PRI

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PRI


The Lost Voices of Tiananmen Square

090519135106_tiananmen_soldier_3861Revisit the events of 20 years ago with James Miles. He was the BBC’s China correspondent back then. He’s put together a documentary that weaves archival tape with present-day interviews. The audio brings back the intensity of the protests and the shock of the subsequent crackdown, and the contemporary reporting puts it in historical perspective. Listen

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Wind Power in the Antarctic, OR318, Sherlock Holmes Lives!, and The Photographer

Turbines at Princess Elisabeth StationThis week, putting wind power to work in the Antarctic. Also, an online movement is created after an Iranian blogger dies in prison. Then, take a break from tech with Sherlock Holmes, and a new graphic novel about a French photographer’s journey into war-torn Afghanistan. Listen

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The Photographer

thephotographer_cover1The World’s Clark Boyd introduces us to a graphic novel about a Doctors Without Borders mission into the war-torn Afghanistan of the 1980′s. Listen

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EU Puts Hurt on Intel, Persian Bloggers on Saberi’s Release, Google Oceans Goes Deep, and SixthSense at MIT

Pranav Mistry of MITThis 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

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Two Stories from Mexico, Global Health Care Costs, and Precious Gems in Afghanistan

EmeraldOn this week’s Global Economy Podcast, we go digging for precious gems in Afghanistan. Could emeralds and rubies spell sustainability and success for Afghanistan’s economy? Also, we hear how one Mexican restaurateur dealt with the swine flu outbreak, and how many Mexicans are dealing with a credit card crunch. Finally, we compare US health care costs with those in other countries. Listen

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Swine Flu Touches Mexican and Egyptian Economies, Paying Chinese Workers to Smoke, and Ireland’s Horse Breeding Business

chinasmokeThis 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

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Google Book Search, World Digital Library, E-books, Psiphon, and Yahoo Purple Pedals

Amazon Kindle 2 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

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Swine Flu and the Global Recession

Swine flu precautions in MexicoIn this week’s Global Economy Podcast, it’s all about swine flu. We look at how a swine flu pandemic might affect the global economy, and how the global recession might affect our flu preparedness. Listen

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Pirate Bay Founders in the Brig, Obama Tech Policy, and Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

WAM Robotic Arm and HandFirst, we look at the Swedish court ruling against the founders of The Pirate Bay. We have an explainer and analysis on that. Also, how is Barack Obama’s embrace of new technologies during the campaign playing out now that his administration is in power? It’s a mixed report card. And we end with a segment on robots. They’re already helping soldiers dispose of improvised explosive devices, and helping ordinary folks vacuum the floors. What’s next for ‘bots? Listen

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Ukraine: building a nation

ukraine75The World’s Jason Margolis spent 10 days in Ukraine and reports on the quest for Ukrainian identity, exploring the nation’s music, politics, history, and humor.

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Jason Margolis: Thoughts on Ukraine

Reporter Jason Margolis visited Ukraine for 10 days. In his journal, he describes what he found: beautiful architecture, clean streets, and a certain bluntness.

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Panama: A historical perspective

A century ago, the building of the Panama Canal and construction of Lake Gatun was met with great fanfare. It captured the attention of the world, showing that the seemingly impossible was indeed possible. The engineers were heroes, household names. Newspapers were obsessed with how much earth would be excavated to build the canal – [...]

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Part III: Panama fossils

Panama wants to make its famous canal bigger and better. The government is enlarging the waterway to allow more and larger ships to pass through it. 7,000 people will work on widening the canal. Some are doing a different kind of digging. Paleontologists are already following along the excavation. They’re searching for fossils. And they’re [...]

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Part II: Developing Panama City

Today we continue our series exploring the expansion of the Panama Canal. Panamanians recently voted in favor of a $5 billion project to upgrade the century-old waterway. A wider passageway will be able to accommodate larger ships… and bring in more money. Panama has run the canal since 1999, when the American government handed over [...]

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Part I: The Big Canal

A century ago, American engineers embarked on what was then the greatest building project in history. It took 10 years and 75,000 men to construct. Three presidents oversaw its completion. Teddy Roosevelt called it, “the giant engineering feat of the ages.” We’re talking about the Panama Canal. Now a hundred years later, Panama is in [...]

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