Search results for

The Dalai Lama was forced to cancel a trip to South Africa this week for Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebration because he was not issued a visa. The news infuriated Tutu, who accused the government of being afraid to offend China, South Africa's largest trade partner.

The State Department is considering whether to issue a permit for a controversial oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Environmentalists oppose the project, but defenders say jobs are at stake. NPR's Jeff Brady reports.

The world lost a titan of industry this week with the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Robert Smith speaks with James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, about the Jobs legacy and other stories from this past week.

In a straw poll at the two-day Values Voter Summit, Texas Congressman Ron Paul was the winner, but much of the talk of the conference was about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is viewed by many in the movement as soft on social issues.

Moammar Gadhafi's compound in the heart of Tripoli has been put to new use as a market, and the former palace of terror is now a kind of fairground.

Syria on Friday issued a warning to other countries in the world not to recognize the newly-formed Syrian National Council. For the last seven months, protesters have been trying to force changes in the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. So far Assad has resisted change, often forcefully. NPR's Deborah Amos was given rare permission to visit the Syrian capital of Damascus this week, and updates host Audie Cornish on the state of the uprising.

In a rare hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer discussed the role of judges under the Constitution. Among the revelations: Scalia considers himself out of touch with modern American values and Breyer likes to top off debates with a joke.

It's known as the Viagra of the Himalayas, and it can cost as much as $50,000 a pound. The world's most expensive fungus is known in Tibetan as yartsa gunbu and has become a status symbol in China.

Massive clashes that drew in Christians angry over a recent church attack, Muslims, and Egyptian security forces raged over a large section of downtown Cairo Sunday night, leaving at least 24 people dead and more than 200 injured. It was the worst violence since the 18-day uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

We all know what happens when individuals stop paying their bills. It's an onslaught of angry letters, pestering phone calls and bankruptcy paperwork. But what about when an entire country can't pay the bills? Argentina's default in 2001 is a nightmare scenario for lenders warily looking at Europe's crisis.