Special Reports
Laotian Bomb Hunters
When you have no money and no opportunity to make any, you’ll do just about anything to survive. That can include risking your life for a few dollars a day. This is what many kids and adults do in the southeast Asian country of Laos. They trek into the forest to look for scrap metal they can sell for cash. The danger is that that scrap metal consists largely of bombs left over from the Vietnam War. And many of those bombs never exploded. Mary Stucky reports from Laos’ Boualapha Province on this deadly business.
Your summer photos
Today is the “unofficial” end of summer in the U.S. and we want you to share your summer photos. We’ve already collected over 200 entries, but we would love to share your photos too! So send them soon and don’t forget to share the stories behind them. (photo: Lot Valley, France sent in by listener Elizabeth Huntzinger)
Fighting blindness in Ethiopia
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Health problems that afflict the world’s poor have received unprecedented attention in recent years. Governments and foundations alike are pouring billion of dollars into the fights against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. But medical workers who focus on lesser known diseases say their efforts remain as difficult as ever. Reporter Odette Yousef traveled to Ethiopia to follow the struggles of one American organization that’s fighting trachoma, a leading cause of blindness in Africa.
DDT use provokes political battle in Uganda
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The pesticide DDT, long banned in the United States, has made something of a comeback in Africa. DDT can be an effective weapon against malaria. The U.S. government, and the World Health Organization are encouraging African countries to use the insecticide, and say it is safe when handled properly. But in the East African nation of Uganda, DDT has provoked a fierce political battle. Reporter Alison Hawkes traveled to northern Uganda.
Hiroshima’s Survivors: The Last Generation
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Listen to Patrick Cox’s 2005 series on Hiroshima’s hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors. Most of those still alive were children when the United States dropped the bomb on August 6, 1945. Now for many, childhood memories are flooding back. This series considers the unique mental health affects on survivors of the A-bomb. Parts 1 and 2 are above. Read on for Parts 3 and 4.
Albinism worldwide
Albinos lack pigmentation in their skin and their hair. It is for this reason alone that albinos have been the victims of mutilations and ritual crimes, especially in Africa. Human rights advocates have documented the slaughter of more than 40 albinos in Tanzania, Burundi, and Kenya. Phillip Martin reports on global efforts to show albinos in a more favorable light. (Photo by Rick Guidotti of Positive Exposure.)
Color Initiative
The Color Initiative is a series of reports that examine complex global issues of politics, culture, history and society through the framework of human perceptions and experiences related to color.
Amsterdam: The World’s Most Bike-Friendly City?
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Many U.S. cities are trying to get more residents out of cars and on to bikes. But how far could this go? Kathleen Schalch takes us to a place where people are more likely to hop on a bike than to get behind the wheel.
Over the Andes: A new trade route for South America?
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In South America, politicians and corporate leaders have devised a grand plan for an overland trade route to compete with the Panama Canal. The idea is to move goods from the Pacific to the Atlantic along a chain of ports, highways, and riverways. Reporter Melaina Spitzer followed the route from the Ecuadorian port city of Manta.
Inside the Taliban
In the final part of our series on the Taliban, Charles Sennott sat down with former Taliban leaders, clerics and US counter-insurgency experts to try to discover the minds of the Taliban and whether the US military is making any progress in understanding them. >>>Listen to Part IV (Photo by Seamus Murphy/VII)
Recruiting Somalis in Kenya
Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in 1991. The long-running instability has created misery for its people. And it’s spilled over into its east African neighbor, Kenya, home to many ethnic Somalis. Heba Aly has the story of one Kenyan community that’s lost one of its young men to the insurgency.
Moon artist
It’s been almost 40 years since a human first walked on the moon. Neil Armstrong made that giant leap for mankind in July 1969. 11 other men walked on the lunar surface between 1969-1972. Of that intrepid dozen, only one is an artist. Lisa Mullins talked with Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean.
Robert McNamara dies
Robert S. McNamara, who served as US Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, has died at the age of 93. McNamara, who served Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961-1968, was also a key architect of the nuclear deterrence. (Photo: SSGT R. W. Savatt, Jr./AFP/Getty Images, 1965) Filmmaker Errol Morris talks about Robert McNamara
Kawk fighting in Kabul
With all the military action in Afghanistan, it’s easy to forget that many people in the country go about their business as they’ve always done. Here’s an example. Weekends in the capital, Kabul, begin on Fridays. That’s when people attend the mosque and spend time with their families. But there’s another favorite pastime – kawk fighting. The World’s Aaron Schachter took a closer look…
Remembering Michael Jackson around the world
Tributes from stars and fans have been pouring in for singer Michael Jackson, who has died aged 50 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home. The BBC has received a flood of comments on Michael Jackson’s death from around the world.
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