World News

Chinese 100 yuan bank notes being counted at a bank in Huaibei, in eastern China's Anhui province, in 2013. Undeclared income — sometimes the proceeds of corruption, often just of unclear provenance — is estimated to make up a staggering 12 percent of

World News

Lure Of China's Gray Economy Reaches Rich And Poor

8:27pm January 02, 2014

by Anthony Kuhn

The proceeds from corruption, and legal and ethical gray areas, are a daily fact of life in China. The practice of gray income, which shows no sign of abating, may make political reforms more difficult.

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Social media is booming in Brazil, which has become a major market for both Facebook and Twitter. But Brazilian law is still in flux, and legislation is only just being created to deal with the rise of social media.

World News

Brazil's Social Media Boom Sparks Calls For New Privacy Laws

11:59am January 02, 2014

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Brazil is the world's third largest market for Facebook and the fifth largest for Twitter, and it has quickly become the largest market for Lulu, the controversial man-rating app for women. That has highlighted the country's race to pass legislation to keep up with a quickly changing society.

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World News

Saudi Arabia To Give Military Aid To Lebanon

11:29am January 02, 2014

Lebanon has announced Saudi Arabia will give it $3 billion to buy weapons. To explain the significance of this gift, Renee Montagne talks to Aram Nerguizian, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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World News

New Year's Celebrations Move Around The Globe

11:42am January 01, 2014

Renee Montagne reports on how some cities all around the world celebrated the beginning of 2014.

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A November demonstration against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Designated Secrets Bill drew thousands of protesters. The Japanese Parliament has since passed the law, under which people convicted of leaking classified information will face five to

Japan's State Secrets Law: Hailed By U.S., Denounced By Japanese

8:31pm December 31, 2013

by Lucy Craft

Japan's tough new law protecting state secrets was a victory for Washington, which had long pressured its Asian ally to exert tighter control over classified information. But the controversial law has triggered widespread outrage in Japan and undermined the popularity of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

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World News

Syria To Miss Deadline To Remove Chemical Weapons Stockpile

7:44am December 31, 2013

Today is the deadline for Syria to hand over about 500 tons of ingredients for its chemical weapons including the deadliest: Sarin and mustard gas. Renee Montagne talks to Ake Sellstrom, who headed the U.N. team of inspectors investigating the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

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A diving whale off the coast of Southern California near the Los Angeles suburb of Palos Verdes in 2010.

Whale Traffic Jam Delights Visitors And Baffles Scientists

6:13pm December 30, 2013

by Kirk Siegler

Now is a good time to spot gray whales off the coast of Southern California, but scientists have been seeing an unusually high number of other whales. "The fact that we're getting a chance to see at this time of year fin whales, blue whales, is really a mystery," says a marine biologist.

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'Times' Report Finds No al-Qaida Involvement In Benghazi Attack

5:58pm December 30, 2013

In a 7,000-word investigative report published by The New York Times on Sunday, David Kirkpatrick revisits last year's assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Kirkpatrick finds that — contrary to much commentary from mostly Republican members of Congress — al-Qaida was not involved. He joins Robert Siegel to talk about his reporting and the backlash against his conclusions.

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World News

Egyptian Authorities Detain Foreign Journalists

7:42am December 30, 2013

The crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has begun netting foreign journalists. A team from Al Jazeera English was detained by police on Sunday. Renee Montagne talks to Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution center in Doha about the latest developments.

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The most abundant meteorites found in Antarctica are called chondrites. They are some of the oldest objects known in the solar system.

The Hunt For Meteorites Begins In Antarctica

10:07am December 29, 2013

by Rae Ellen Bichell

Each winter, a team of scientists sets out on a search for those rare shooting stars that make it to the ground instead of burning up in the sky. There aren't many better places to look for these space rocks than Antarctica, often in areas where no human has set foot before.

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