Cartoon Slideshow: Crisis in Syria

Blood, blood and blood are the subjects of this cartoon slideshow about Syria. Cartoonists around the globe are responding to the blood being spilled in the violent crackdown on demonstrators — especially in the Syrian city of Homs. Bashar al-Assad is the villain and the images are graphic, in your face, and unsubtle.

New Anti-Corruption Ruling in India

India’s Supreme Court has canceled 122 telecommunications licenses awarded to companies in 2008. The ruling is the latest chapter in a long-running corruption drama in India.

Mayra Andrade: A New Musical Star for Cape Verde

Mayra Andrade is often compared to the late, great singer Cesária Évora. She’s certainly one of Cape Verde’s brightest musical stars with a voice that sounds like steel swaddled in soft cotton.

Music Heard on The Air, Thursday, November 10, 2011

Tunes Spun On The World between our reports on Thursday, November 10, 2011. Artists featured are 2raumwohnung, AfroCubism, Kerekes Band, Kila, and Paul Hamner.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki and self-censorship

As Japan faces its biggest crisis since World War Two, here are two takes on self-censorship from those war years. A child survivor of Hiroshima explains why she kept quiet about her experiences for so long, through the pain and guilt of survival. And a Japanese examination of the self-censorship of American newspaper reporters and editors in the weeks after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[...]

Dirk Vandewalle on Gaddafi and Libya

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Dirk Vandewalle of Dartmouth College and author of A History of Modern Libya tells us about the life and times of Muammar Gaddafi. Also we hear eyewitness accounts of the 1969 Coup in Libya from the BBC World Service program Witness. Download MP3

Pharaohs, Cantonese and the Gang of Four

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In this week’s World in Words podcast: why did British band Gang of Four name themselves after China’s notorious cultural revolutionaries? Also, was Hosni Mubarak Egypt’s last pharaoh? Or is that just a cute turn of phrase? And is Cantonese, once the lingua franca of Chinatowns around the world., imperiled by the steady march of Mandarin?

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Mona Russell on Women in Egypt

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How We Got Here #61 looks at the role of women in Egypt and in Egyptian protest movements. Historian Mona Russell of East Carolina University, author of Creating the New Egyptian Woman, underscores the central place of women in Egyptian society. Also The World’s Lisa Mullins interviews historian Mike Rapport, author of 1848: Year of Revolution. Lots of parallels between Europe in 1948 and the uprisings we’re witnessing in North Africa and the Middle East today. Download MP3

Tuareg tales and the R word

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, we hear about an initiative in Mali to preserve the Tamasheq language, spoken by a dwindling number of the nomadic Tuareg people. Also, a conversation about the literary merits of the King James Bible, which turns 400 in 2011. And, the R word: rationing. which among some Americans is R-rated when it comes to health care. But in Britain, rationing is part of the national psyche: it got the country through two world wars, and its collectivist values are at the core of Britain’s government-run health service. Download MP3

Remembering Richard Holbrooke

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The tributes poured in after Richard Holbrooke’s death on Monday at the age of 69. His career spanned from the Vietnam War to the current war in Afghanistan but it’s probably true that he will be most remembered for his role in brokering the Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia. We’ll take this episode of How We Got Here (#56) to remember him and his work and to look back at the end of the war in Bosnia. (Photo: Martha Stewart/Harvard’s Institute of Politics)Download MP3

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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The events of English and the future of Tibetan

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, Tibetans protest over the potential loss of their language in some schools. Also, Spain re-orders its family names (under the new rules General Franco might have been General Bahamonde). Plus, historical events that have shaped the development of the English language. And how do you know when you can speak a language?
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The Trouble with the Congo

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News programs don’t usually devote much coverage to The Democratic Republic of Congo. When they do the stories are usually about horrific violence, including mass rape, in the eastern part of the country. If you’ve ever wondered what that violence in eastern Congo is all about, this episode of How We Got Here is for you. Political scientist Severine Autesserre walks us through the complexities of Congo’s recent (and extremely destructive) wars. Download MP3

Supermarket French, Chanson French, and Lyrical Arabic

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, the French of Anna Sam and that of Juliette Greco could hardly be more different. Sam records the mendacious and the mundane that she overhears at the supermarket checkout. The French of Greco is moody and melodramatic, as befits this veteran chanteuse. Also, what got lost in translation in one of the UN Security Council’s most famous resolutions. And we hear from the founders of Meena, an Arabic-English bilingual poetry journal.
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Voting, vowing and singing in a foreign language

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, we explore when it’s helpful to understand a foreign language, and when it’s essential. Also, an Islamic calligraphy master offers classes in his Arlington, Virginia home. And Broadway star Amra-Faye Wright talks about learning Japanese so she could perform “Chicago” in Tokyo.
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