Special Reports
Colorado River water rights
Under a longstanding treaty, the Colorado River irrigates 3 million acres of farmland and supplies water to 30 million people in the United States and Mexico. Between population growth and a decade long drought, the Colorado is under such stress that Western states – desperate to maintain water supplies – want to purify agricultural runoff currently diverted into Mexico. But as The World’s Lorne Matalon reports, Mexico covets that water, because it has given birth to a productive wetland.
Eradicating Guinea worm disease
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In this special podcast, The World takes you to Sudan with former President Jimmy Carter. Carter is working in Southern Sudan to eradicate a horrific disease known as Guinea worm. Our health and science editor David Baron traveled with Carter. We bring you Baron’s report, and an extended interview with Carter. Download MP3
Outbreak of rare disease in the Netherlands
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The Netherlands is grappling with an outbreak of a rare disease. It normally strikes farm animals, but it’s now sickening hundreds of people who have no contact with farms. The disease is caused by bacteria so resilient that the U.S. government considers it a bioterrorism agent. From the Netherlands, Emily Kopp reports. Download MP3 (image courtesy of VJ Movement)Reporter’s Notebook: Return to Haiti, Part II
Reporter Amy Bracken is currently in Haiti on assignment. She knows the country well, having lived and worked there in the past. We asked her to keep a notebook of her experiences during her current reporting trip. This is her second entry. (Photo caption: Charcoal seller at the Champs de Mars camp, Haiti. photo credit: Amy Bracken)
What’s in a street name?
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In the hothouse of Israeli-Palestinian relations, deciding what to name a city street can be a matter of great pride or biting offense. The World’s Matthew Bell reports from Jerusalem. Download MP3Developing Sudan’s Tuti Island
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Where the Blue and White Niles meet in Khartoum, Sudan, lies Tuti Island. While Khartoum developed into a modern city, Tuti retained its bucolic environment. But that may be about to change now that a new bridge has been built connecting Tuti to the capital city. Reporter Hana Baba has the story. Download MP3 (Photo: Hana Baba)
Reporter’s Notebook: Return to Haiti
Reporter Amy Bracken is currently on assignment in Haiti, a country that she knows well, having lived and worked there extensively in the past. The World asked her to keep a diary of her experiences on this trip. In this, her first entry, she writes about being back in the country, and about how the Haitians are preparing for the rainy season. (Photo: Amy Bracken)
Boxes of Irish history
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The small town of Ballina is known as ‘the Salmon Capital of Ireland’. It’s home to only about 11,000 people. But it’s also home to an extraordinary collection of historical documents. The World’s Alex Gallafent reports from New York. Download MP3 (Photo: Courtesy of the Jackie Clarke Library and Archive)
The Iraqi election in Kirkuk
President Barack Obama hailed a “milestone” in the history of Iraq, as it completed its second parliamentary election since the 2003 invasion. He praised the courage of voters who turned out despite bomb and mortar attacks that killed at least 35 people. Reporter Ben Gilbert has been covering the election for The World from the northern city of Kirkuk.
Doctors face ethical decisions in Haiti
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The medical needs in Haiti are so great, and the resources often so limited, that doctors and nurses working there since the earthquake have had to make some wrenching decisions. They’ve had to choose not only who they could save, but who they could not or would not save. Reporter Sheri Fink brings us a rare behind-the-scenes look at an American field hospital in Port au Prince in the early weeks of the disaster. Download MP3 (Photo: Sheri Fink)
Get abused in the Elbow Room Café!
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Vancouver’s Elbow Room Café is known for two things. Good food – and abuse! Lots and lots of abuse. The café’s built a reputation of giving customers a hard time. Surprisingly this approach attracts many customers. The World’s Andrea Crossan tried the strange café. Download MP3 (Photo: Andrea Crossan)
Saving a river along the US-Mexico border
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Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora are divided by an international border. But they are also united by the Santa Cruz river. In recent years, the river has become dry and now government agencies and citizens groups on both sides are struggling to preserve this precious waterway. The World’s Lorne Matalon reports. Download MP3 (Photo: Lorne Matalon)
Reporter’s journal from the Island of Yap
I’m sitting on my balcony, at the Pathways Cottages in Yap – not cottages, really, but bamboo houses on stilts, high in the trees, with thatch roofs. They overlook a lagoon, and coconut palms sway in the breeze. It would be idyllic – except that the busiest street in town runs right in front of this place. Now, on an island of 8,000 people, in an archipelago of 12,000, the busiest street in town isn’t exactly gridlocked – but there are enough cars swooshing past on a regular basis to break the island idyll. For that matter, so does the chainsaw my next-door neighbors choose to run at 7am.
Exposing Japanese-Peruvian WWII internment camps
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On February 19th in 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, interning approximately 120,000 Japanese-Americans. But that order had implications way beyond the American shores. It affected thousands of Japanese living in Peru and in other countries of South America. Their story is only now being told. Tyler Sipe reports. Download MP3 (photo: Tyler Sipe)
Bilingual puns sell meals
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Juan in a Million, Thai Me Up, and Pho Shizzle: reporter Nina Porzucki visits Austin, Texas, where playing with your food has taken on a whole new meaning. Download MP3 (Photo: Nina Porzucki)
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