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Impossible Choice Faces America's First 'Climate Refugees'

Credit Richard Sprenger / The Guardian

The 350 residents of Newtok, Alaska, will soon be the country's first "climate refugees." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the village is likely to be underwater in just four years.

Credit Richard Sprenger / The Guardian

Newtok resident Nathan Tom has no doubts that global warming is real. "It's changing a lot," he says.

By editor

Originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 5:59 am

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Climate change is a stark reality in America's northernmost state. Nearly 90 percent of native Alaskan villages are on the coast, where dramatic erosion and floods have become a part of daily life.

Perched on the Ninglick River on the west coast of the state, the tiny town of Newtok may be the state's most vulnerable village. About 350 people live there, nearly all of them Yupik Eskimos. But the Ninglick is rapidly rising due to ice melt, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the highest point in the town — a school — could be underwater by 2017.

4:41 pm

Sat May 18, 2013

Internships: Low-Paid, Unpaid Or Just Plain Illegal?

Credit Seth Perlman / AP

Students fill out applications during a job fair at the University of Illinois Springfield in February. Fed up with working for free, some interns are suing their employers.

By NPR Staff

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 7:47 pm

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Summer is almost here, and with it comes the army of interns marching into countless American workplaces. Yet what was once an opportunity for the inexperienced is becoming a front-line labor issue.

More and more, unpaid and low-paid interns are feeling their labor is being exploited. Some are even willing to push back — with lawsuits.

4:20 pm

Sat May 18, 2013

Spaniard's Song Brings YouTube Fame ... And Maybe A Job

Credit mrenzovic/youtube.com

Enzo Vizcaíno, a 24-year-old unemployed Spaniard, isn't singing for his supper. He just wants a job.

By Lauren Frayer

3:22 pm

Sat May 18, 2013

Bashar Assad: A Political Solution In Syria Is 'Unreal'

Credit Louai Beshara / AFP/Getty Images

Syrian President Bashar Assad made it clear in an interview with the Argentine newspaper El Clarin that he was not resigning.

By Eyder Peralta

Syrian President Bashar Assad essentially dismissed attempts by the United States and Russia to bring the civil war in the country to a political solution.

"Believing that a political conference will stop terrorism on the ground is unreal," Assad said in an exclusive interview with the Argentine newspaper El Clarin. Assad also took the usual stance on a wide range of issues.

12:58 pm

Sat May 18, 2013

Afghan Parliament Halts Debate On Women's Rights Bill

Credit Nicolas Asfouri / AFP/Getty Images

A boy holds the burqa of his mother as they walk down a street in the old city of Kabul on November 1, 2009.

By editor

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 10:58 pm

After protests from some MPs and after only about 15 minutes, the Afghan parliament halted debate Saturday on a bill aimed at curbing violence against women.

As the BBC reports, the bill would have solidified a law passed by presidential decree in 2009, which banned "violence against women, child marriages and forced marriages."

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4:42 pm

Sat May 18, 2013