World

Transcript

CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

This morning, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the winner of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize and they chose the European Union.

THORBJORN JAGLAND: The European Union is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and (unintelligible) social unrest. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result, the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights.

Nerds, rejoice! It's Nobel season — the Oscars for lab rats, peacemakers and cognoscenti alike. Every fall, big thinkers around the world wait for a middle-of-the-night phone call from Sweden, dreaming of what they might do with the $1.2 million prize.

There's been celebration in China, after the Nobel literature prize was awarded to Chinese author Mo Yan. This is the first Nobel given to a Chinese not in exile or prison, and the author's relationship with the Chinese government has sparked criticism.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded its Peace Prize to the European Union — a decision that came as a surprise to many. The committee said it was an award that was long overdue, considering the E.U.'s role in advancing peace since World War II.

A majority-Islamist assembly is drafting Egypt's new constitution, and controversy has broken out over the article on women's rights. The draft article guarantees equality between men and women, but only if it does not contradict the rules of Islamic law. Though the previous constitution made reference to Islamic law, many women are worried about what this language — under an Islamist president — will mean for them.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. This year's Nobel prize for literature was announced today. It went to Chinese writer Mo Yan. The Swedish academy praised what it called Mo's hallucinatory realism. As NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, Mo's work is also brutal, raunchy, funny and, unlike many Nobel literature laureates, relatively well known.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Mo Yan is probably best known for writing what would become the movie "Red Sorghum."

(SOUNDBITE OF TRUMPET BLOWING)

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

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

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

There's a new guerilla art form in London. As Vicki Barker reports, it is intended to bring some levity to the Underground.

(SOUNDBITE OF LONDON UNDERGROUND TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: The next station is Holborne. Change here for the Picadilly line.