Archive for 2012


Israel Goes It Alone

Daniel Seidemann (Photo: Matthew Bell)

What’s the big deal with putting Jewish settlements in the 12.5 square-kilometer tract of hills east of Jerusalem called “E-1″?

Read more

PRI’s The World: 12/04/2012 (Haiti, Netherlands, Brazil)

More clashes between protesters and police in Cairo, as anger swells in Egypt against the country’s Islamist president. Also, is Russia backing off from its support of the embattled Assad regime in Syria. Plus, we hear about efforts to improve cancer care in Haiti, as part of our series on cancer in the developing world.

Read more

Dollars and Change in Myanmar

Cooperative Bank's main Yangon Branch. (Photo: Bruce Wallace)

Your ATM card won’t work in Myanmar. The latest-edition travel books travel websites, and the US Embassy will tell you that. As you may have heard, though, things here are changing.

Read more

Egyptians Protest Morsi Decree in Front of Presidential Palace

Anti-Mursi protesters shout slogans during a protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo (Photo: REUTERS/Amr Dalsh)

Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with police outside the country’s presidential palace Tuesday in Cairo. In 2011, Egyptians protested the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, now demonstrations turn against the newly elected president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Read more

Concerns About Media Freedom in Post-Mubarak Egypt

Hoqook Radio (Photo: Oxfamnovib/Flickr)

Several independent Egyptian newspapers took part in a general strike on Tuesday to protest moves by the country’s Islamist leaders. Egypt’s post revolution media is more open, but as President Mohammed Morsi’s power spreads, fears grow for the future for a free media.

Read more

Washington Struggles to Find Allies in Syrian Opposition

Syrians cross the border from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain to the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar. ( Photo: Laszlo Balogh / Reuters )

Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy says the White House will be hard-put to find allies in a post-Assad Syria and currently faces open hostility from within the rebels ranks.

Read more

Adapting to the Delivery Man Culture in India

A delivery man in India. (Photo: Bianca Vázquez Toness)

There are more surprising aspects of Mumbai will be harder to incorporate into my life. Take the delivery man, for example [...]

Read more

How Amsterdam Wants to Deal with ‘Nuisance Neighbors’

Amsterdam (Photo: Michael Rass)

Nobody likes to live next to troublesome neighbors but what can you do, other than move? Officials in the Dutch capital Amsterdam have a different idea: they’re vowing to exile the worst offenders.

Read more

Why British Police Continue to Use Cassette Tapes

(Photo: f@rfie/Flickr)

The cassette tape has basically taken its place alongside the 8-track tape, and essentially vanished into the audio abyss. Almost. In Britain, there’s one group that still relies on the trusty cassette — the police.

Read more

Part II: Pink Ribbons to Haiti

On International Women’s Day, rural Haitian women gathered to learn about breast and cervical cancer. In Haiti, as in many other developing countries, women rarely seek medical help for cancer until it’s too late. (Photo: Ansel Herz)

Haitian women know little about breast cancer, and those who contract it rarely receive treatment. An American charity and its local partners are trying to change that. But it’s not easy providing cancer care in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

Read more

Music Heard on Air for Decmeber 4, 2012

Tunes spun on The World between our reports for December 4, 2012. Artists featured are: King Sunny Ade, Seckou Keita Skq, Ernest Ranglin, Toubab Krewe, Brownout.

Read more

A Comeback For Africa’s Homegrown Languages?

Malian pupils study during a French language class during a French language lesson in Mali's capital Bamako (Reuters/Finbarr OReilly)

Cartoon Queen Carol Hills and I talk language and Africa. We also consider food idioms, banana skins and robberies gone wrong.

Read more

RIP: Nefertiti the Spidernaut

Close-up of Nefertiti, the 'spidernaut,' at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Insect Zoo. (Smithsonian Institution)

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History announced that Nefertiti, a celebrity spider, has died.

Read more

Winter Storm Cripples Russian Highway

A worker removes snow during heavy snowfall in central Moscow. (Photo: REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin)

A heavy winter storm over parts of Russia crippled one of the country’s major highways. Thousands of cars and trucks were backed up for hundreds of miles, and motorists were stranded on the roadway linking Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Read more

The Bee Gees get a Brazilian Makeover from Singer Ana Gazzola

Ana Gazzola (Photo: facebook.com/anagazzola)

Brazilian singer Ana Gazzola interprets the songs made famous by the Bee Gees on her latest album ‘Musicas e Palavras dos Bee Gees.’

Read more