Accessibility links
World News and International Headlines NPR world news, international art and culture, world business and financial markets, world economy, and global trends in health, science and technology. Subscribe to the World Story of the Day podcast and RSS feed.

NPRWorld

Many Stories, One World

Friday

Economy

Is A Debt Crisis Around The Corner For U.S.?

Both the U.S. and Greece have big budget deficits and too much debt, but Greece faces an immediate crisis. Could the U.S. face similar problems in the future?

Is A Debt Crisis Around The Corner For U.S.?

Listen · 3:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126422125/126422099" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Asia

Spate Of Attacks On Children Shocks China

A man attacked kindergarten students with a hammer before setting himself on fire Friday, in China's third attack on kindergarteners in three days. Melissa Block talks with NPR's Louisa Lim about the reasons such attacks occur in the country.

Spate Of Attacks On Children Shocks China

Listen · 3:52
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126422121/126422098" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In Raul Castro's Cuba, A Limit On New Freedoms

Laura Pollan (center), leader of the Cuban dissident group Ladies in White, is surrounded by government supporters after Sunday Mass in Havana on April 25. Javier Galeano/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Javier Galeano/AP

The Americas

In Raul Castro's Cuba, A Limit On New Freedoms

Cuba has done more to let its citizens vent their frustrations. But for those who go too far or organize against the government, the response is swift and sometimes ugly.

In Raul Castro's Cuba, A Limit On New Freedoms

Listen · 3:53
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126415318/126422097" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In Search Of India's Red-Tape Factory

A merchant in Delhi offers a ledger book used to track pay for government employees. David Kestenbaum/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
David Kestenbaum/NPR

Planet Money

In Search Of India's Red-Tape Factory

India, home to a booming high-tech industry, is also home to mountains of paperwork. Our reporter wanted to know why — and where all those forms come from.

In Search Of India's Red-Tape Factory

Listen · 5:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126363722/126422361" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Europe

TV Debates Change Britain's Politicking

The third and final TV debate in the British general election took place Thursday night among the leaders of the three main parties. With less than a week to go before the election, it's clear the debates have had a big impact on Britain's political landscape.

TV Debates Change Britain's Politicking

Listen · 3:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126408389/126408407" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Planet Money

Entrepreneur Writes How-To For Jamaica Businesses

Like many poor countries, Jamaica has a vast informal economy that paradoxically seems to limit the nation's overall growth. A combination of bureaucratic inefficiency and an ingrained distrust of government, makes many entrepreneurs wary of legalizing their ventures. That in turn, makes it virtually impossible for them to consolidate, distribute goods widely or take other steps toward expanding a business.

Entrepreneur Writes How-To For Jamaica Businesses

Listen · 4:25
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126408347/126408333" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Europe

Greek Government To Unveil Austerity Package

Greece is preparing to announce a new package of austerity measures to secure billions of dollars in aid from Europe to save it from default. Greece's debt crisis threatens to drag Europe into a wider financial crisis. The measures are expected to include sharp salary cuts and new taxes on a population already reeling from the biggest financial crisis in its history.

Greek Government To Unveil Austerity Package

Listen · 3:25
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126408385/126408405" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Formerly Banned Muslim Scholar Tours U.S.

Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, pictured here at a conference in France on April 25, is now able to enter the U.S. He tells NPR that when he speaks in the U.S., he's too much of a Muslim and when he speaks in the Muslim world, he's too much of a Westerner. Jean Sebastien Evrard/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Jean Sebastien Evrard/AFP/Getty Images

Middle East

Formerly Banned Muslim Scholar Tours U.S.

In 2004, Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan was banned from the U.S. when the Bush administration invoked the Patriot Act. Now, the ban is lifted and Ramadan is touring the U.S. explaining to American audiences why he calls Islam a Western religion. And he says he sees a lot of hope in Western Muslim communities.

Formerly Banned Muslim Scholar Tours U.S.

Listen · 7:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126394063/126395026" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Israel Slows Construction In East Jerusalem

Palestinian laborers work on a new housing project at the Israeli settlement of Har Homa in East Jerusalem. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

Middle East

Israel Slows Construction In East Jerusalem

Amid a diplomatic dispute between the U.S. and Israel over the expansion of Jewish housing in East Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is publicly claiming that there is no freeze in construction. But pro-settler groups say their building projects have suddenly become mired in red tape.

Israel Slows Construction In East Jerusalem

Listen · 4:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126391661/126395025" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

The Sentencing Of Argentina's Last Dictator

In Argentina, General Reynaldo Bignone, the last de facto president of Argentina's brutal dictatorship, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The sentence was for crimes he committed during the country’s “Dirty War” in the 1970's, including kidnapping, torture and murder. Host Michel Martin speaks with two women who have been profoundly affected by the Argentine dictatorship. Alicia Kozameh was imprisoned for years during the military rule, and both Ines Kuperschmidt's parents disappeared during those years.

The Sentencing Of Argentina's Last Dictator

Listen · 9:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126386931/126386919" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

U.N. Intervenes To Prevent Rape In War Zones

The numbers are astounding: hundreds of thousands of women caught in the cross fires of war are raped and subjected to other horrific sexual violence. The United Nations is now stepping up its efforts to prevent rape in war zones. Host Michel Martin discusses strategies to stop rape as a weapon of war with Margot Wallstrom; she's the United Nations' special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

U.N. Intervenes To Prevent Rape In War Zones

Listen · 6:31
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126386927/126386918" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Europe

Eurozone Fearful Greece's Crisis Will Spread

Martin Sandbu of the Financial Times talks to Steve Inskeep about Greece's latest economic problems. They discuss detractors who are calling for Greece to leave the eurozone, and also look at other European nation's with weakening economies.

Eurozone Fearful Greece's Crisis Will Spread

Listen · 4:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126381838/126378717" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Europe

Germans Resent Plans To Bail Out Greece

France and Germany have taken very different approaches toward the debt problems of Greece. While Paris was quick to offer support, Berlin was equally quick to criticize the way Greece had handled its finances. But with the Greek economy in a severe downward spiral, the two heavyweights of Europe are being forced to come up with a joint strategy to save the euro.

Germans Resent Plans To Bail Out Greece

Listen · 4:40
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126381830/126378710" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript