The World’s Jason Margolis reports on President Obama’s day in Saudi Arabia.
The World’s Aaron Schachter reports on the Saudi influence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He says Pakistanis have been drawn to a Saudi style of Islam. But in Afghanistan, many blame Saudi Arabia for inspiring and supporting Afghanistan’s fundamentalist Taliban.
The World’s Katy Clark reports on President Obama’s chances of making progress when it comes to the Middle East Peace process. Listen
President Obama spoke with the BBC’s Justin Webb ahead of his visit to the Middle East later this week. Among the issues they discussed was the U.S. approach to Iran. Listen
Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and YouTube videos. Iran’s other presidential candidates are also on the web. As election day grows near, they’re hoping to attract votes from Iran’s many Internet users. Reporter Cyrus Farivar takes us on-line to follow the Iranian election. Listen
President Obama met this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will soon meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Seems like a good opportunity to check in with our book critic, Christopher Merrill and ask him to select books about the region to highlight for us.
This week, MIT’s SixthSense human-computer interface aims to the web, well, wherever you want it. Also, the European Union puts some financial hurt on chip-maker Intel. Persian bloggers weigh in on the release of journalist Roxana Saberi. And Google Oceans goes deep. Listen
This week, the impact of swine flu on the Mexican and Egyptian economies. Also, one Chinese county toys with the idea of paying workers to smoke, and then quickly abandons it when there is international outrage. Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne, and Ireland’s struggling horse-breeding industry. Listen
Thousands are fleeing Pakistan’s Swat Valley, after renewed fighting between Pakistani army forces and Taliban militants. Anchor Lisa Mullins gets the latest from the BBC’s Mark Dummett in Islamabad.
The World’s Katy Clark reports on the threat posed by the Taliban to Pakistan’s stability, and how that is of grave concern to the United States.
Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Sarah Chayes, advisor to the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, about the outbreak of fighting in western Afghanistan today. Dozens of casualties have been reported just one day before Afghan president Hamid Karzai is set to meet with President Obama at the White House.
In Egypt, the government has responded to the swine flu outbreak by ordering the slaughter of all of the country’s pigs. Residents of one Cairo slum say the move will do nothing to protect Egyptians from the virus, even as it destroys their livelihood. Aya Batrawy reports from Cairo.
Israel’s president Shimon Peres met President Obama at the White House today. The World’s Aaron Schachter reports from Jerusalem on reaction from Israelis and Palestinians.
This week, we get positively bookish. We’ll hear the latest on with Google’s Book Search project, which wants to, well, scan and make available just about every book on the planet. But Google’s not the only dog in that hunt. UNESCO has launched what it calls the World Digital Library, and it’s got a lot more than just books. Then, we take an in-depth look at all manner of e-books and e-readers. Is paper doomed? Also, we hear about a piece of internet filtering circumvention technology called Psiphon. And Yahoo puts webcams on some purple bikes and lets them loose in the world. Listen
President Obama met with the King of Jordan today at the White House. Mr. Obama says he’s a strong supporter of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But as The World’s Aaron Schachter reports, many in the Middle East are doubtful that President Obama or anybody else could bring about significant change in the region right [...]
