Asia

Workers Brave Militant Attacks To Vaccinate For Polio

12:44pm November 30, 2014

Those who vaccinate children in Pakistan risk their lives. Correspondent Philip Reeves tells NPR's Rachel Martin that the Taliban is gunning down health workers, who are suspected of being spies.

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Taiwan Premier Jiang Yi-huah bows during a news conference in Taipei after the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party was defeated in the local elections on Saturday.

World News

Taiwan's Premier Quits After Ruling Party's Ballot Box Rebuff

1:16pm November 29, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah stepped down after the Kuomintang party (KMT) suffered losses in districts across the country.

Police help a potential victim of trafficking as they raid a brothel in west London in 2011. Note: the victim's face is obscured to protect her identity.

World News

13,000 Modern Slaves Working In U.K., London Says

10:13am November 29, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The Home Office says a re-analysis of its statistics shows more trafficked individuals — including women and children forced into prostitution — than previously thought.

World News

In Pakistan, Political Oratory Is Flourishing

7:16am November 28, 2014

by Philip Reeves

Great political speech-making is dying out, thanks to the sound bite and the Tweet. But oratory's essential for anyone vying for votes in Pakistan.

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World News

China Has To Kick Smoking Habit Or Health Care Costs Could Be Huge

7:12pm November 27, 2014

by Frank Langfitt

China, home to the world's largest population of smokers, is looking at a draft regulation that would ban indoor smoking and tobacco advertising. One anti-smoking NGO says the government is weighing the loss of tobacco tax revenue against stratospheric health care costs in the future.

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Women gather in the courtyard at the home of the two young victims' family in the village of Katra Sahadatganj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. India's largest state is under pressure to address atrocities against women.

World News

Indian Investigators Deny Village Girls Were Raped, Murdered

2:47pm November 27, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Villagers said the two "untouchable" caste girls were gang-raped and then hanged from a tree in May, but the country's equivalent of the FBI now says there was no rape and that they hanged themselves.

Police officers arrest a protester early Wednesday on a street in the Mongkok district of Hong Kong.

World News

Hong Kong Police Arrest Protest Leaders, More Than 100 Others

12:03pm November 26, 2014

by Christopher Dean Hopkins

Authorities cleared a major pro-democracy protest camp in a blue-collar neighborhood Wednesday. The months of fruitless demonstrating have disheartened many protesters, NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.

Low Consumer Spending Hinders Japan's Economic Recovery

8:28am November 26, 2014

by Anthony Kuhn

The ultimate aim of Japan's effort to revive the economy is to give consumers the confidence to start buying again. Weak consumer confidence has hit big-ticket purchases hardest.

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Aansoo Kohli is running a makeshift class in a cowshed for children who have no access to school.

In Pakistan, A Self-Styled Teacher Holds Class For 150 In A Cowshed

7:26pm November 25, 2014

by Philip Reeves

In a remote village, poor children are on the front line of an education battle. The village's only educated person aims to teach them — and shame teachers who are paid but don't show up for work.

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New Bird Species Sings Sweetly In Sulawesi

8:02am November 25, 2014

by Christopher Joyce

Birds are one of the most widely studied forms of life on the planet. And, there are still new species out there to discover — as one young researcher found recently in a forest in Indonesia.

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