Cooder, Ali Farka Toure, Ali Akbar Kahn, Yoshida Brothers.

Tech Week in Review: May 20, 2011

Amazon has announced that e-books are outselling paper books on its website for the first time ever. But does that mean you can get rid of your bookshelves? That’s just one of the stories in Clark Boyd’s roundup of great global tech stories you might have missed this week.