World News

World News

Spain's Wind Farms Break Energy Record

12:28pm February 08, 2013

by Lauren Frayer

For the first time, electricity production from Spanish wind mills topped that of nuclear, coal and solar. Spain's location in the south of Europe means it's endowed with lots of sunshine and clear windy skies — which it's put to use becoming a leader in renewable energy.

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Chaos Follows Funeral For Slain Leader In Tunisia

12:28pm February 08, 2013

Tens of thousands of supporters of Chokhri Belaid, a Tunisian opposition politician who was gunned down this week, jammed a cemetery for his funeral Friday in the capital, Tunis. Youths set fire to cars, and police responded with tear gas.

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The surprise hit Lost in Thailand, a road comedy that cost less than $5 million to make, has become China's highest-grossing domestic film.

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Move Over James Bond, China Has An Unlikely Box-Office Champ

9:32am February 08, 2013

by Frank Langfitt

Hollywood blockbusters usually do well in China. But last year, Lost in Thailand, a scrappy, slapstick comedy that cost less than $5 million to make, raked in $200 million in just seven weeks. It's now the highest-grossing Chinese film ever. It begins a limited run in the U.S. on Friday.

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This was one of the photos American Kim Lee posted online after her Chinese husband, a famous English teacher, beat her. Her decision to go public marks a milestone in the fight against domestic abuse in China.

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American Woman Gives Domestic Abuse A Face, And Voice, In China

8:30pm February 07, 2013

by Louisa Lim

Kim Lee posted a photo of her battered face online, and has become a national icon in China. She won a divorce, a financial settlement and a restraining order against her Chinese husband, a famous author and English teacher.

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Blocking Iran With A Global Game Of Nuclear 'Keep Away'

7:27pm February 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Obtaining the materials to make weapons-grade uranium or separated plutonium is harder than making a nuclear weapon, experts say. That's why the U.S. is engaged in a global effort to try to keep the specialized products out of hands it deems dangerous, like Iran.

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Pay up, or the bird gets it. (A hoatzin perches on a branch in Yasuni National Park.)

'Give Me The Money Or I'll Shoot The Trees'

3:07pm February 07, 2013

by David Kestenbaum

A pristine rainforest in Ecuador sits on top of the equivalent of millions of barrels of oil. Ecuador has offered a deal to the rich countries of the world: Pay us billions of dollars, and we'll leave the rainforest untouched.

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Employees of Hellenic Postbank protest during a strike against the bank's privatization in Athens, in December.

Privatization Of Greek Assets Runs Behind Schedule

3:07pm February 07, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

The sweeping fire sale is a requirement for multibillion-euro bailouts. And the Chinese, Russian and Arab companies lining up to take advantage of the steep discounts are making Greeks and other Europeans nervous.

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African Forces Succeed Against Islamists In Somalia

3:07pm February 07, 2013

French forces helped Mali push Islamist militants from that West African nation's north, and now they want to leave and hand over peacekeeping duties to an African force. Somalia, on the continent's east, has been guarded by an East African force since 2007, and is now experiencing a period of calm unprecedented in the past two decades.

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Georgia Kolia, 63, has two adult children, both unemployed. She works as a volunteer distributing loaves of bread at the Agia Zonis Orthodox church soup kitchen for the poor in Athens, Greece, in April 2012.

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For Greeks, Painful Cuts Keep Tearing At The Social Fabric

6:12pm February 06, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

Three years of austerity measures are hitting ordinary Greeks hard. Unemployment is nearly 27 percent and rising, and the once dependable safety net of welfare benefits is being pulled in. Further cutbacks and tax hikes are about to kick in.

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Afghan army soldiers during their graduation ceremony in the western city of Herat in January.

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U.S., Afghanistan At Odds Over Weapons Wish List

6:12pm February 06, 2013

by Sean Carberry

As the 2014 deadline looms for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, there's a debate over what kind of military hardware the U.S. will provide in its wake. Afghanistan wants tanks and planes for conventional warfare. But the U.S. says the Afghans need to focus on counterinsurgency.

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