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

Monday

Britain Convicts Five of Plotting Bombings in 2006

In Britain, five men have been sent to jail for life after they were found guilty of plotting al-Qaida-inspired bomb attacks across England. Their planned targets ranged from nightclubs and trains to shopping malls. The men are all British citizens with links to Pakistan.

Britain Convicts Five of Plotting Bombings in 2006

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9923899/9923900" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Behind the Messages on Stopping Terrorism, and Iraq

President Bush and other supporters of the surge in Iraq say that if U.S. troops withdraw, the terrorists "will follow us home." But many military and intelligence analysts say the U.S. presence in Iraq - and elsewhere in the Middle East - is what really upsets the terrorists and mobilizes their base.

Behind the Messages on Stopping Terrorism, and Iraq

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9923902/9923903" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Analysis

Analysis

Critique of Olmert Pushes His Tenure to Brink

David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, tells Robert Siegel that with Olmert's approval numbers already hovering in the single digits, the report makes the "lame duck" prime minister look like "a dead duck."

Critique of Olmert Pushes His Tenure to Brink

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9923880/9923881" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Report Cites Problems with Iraq Rebuilding Costs

A report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction says Iraqis are doing a poor job maintaining buildings and equipment paid for with U.S. money. The report offers a snapshot on how more than $20 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds are being spent.

Report Cites Problems with Iraq Rebuilding Costs

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9910519/9910520" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Europe Looks for a New Anti-Terror 'Czar'

Following the Madrid bombings in 2004, the European Union created a post of counterterrorism director. The first appointee stepped down in March. There's no successor on the horizon.

Europe Looks for a New Anti-Terror 'Czar'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9910507/9910508" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Baghdad School Trains Troops to Combat Insurgents

Thousands of U.S. troops have cone through the Baghdad-based COIN academy to learn how to combat insurgents in Iraq. They learn techniques to fight battles that differ greatly from conventional warfare.

Baghdad School Trains Troops to Combat Insurgents

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9910522/9910523" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Turkey's Military on Guard Against Islam in Politics

The Turkish parliament is poised to elect a president of the country with roots in Islamist politics. This prompted Turkey's military to issue a statement of concern Friday night, noting the traditional role of the Turkish Armed Forces in defending the secular nature of the state.

Turkey's Military on Guard Against Islam in Politics

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9899333/9899334" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

Poets and Gangsters: Discovering Roberto Bolano

The New York publishing world is buzzing about The Savage Detectives, a novel by the late Chilean author Roberto Bolano that was published almost a decade ago.

Poets and Gangsters: Discovering Roberto Bolano

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9852989/9852990" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Reporter's Notebook

A Visit to the Other Congo, the Forgotten Congo

The Republic of Congo is not the so-called Democratic Republic of Congo — the former Zaire — but the other Congo. Never heard of it? You're not alone.

A Visit to the Other Congo, the Forgotten Congo

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9896339/9896342" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Fractious Iraqi Politics Continue Amid Troop 'Surge'

An important objective of the "surge" of nearly 30,000 additional United States troops into Iraq was to give the Iraqi government the opportunity to resolve some factional differences, make policy changes and secure a broad-based representative government.

Fractious Iraqi Politics Continue Amid Troop 'Surge'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9896324/9896325" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

The Story of Vietnam's 'Perfect Spy'

Larry Berman's new book, Perfect Spy, tells the true story of reporter Pham Xuan An. He was a Time magazine reporter who also worked as a secret agent for the Communist Party in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

The Story of Vietnam's 'Perfect Spy'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9896327/9896328" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Middle East

An Omani Village Emerges from Isolation

Forty percent of the world's oil exports travel on tanker ships from the Persian Gulf, through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Until recently, a small Omani village on its banks appeared to have been forgotten by the modern world.

An Omani Village Emerges from Isolation

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9881646/9881647" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Article Cites 'General Failure' of War Leaders

Lt. Col. Paul Yingling is an active-duty commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. On Friday, he published an article in Armed Forces Journal charging Army generals with incompetent leadership in Iraq.

Article Cites 'General Failure' of War Leaders

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9884070/9884073" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript