World Audio/Video - NPR

A judge on Tuesday ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay and told the Bush administration to produce them in court Friday. The administration is appealing the order. If the attempt fails, the case likely will head to the Supreme Court.

Britain has announced a multibillion-dollar rescue plan for its banking system. The plan would partially nationalize the banking industry in an attempt to shore up a financial sector that many fear won't survive the turmoil without government help.

Dubai has been the poster child of Gulf state growth for the past decade. So how does the global slump affect one of the strongest economies in the Middle East? We examine whether they'll be a halt to indoor ski resorts and luxury casinos.

Iceland could become the first "national bankruptcy" of the global financial crisis. The nation's currency has lost nearly half of its value and banks are collapsing under the heavy debt. Tom Braithwaite, a reporter for the Financial Times, talks about Iceland's financial mess.

A coordinated interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and five other central banks sends markets on a roller-coaster ride. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson counsels patience and vows to do whatever it takes to offset the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The first retrospective exhibit of controversial artist Jeff Koons is on display at Versailles, just outside Paris. In recent years, only a few select works of contemporary artists have been displayed there. Now, Koon's giant red aluminum lobster, vacuum cleaners and floor polishers display and giant balloon dog adorn the palace. Critics are calling it a sullying of French culture and identity.

Amid the turmoil in the world's financial markets, Russia has been among the hardest hit nations. Its stock market is down more than 60 percent. Russia's president announced billions more in financial aid Tuesday, but that did little to help the markets.

Three scientists — a Japanese citizen and two Americans — who created a method for unveiling the previously invisible machinery inside living cells, using a protein that glows in the dark, won the 2008 Nobel Prize for chemistry.

The Federal Reserve lowered a key interest rate Wednesday morning by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent. The move was made in coordination with other central banks around the world. The Fed earlier signaled that it might cut interest rates after a series of other bold steps failed to stem the financial meltdown.

The British government announced a multibillion-dollar rescue package Wednesday for British banks. The emergency plan partially nationalizes Britain's banking industry. The move comes one day after some banks lost nearly 40 percent of their share value.