World

In Mexico City's most prominent tree-lined park, you can find statues to such international heroes as Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King and now Heydar Aliyev. He's the Soviet-era autocrat of Azerbaijan. Its government paid for the park's latest statue and restoration of a nearby plaza. The gilded gift has upset many in the capital and is causing headaches for Mexico City's outgoing mayor.

Toothbutter: noun. Butter spread so thickly as to reveal teeth marks upon biting.

The fact that this word exists in the Danish language should help to explain what politicians were up against when they introduced the "fat tax" just over a year ago. This is a country that loves it some butter (and meat, and all things dreadful to the arteries).

The Greek government passed a 2013 budget on Monday that includes more spending cuts and tax hikes. But European leaders, while welcoming the move, won't give Greece its latest loan fix for now because of the country's rising debt. More than two years after Greece adopted a punishing austerity regimen in exchange for bailout loans, the country remains deeply in debt and addicted to loans.

On Saturday, the BBC's Director General, George Entwistle, resigned. On Monday, Helen Boaden, director of BBC News, and her deputy Stephen Mitchell, took leaves of absence after what appear to be major breaches of journalistic ethics. The first occurred a few weeks ago when the organization spiked an investigative report about alleged child sex abuse by a former BBC star, Jimmy Savile. The second happened last week when the BBC falsely accused a former senior politician, still living, of child abuse.

Robert Siegel talks with Yaser Tabbara, spokesman for a newly formed umbrella organization of Syrian opposition groups. The coalition, forged over the weekend in Doha, is much broader than its predecessor, the Syrian National Council, bringing together roughly 90 percent of Syria's opposition. Tabbara, an attorney typically based in Chicago, helped broker the coalition's agreement.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

We begin this hour with the conflict in Syria. There are both military and diplomatic developments to report. First, cross-border fire between Syrian and Israeli forces. Israel's military says it hit back today at a Syrian army mortar unit that had launched a round into Israeli-held territory in the Golan Heights. And Israel says it's ready to escalate its response if necessary.