- Home
- Listen to the Show
- Podcasts
- Geo Quiz
- Global Hit
- Photos and Videos
- Discussions
- Music Heard on Air
| Background ⋅ BBC ⋅ Books ⋅ Cartoons ⋅ Economy ⋅ Environment ⋅ Health ⋅ History ⋅ Language ⋅ Religion ⋅ Science ⋅ Special Reports ⋅ Technology ⋅ Travel |
Middle East
The Arab view of US-Israeli relations
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dismissed the idea that US-Israeli relations are in crisis amid a quarrel over Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. The spat has certainly been getting a lot of attention in both the US and Israel. But what’s been the reaction in the Arab world? The World’s Jason Margolis has more. Download MP3
The East Jerusalem issue
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has postponed a visit to Israel amid a continuing quarrel over Israel’s decision to build more Jewish homes in East Jerusalem. The building announcement angered Washington. Tension remains high in Jerusalem, with more security forces moving in as rock throwing protesters vent their frustration. The World’s Matthew Bell chronicles the developing tensions over East Jerusalem. Download MP3 (photo: Matthew Bell)Palestinian business hampered by visa problems
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Vice President Biden’s Middle East trip could not change the impression that the peace process there is as stalled as ever. A viable Palestinian state is not imminent and developing the Palestinian economy remains difficult. Investors are even having trouble getting visas to the Palestinian territories – and that’s blocking economic growth in the West Bank. Daniel Estrin reports from Ramallah. Download MP3 (Photo: Daniel Estrin) Biden criticizes Israel over building project
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Vice-President Joe Biden has again condemned Israel over a controversial building project, saying approval had undermined trust in the peace process. Biden was speaking after meeting the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah (Photo: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images). Linda Gradstein reports. Download MP3
More violence as Iraqi vote begins
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
At least 14 people have been killed in Baghdad on the first day of voting in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. On Wednesday, three suicide bombers attacked police and a hospital in Baquba, killing at least 30 people. Reporter Ben Gilbert accompanied an American embasssy election observer team in Kirkuk. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
Packing flashcards, Pandas and Polyglotty Olympics
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Our top five language stories this month: why the disappearance of the Bo language is a big deal; the Olympics are being broadcast for the first time in, among other languages, Cree; when pandas move from the U.S. to China, do they have to learn a new language?; lawsuits concerning Arabic flashcards in hand baggage and speaking Spanish in English-only school; and the Pentagon’s latest attempts to equip soldiers with real-time speaking translator-bots.Download MP3
Stephen Kinzer on Iran, Turkey and the U.S.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Here’s the uncut version of Marco Werman’s February 25 interview with Stephen Kinzer, author of the forthcoming Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future. Kinzer emphasizes the history of strong democratic traditions in both Iran and Turkey and makes a provocative, idealistic argument for a different U.S. strategic vision in the Middle East. Download MP3
Nuclear Standoff with Iran
President Barack Obama has said the US and its allies are developing a “significant regime of sanctions” against Iran for its nuclear program. He said the international community was unified over Iran’s “misbehavior”. Speaking in Washington, he said despite Tehran’s denials, it was clear Iran was working to build nuclear weapons. His remarks came after Iranian state media reported that Iran had started the process of enriching uranium to 20% for use in a medical research reactor.
New York’s polyglot cops, Arabic online, and the planet’s most difficult language
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Our top five language stories this month: best and worst words of the year and the decade; Georgia launches a Russian language TV channel to counter the Kremlin’s message; new ventures and technologies give a boost to Arabic online; just how many cases, genders and moods it takes to make one Amazonian language the world’s most difficult; and the New York Police Department, now enforcing the law in nearly a hundred languages.Download MP3
Yemen
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
On this week’s history podcast a look at the archaeology and history of Yemen. First we hear from University of Chicago archaeologist McGuire Gibson. He’s worked in Yemen since the 1970’s. Then Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton, fills us in on Yemen’s recent history. Thomas Kuehn of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver tells us about Yemen under the Ottomans and how it might be relevant today. Among other things these folks emphasize Yemen’s strategic location and geography, its stunning beauty and its continuous and unbroken history going way back.
Maziar Bahari An Iranian Odyssey
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari discusses his new documentary, An Iranian Odyssey: Mossadegh, Oil, and the 1953 CIA Coup. The film premiered at the Boston Festival of Films from Iran at the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday January 9th.
Iranian lawmakers criticize treatment of opposition
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A committee of the Iranian parliament has made a rare official criticism of treatment of opposition detainees held in the wake of the disputed election. The report said three detainees died at the notorious Kahrizak detention, and it blamed former Tehran prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi (pictured), a political ally of President Ahmadinejad. Matthew Bell reports. Download MP3
Hebrew’s revival, Turkey’s banned letters, and Q
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Hebrew is most successful attempt ever at language revival. We find out why. Also, Malaysians are rioting after a court rules that a Catholic newspaper can use the word Allah. Then, two reports on alphabet letters: in Sweden, parents win the right to name their newborn Q; and in Turkey, using the Kurdish-associated letters Q, W or X can land you in jail. And, a two-nations-divided-by-one-language examination of the word grit.
Another hummus record
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Israel has taken the upper hand in a different kind of Mideast conflict: cooks in a town near Jerusalem have whipped up more than four metric tons of hummus, the chickpea paste that is a staple for many in the region. The cooks doubled the previous record for the world’s biggest serving of hummus, set in October by cooks in Lebanon. Aaron Schachter checks out the culinary delights. Download MP3
Yemen, the new terrorism front
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download MP3Yemen has become a hotbed of radical Islamic militant activity. Many of Osama bin Laden’s former associates now live there. Anchor Marco Werman finds out more from Sudarsan Raghavan, Baghdad Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, who’s in Yemen and met bin Laden’s former personal bodyguard.
Additional funding for PRI's The World is provided by:
 |
 |
