World News

In Egypt, tensions have risen in recent weeks as government security forces have clashed with street protestors. For more, Robert Siegel talks with Abdul Mawgoud Dardery about the political situation in Egypt. He's a member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A Somali court on Tuesday handed down one year sentences to a woman who claimed she was raped and to a journalist who interviewed her about the alleged sexual abuse. The Mogadishu judges decided the woman had lied. The journalist was accused of insulting the government, even though he never published anything from the interview. Rights groups have decried the case as politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault.

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Now to Mali, where the French are winding down their mission. As they do, librarians and scholars in the city of Timbuktu are breathing a sigh of relief. Timbuktu is home to an untold number of manuscripts and antiquities from Qurans to texts on medicine and mathematics, invaluable to Islamic history. But recently, Malian rebels and Islamic militants set the city's largest library on fire as they fled town. As it turns out, the scholars were one step ahead of the vandals. Only a very small percentage of the items were destroyed.

A confidential Justice Department memo obtained by NBC News outlines legal theories the Obama administration has used to justify killing American citizens abroad. Here are five key questions and answers about the document:

1) What is it?

Rape has long been a weapon of war, but documenting sexual violence usually happens after a conflict is over. Researchers are taking a new path with the Syrian conflict: tracking the incidents of rape as they occur.

From Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Cairo, to the ongoing violence in Syria, Rami Khouri, columnist for Beirut's Daily Star recaps developments in the Middle East and reflects on lessons learned two years after the Arab Spring.

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Across Syria's eastern border, Iraq is nearing the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led international invasion. The war that ended the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein is over but the killing is not. Insurgents sprang up under U.S. occupation and sectarian and ethnic rifts left thousands dead. Though the bloodshed peaked about six years ago, the death toll there is still stunning. Last month across the country it reached 246. And we're learning this morning about more violence in Iraq.

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And I'm Steve Inskeep.

The world's most popular sport is under investigation for corruption. European police say they've found evidence of a vast criminal network that fixed hundreds of soccer matches. The conspiracies are alleged to span continents and involve players, team officials, league staff and serious criminals. Investigators say they're looking at teams competing for places in soccer's biggest tournament, the World Cup.

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In New Delhi, prosecutors called their first witness to the stand in the trial of five men accused of a gang-rape and the murder that's horrified India and the world. The victim's male companion, who was beaten and left for dead alongside her, appeared in court in a wheelchair to testify.

Indians are eager to see justice done, but as NPR's Julie McCarthy reports, the realities of government and the courts are dampening expectations.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

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A few months ago, the British were told that a royal skeleton might have been located under what the Brits call a car park. And they were told the remains might belong to the 15th century King Richard III. Many were skeptical, but now they can believe it. Today, experts confirmed that the bones belong to Richard III, a monarch immortalized by William Shakespeare.

NPR's Philip Reeves tells us more.

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And now a little memory jog about that rediscovered king. Here is Laurence Olivier in tights in 1955.

LAURENCE OLIVIER: (as Richard III) Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York, and all the clouds that glowered upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

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After Islamic extremists seized parts of Mali, the country's former colonial ruler, France, intervened with a ground and air offensive. This action raises questions about the role of former colonial powers in modern conflicts.

The Chinese workers who assemble iPhones, iPads and tons of other electronic devices may soon be able to elect their own union representatives, the FT reports.

Labor unions technically do exist in Chinese factories, but they're typically controlled by management and the government. So a union run by democratic vote of the workers would be a huge shift.

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It now appears that the militants who stormed a gas plant in Algeria last month, resulting in the deaths of dozens of hostages, ultimately wanted to create a giant fireball by blowing up the plant. They just couldn't figure out how. David Greene talks to Adam Nossiter of The New York Times, who recently went to the plant and gathered accounts of some former hostages.

As Malian forces backed by French and African troops have retaken the West African nation's contested northern region, there have been allegations of human rights abuses. Human Rights organizations accuse the Malian army of summary executions, among other abuses.

Update at 1:32 p.m. ET. Toll Rises:

The death toll from the coordinated attacks in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk has risen: The BBC says at least 16 people are dead, while Al Jazeera puts the number at at least 30.

Our original post:

Iran's foreign minister on Sunday welcomed Vice President Joe Biden's comments that the U.S. was willing to hold direct talks with the Islamic republic over its nuclear program.

"We have no red line for bilateral negotiations when it comes to negotiating over a particular subject," Ali Akbar Salehi said at a security conference in Munich, Germany. "If the subject is the nuclear file, yes, we are ready for negotiations but we have to make sure ... that the other side this time comes with authentic intention, with a fair and real intention to resolve the issue."

Five men accused of the brutal rape and murder of a woman student in New Delhi were charged today. The attack in December launched an international outcry and led to nationwide protests. NPR's Julie McCarthy joins host Laura Sullivan from the Indian capital with the latest.

A radical left-wing group is calling Friday's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Turkey "an act of self-sacrifice" against the U.S. The suicide bombing killed an embassy guard and injured several others.