Micro-Financing for the Developed World

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Permal Shah, president of the U-S based micro-lending organization KIVA. KIVA has been making micro loans to the poor in the developing world. Now the group is expanding its reach…to projects and people here in the United States. Listen to the interview

Remembering Tiananmen

The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports from Beijing on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. Many Chinese remember the event vividly, but it’s a day the Chinese government would rather forget. Listen

World Books #28: Award-winning translator Susan Bernofsky

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Award-winning translator Susan Bernofsky talks to World Books Editor Bill Marx about “The Tanners,” an early work of fiction by the mysterious Swiss writer Robert Walser, a marginalized genius admired by J. M. Coetzee, Franz Kafka, and W. G. Sebald. She also reads an excerpt from her translation, the first in English, of the 1907 novel.

China urbanization series

China is building twenty new cities a year and has been, for two decades. But the massive urbanization is taking its toll on China’s environment – and on many of its people who have been pouring into the mega-cities from China’s countryside. The United States went through a similar transformation in the 19th century. But in China, it’s happening faster and on a much larger scale. It’s a massive migration which shows no signs of stopping as Mary Kay Magistad reports in her six-part series.
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Congo rape

The scope of tragedy in eastern Congo defies comprehension. A war in the African country killed four-million people between 1998 and 2003. And fighting has continued — among government forces, insurgents, militias, and Rwandan Hutu rebels. One of the most gruesome features of the conflicts is the widespread use of rape as a weapon. Armed groups use it to terrorize communities and control territories. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been attacked. In part I, The World’s Jeb Sharp reports from Bukavu in Congo’s South Kivu Province. In part II, Jeb reports on how aid groups and grassroots activists are responding to the crisis. – click on the links below to listen, read transcripts and view pictures.
Caution: the stories contain some disturbing descriptions of rapes.
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Hiroshima’s Survivors: The Last Generation

In his four-part series “Hiroshima’s Survivors: The Last Generation,” The World’s Patrick Cox introduces listeners to some of the over 250,000 “hibakusha,” or A-bomb survivors still living.