World News

World News

Typhoon Devastates Leyte Province

8:15am November 12, 2013

For more on the damage in the Philippines, Steve Inskeep talks to Steven Rood, of The Asia Foundation, about what Leyte province was like before the storm hit. Typhoon Haiyan may have killed thousands in the province and its capital Tacloban.

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Tacloban Took Brunt Of Typhoon Haiyen

8:15am November 12, 2013

The Philippine city of Tacloban has suffered the worst from the massive storm. Survivors are in great need of food, water, shelter and medical services among other things.

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Military personnel from the U.S. and the Philippines unload relief goods at the Tacloban airport, Nov. 11, 2013. Some reports estimate that 10,000 people may have died in the city of Tacloban.

Aid Groups Struggle To Reach Survivors Of Typhoon Haiyan

8:08am November 12, 2013

by Jason Beaubien

More than 600,000 have been left homeless and hungry by the devastating storm. In response, humanitarian agencies are mounting the largest relief operation since the Haitian earthquake in 2010. The biggest challenge right now is getting the basics — clean water and food — to the hardest hit areas.

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This map from the NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory shows the amount of heat energy available to Typhoon Haiyan between Oct. 28 and Nov. 3. Darker purple indicates more available energy. Typhoons gain their strength by drawing heat out of the oc

Why Typhoon Haiyan Caused So Much Damage

7:13pm November 11, 2013

by Richard Harris

Scientists say Typhoon Haiyan is one of the strongest ever recorded, though limited measurements may prevent them from declaring it as the record holder. Still, the storm was devastating: "We had a triple whammy of surge, very high winds and strong rainfall," says one climate scientist.

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DRC Rebels' Surrender Could Mark New Chapter In U.N. Peacekeeping

5:52pm November 11, 2013

by Michele Kelemen

There's been a rare bit of good news in Eastern Congo this month. One of the rebel groups that have terrorized civilians in the mineral rich part of the the Democratic Republic of Congo agreed to end its rebellion. There's still a lot of work to do to disarm the M23 and to keep other rebel movements in check. But this small victory is a boost for U.N. peacekeepers, who are under a new, tougher mandate to protect civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some experts wonder if this could be a new model for peacekeeping.

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Iran Nuclear Talks Break, To Resume Later This Month

5:52am November 11, 2013

by Peter Kenyon

Negotiators from Iran and a six-nation group are scheduled to resume talks on Iran's nuclear program in 10 days. Talks ended on Saturday after an agreement was not reached on an initial proposal to ease international sanctions against Tehran in return for some restraints on its nuclear program.

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat boards a helicopter in Ramallah, the West Bank, for the start of his journey to a hospital in France on Oct. 29, 2004. He died 2 weeks later.

Lighting Up The Investigative Path With Polonium-210

6:58pm November 10, 2013

by NPR Staff

Conspiracy theories continue over the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and polonium is suspected as the weapon of the alleged assassin. Whatever happened to Arafat, there is a case from 2006 that shows just how destructive the radioactive element can be. It all started with a sip of green tea.

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View of a destroyed Jewish shop in Berlin on Nov. 11, 1938, after the anti-Semitic violence of Kristallnacht. The pogrom unleashed Nazi-coordinated attacks on thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses.

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Bearing Witness To Nazis' Life-Shattering Kristallnacht

2:26pm November 10, 2013

by Esme Nicholson

On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis burned down synagogues, destroyed Jewish businesses and arrested more than 26,000 Jews. Germans and Jews alike are still grappling with the legacy, 75 years later. Margot Friedlander is one survivor, who has returned to Berlin after decades of exile.

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This colorfully illustrated French and Hebrew Passover Haggadah was published in Vienna in 1930. Caption on the image: "Eating Matzah." This restored document is part of an exhibit at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., that opens Nov. 8.

Who Owns The Archives Of A Vanishing Iraqi Jewish World?

12:22pm November 10, 2013

by Larry Abramson

In 2003, U.S. forces discovered a trove of Jewish documents in a flooded Baghdad basement. They tell the tale of a once-thriving Jewish community. The painstakingly restored documents will be exhibited in the U.S. before they are returned to Iraq. But some Jewish groups are trying to prevent that.

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A woman walks amid both open and closed shops during a Sunday morning stroll at the Butte Montmartre in Paris, in July. Under France's Byzantine rules on Sunday trading, shops at the top of the hill are in a designated tourist area and so can open, but th

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France Rethinks The Sanctity Of Its Day Of Rest

8:34pm November 08, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

For more than a century, French law has allowed stores to open on Sundays only under specific conditions. It also tightly controls other types of Sunday work. Several stores are now challenging that ban, as people question the tradition amid a languishing economy and a 24/7 world.

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