Composer Mohammed Fairouz’s Orchestral Take on the Tahrir Square Uprising

Wednesday marks the anniversary of the start of the Egyptian uprising in Tahrir Square. Arab American composer, Mohammed Fairouz, who’s writing a concerto called “Tahrir for Clarinet and Orchestra.”

Portuguese Jazz Singer Sara Serpa Releases ‘Mobile’

The World’s Adeline Sire profiles Sara Serpa, a Portuguese jazz singer, who became interested in travel literature soon after her arrival in New York City. Serpa’s new CD is called “Mobile.”

French Trio Revolver Wows at CMJ

The World’s Marco Werman introduces us to one of the buzz-bands of the CMJ Music Marathon in New York: French group Revolver, an English-singing trio with killer harmonies.

100 Years After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

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The World’s Jason Margolis looks at the legacy of New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on the global garment industry today. The fire, which occurred 100 years ago Friday, was one of the worst workplace disasters in US history. Download MP3
Video: Remembering the tragedy

Cantonese: a Dialect in Peril?

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In official China, Mandarin is favored over all other dialects. That has had a knock-on effect here in the US, where Cantonese used to be the dominant Chinese language. Reporter Nina Porzucki reports from New York on how Cantonese is faring. Download MP3

Cantonese Social Club

English sources, Italian renaissance, Spanish rebellion

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In this week’s World in Words podcast: With budgets tight at American schools and colleges, and with a growing interest in Chinese, what happens to a language like Italian? Also, Latin America is livid with the Royal Spanish Academy, which has decided to remove two letters from the Spanish alphabet. And the relaunched online version of the Oxford English Dictionary: now with detailed word histories and sources.
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Bed bugs infest the UN

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Bed bug sightings are on the rise in hotels and apartments across the US. New York City has been especially hard hit. The dreaded pests now appear to have invaded the United Nations headquarters there. Colum Lynch, UN correspondent for the Washington Post, has more. Download MP3
(Photo courtesy: CDC)
>>>Watch a National Geographic video on bed bugs

Learning in two languages, and new Zulu words

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, a back-to-school edition about learning in a second language. We have stories about English language learning, Arabic language immersion, and the challenges of one Creole-speaking highschooler in New York City. Plus, the first Zulu-English dictionary in 40 years has just been published in South Africa. Download MP3

‘Hate crimes’ plague Staten Island

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The working-class neighborhood of Port Richmond on New York City’s Staten Island has recently been the site of attacks against immigrants, all of them Mexicans. Police say most of the suspected attackers are young black men. There’ve been ten reported incidents since April. The World’s Alex Gallafent reports.
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• Read the full story “‘Hate crimes’ plague Staten Island”
• Slideshow: See Alex Gallafent’s photos from Port Richmond
• Alex Gallafent on the BBC

Times Square bomb suspect charged

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A Pakistan-born US citizen has been charged with terrorism over the failed car-bomb attack in New York’s Times Square on Saturday. Faisal Shahzad, 30, was also charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, according to documents filed at Manhattan federal court. Earlier, President Barack Obama vowed that Americans would “not cower in fear” after Saturday’s bombing attempt. Matthew Bell reports. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• Faisal Shahzad profile
• President Obama on the attack
• In pictures: Times Square bomb

Jobs a priority for Haitians

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Clearly, safe housing is an urgent need for quake survivors in Haiti. But in the long run — what many Haitians want is jobs. According to a survey funded by the aid group Oxfam, Haitians believe jobs should be the country’s number one priority for reconstruction. We speak with Alison Hayes, Oxfam’s Policy Manager for Haiti, she is in New York.

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

Dancing through the 20th century

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The World’s Alex Gallafent introduces us to ballet dancer Frederic Franklin. At 95 years old, he’s still performing on stage. Franklin got his big break in Paris, back in the 1930s. He later went on to star in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo before making his home in the United States. Franklin tells his own story on today’s show. Download MP3 (Photo courtesy of Frederic Franklin / Maurice Seymour)

• Photo gallery
• Music heard in this story

Calypso Rose

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Sixty-nine year old Calypso Rose is the queen of Calypso music. She was born in Tobago and her legacy looms large throughout the Caribbean. Earlier this year, anchor Marco Werman had the chance to meet her in her adopted home of Jamaica, New York. Download MP3

• www.calypsorosediva.com
• Wikipedia: Calypso Rose

Owning a piece of the Berlin Wall

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Twenty years ago, the wall that divided East and West Berlin for decades came down in dramatic fashion. Since that time, the Berlin Wall has been broken up and distributed around the world, including downtown Manhattan. Former Berlin resident Juliane Camfield (pictured) tells The World’s Alex Gallafent about how she could never own a piece of the wall. Download MP3

• BBC Archive: The Berlin Wall
• BBC Audio Documentary: How the Wall Fell