PROGRAM NOTES 05/17/13- This weeks show features stories from SPANISH NATIONAL RADIO, RADIO DEUTSCHE-WELLE, the VOICE OF RUSSIA, and NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN.

From SPAIN- In the wake of the deadly collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh, many major firms that have their clothing made there have agreed to help pay for fire safety and building improvements- Walmart and The Gap have refused to sign on to the plan. Students and teachers staged rallies across Spain to protest spending cuts in education. Members of Spain's M-15 movement led organized actions to paralyze banking services at the nationalized bank called Bankia. Israeli officials have given the go-ahead to build 300 more homes near Ramallah, a move sure to elevate tensions with Palestine.

From GERMANY- Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been banned in France and Bulgaria, and now in one region of Spain. The European Commission is investigating large oil companies for price-fixing. There is a new political party in Germany called the Pirate Party calling for a guaranteed basic wage for all citizens. Silvio Berlusconi faces 6 years in prison for having sex with an underage prostitute. Officials from around the world pledged over $3 billion for the reconstruction of Mali. The German military is scrapping plans to build surveillance drones.

From RUSSIA- This week saw the first flight of a military surveillance drone within the continental United States.

From JAPAN- South Korea and the US have begun another round of joint naval exercises off the Korean peninsula. A Japanese nuclear regulatory panel has concluded that another nuclear reactor is built on top of an active earthquake fault. Fishermen in the area of the Fukushima nuclear disaster refuse to accept that suspect ground water should be pumped into the ocean. The shut down at the fast-breeder reactor may become permanent. A hybrid power generator using both wind and tidal energy will begin testing this fall off western Japan.

"Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together."
--Edward Abbey