Asia

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U.S. Family Of Ill Prisoner Wants North Korea To Release Him

6:52am August 19, 2013

by Liz Jones

American citizen Kenneth Bae has spent nearly 10 months imprisoned in North Korea. That's longer than any other American held there in recent years. Bae was recently moved to a hospital for ailments related to diabetes, an enlarged heart and liver problems. Bae's family says the situation is more urgent than ever.

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Rescuers In India Try To Reach Sailors Trapped In Submarine

9:16am August 14, 2013

Eighteen sailors are feared trapped in a submarine that caught fire after a massive explosion in Mumbai. The smoldering ship is in its berth at a highly secured naval base, with only a portion visible above the surface. This incident comes as a setback for India, just as the country is trying to beef up its military.

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Too Much, Too Fast: China Sees Backlash From Massive Growth

11:25am August 12, 2013

by Jim Zarroli

Years of rapid industrial expansion have left many parts of China contending with thick smog and dirty water. The move comes at a time when China is trying to shift away from the investment-led economic model that has generated such dizzying growth in recent years, but the global economic downturn has made the transition a lot more challenging.

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Democracy demonstrators wave the Burmese flag in August 1988, when millions of Burmese took to the streets. Students led the protests, but were soon joined by civil servants, police, soldiers and ordinary citizens.

World News

As Myanmar Opens Up, A Look Back On A 1988 Uprising

2:21pm August 09, 2013

by Radio Diaries

The country also known as Burma is emerging from decades of authoritarian rule. But 25 years ago, in the middle of that dark period, there were six weeks of hope. Demonstrations brought millions onto the streets until a harsh crackdown left thousands dead and landed thousands more in prison.

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Fukushima Nuclear Plant Leaking 300 Tons Of Tainted Water Daily

6:56pm August 08, 2013

The Japanese government has announced that radioactive groundwater is leaking from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. To try and stop it, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the plant, has proposed building an underground wall of frozen earth around the reactors. The ice wall is supposed to keep groundwater from flowing in and radioactive water from leaking out, but nobody knows for sure whether it will work.

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People cool off Wednesday in a pool in Shanghai, where temperatures reached an all-time record: 105.4 degrees.

'It's Too Hot': Shanghai Wilts In Record-Setting Heat Wave

6:41pm August 07, 2013

by Frank Langfitt

Usually bustling streets are nearly empty at noon, and thousands have gone to hospitals for relief. China's National Meteorological Center says the long-running heat wave is driven by a variety of factors, including climate change, as well as Shanghai's construction density, growing population and shrinking green space.

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GM Looks To China To Boost Car Sales

6:06am August 06, 2013

by Sonari Glinton

General Motors set a July sales record in China. That country is already the most important auto market in the world. It could be where GM maintains global dominance.

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Daniel Ellsberg was a military analyst in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret study of U.S. government decision-making in Vietnam.

Pentagon Papers Leaker Daniel Ellsberg Praises Snowden, Manning

4:49pm August 03, 2013

by Scott Neuman

The man who in 1971 went public with the comprehensive study of two decades of U.S. policy in Vietnam spoke with NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.

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Tatsuhiro Mizuno runs a supermarket in the working-class neighborhood of Kameido. He says he hasn't seen much change in sales recently, although he notes that imported foods are now more expensive.

'Abenomics' Serving Up The Same Old Medicine In Japan?

5:48pm August 01, 2013

by Anthony Kuhn

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to bring the Japanese economy out of years of stagnation by pumping money into the economy and encouraging domestic consumption. But not everyone is seeing the benefits, and some say it's just a repackaging of strategies that have failed Japan before.

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Police: Jailbreak In Pakistan Frees More Than 250

7:46am July 30, 2013

Police say more than 250 prisoners were freed from a prison in northwestern Pakistan overnight. The Pakistani Taliban is taking responsibility for the attack. Renee Montagne talks to Sebastian Abbot, the Islamabad bureau chief for The Associated Press, for the latest developments.

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