international news

PRI Public Radio International

Last Friday we posted a story from This American Life about Mike Daisey's travel to China to investigate the conditions of workers at FOXCONN who make Apple products (Macs, not fruit). The Atlantic has a compelling piece on the recent mass-suicide threat. Do the conditions under which your gadgets are made affect your decision to purchase and/or keep a product? Why or why not?

Foxconn Is Still a Hard Place to Work

 

www.theatlanticwire.com

 

As American consumers ogle over shiny new gadgets at this week's <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/01/waning-influence-consumer-electronics-show/47132/

 

">Consumer Electronic's Show</a>, the workers that make those products <a href="http://kotaku.com/5874706/

 

…

 

KOAT

Did you know this week has BOTH a full moon and a Friday the 13th? Upload your pictures of strange things to the ulocal section of koat.com.

KOAT's u local - u local, Your New Mexico Photos & Videos

 

ulocal.koat.com

KOAT.com's u local is your place to share videos,photos, and stories. Join now and get your own profile page, and unlimited media uploads!

 

PRI Public Radio International

The Takeaway looks at Guantánamo on the 10th anniversary of its opening. What are your thoughts on the controversial detention center?

The Takeaway - What's the Future of Guantánamo?

 

www.thetakeaway.org

 

Wednesday marks the tenth anniversary of the United States opening a detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The past decade has seen no shortage of controversy about the base, both on legal and moral terms. Barack Obama campaigned for president on the promise to close the base

PRI Public Radio International

With 500 million Chinese citizens now online, news spreads fast, jokes spread faster and good jokes at the expense of bad government go viral.

China's creative set using humor in subtle challenge to authoritarian rule | PRI.ORG

 

www.pri.org

 

In China, to question the government is to invite trouble. But in a digital media world, the ability to do that is easier than ever. That means those who are so inclined need to find a way to do it without getting in trouble

 

 

PRI Public Radio International

From the state’s point of view, multiple citizenship is at best untidy and at worst a menace. Officials would prefer you to be born, live, work, pay taxes, draw benefits and die in the same place, travel on one passport only, and bequeath only one nationality to your offspring. They believe that citizenship is the glue keeping individual and state together. Tamper with it, and the relationship comes unstuck. What do you think, is sovereingty necessary for solidarity?

In praise of a second (or third) passport

 

www.economist.com

 

SEEN from the state’s point of view, multiple citizenship is at best untidy and at worst a menace.

 

PRI Public Radio International

Hungary is the latest European country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund for its debt woes. Its currency, the forint, has plunged to record lows. But Hungary’s financial crisis isn’t the only thing that’s raising alarms. Hungary’s conservative government has adopted a series of controversial measures in recent weeks, which critics describe as ushering in a new era of authoritarianism. Thousands of Hungarians have taken to the streets to protest, saying their government is turning its back on democracy...and the protests have a soundtrack.

Hungarian's turning to music to protest government clamp down on freedom | PRI.ORG

 

www.pri.org

 

In music and in videos, in addition to on the streets, Hungarians are registering their outrage as their conservative government tightens regulations and pulls back on some of the freedoms that mark a democracy.

 

PRI Public Radio International

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an Iranian nuclear scientist, was assassinated in Iran on Wednesday, the latest sign of a covert campaign to subvert Iran's nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, the Doomsday Clock has moved a minute closer to midnight.

VIDEO: Iranian nuclear scientist killed; Doomsday Clock ticks toward midnight | PRI.ORG

 

www.pri.org

 

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an Iranian nuclear scientist, was assassinated in Iran on Wednesday, the latest sign of a covert campaign to subvert Iran's nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, the Doomsday Clock has moved a minute closer to midnight.

 

PRI Public Radio International

The Israeli Army is being confronted by threats from its own people and its own soldiers. It used to be that the bulk of Israel’s army officers – especially those from elite combat units – came from Israel’s largely secular kibbutz movement. After all, a soldier’s life can be incompatible with Orthodox Judaism’s strict rules on diet, prayer and study. But times have changed. What do you think? Generally speaking, should the enlisted compromise their spritual beliefs for military duty or should (secular) militaries accomodate the religious leanings of its soldiers?

Increasingly religious Israeli Army has some concerned about cohesion | PRI.ORG

 

www.pri.org

 

The Israeli Army is being confronted by threats from its own people and its own soldiers. Some soldiers are believed to have passed sensitive information to settlers. Some settlers are accused of vandalism.

PRI Public Radio International

Officials in China are taking their biggest step yet in an effort to release more captive-bred pandas into the wild, in hopes of rebuilding dwindling stocks of the animals. Six pandas, Xing Rong, Xing Ya, Gong Zai, Ying Ying, Zhi Zhi and Qi Qi, are all between the ages of two and four and will be gradually released as a group.

VIDEO: China releases six giant pandas into 'semi-wild' | PRI.ORG

 

www.pri.org

 

Officials in China are taking their biggest step yet in an effort to release more captive-bred pandas into the wild, in hopes of rebuilding dwindling stocks of the animals.

 

 

PRI Public Radio International

The use of "war" and "Iran" in the same sentence has increased since the killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran. Iran blames the United States and Israeli intelligence. It's the latest in a series targeting scientists involved in Iran's nuclear programme.Many are talking about a covert war against Iran. Some suspect Israel's hand, others are looking elsewhere. Is a secret war being fought? What's the likely fallout from a proxy war?

This covert war on Iran is illegal and dangerous

 

www.guardian.co.uk

 

Saeed Kamali Dehghan: As another Iranian nuclear scientist is assassinated, the mystery thickens as to whether the Mossad, US or the UK are involved