World News

Beijing's Air Quality Reaches Hazardous Levels

Credit Alexander F. Yuan / AP

A woman helps adjust a mask for her friend outside an amusement park on a hazy day in Beijing on Saturday.

Credit Alexander F. Yuan / AP

A woman wears a mask while walking in a park near the China Central Television Tower, background, on a hazy day in Beijing. The elderly, children and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are being advised to stay indoors to reduce exposure to polluted air.

Credit Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images

Air pollution hangs over the skyline as the sun rises over the central business district in Beijing on Monday. Dense smog has shrouded the city with pollution at hazardous levels for days, and residents were advised to stay indoors.

Credit Liu Changlong / Xinhua /Landov

Students take an indoor physical education class at Shoushuihe Elementary School in Beijing, as outdoor sports activities for primary and middle schools were halted due to heavy air pollution. Heavy smog has caused highway closures and flight delays in several provinces.

Credit Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images

This combination of photos shows (left) the Beijing skyline during severe pollution Monday, and the same view (right) taken during clear weather on Feb. 4, 2012.

Credit AFP/Getty Images

Beijing hospitals saw a spike in respiratory cases Monday following a weekend of off-the-charts pollution. Here, a row of intravenous drips is seen as parents take their kids to hospital for flu treatment Sunday.

Credit Alexander F. Yuan / AP

A woman wears a mask while walking in a park near the China Central Television Tower, background, on a hazy day in Beijing. The elderly, children and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are advised to stay indoors to reduce exposure to polluted air.

Credit Louisa Lim / NPR

About 9,000 children per day consult doctors in Beijing's children's hospital, around a third of them suffering from respiratory disorders.

By editor

Originally published on Mon January 14, 2013 8:16 pm

Listen

In China's capital, they're calling it the "airpocalypse," with air pollution that's literally off the charts. The air has been classified as hazardous to human health for a fifth consecutive day, at its worst hitting pollution levels 25 times that considered safe in the U.S. The entire city is blanketed in a thick grey smog that smells of coal and stings the eyes, leading to official warnings to stay inside.

7:14 am

Sun January 13, 2013

Mubarak Granted Appeal Of His Life Sentence

Credit Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptians supporters of ousted former President Hosni Mubarak celebrate an appeal granted by a court in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday.

By editor

Originally published on Sun January 13, 2013 1:16 pm

An Egyptian court overturned a life sentence against ousted President Hosni Mubarak and ordered a retrial for the former autocrat.

The decision to retry the strongman who was serving a life sentence for failing to stop the killing of protesters came as no surprise. When the judge overseeing the original case made his ruling last June, he criticized the prosecution for failing to produce concrete evidence against the leadership.

2:10 pm

Sat January 12, 2013

Fleeing Violence, Syrian Refugees Weather A Cruel Winter

Next image Previous image

Credit Susannah George / NPR

Some of the worst winter weather in decades is making life even more difficult for the residents of the al-Marj refugee camp. Some Syrians who fled violence and shelling say after living in such harsh conditions, they wish they could go back.

Credit Susannah George / NPR

Oula's sons play in her family's tent at the al-Marj refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. A small gas stove in the center of the tent keeps the family warm and boils water for tea.

By Susannah George

Originally published on Sat January 12, 2013 3:32 pm

Lebanon has had some of the worst winter weather in decades. First, record rainfalls flooded the low-lying part of the country, then ice and show bent trees and blocked roads. The frigid conditions are making it even harsher for Syrian refugees trying to take shelter from the violence in their home country.

The al-Marj refugee camp sits wedged between snow-covered vineyards, a community center and an unfinished warehouse in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, just a 10-minute drive from the Syrian border.

11:57 am

Sat January 12, 2013

Failed French Rescue Attempt Leaves Several Dead In Somalia

Credit - / AFP/Getty Images

In October, kidnapped French intelligence agent Denis Allex appeared in a video shot by his captors. In the video, Allex pleads for French President Francois Hollande to negotiate for his release.

By editor

It's not clear whether a French intelligence agent is dead or alive after a botched rescue attempt in Somalia on Saturday morning. As the AP reports:

"France says the agent, code-name Denis Allex, was killed in the raid, along with a French commando and 17 Islamist militants. But the militant group al-Shabab, which held Allex for more than three years, says it still has Allex and claims to have captured a French soldier."

5:34 am

Sat January 12, 2013

After Bringing Cholera To Haiti, U.N. Plans To Get Rid Of It

Next image Previous image

Credit Hector Retamal / AFP/Getty Images

Haitians protest against the United Nations peacekeepers in Port-au-Prince in November 2010.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

Men bathe in a branch of the Artibonite River outside Saint-Marc. Haiti's cholera outbreak in 2010 began about 60 miles upstream from here.

By Richard Knox

Originally published on Sat January 12, 2013 11:11 pm

Listen

Not quite 10 months after Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake, a more insidious disaster struck: cholera.

Haiti hadn't seen cholera for at least a century. Then suddenly, the first cases appeared in the central highlands near a camp for United Nations peacekeeping forces.

World News		RSS
All Content	closeNews podcasts Use iTunes Use a different player	RSS
View all podcasts & RSS feeds

Now Playing

Podcasts & RSS Feeds

Most Active Stories

World News

Pages

World News

4:26 am

Mon January 14, 2013