World Story of the Day

Jehane Noujaim's documentary follows a group of young revolutionaries in Egypt through the political upheaval of the past two-and-a-half years. NPR's Robert Siegel spoke with the director about the film, the activists it follows and their country's future.

Sisters Nagwa, Dina and May had always been close — until now. The political crisis in Egypt has ripped apart their relationships. One sister believes the Muslim Brotherhood is destroying the country; the other two are committed Islamists. It's a domestic tragedy that is playing out across Egypt.

Foreign news coverage of China is often deadly serious: corruption, pollution and the like. Then there's the funny and bizarre that often goes viral — like the zoo that swapped a dog for a lion. A number of websites are making these offbeat and satirical tales increasingly available in English.

Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion, has been widely practiced by people of African descent in Brazil but mostly in secret — until now. After centuries of slavery and discrimination, Brazil's Afro-Brazilian community is proudly celebrating its African roots.

President Obama cancelled a planned trip to Asia this week to deal with the political crisis at home. That's disappointed — even worried — some of America's friends in the region who are counting on the United States to stand up to an increasingly assertive China.

New York University's new Shanghai campus is the first Sino-U.S. joint-venture university. Chinese students get a Western education without leaving home. American students get to live and study in China, with many enjoying big breaks on tuition and other costs.

Sales in commercial real estate in the U.S. have soared over the past year. Asian nations, particularly China, are scooping up trophy properties and investing in some large, long-term development projects at a record pace.

The U.S. has provided more than $1.5 billion to Syria since the war began more than two years ago. Virtually all of it is has been spent on humanitarian aid and social programs, though that gets much less attention than the relatively small amount that goes to the Syrian rebels.

As people around the world live longer, many nations are having to find new ways to care for their aging populations. In China, a new law requires adult offspring to visit and look after their elderly parents. China's one-child policy complicates the issue further, and some dismiss the law as another attempt to legislate morality by a government that is riddled with corruption.

Scientists who study the remote, rugged continent at the bottom of the world are on edge as funding for research there remains in jeopardy. It hasn't been decided yet if Antarctic operations for the research season will be allowed to continue.