World News

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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A police officer patrols the rooftop of a school at the Rocinha slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sept. 20, 2012, where a

Unease In Sprawling Rio Slum Ahead Of Police 'Pacification'

12:06pm August 09, 2013

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Brazilian police are preparing to occupy one of the deadliest shantytown complexes in Rio de Janeiro, hoping to drive out drug gangs ahead of next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. But in Mare, the vast, poor and dangerous home to 75,000 people, some fear the police more than the drug gangs.

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World News

Lawlessness Increases In Libya

12:06pm August 09, 2013

Two years ago, Libya was turned upside down by the Arab Spring movement. David Greene talks to David Kirkpatrick, Middle East correspondent and Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times, about the state of governance and security in Libya.

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Romeo Orlando Vasquez Velasquez took a combat arms course at the School of the Americas at Georgia's Fort Benning in 1976 and another on small unit training in 1984. As a general in 2009, Vasquez overthrew the democratically elected president of Honduras.

Egypt's Top General And His U.S. Lessons In Democracy

6:56pm August 08, 2013

by Tom Bowman

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi led the recent ouster of Egypt's democratically elected president. Seven years earlier, he was a student at the U.S. Army War College and wrote a paper called "Democracy in the Middle East." He's the latest in a series of U.S.-trained military officers to topple a civilian government.

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World News

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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Thai Elephant Orchestra co-founder David Sulzer (bottom center, in red) poses with the animals and their mahouts, or keepers.

The Biggest Thing Out Of Thailand: An Elephant Orchestra

3:01pm August 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

Based out of a conservation center for former work animals, the Thai Elephant Orchestra is just what it sounds like: a group of elephants trained to play enormous percussion instruments, holding mallets in their trunks and sometimes trumpeting along.

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World News

Former Soviet Republic's Democratic Transition Questioned

5:45am August 08, 2013

by Corey Flintoff

The former Soviet republic of Georgia passed an important test of democracy last year. After a bitter campaign, the government changed hands peacefully in a free election. But the losing party says democracy in Georgia is threatened because the new government is arresting officials from the old government and putting them on trial for corruption and abuse of power.

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Kerry, Hagel To Meet Russian Counterparts On Friday

5:41am August 08, 2013

by Michele Kelemen

The U.S. has canceled plans for an Obama-Putin summit because Russia granted temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. But Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will go ahead with plans to meet their counterparts in Washington.

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Victor Reyes has been photographing tourists atop Tijuana's "zonkeys" since he was 12, and says at one time he could earn $150 a day. Now, he's lucky to earn $15, he says. Here, Reyes poses with his donkey, Ruben.

Working To Save The Painted 'Zonkeys' Of Tijuana

4:31am August 08, 2013

by Amy Isackson

Americans once waited in line for the chance to be photographed atop the striped donkeys on this famed tourist strip. But 9/11, the recession and the Mexican drug war have stifled tourism and nearly put the "zonkeys" and their owners out of work. A new push is on to save the historic icons.

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Migrant workers follow a police officer during a raid by Russian immigration authorities at a construction site in Moscow, in 2012.

World News

Migrants Flock To Russia, But Receive A Cool Welcome

1:26am August 08, 2013

Like the U.S., Russia has a large and unresolved problem with illegal immigration. Russia's working-age population is declining, and the country needs workers. But the influx of migrants, especially from Central Asia, is generating friction.

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