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BBC
Touch screen production proves toxic
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Touch screens on high-tech gadgets may be fun to use, but making them is another story. Kathleen McLaughlin is a reporter with Global Post based in China. She’s found that in at least one Chinese factory that produces touch screens, workers were exposed to a toxic solvent that violated local codes and was used without proper safety equipment. Host Jeb Sharp speaks with Kathleen McLaughlin. Download MP3 (Photo: Mikael Häggström)
Tech Podcast: Wikileaks, Hactivism, and Four Views of the ‘Net
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This week’s Technology Podcast highlights some of the material the BBC has been producing as part of its special series of reports, called SuperPower, on the Internet. We’ve got an interesting and in-depth look at the website Wikileaks, as well as a report on the rise on online activism, or “hacktivism” as some call it. You can also hear a series of four short opinion pieces from some big digital thinkers on the future of the global Internet.
Swearing in Irish, storytelling in Scots, rapping in Khmer
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Two takes on the Irish language: one from Patrick’s dad, who was a schoolboy in the early years of Ireland’s independence, when studying Irish was an exercise in nation-building. Then, an interview with Manchan Magan who made a TV series about traveling around Ireland speaking only Irish. Next, we hear from Alexander McCall Smith: his latest offering in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is a children’s book in the Scots language. Finally, hip-hop artist Boomer Da Sharpshooter who grew up speaking English but now raps in Cambodia’s main language, Khmer. Download MP3
Guam loves Spam
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The US Pacific Island territory of Guam is notable not just for its US military bases, which are soon to be expanded. Guam is also the world’s leading consumer per capita, of Spam. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports about the Guamanian craze for processed meat. Download MP3 (Photo: Mary Kay Magistad).
BBC DJ Charlie Gillett dies
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BBC DJ and world music champion Charlie Gillett has died after a long illness, aged 68. The British broadcaster is credited with discovering Dire Straits in 1976 after playing Sultans of Swing from their demo tape on his Radio London show Honky Tonk. The World’s Jeb Sharp has an appreciation of Gillett’s work. Download MP3
When the prime minister calls
London seniors Joyce and Ted Hawkes were quite surprised when Downing Street called in 1997 to ask whether Britain’s new prime minister Tony Blair and his wife could come by for a cup of tea. They relived the moment with the host of the BBC’s PM program, Eddie Mair.
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)
More Greece, Russian films, and German potholes
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More news from Greece on this edition of the Global Economy Podcast. The country in the middle of its “worst crisis” in modern history, as the Greek finance minister put it. How are the Germans feeling about Greece? And how are the Greeks feeling about Greece? Also on this edition of the podcast: potholes in Germany, film in Russia, and a new trade route through the Himalayas. Also, is it better to give charitable donations of money or goods to help rebuild Haiti? Download MP3
Palestinian business hampered by visa problems
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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) Tech Podcast: Living with and without the internet
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This week, the tech podcast brings you a study in contrasts. As part of a series of reports on the power of the Internet, the BBC brought mobile phone connections to these two farmers in rural Nigeria. They’d never surfed the web before. Listen in to find out how they got on. At the same time, the BBC asked some South Koreans to disconnect from the ‘net for an entire week. Painful, considering South Korea is one of the most connected countries on earth. Also this week, we hear about how Indians are finding the love of their lives…online.
Moorish grafitti and texting in Yiddish
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The Alhambra in Grenada, the crowning glory of Moorish Spain, has more than 10,000 prayers and poems in Arabic inscribed on its walls. We hear about an effort to catalog the inscriptions. Then it’s the second part of the BBC’s documentary on Yiddish. Reporter Dennis Marks takes us to New York, where the language is undergoing a modest revival: among Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights, with a family who text message in transliterated Yiddish, and with a musician a novelist who are re-interpreting the old language of Eastern Europe’s shtetls for new generations. Download MP3
New Chile quake as next president is inaugurated
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Sebastián Piñera has been sworn in as president of Chile, minutes after it was hit by the largest aftershock since last month’s devastating earthquake. The National Congress building was evacuated shortly afterwards and a tsunami alert issued for coastal areas. Piñera’s presidency ends two decades of left-wing rule in Chile. The BBC’s Gideon Long is in Chile’s capital, Santiago. Download MP3
UN chief establishes climate panel review
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed an independent panel to review the operations of the IPCC, the UN’s climate science panel. The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work, but critics have identified a number of small errors in its reports. The World’s Katy Clark reports. Download MP3
Biden criticizes Israel over building project
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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
Travel Podcast: Soccer World Cup in South Africa
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Now that the Winter Olympics are over, sports fans the world over are turning their attention to South Africa, and this summer’s soccer blow-out, the 2010 World Cup. In this episode of Talking Travel, Lonely Planet’s Robert Reid and Tom Hall assess South Africa’s readiness to host soccer’s premiere event, and about the unique prism that sports provide for tourism in general.
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