Archive for January, 2013


Music Heard on Air for January 31, 2013

Tunes spun on The World between our reports for January 31, 2013. Artists featured are: Kaya Project, AfroCubism, RJD2, Gigi, 2raumwohnung.

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Damning Documents Mire Spain’s Top Leaders in Corruption Scandal

Protesters shouts slogans as they hold up white envelopes during a demonstration outside the headquarters of the ruling People's Party (Partido Popular) in Madrid. (Photo: REUTERS/Sergio Perez)

They look like extracts from a bookie’s ledger: column after column of handwritten dates, names and cash sums. They’re not in reference to horses, though, but to political leaders. The top leaders of Spain’s Popular Party, or PP, which is currently in power.

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PRI’s The World: 01/31/2013 (Mexico, China, Canada)

Pentagon nominee Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, faced fierce questioning on Capitol Hill on Thursday. We hear from Vietnam veteran and author Tim O’Brien about a possible Vietnam-vet world-view in the new Obama administration. Also, the New York Times says it was hit by cyber attacks from China. And a look at rain-water harvesting in Mexico City.

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Author Tim O’Brien on Hagel, Kerry and the Lasting Impact of the Vietnam War

Tim O'Brien's Vietnam-era classic.

Tim O’Brien is the author of the classic Vietnam-era collection The Things They Carried. O’Brien talks with anchor Marco Werman about the impact serving in Vietnam might have on the world views of Chuck Hagel and John Kerry.

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Refugees from Mali’s North, Delighted by Military Success, Unsure About Future

Malian soldiers heading to Gao in a pickup truck arrive in the recently liberated town of Douentza January 30, 2013. (Photo: REUTERS/Joe Penney)

As the militants melt away from cities and towns in northern Mali, there have been scenes of jubilation. People who have experienced life under the rule of Islamist fighters say it has been a harsh, violent existence.

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Confusion Reigns at 9/11 Suspects’ Hearing This Week

In this pool photo of a sketch the five Sept. 11 defendants, back row from left, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ammar al Baluchi, Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash and the self-proclaimed terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, attend a hearing on pretrial motions in their death penalty case at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba. (REUTERS/Janet Hamlin)

The pre-trial hearings in the military commission of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants stalled midway through the week here at “Camp Justice,” in the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba [...]

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In Mexico City, Harvesting Water from the Sky

A small storage tank captures rainwater from the roof of Eusebia Santa Ana Gutierrez’s Mexico City home. (Photo: Ari Daniel Shapiro)

Faced with chronic water shortages, many residents of Mexico City aren’t wafting for the city government to fix things. They’re turning to the sky. Ari Daniel Shapiro reports on the growing practice of rainwater harvesting.

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China’s Alleged Cyberattack on the New York Times

The newsroom of the New York Times. (Photo: Wiki Commons)

The New York Times says it has fended off cyberattacks from China. China denies it. Anchor Marco Werman gets details from cybersecurity expert, Mikko Hypponen.

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A ‘Cyber-Pearl Harbor’: The US Response to Cyberattacks

A man uses a laptop during a "Campus Party" internet users gathering in Sao Paulo. (Photo: Nacho Doce/ Reuters)

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Jim Lewis, director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington about the ever-changing ways the US is dealing with cybersecurity.

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PuSh Performance Takes Audience Members on Sightseeing Tour Blindfolded

(Photo: Martin Raab/Flickr)

For the Geo Quiz we’re looking for a Canadian city with a vibrant art scene. Right now the city hosting a performing arts festival. One of the performances there requires audience members to be blindfolded and led around the city by a volunteer guide.

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Translating the Untranslatable: ‘Finnegans Wake’ in Chinese

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The latest literary hit in China is a new translation of James Joyce’s notoriously difficult novel, Finnegans Wake. The original English version of the book has defeated many readers, but Joyce’s Chinese translator says Finnegans Wake is primarily a book about freedom.

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Cécile McLorin Salvant’s American Songbook

Cecile McLorin Salvant (Photo: cecilemclorinsalvant.com)

Born and raised in Miami, 23-year-old Cécile McLorin Salvant grew into a jazz singer only by leaving the US and heading to France. The singer, whose heritage takes in Haiti, France, and Guadeloupe, has since won acclaim from her peers in the jazz world. In 2010 she won the Thelonious Monk competition in Washington DC.

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Music Heard on Air for January 30, 2013

Tunes spun on The World between our reports for January 30, 2013. Artists featured are: Wahid, Ozgur Sakar, Kalaban Coura, AfroCubism, Afrolicious.

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PRI’s The World: 01/30/2013 (Portugal, Switzerland, Guinea-Bissau)

As Congress holds its first hearings on gun violence since Newtown, we hear about gun laws in Switzerland where gun ownership is high and crime is low. Also, more “crazy bad” pollution in Beijing has the Chinese talking about Clean Air Act. Plus, Carla Bruni sings again. The former first lady of France releases a new CD.

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Israeli Jets Said to Conduct Airstrike Inside Syria

An Israeli soldier stands guard next to an Iron Dome rocket interceptor battery deployed near Haifa

Regional security officials have said that Israeli planes conducted an airstrike on an unnamed target on the Syria-Lebanon border. Israeli officials have in recent days warned against Syria sending chemical weapons or surface-to-air missiles to Hezbollah.

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