World News

World News

China's Shuanghui Buys Pork Giant Smithfield For $4.7 Billion

10:47am May 29, 2013

A Chinese meat producer plans to buy the U.S. meat company Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, for $4.7 billion. The Shuanghui company is enticing Smithfield's shareholders by offering $34 a share, about 30 percent more than Smithfield's current stock price.

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After serving in World War II, Tad Nagaki returned to Nebraska to farm corn, beans and sugar beets.

After Long Wait For Combat, Tad Nagaki Became POW Liberator

8:43am May 29, 2013

by NPR Staff

A U.S. parachute team dropped into a POW camp in China to liberate the captives after Japan surrendered in 1945. Tad Nagaki was with that team. Prior to the assignment, Nagaki had spent two years requesting combat duty, only to be denied repeatedly because of his Japanese-American ethnicity.

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A portrait of Italian philosopher, writer and politician Niccolo Machiavelli (Florence, 1469-1527) by Antonio Maria Crespi. Half a millennium after he wrote The Prince, the slim volume continues to play an important role in political thought and evoke str

World News

At 500, Machiavelli's 'Prince' Still Inspires Love And Fear

5:52pm May 28, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

Niccolo Machiavelli is synonymous with political deceit, cynicism and ruthlessness. He called his most famous work, The Prince, a handbook for statesmen. An exhibit in Rome celebrates the 500th anniversary of what's still one of the most influential political essays in Western literature.

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The Ummayyid Mosque in Damascus has been a mosque for around 1,400 years. It sits in the center of a city where many people are struggling to live normal lives amid war.

World News

In Damascus, A View Of Syria's War Turned Inside Out

9:41am May 28, 2013

by Steve Inskeep

There's fear and frustration in the capital, but even people who acknowledge President Bashar Assad's flaws often grimly hope for the rebels to go away: They believe the government's description of the rebels as terrorists and foreigners out to destroy the country.

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Sheep used to replace gas-guzzling lawn mowers graze at a truck warehouse at Evry, south of Paris.

World News

Let Them Eat Grass: Paris Employs Sheep As Eco-Mowers

6:02pm May 27, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

City officials in Paris are experimenting with an unconventional way to keep urban lawns trimmed. They are using sheep as a "green" alternative to gas-powered lawn mowers.

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Cassia Mendes, who has worked as a housekeeper for more than 20 years, cleans a house in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Feb. 19, 2012. Brazil enacted on April 2 a constitutional amendment to grant domestic workers health insurance and other benefits.

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'We Are Not Valued': Brazil's Domestic Workers Seek Rights

4:57pm May 27, 2013

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Brazil has more household workers per capita than any other country. A new law in the South American nation expanded the rights of domestic workers. But despite the law being on the books now for almost two months, there is still a long way to go in changing the social dynamic in Brazil.

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Food Entrepreneur Is A New Breed Of Afghan Business Owner

10:11am May 27, 2013

by Renee Montagne

Morning Edition has been reporting on young Afghans helping to shape their country's future after the withdrawal of international combat troops in 2014. Shilla Qiyam, 27, is making her way in business despite her family's disapproval.

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A memorial outside Paris honors members of the Lafayette Squadron, which was started by a group of young American men in 1914 who wanted to fight for France when World War I broke out. The U.S. had not yet entered the war.

World News

France Pays Tribute To Early U.S. Fighter Pilots

8:47am May 27, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

Every Memorial Day weekend just outside Paris, a ceremony is held to honor a group of Americans who fought for France during World War I. Before the U.S. entered the war, a group of American pilots formed the Lafayette Squadron and flew with the French Air Service.

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A worker chips away at Jerusalem stone, likely destined for a building facade somewhere in the world. Stone and marble is a big business in Palestinian towns near Bethlehem. Quarries are in Israeli-controlled areas, and access can be a challenge.

World News

West Bank Businesses Seek Growth Amid Uncertainty

8:27am May 26, 2013

by Emily Harris

Political unpredictability in the region hampers all kinds of businesses: from stone-cutters and shoemakers to IT. Business owners in the West Bank say Secretary of State John Kerry's commitment to remove barriers to commerce might go further than actual cash.

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Ibrahim Shomali, a Palestinian priest, offers Communion under the olive trees of the Cremisan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. This is part of a regular protest against Israeli plans to build a section of its West Bank barrier here, which would s

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A Decade In The Making, West Bank Barrier Is Nearly Complete

8:27am May 26, 2013

by Emily Harris

Despite much international criticism, Israel has continued building its West Bank barrier. It's now nearing completion, while the Israelis and Palestinians continue to argue over whether it will help or hurt prospects for a Middle East peace agreement.

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