From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
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And I'm Melissa Block.
For years, we've understood the global oil landscape in fairly simple terms: Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries were the big producers of oil, the United States and its allies were the big oil buyers. But a report today from the International Energy Agency shows a different picture. Turns out the U.S. has become a star oil producer, as NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
And now to Russia, where a U.S. Embassy employee has been ordered to leave the country, this after Russian authorities nabbed him in a highly publicized arrest. They charge the American as a CIA agent who was caught trying to recruit a Russian spy.
In northern lakefront vacation spots such as Ochre Beach, Manitoba and Lake Mille Lacs, Minnesota, ice happens even in May. But what happened this past weekend was like something out of a science fiction movie.
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This is the sound from a video recorded as constant strong winds pushed huge sheets of ice off a lake and onto the shore. Fingers of ice creeped farther inland and farther. It's as if the ice is alive.
After living underground in the United States — figuratively speaking — some undocumented immigrants deported to the Mexican border city of Tijuana are living in holes. These migrants have dug bunkers along Tijuana's sewage canal to protect themselves from police who routinely burn down their makeshift homes.
Mike Watson (left), CEO of Kenya's Lewa Conservancy, and conservationist Ian Craig identify the carcass of a 4-year-old black rhino named Arthur, whom poachers had killed the night before. The well-armed, well-informed poachers very likely used night vision goggles and a silencer on an AK-47.
Credit Gregory Warner / NPR
Game rangers report for duty at a community conservancy in northern Kenya. The flourishing safari economy in Kenya generates more than $1 billion a year and nearly 500,000 jobs.
Credit Gregory Warner / NPR
Mzee Kinyanjui is one of the first and longest-serving rangers to work for Lewa Conservancy. Now retired, he is often called upon for advice and guidance by the security department for his forensic skills.
It says a lot about the state of the war against poachers in Africa that the Lewa Conservancy, a private sanctuary in Kenya with 12 percent of the country's rhinos, recently appointed a CEO who has never studied zoology or biology. Instead, Mike Watson is an ex-captain in the British army.
His training has already come in handy. Take, for instance, a visit to a crime scene earlier this year: a rhino carcass splayed out in the mud.
Chai Lorlam is a 9-year-old, 50-pound boxer in northeastern Thailand. The young fighters go through intense training for fights that are held for the benefit of gamblers who often wage large sums on the outcome. Chai is shown here at a recent match.
Credit Morgan Hartley for NPR
The fights attract large crowds from surrounding villages that bet heavily on boxers from their areas. This places tremendous pressure on the young fighters.
Credit Morgan Hartley for NPR
Chai (center) is shown at breakfast after his morning training with other fighters. He spends most of his day at the gym.
Under the fluorescent lights of the boxing ring, the boy can barely see out beyond the elastic ropes that surround the fighting stage. The crowd and the festival that press in around him are shadowy outlines. But the boy can hear them.
"Chai Lorlam, 9 years old, 22.9 kilograms [just under 50 pounds]," the announcer says.
In Moscow's Red Square, people still line up to visit Lenin's tomb. Though the Cold War is over, Russia and the U.S. keep watchful eyes on each other. Tuesday, Russian officials claimed to have uncovered a CIA spy.
"Russia's counterintelligence agency has detained a CIA agent in Moscow trying to recruit an officer of the Russian secret service, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced. The agent was operating under guise of career diplomat."
According to Reuters, the Russian foreign ministry has summoned U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul for a discussion.
If you live in France, you might be paying more, soon, for smartphones and tablets, like the iPad. If the government moves ahead with a new tax proposal, the move could worsen an already tense climate between the Socialist government in France and some technology giants.