Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Sarah Chayes, author of "The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan after the Taliban." Chase first went to Afghanistan as a reporter during the war. She then set up a soap-making cooperative in Kandahar. Now she's involved in training workshops for NATO forces.

A Chinese researcher for The New York Times is out of prison after serving three years in prison. He was charged with violating state secrets after the newspaper ran a story about a Chinese leader. Reporter Jocelyn Ford discusses the case with journalism students at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

The United States has a sanctions program against Iran. But some say Washington has been slow to follow through on some of its tough rhetoric on Iran. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Valerie Lincy, director of the Iran Watch program for the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.

B. Kouchner

France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner caused a stir this week when he said that the world should prepare for war if Iran continues to develop its nuclear program. The World's Jason Margolis reports on the ongoing fallout from the French minister's warning.

September 18th's full program

Suba Sankaran is the lead vocalist of South Asian-inspired Toronto-based band, Autorickshaw. In today's Global Hit, Sankaran explains how she adapted fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen's classic "Bird on a Wire."

Today's answer is Sendai. Ray Bartlett sent us an audio postcard from Japan's biggest music festival.

Where in the world will we go today?

China's government is overhauling the city of Beijing in preparation for next year's Olympic Games. The World's Beijing correspondent Mary Kay Magistad tells us how it's going so far.

The World's Katy Clark has the story of a Harvard University scholar who wants the Iranian government to allow him to be buried in Iran after he dies. Richard Nelson Frye has dedicated his life to studying and teaching about Iran.

Richard Nelson Frye and his wife Eden Naby