World News

World News

Japanese Voters Return Conservatives To Power

3:49pm December 17, 2012

by Frank Langfitt

The Liberal Democratic Party won resoundingly Sunday in parliamentary elections that both Washington and Beijing were watching carefully. The conservative LDP's hawkish leader, Shinzo Abe, will become Japan's prime minister for the second time and has pledged to take a harder line on China.

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Supporters hold up posters of Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a rally in Osaka on Thursday. Considered a nationalist hawk, Abe is expected to become prime minister for a second time after parliamentary elections Sunday.

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Nationalist Rhetoric High As Japanese Head To Polls

10:27am December 17, 2012

by Frank Langfitt

Sunday's parliamentary election is taking place against a backdrop of increasing nationalist feeling in Japan. Right-wing sentiment has been growing in the face of an ongoing conflict with China over a group of disputed islands and continued economic and political instability inside Japan.

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Fatima Jafari, owner of Bamboo Wood Industries, listens to a worker in her factory in Kabul, Afghanistan. Jafari is one of the few female entrepreneurs in an industrial trade in the country, despite international efforts to support women in business.

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Afghan Woman Carves Out An Entrepreneurial Niche

9:49am December 17, 2012

by Sean Carberry

Despite more than a decade of international efforts to support women in Afghanistan, female entrepreneurs remain relatively rare. But one Afghan woman is trying to show the men a thing or two about making high-quality furniture in Afghanistan.

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Argh, it's on the tip of my tongue! Contestants in the Names and Faces competition focus at last year's World Memory Championships held in Guangzhou, China. A new field of mental athletes is currently vying for the 2012 championship.

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Ready. Set. Memorize!

1:43pm December 16, 2012

by Vicki Barker

There's no place for chronic misplacers of keys at the 21st World Memory Championships under way in London. About 75 competitors from some two dozen countries are vying to see who can memorize the most numbers, faces, playing cards or random words in a set amount of time in this "mnemonic Olympiad."

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Egyptians Vote On Contested Constitution Draft

7:04pm December 15, 2012

by Merrit Kennedy

In Egypt, voter turnout is high in the first phase of a controversial constitutional referendum. This comes after more than three weeks of mass protests for and against the document and President Mohammed Morsi, leaving Egypt deeply divided.

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Young Gazans Brave Fear To Welcome Hamas Leader

9:14am December 14, 2012

by NPR Staff

In many countries, the very young have zero interest in politics. After decades of conflict, however, Gaza is an intensely political place and its young people were out in force to give Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal a hero's welcome — even though many are still suffering the effects of the recent eight-day missile offensive.

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Patriarch Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem (center), splashes holy water toward worshippers after the washing of the feet ceremony in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in 2009, during Easter celebrations. A cr

Israel, Christians Negotiate The Price Of Holy Water

9:13am December 14, 2012

by Anthony Kuhn

High-level diplomacy helped avert a disaster last month, in a dispute over the unpaid water bill of one of Christendom's holiest sites. The water company that supplies the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem said it owed $2.3 million. Eventually, the bill was waived — but the church now promises to pay going forward.

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Chemical Weapons And The Syrian Civil War

9:12am December 14, 2012

After intelligence officials reported activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites, the U.S. warned Syrian President Bashar Assad he'd face "consequences" if Syria uses such weapons. Many questions remain about what chemical weapons Syria has and how they could use them.

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What North Korea's Rocket Launch Tells Us About Iran's Role

9:03am December 14, 2012

by Tom Gjelten

U.S. officials wonder whether North Korea's successful rocket launch this week helped Iran — another country whose nuclear program concerns the U.S. The two countries have worked together in missile design, but it's unclear who's helping whom.

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Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (in dark blue) shoots on Cordoba's goalkeeper Mikel Saizar (left) during the Spanish Copa del Rey football match in Cordoba on Wednesday.

With 88 Goals, Lionel Messi Celebrates A Record Year

2:42am December 14, 2012

by Lauren Frayer

The Barcelona star has broken several records this year — and many say the 25-year-old still hasn't peaked.

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