Archive for December, 2012


China to Increase Internet Restrictions

(Photo: iStockPhoto)

The Chinese government has said it will impose even tighter restrictions on internet usage. This won’t just impact individual Chinese web surfers. It could also impact American companies that do business in China.

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Holly, Tea, and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Top Wikipedia in 2012

Lipton Ice Tea bike in Jakarta. (Photo: Wiki Commons)

Swedish software engineer Johan Gunnarsson has published a list of the most popular Wikipedia pages in 2012, language by language. The top articles offer some surprises.

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The Growing Problem of Anti-Semitism in France

Rabbi Michel Serfaty, the organizer of a Muslim-Jewish friendship bus tour in France. (Photo: Amy Bracken)

France is home to Western Europe’s biggest Jewish and Muslim populations. Tensions have been rising since last March, when a man named Mohamed Merah killed seven people – including three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse. The Merah case is extreme, but among an alarming number of anti-Semitic attacks across France this year.

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Schwarzkopf Legacy in Middle East is Mixed

General Norman Schwarzkopf (L), saluting Lt-General Sultan Hasim Ahmed of Iraq (R) following talks to discuss terms of a ceasefire and surrender, January 17, 2001. (Photo: Reuters)

General Norman Schwarzkopf, who died yesterday at age 78, is remembered in the US as the man who led allied forces to victory in the Gulf War of 1991. Americans largely see the war as liberating Kuwait from Saddam Hussein. But the view from the Middle East is a bit more complex.

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Film Shows 1965 Coup from the Killers’ Perspective

A scene from the movie "The Act of Killing." (Photo: theactofkilling.com)

“The Act of Killing” documentary talks about and reenacts the killings from the viewpoint of the killers.

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Music Heard on Air for December 28, 2012

Tunes spun on The World between our reports for December 28, 2012. Artists featured are: Khaira Arby, Habib Koite, Liv Ft. Iben, Habib Koite & Bamada, El Michaels Affair, Marcos Valle.

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Colombia Sets Sight on ‘Green Gold’

For producing chemical-free gold, Green Gold miners receive a 15% premium over the international price from an organization called Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold. (Photo: John Otis)

Colombia is a hotspot of mercury pollution from small-scale gold mining. But it’s also a testing ground for a new movement to reduce mercury pollution by paying small-scale miners more to use less of the toxic metal.

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Why German Crime Fiction Fails to Thrill US Readers

A sign promoting Nele Neuhaus's newest thriller at the Frankfurt Book Fair. (Photo: Susan Stone)

Between 400 and 500 crime novels or “Krimis” are published each year in Germany, but the thrillers have never cracked the US market unlike their Scandinavian cousins.

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Viral Video Gets Norwegian Kicker NFL Tryout

Havard Rugland kicking a football. (Photo: YouTube screen grab)

Our Geo Quiz today takes us to two locations. The first is the home of the NFL’s New York Jets. The second location is a city in southwest Norway.

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Goth Service at St. Edward in Cambridge, UK, Featuring Leonard Cohen’s Music

Stained glass at St Edward King and Martyr, Peas Hill Cambridge, UK. (Photo: St Edwards)

Anchor Lisa Mullins visits Cambridge, England, where she stumbles upon a bizarre and fascinating church service. It features Goths in leather bustiers and the music of Leonard Cohen.

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Music Heard on the Air, December 27, 2012

Tunes Spun On The World between our reports on Thursday, December 27, 2012. Artists featured are King Coya, Tareq Abboushi and Shusmo, Samuel Yirga and Sinkane.

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PRI’s The World: 12/27/2012 (Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt)

As time runs out for Washington to avert the “fiscal cliff,” we look at Britain, where the economy went over the cliff two years ago. Also, Costa Rica bans all sport hunting and hunters there aren’t happy about it. And a visit with the creator of the Voice of America’s “Music Time in Africa” program, who retired at the age of 91.

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Britain Shows the Way Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Pedestrians pass a shop in central London (Photo: Reuters)

It is looking extremely unlikely that Republicans and Democrats can agree on a plan by the end of the year. Britain went over its own fiscal cliff a couple of years ago. Since then, it has imposed a series of painful budget cuts.

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Why Brits Aren’t Especially Bothered About Going Over the Fiscal Cliff

Christmas shoppers walk along Oxford Street in central London. (Photo: REUTERS/Olivia Harris)

We get reaction from Brits hanging out on this holiday in an East End pub. They’re not happy about the potential for a global economic fallout, but they also don’t believe it will actually happen.

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Egypt: Cartoonist Sued for Depiction of Adam and Eve

Cartoon by Doaa Eladl.

In recent weeks, several of Egypt’s most popular and prominent satirists, talk show hosts and journalists have received formal complaints that their work has insulted President Mohamed Morsi.

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