MAINZ, Germany -- For a moment, I thought Germany had won the World Cup and I had missed it.

There were convoys of cars loudly beeping, fireworks and screaming people waving German flags in the streets. But the soccer tournament does not start for another 10 days.

The cause? Lena, a 19-year old high school student from Hannover, had just triumphed in the Eurovision Song Contest. It was Germany's first win in the competition for nearly three decades.

For my native Germany -- whose citizens are often portrayed as dull and without any sense of spontaneity -- Lena's victory was reason enough to go crazy!

Under the headline "Lena enchants Germany", public television ARD and private broadcaster PRO7 interrupted their regular Sunday afternoon programming to show live coverage of Lena's arrival at Hannover airport.

The red-carpet ceremony was attended by thousands of cheering fans. And even the state’s governor showed up to present a bouquet of flowers -- along with best wishes from Chancellor Angela Merkel.

'You are crazy'
Wearing jeans and a striped T-shirt, Lena was visibly touched by the welcome.

"You are crazy, go inside, it is raining," the teenager told well-wishers who had been waiting for hours.

With her laid-back and self-effacing style, the young singer has attained huge popularity in Germany. Her winning song debuted at Number One in the German charts and became the country’s fastest-selling digital release.

A well-designed marketing campaign by popular German TV host Stefan Raab ended with many young people tuning into the competition, which in recent years has described as kitschy and antiquated.

As a result, thousands of Germans gathered to watch the event broadcast on video screens in town squares or at special Lena parties across the country.

"I had never been very interested in the Eurovision Song Contest, but with lovely Lena, things have changed," said 18-year-old Simon Zeler, who started an Internet-based Lena fan club earlier this year.

More than 2,000 fans have joined Zeler's internet chat forum since it was launched in February, with nearly 30,000 comments posted about the singer.

"I was surprised by the interest in Lena and totally overwhelmed by her win on Saturday in Oslo," Zeler added.

100 million viewers
Founded in 1956, the contest helped Swedish pop group ABBA and Celine Dion (who represented Switzerland in 1988) to achieve international fame. While the annual event is one of Europe's most-watched TV programs, the majority of artists have vanished into relative obscurity.

But perhaps not Lena, who beat 24 other contestants on Saturday night. Despite often being criticized for her mangled English and a quirky British accent, catchy pop song "Satellite" received 246 points and boasted the second-biggest winning margin in Eurovision history. Her performance was watched by more than 100 million viewers across 39 European countries.

"Best Wishes Lena, Europe Loves You" read the headline in Danish tabloid newspaper BT on Sunday. But Sunday's public display of "Lenamania", which included more than 40,000 people cheering the young star in her hometown, was more than mere applause for a new heroine. For many Germans, it was an opportunity to celebrate a modern form of national pride.

"National identity has lost its ... threatening component, it can now be articulated in a more stressless manner," said Tilman Allert, a professor at the University of Frankfurt. "For a long time, the display of a national identity was accompanied by shame in Germany. Maybe other countries will now say: You don't have to fear Germany any longer."

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Heavily armed police and soldiers have been clashing with die-hard defenders of the drug boss Christopher "Dudus" Coke in Kingston, Jamaica, for three consecutive days.

Cook is wanted for extradition to the United States, where he faces a possible sentence of life in prison for drug trafficking and other charges.

Andre Wright, an editor for the Jamaica's Gleaner newspaper, spoke with msnbc.com by telephone from Kingston about what sparked the current clashes, who Coke is and how the media there is reporting on the crisis.

What is the background of the gang boss Christopher "Dudus" Coke? Who is he?
Cook is alleged to be the major drug lord here. He is linked to the "Shower Posse," which is responsible for mayhem in Jamaica, as well as in areas of the United States, particularly the East Coast.

His group allegedly peddled drugs and executed mayhem throughout much of the United States. They have been linked to be more than 1,400 murders throughout the 80s and 90s. Coke is also said to be in charge of Tivoli Gardens, a neighborhood of Kingston, which is the crime den security forces have invaded over the last three days. 

Andrew P. Smith / Reuters

Police patrol the streets outside the neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens in Kingston on Tuesday.

From there he is alleged to have tentacles throughout various areas of the country. He has other enclaves that are loyal to him because he has been a benefactor to communities, he has had political links and he has allegedly been able to extort money from businessmen.

He is said to be the number one criminal in Jamaica. And of course, the U.S. grand jury indictment indicates that.

(For more background from the Gleaner on Coke, see their article: "DUDUS: The Man Who Holds A Nation Hostage…")

What is the political connection between Coke and the political leaders in Jamaica?
"Garrison communities" in Jamaica are areas where gangs are able to enforce political commitment in terms of votes for politicians. In these areas, local gunmen and other gangsters are able to ensure that people vote a particular way.  

So political parties have various garrison communities where they are able to enforce support by paramilitary muscle. Those who may support another party have to fall in line – or else. 

Coke is from Tivoli Gardens, a section of Western Kingston, which is the constituency of the Prime Minister Bruce Golding. That constituency has always had political allegiance to the Jamaica Labor Party.

But police received a warrant for Coke's arrest on May 17 in connection to the U.S. extradition proceedings.   

Since then, residents of the community – a mixture of gunmen as well residents of the community who are sympathetic to Coke – have barricaded themselves in insisting that they would defend Coke and protect that area.

Defenders of Coke have set booby traps and barricades using LPG cylinders and live electricity wires. The area has become a war zone.

Reuters The U.S. Justice Department considers Christopher "Dudus" Coke one of the world's most dangerous drug lords.

For nine months, Prime Minister Bruce Golding refused to extradite Coke. Why did he change his mind and suddenly support his extradition?  
For nine months, the government claimed that the extradition was flawed because they said the wiretap was illegally obtained. Basically the government claimed that the U.S. had not gone through the proper judicial channels to get that wiretap. 

The government never questioned the validity of the content obtained by that wire tap, but they questioned how the U.S. came to get the wiretap in the first place.

On those grounds, the government tried to block the U.S. request for Coke to be extradited.

But there has been significant pressure on the prime minister from the media, civil society groups and businessmen that he needed to take charge of this matter and he needed to deal with it.

And because of that overwhelming pressure, the prime minister decided to sign the extradition request and to expedite proceedings for the arrest of Coke.  

Has it been an embarrassment for the Jamaican government that they can't get Coke now that they have approved his extradition?
That has been part of the embarrassment, but also the very fact that there has been mayhem in the capital for the past two days.

So far, the police said that at least 30 people have been killed in the clashes – civilians as well gunmen loyal to Coke. At least one soldier and two policemen have been killed as well. Security forces have also sustained over a dozen injuries.

The media have been unable to get into the actual war zone. The core area, Tivoli Gardens, where the major assault has been ongoing, is inaccessible to us.

We have been able to cover some clashes outside of that main area, but Tivoli Gardens is pretty much no one in, no one out, because the military operation is still under way.

Prior to these recent clashes, how dangerous was it for reporters there to cover the drug lords? In Mexico, we've seen journalists who report on the drug lords become targets of their violence. Is it the same there?
It is not as grave as in Mexico. Reporters have been threatened, even during this current conflict, but no reporter from the various media agencies here has been attacked so far.

At least three news agencies have been threatened, as recently as yesterday. But  no reporters have been killed or injured.

There is an article on your web site that says: "A Gleaner news team was pinned down for more than 40 minutes at the intersection of East and East Queen streets in downtown Kingston as militants loyal to reputed gangster Christopher 'Dudus' Coke' traded bullets with the police." What happened?  
They have been caught in the crossfires. Our headquarters are located in the center of the capital. So the shootings have been all around us.

When reporters have gone out into the field, sometimes they have gotten pinned down.

Sometimes they have had to abandon their cars for a period until things have died down and they were able to hop back in and drive to safety.

So it's very dangerous, very tense atmosphere.  

For more from the Gleaner, click here:
All Out War - As Tivoli Assault Deepens, Casualties Rise
DUDUS: The Man Who Holds A Nation Hostage…

LONDON – At the risk of being locked up and ceremonially beheaded in the Tower of London, here's a confession.

I've never much loved our royals.

Not the queen, of course.  It's the rest of them I worry about.

Put it down to my upbringing, my politics, my lack of gratitude, what you will.

VIDEO: Duchess caught in cash-for-access sting

It has always seemed to me there are too many royals and hangers-on enjoying a lifestyle of great wealth and privilege – without doing very much to earn it.

Shouldn't they at least be fine upstanding pillars of society?

I know that our queen does a good job, and that she's been doing it selflessly for almost 60 years. Her sense of duty is second to none. Hats off to her majesty. (I still have her coronation souvenir cup.)

But some of the others?

While Queen Elizabeth commands an awful lot of things – the British Army and the Church of England to name just two – she doesn't get to pick her relatives. And what a dysfunctional lot some of them have turned out to be. 

Take Sarah Ferguson, aka "Fergie," also formerly known as Her Royal Highness The Princess Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Duchess of York, Countess of Inverness, Baroness Killyleagh.

The former grandly-titled wife of the queen's second son, Andrew, has been caught on tape by an undercover newspaper reporter trying to sell access to her ex.

As stings go, this one is toe-suckingly excruciating. Fergie is seen as seedy, greedy and utterly naïve.

I met her only once.  Thankfully it was brief.

She seemed to have a huge sense of grandness, and I couldn't for the life of me work out why.  If she could have got away with wearing a tiara to the office, she'd have done it.

No question she got a rotten deal in her divorce – about $25,000 a year, according to news reports – and some say this justifies her attempt to make a little cash from her family connections. Why shouldn't she?

She could, of course, have opted to take a different course in life after her divorce.

But Fergie was wedded, if not to Andrew, then to her past: a staff of 12, a hairdresser, a borrowed Bentley. All the privileges of a princess – except for money.

Not that she hasn't earned lots, much of it in the U.S.

She just spent, or lost, most of it. As she crudely put it to the bogus businessman who entrapped her – she hasn't "a pot to **** in."

Not for the first time she's been caught out.

Back in 1992 embarrassing pictures of her canoodling with a Texan financier, while separated but still married to Andrew, caused a sensation, as well as a divorce. It wasn't so much that she was photographed topless – that's no big deal in Europe – it was that a man was sucking her toes.

"Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar" was the damning, if typically snobbish, verdict of her by one former private secretary to the queen. 

Now she's back in the headlines again, for equally uncomfortable reasons.

Does it matter?

Certainly to Prince Andrew, whose role as a goodwill ambassador for Britain's overseas businesses is inadvertently tarnished in this mess.

And doubtless to their girls, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, fifth and sixth in line to the British throne, and close to their mom.

To the rest of us, probably not as much as it should. Not worth losing one's head over, for sure.

Vote: Has the British press been too hard on the Duchess of York?
Watch the complete News of the World video

By Tom Aspell, NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Three high profile attacks against NATO targets in Afghanistan in the past week have led to speculation that the Taliban has launched its threatened spring offensive here.

In a telephone call to the NBC News bureau following an overnight rocket attack on Kandahar Air Field 300 miles south of Kabul, Taliban spokesman Qari Yosouf Ahmadi outlined his group's objective in attacking well-defended bases.

"We want to show that when NATO and Americans claim they come to Afghanistan for the safety of the Afghan people, they really can't even defend themselves.  We want to show  we can mount operations in any part of the country," he said.

But the last two Taliban attacks have been failures.

Insurgents fired a volley of rockets into Kandahar Air Field Saturday night and then attempted unsuccessfully to storm the base's northern perimeter.  When the attack ended two hours later NATO helicopter gunships were strafing the fields outside the base. Insurgent fire had ceased and there was no sign of the attackers.

An assault against Bagram Air Base north of Kabul earlier last week killed one U.S. contractor but seven Taliban fighters died trying to penetrate the base's defenses.

"These attacks have had no impact on our operations," said Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kabul.  "They are launched purely for media attention."

The same may have been said for the Tet offensive in Vietnam in 1968. Multiple attacks against major population centers and American bases in Vietnam caused thousands of casualties but attacking Viet Cong forces were decimated and left incapable of mounting further attacks for years afterwards.

While the Tet offensive was a military failure for the Viet Cong it was successful in another way because it turned American public opinion against the Vietnam war. 

So perhaps the Taliban have a similar objective here.

In military terms the Taliban are far more successful using unorthodox tactics.  Last Tuesday a suicide bomber killed six NATO soldiers, including five Americans, when he rammed his vehicle into a convoy of armored SUVs in Kabul.  Twelve Afghan civilians also died in the blast and nearly 50 others were injured.  The headlines were all about the Taliban's "spring offensive" which promises further attacks throughout Afghanistan in the coming months.

Sukumbhan Paribatra, the governor of Bangkok, discusses the recent violence that has shaken his city with NBC News' Ian Williams.  He says that psychological recovery from the recent violence may take longer than the rehabilitation of the city will.

VIDEO: Bangkok's governor: Violence 'a blow to Thai society'

HAVANA – The Catholic Church in Cuba is positioning itself as the official mediator with the Castro government on the issue of political prisoners.

Cardinal Jaime Ortega told a press conference this afternoon that he met Wednesday with Raul Castro for more than four hours.

He described the talks as a "magnificent beginning."

He said they spoke about the opposition group Damas de Blanco/Women in White and about political prisoners on the island.

While Ortega admitted that "nothing conclusive" was decided at the meeting, he said that "the issues are being dealt with seriously" and that he expects that the two dozen or so political prisoners said to be ill will be released soon.

He noted though that the church is petitioning for the freedom of all Cuban political prisoners, not just the ones in poor health.

Ortega called the dialogue with Castro "very positive."  He said that it wasn't a discussion of a list of church requests but that they discussed broader social and economic problems on the island.

"The meeting proved that the church can play the role of mediator and resolve old conflicts," said Ortega.

At the end of Wednesday night's encounter, Ortega said, Raul Castro told him he wanted to continue the meetings. Ortega said he accepted that offer.

Earlier Thursday, the head of the Cuban Conference of Bishops, Santiago Bishop Dionisio Garcia, who attended Wednesday's meeting, voiced confidence that the Castro government would begin releasing political prisoners.

"I believe it will be a process that begins with small steps ... Good intentions (on the part of Raul Castro) are there ... to resolve the situation." Garcia said that the church's concern for the island's political prisoners heightened after jailed opposition figure Orlando Zapata died Feb. 23 in the 85th day of a hunger strike.

If Castro does release political prisoners, that will be the Cuban Catholic Church's second recent victory. Earlier this month, Ortega intervened and defused tensions between the Damas de Blanco/Women in White and Cuban state security.

For the past seven years, the women had marched every week to demand that their relatives be released from prison. In March, state security agents began using force against the women to prevent protests, which increased international condemnation of the island's human rights record. Ortega brokered a deal that allowed the women to continue protesting without police interference or harassment.

All day today, the Cuban state-run media has played up the Castro-Ortega meeting -- making it the top news story of the day. That's surprised Cuba watchers, because Ortega last month issued statements sharply critical of the country's economic policies and human rights record. After those remarks, published in a local Catholic magazine, no one would have guessed that Castro would sit down with him.

CAIRO – "Muslims Outraged at Facebook Profanity" read the front page headline of the Saudi English daily, The Arab News, on Thursday.

But what was most remarkable about reaction to the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" on the popular social networking site was the absence of outrage in the Arab world.

The Arab News article examined reaction to the stunt, which invites visitors to draw depictions of the Muslim prophet, Muhammad, and led many participants to post sometimes derogatory cartoons.

Flashback to 2005 when the first series of cartoons lampooning the Muslim prophet were published in a Danish newspaper: massive and deadly protests erupted throughout the Islamic world. Militants launched assassination attempts against cartoonists.

VIDEO: The organizer of the 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!' campaign talks to MSNBC about what he is trying to achieve

Even on radical Islamist websites which regularly post al-Qaeda propaganda, anti-cartoon angst was in short supply.

One rare posting began, "Remember this day well, it is the worst day of your life. Let it remind you that you are a coward." The writer, Ahmed Rafed, then detailed how Muslim weakness had created an environment where others dared to desecrate the Muslim prophet. He promised to retaliate by boycotting Facebook.

Why the relatively low-key response? "People in Egypt have not heard everything yet," explained Rania Al Malky, editor-in-chief of The Daily News, a Cairo-based English-language newspaper

Al Malky also believes Muslim audiences have over time adopted a more reasoned response. "I doubt very much that repercussions will be as great as the first incident. There has been enough dialogue and enough awareness about how to react and that will water down people's response," she said. Those who oppose the site, she reasons, will respond in kind – and that means on the Web.

Indeed they have. Disgruntled Muslims have launched "Against 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day - May 20'" Facebook page which has already attracted over 104,000 visitors, about 5,000  more than the original "Everybody Draw Mohammed" page as of late Thursday afternoon.

The information section on the opposing site demands termination of the cartoons and a one-day boycott. The posted arguments between Muslims and non-Muslims are relatively mild.

But Khalid al-Maeena, editor-in-chief of the Arab News, worries that reactions could escalate.

"It is a series of provocations to incite people and could get idiots to issue statements calling for violence," he said. "It is a determined effort to create a wedge between Muslims and other people. I hope they will rise to the occasion and be sane in dealing with it."

If violence erupts, Maeena says he will lay blame at the feet of the cartoonist who introduced the Facebook idea in the first place.

"Sensibilities are being attacked for no reason but to create mischief. If anyone dies on one side or the other, [they] should be charged with murder," said Maenna. "I am a secular person, I am a liberal, but enough is enough!"

So far, only one militant site has called for revenge. The Islamic Emirate of Al-Hind has posted on its site an English statement providing religious justification for killing anyone who "insults the Messenger of Allah." The message concludes with a threat to "hunt down the filthy boars and feast on their bloods."

As for the threatened boycott, "Several Facebook users contacted by Arab News said they would not use Facebook on Thursday," the Arab News article reported, quoting at least on would-be Facebook boycotter.

"Facebook always blocks groups or pages that hurt a religion or a section of people. But over the issue of offensive drawings, the website has chosen to encourage it. Therefore my friends and I have decided to boycott the website on Thursday and later deactivate our accounts," the Arab News quoted Shuja al Haq Siddiqi of Jeddah saying. "This is the least we can do to safeguard the honor of our beloved Prophet."

It may be too early to determine whether the predominant reaction will be as mild as a Facebook boycott. The original cartoons that sparked the controversy were printed in a Danish paper in September 2005. Protests continued for more than five months, but did become violent until February 2006, and eventually claimed more than 100 lives.

And the original Danish cartoonists are still under threat. Danish police shot an axe-wielding intruder at one of the cartoonists' homes in January of this year.

By NBC News' Warangkana Chomchuen  

BANGKOK – Although the leaders of anti-government Red Shirt protesters surrendered to the police Wednesday and most of the demonstrators packed up and went home, the divisions in Thai society are far from over.

Buildings still smoldered and smoke hung over Bangkok's skyline Thursday from the dozens of buildings set ablaze a day earlier. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard in the heart of the city and a nighttime curfew was extended in Bangkok and 23 other provinces for three more days. The curfew was the first for Bangkok since pro-democracy protests in May 1992. 

Meanwhile, groups of soldiers dismantled the protesters encampment in the center of the city Thursday, taking down tents, the protesters' main stage, stacks of speakers and projectors.

Some locals and tourists snapped pictures of part of Central World, a shopping center that had collapsed after being set on fire. One passerby called it "Thailand's Ground Zero." In the background a military vehicle drove slowly by playing a song written to honor the Thai king.

But there are widespread fears that the army's crackdown on the antigovernment Red Shirt movement might further inflame divisions that have polarized the country for years.  

VIDEO: After crackdown, Bangkok feels 'unnaturally quiet'

Day of mayhem
One analyst described Wednesday's clashes as the most widespread violence in Thailand's history. At least 15 people, including an Italian news photographer, were killed and scores injured.

Once the army closed in on the Red Shirts protest zone Wednesday with heavy force, their leaders announced they were surrendering. But instead of calming things down, the leaders' decision infuriated many of the die-hard protesters.    

The protesters fanned out and torched buildings such as Thailand's stock exchange, shopping malls, banks, movie theaters, a television station and the city's electricity provider (which caused power outages in parts of Bangkok). In several provinces outside the capital, Red Shirt mobs set fire to city halls, markets and banks.

Several colleagues and I were in a taxi on a bridge when we saw the Stock Exchange of Thailand being set ablaze. Glass windows on the façade were smashed and dozens of men – some in balaclavas and holding clubs – looked on. A man aimed a slingshot at our car as NBC's cameraman lifted a camera to film what happened.

VIDEO: Blood spills on the streets of Bangkok

Neighbors divided
After the curfew was announced Wednesday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva made a televised statement to reassure the public that peace would soon be restored.

However the Red Shirt movement has proved to be resilient in the past. The army has dispersed the anti-government protesters by force before, in April 2009, when street rallies spiraled into riots. Wednesday's arson attacks demonstrated that they are capable of superb logistical coordination.  

But the extreme violence shown by the protesters on Wednesday may spark deeper divisions in Thailand – not only between the conservative establishment and the rural, populist poor the Red Shirts represent – but between neighbors and households.

When my colleagues and I were filming a fire being put out at a shopping mall and a bookshop near Victory Monument on Thursday, a man in his 40s stopped to talk to me.

"Can you believe they are Thais?" he asked. "I saw them smash telephone booths and burn a '7-11' convenience store. I tried to convince myself they were some migrants who were paid to do the ugly jobs. But no, they are Thais!"

And when I called to check in on a friend who lives in one of the neighborhoods that was torched in the arson attacks her emotions were raw.

"My family and I are safe but I feel so much hatred inside me," she said. "If someone asked for volunteers to kill those f***ers, they can count me in." 

Just across the street from the Victory Monument, an angry crowd was making noises that seemed directed at Thai and foreign journalists in that area.

A wide-eyed man said, "I'm very happy! I'm very happy they burnt these places! The government wanted to kill us. This serves them right!"

He said he lived 15 miles away in a different part of Bangkok. I asked if he is concerned at all that the fire may spread to the homes of innocent people.

He just shrugged and said, "Something's gotta give."

More on Thailand:
Thai protests expose troop rifts, incompetence
Newsweek: Thailand's former prime minister was a true democrat

Afghan children from poor families learn performance and circus skills at a school in Kabul that aims to put laughter, learning, safety and creativity back into their lives. NBC's Tom Aspell reports from Kabul.

VIDEO: An education in fun for Afghan children

By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News Producer

TOKYO – Interplanetary travel using a solar-powered space yacht?

That is exactly what Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, will be testing this week when it launches its H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Island.

One of the payloads it will be sending towards Venus' orbit is a spacecraft dubbed IKAROS, for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun, which will unfurl in space a 46 by 46 foot sail equipped with razor-thin solar cells.

Utilizing the force generated by photons, or sunlight particles bouncing off of its sail, IKAROS will propel through space, navigating its course solely by adjusting the angle of its massive canvas relative to the sun.

Or to put it more simply, if yacht sailing takes advantage of the wind to navigate its direction, in much the same way, IKAROS will be remotely controlled from Earth to align its sail to take advantage of the sun's power. 

VIDEO: Japan to launch solar space yacht

Dr. Yuichi Tsuda, a scientist with JAXA, explained why they developed the project. "The United States has already launched several space explorers to Jupiter [and] Saturn, but all of these spacecrafts utilize radio-thermal generators. That's atomic power to generate electricity. So what we want to realize is an alternative way to reach the outer planets. That's why we are pursuing this technology, just using the energy of the sun."

Several nations, including the U.S., have tested solar sails but all within Earth's orbit and never to the point of space travel.

One of the main challenges will be unfolding the delicate sail in outer space; it has a thickness of just 7.5 micrometers or about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.

The deployment will begin about a week after launch when the spacecraft starts rotating at a speed of 25 rpm, releasing the four weighted-latches that are attached to the sail. Using only the centrifugal force of the spin, over the course of several weeks, the canvas will unwrap itself until the entire tarp is fully extended.

If all goes well, in three weeks time, cameras attached to the spacecraft documenting the deployment will begin sending images back to earth.

It has taken JAXA $14 million and two and a half years to develop IKAROS. But if the mission proves to be successful, this may provide a new, more efficient means of space expedition. "In this way we can reduce launch cost, because we do not need a massive launch vehicle," said Tsuda.

Depending on how IKAROS performs, the next goal for the agency will be to develop a sail 10 times larger to navigate towards Jupiter, furnished with more sophisticated research and sampling equipment.

They will still need to improve and modify their flexible solar cell technology to take maximum advantage of the sun as more distant travel will mean weaker energy from the sun.

But Tsuda welcomes the challenge. "In the actual story, as you know Icarus reaches the sun and falls into the sun. But in this IKAROS project, we do not want to do that. We just want the determination and the will of the Icarus story."

Click here to see JAXA's YouTube Channel

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Correspondent

SHANGHAI, China – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) offers up a rare glimpse of itself at the Shanghai World Expo with its pavilion, parked right next door to the Iranian Pavilion.

Inside, visitors crowd one another to pose in front of a 15-foot tall model of the Pyongyang monument, Juche Tower. Juche is the ideological principle developed by DPRK founding father, Kim Il-Sung. There's also a miniature bridge over a reproduction of Taedong River, a Korean-style pavilion, and several TV monitors showing footage from the Korean War, national parade excerpts, ordinary life, athletic events, and scientific achievements. 

VIDEO: N.Korea offers rare glimpse of itself at World Expo

As the description in the Shanghai Expo website says, "All of them present a prosperous and modern Pyongyang based on the traditions of DPRK, where education, science, culture and sports have achieved great development during its long history."

Overhead is a large slogan in blue that reads, "Paradise for People."

But hands-down the biggest attraction was getting a North Korea stamp on the souvenir Expo passports that are selling out every day at the "Licensed Products Shops" scattered across the Expo. 

VIDEO: Expo offers Chinese a chance to see the world

Visitors lined up in an orderly queue – unlike at some other pavilions, where it was a mad scramble around the stamping counter – and waited to get a stamp. 

Or, for the equivalent of 44 cents, they could buy a special postage-like stamp to be glued into their passports. A rather ingenious way to earn some foreign currency…

By Kiko Itasaka, NBC News Producer

KABUL, Afghanistan – After a hard day at work, my neighbor usually changes out of her uniform, applies her lipstick, a dab of mascara, and a dusting of eye shadow.

Then she puts on her powder blue burqa and commutes home.

When asked why she bothers primping when she is about to completely cover up, she giggled. "I wear the makeup for myself. It makes me feel good."

Fatima (who asked that her real name not be used due to security concerns) said she wears the burqa outside because it makes her feel more secure. "No one will notice me if I'm covered up."

She is very distressed by recent European legislative moves to ban the burqa – a catchall term used to describe the Islamic headdress that wholly or mainly conceals the face.

The idea of banning the burqa because of concerns about gender equality, as well as security, has become a hot-button issue in many Western European countries. 

Just this week, France's parliament unanimously adopted a formal resolution to ban the burqa, calling it "an affront to French values." The measure is expected to become law in July. Meanwhile, Belgium's lower-house legislators voted to outlaw the burqa last month and similar bans have been proposed in Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom.  

Fatima is befuddled by the ban. "But why?" she asked. "It is a part of our culture, part of our tradition."

She is one of many Afghans who think that Muslims in Europe should be allowed to observe their traditions and customs, and choose what they want to wear.

Of course, the idea of choosing whether or not to wear the veil was an option Afghan women were denied during the reign of the Taliban. Afghan women were forced to wear burqas because, as a Taliban spokesman said, "The face of a woman is a source of corruption."

"That was a great time for business," says Abdullah Aziz, who runs a burqa stall in central Kabul. His best sales were during the Taliban years; since their fall from power in 2001, sales have dropped by as much as 50 percent.

But with the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and Taliban influence, business is picking up, according to Aziz, who cannot comprehend European attempts to ban the burqa.

"Every country has Muslims, and they should not be penalized for this. It should be up to the individual to choose," he said. While he accepts that some women might choose to wear just a head scarf, he believes the burqa is the most appropriate form of dress for Afghan women.

Not so, says Shukria Barakzai, a prominent and influential member of parliament. She hated every moment of the five years she was forced to wear a burqa during the Taliban rule. But, though she does not like what the burqa represents, she also finds recent European legislation efforts reprehensible.

"Leave women to wear burqa if they want, just as they can wear blue jeans if they want," said Barakzai. She says she is shocked that democratic nations would pass laws that restrict personal choices.

"What is the difference between radical Islamic groups and people who make these anti-democratic laws," she asked. "Democracy means freedom of choice!"  

Some women's groups fear that European anti-burqa laws could even create a backlash in Afghanistan, and play into the hands of the Taliban. They fear that more Afghan women could be coerced into wearing burqas as a form of defiant expression against the Western ban.

Meanwhile, women here rebel in their own small ways. When the Taliban ruled in Afghanistan, women were not allowed to wear high-heeled shoes since "the sound of women's footsteps could excite men," according to the Taliban.

These days, especially in Kabul, peeking out from under the billowing hems of the burqa, you often see heels. Very high heels, defiantly making their mark.

Read more about Europe's moves to ban the burqa from the Economist, "Running for cover"
 

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Correspondent

DEGE VILLAGE, Yunnan Province, China – It was the clamshells that were the most startling.

Larger than my hand, they lay whole on the parched earth, presenting an incongruous image of a drought that people in this part of southwestern China say has been the worst in a century. 

The clamshells were all that were left behind in the Dege Haizi Reservoir, the main source of water for the residents of Luliang County in Yunnan Province.

"This is a very serious drought," said Ling Shiwei, a 75-year-old subsistence farmer with a toothy grin despite the grim circumstances. "From July to now, we've had nothing but dry weather."

A little rain fell in Luliang at the very beginning of April and just in the past week, but nowhere near enough to make a difference. 

While parts of southwest China are entering the flood season, Luliang County in Yunnan Province, is still suffering from what some people describe as the worst drought in a century.  

Following the seasonal droughts of recent years, this year's dry spell is wreaking havoc on crops in Yunnan. The dried-out reservoir helped to feed what was once the largest irrigation plain in the region, enabling Luliang's rich farmland to produce massive amounts of rice and tobacco. 

The region's staple crops may be the only victims for now, but farmers are beginning to worry that if it continues any longer, they'll be next.

No harvest yet
Already, they're affected.  Some estimates say the drought has had an impact on over fifty million people. People such as Luliang's tobacco farmers, who have been anxiously awaiting this time of year when the rain is traditionally supposed to begin falling again.

In the fields scattered around the reservoir, tobacco farmers were tilling the land – the color of burnt sienna – just in case rain does come.

"This year's harvest will be half as much as previous years," said Feng Huasen, a 52-year-old tobacco farmer from Dege Village who was helping to cultivate the fields. 

In a county populated predominantly by subsistence farmers, tobacco is a critical source of income. Feng said the tobacco companies were providing subsidies this year to help farmers who can't make ends meet.

"For the highest quality tobacco, we would be paid almost three cents per pound," said Feng.  But if the farmers end up having to grow corn, which is a hardier and much less-water intensive crop, "we would only get paid 0.14 cents," said Feng.

Ling already grows corn and potatoes; the latter were tiny, gnarled tubers when we stopped by his home inside Dege village as his wife prepared lunch. Their midday meal consisted of a small bowl of fried potato chunks, a small bowl of fried potato crisps, and several smaller bowls of pickled vegetables. 

They were still able to feed themselves – just barely.

Others aren't taking a chance. Of Dege's population of 6,000, only the elderly and children can be seen around town these days.  Most young adults left for greener pastures earlier this year. 

"They've gone," said Feng Jianhua, a 45-year-old farmer who would have taken off as well, but he needed to stay behind to tend to his flock of sheep and goats. "It's too dry. You can't grow anything.  They've gone to find work."

"Many of the young people have left," echoed Ling Jiwen, a 40-year-old farmer who also remained in Dege to look after his ill parents. "More than usual this year, much more. Even some of the older ones, the 50-year-olds, are going out to find work."

Root causes
Chinese officials have been routinely quoted in the media as blaming this year's drought on climate change, and some scientists agree.

"It's cyclical," said Professor Qian Weihong from the Department of Atmospheric Studies at Beijing University. "There were periods like this back in the late 1950s and the late 1960s."

But others say there's more to it.

"The ecological system and the environment have accumulated so many problems in so many years, [after] decades of deforestation [and] unplanned farming," said Yang Yong, an environmentalist and scientist with the Hengduan Mountain Research Center. "The damage on the ecosystem after so many years shows up with extreme climate conditions."

Yang also noted a problem somewhat unique to Yunnan. The province abuts the Tibet Autonomous Region, which is the source for several of Asia's major rivers, including the Mekong – some of which also flow through Yunnan. Chinese officials have been busy the past decade damming those rivers for hydropower.  (According to International Rivers, an environment NGO, China has more than half the world's 50,000-some large dams.)

"There are many dams and basins in Yunnan," said Yang. "And in every basin, many villages with high density populations live off one or two reservoirs.  If the upstream reservoirs don't have enough water in the dry season, the downstream reservoirs will be greatly affected... So the water management is more critical in this long-lasting dry season." 

The dramatic change from drought to flooding in Yunnan's neighboring provinces does suggest water management is a key problem.

In the meantime, the Chinese government has launched short-term measures like cloud-seeding to create artificial rainfall digging for new wells, and running supplies of bottled water to the most affected areas. 

In Dege, bottles of water were distributed from the town's only secondary school on Mondays, and empty bottles were collected on Thursdays.

"Before we had a drinking water machine at home," said Huang Lu Yao, a pint-sized 12-year-old student cradling a nearly-full bottle in his arms. "Now it's bottles of water.  They give us six bottles. Each day I bring one bottle home, and each day I bring an empty one back to school. It's enough for one person."

Residents in Dege still had running tap water, but everyone we saw used it sparingly and only for washing.

They, however, are much more fortunate than some of their fellow farmers.

A few miles up the gently rolling mountains, in Xiangzipo, villagers were hiking at least a mile over rocky hills to draw water from the one pond still remaining – and fast shrinking.

An 80-year old farmer with a slight frame had just finished washing his laundry by the side of the pond and was making his way methodically over the uneven dirt path back home.  His freshly washed clothes were divided between two straw baskets hanging from a pole across his bony shoulders. Underneath a pile in one basket lay a few plastic bottles.

"This pond belongs to Lunan County," said Qian Yilian, a middle-aged farmer from Xiangzipo, part of the neighbouring Luliang County.  "The people in Lunan don't want us to use it.  They're worried because they heard that we get water to feed the herds."

Qian said her village also received bottled water from the government, but the deliveries were erratic because of the difficult road access, and the supply was not enough to do more than drink.  For washing and for feeding their livestock, they all made the trek to the Lunan pond.

In fact, right after lunch, a steady trickle of Xiangzipo villagers pitched up on the edge of the pond, almost all followed by water buffaloes drawing carts bearing round tin water tanks they would quickly fill. No one loitered for very long – perhaps mindful of drawing too much attention.

"[The people in Lunan County] don't want us using their water," said one woman who had come to wash her family's clothes. "But what can we do?"

Back down in Dege, a handful of farmers dug away at the bottom of the dried out reservoir. Though the lake bed was rock hard, the nutrient-rich soil was valuable. "I'm going to mix it with manure and use it for my farmland," said Ling Shiwei, who was tossing brick-sized blocks of the reservoir earth onto the back of his oxcart.

Though there is still no indication that regular rainfall will come, the farmers are paying no mind.  Life, some intimated, just goes on.

Others remained hopeful. "The drought wouldn't last longer than a year," said Feng Huasen, the tobacco farmer. "It's not possible for it to continue through the next year."

Stoicism and hope still springing eternal in this most desolate place.

LONDON – Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding to welcome the groom and groom.

Here they come: Mr. David Cameron – on the right – and Mr. Nick Clegg (standing quite a long way to his left).

I know I speak for all of you when I say what a gorgeous couple they make. 

Yes, I know it's a little sudden – but accidents do happen. Until yesterday none of us thought they even liked each other.

Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

Prime Minister David Cameron, right, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, left, share a joke as they hold their first joint press conference in the Downing Street garden on Wednesday.Â

So please put your hands together for David and Nick, prime minister and deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom. If not quite till death do they part, at least (or so they've vowed) for the next five years.

Who'd have thought it? The Conservative Party leader in a political marriage to the Liberal Democrats' chief.  Whatever will the neighbors say?

Love, of course, changes everything. Especially the love of country or – if you insist on being cynical – the love of high office.

After five days of indecision Britain now has not one political party in power, but two.

The marriage is somewhat of a surprise, especially since the Conservatives' Mr. Cameron and the Liberal Democrats' Mr. Clegg have spent many long months throwing political pots and pans at each other.

They are, after all, at quite different parts of the political spectrum, and U.K. politics are notoriously adversarial.

Take, for example, the accusation thrown at Cameron by Clegg during the recent leaders' debates on the question of Europe. Cameron, he said, was aligning himself to "nutters, anti-Semites, people who deny climate change exists and homophobes." Not exactly sweet nothings.

So what happened?

Well, last week the nation held a general election to choose who should get the keys to 10 Downing Street. Worryingly, they didn't like anyone enough to give them sole tenancy.

But Mr. Cameron is not a man to take rejection lightly. He's had his eye on that particularly property for years. For his part, Mr. Clegg, as the third party in the U.K., has only ever got close enough to peer at it through the railings.

Until last Friday, that is, when the phone rang.

"Hello Nick. It's Dave here. I've been thinking about you a lot recently. I know we've said some wicked things about each other. But deep down I've always liked you. So I wonder if you fancy going down to the pub and making a little political hanky-panky with me?"

OK.  So I wasn't there and I made that bit up.

VIDEO: Cameron is U.K.'s new prime minister

But when the two leaders appeared at a joint news conference in the garden at Downing Street today, they did indeed seem like a pair of love birds – hamming it up for the press, with Clegg even pretending to storm off the podium. "Come back," called his smitten new best pal.

What caused the moment?

Just an unsubtle reminder from the press to Cameron about the answer he once gave to the question: "What's your favorite joke?" To which, he sheepishly admitted saying: "Nick Clegg."

Ouch. Anyone got the number for Raoul Felder?

Cameron and Clegg say this is not only the Real Thing for them, but it's also a fresh start for British politics – a "historic and seismic shift." A coalition government that will put the nation's interests before their own; where "grown-up behavior is not a sign of weakness but of strength."

Passionate politics, for sure. But as in any marriage, passion is not enough to make a union last.

If this one does, these past two days will prove to be historic for this island.

But as my late mother used to like to say of some of the married couples she encountered: "The good lord made them. But the devil certainly matched them."

So, ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses.

May theirs be a long and successful relationship. For their sakes – and for ours.

BEIJING – An attacker with a kitchen cleaver burst into a kindergarten class in northwest China on Wednesday morning and hacked to death seven children and two adults, the latest in a string of violent attacks against school children.

Eleven other children were injured in the attack and are receiving treatment in a local hospital.

The attacker, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, killed himself after his bloody rampage, leaving the motive a mystery.

VIDEO: China kindergarten attack leaves nine dead

People are shocked and outraged by the incident, the fifth attack on school students since the end of March,  and fear more assaults will continue to spread across the country.

At least 17 people have been killed, mostly children, and dozens injured in the series of attacks that have been characterized as copycat crimes.

The first school assault took place on March 23, when Zheng Minsheng, 42, a laid-off doctor, stabbed eight elementary students to death and left five others badly wounded in Fujian province.

After a speedy trial, on April 28, Zheng was executed. On the same day he was put to death, Chen Kangbing, a 33-year-old former teacher, attacked 18 students and one teacher with a knife in the neighboring province of Guangdong.

And one day after that attack, Xu Yuyuan, a 47-year-old former insurance agent who was fired from his job, burst into a kindergarten class in Jiangsu Province with a knife and attacked 29 children and three adults.

Then, on April 30, hammer-wielding Wang Yonglai beat five children and a teacher in Shandong Province. He doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire, with two children in his arms. The two students were rescued, but Wang died on the scene.

AP

Medical staff attend to an injured child at a hospital after an attack in China's Shaanxi Province on Wednesday.

What's next?
China's active Netizens have been weighing in on the attacks and expressing fear that despite heightened vigilance, the assaults will continue to spread across the country.

It's too lenient to execute a killer like this! He should be stabbed to death just like what he did to the kids!" one angry Netizen wrote about Zheng's execution on Sohu.com, a leading web portal in China.

Another writer expressed concerns for school security: "Why haven't I heard this before? Schools used to need no security – they had open gates and were safe. Now I don't want to send my children to school!"

Some blame the deteriorating social and wealth gap for the violence: "This is a disease of the society. Wealth gap is so huge and the disadvantaged are living in hell. If this problem is not tackled, we'll see more attacks like this."

A small portion of Netizens expressed concerns about the killers' mental status: "Why was Zheng executed in such a short time? Shouldn't he deserve a check-up by a psychiatrist? Mental patients don't get treated and they can only go to jail."

The public may never know the true motives behind all these attacks. A news blackout is common in China when matters are considered "threatening" or easy to "instigate social disorder." In such cases only official news outlets are available to the citizens.

Regarding the five school attacks, only the first case was widely investigated and reported by the Chinese media, but very few details can be found on the other four cases other than brief reports by official government news outlets like CCTV or Xinhua. Otherwise, independent online reporting and comments have been deleted hours after they are posted. Some Internet users have begun to comment on the lack of reporting on the attacks.

"You think hiding news like this will make our society really 'harmonious'?" wrote one Netizen

on another Web site Netease.com.

But even if the news of the attacks isn't making it into headlines on major Web portals in China, many Internet savvy users can still find and spread information with the help of private proxy servers.

Meanwhile, school security has been boosted everywhere. Police have sent out more security and patrol forces to schools all over China. Some schools equipped themselves with giant steel pitchforks as anti-violence weapons and self defense trainings are being offered to students and teachers.

Zhou Yongkang, China's chief of public security stressed, "We must take fast action to strengthen security for schools and kindergartens to create a harmonious environment for children to study and grow up."

But not everyone is confident in the security.

"I used to take my son out every weekend to public venues, but now I'm worried and prefer to just play with him in our neighborhood," said Tang, a woman who would only give her family name at the gate of her son's elementary school in Beijing.

DHARABI, Pakistan – One evening in February, something strange occurred in this rural village in central Pakistan.

It was dusk on Feb. 27, the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, the 12th Rabi ul Awwal, 1431 in the Islamic calendar.

Rabia Attari, the wife of, Muhammed Tanveer, the village tailor, saw a strange light coming from the ground in front of their house.

"It had been raining quite hard and the ground was wet," Attari, 24, said. "Right before my eyes, I saw a patch of earth dry up and become pure white. As I moved closer to look, I could smell the sweet scent of roses." Attari pointed out that she had no garden and there were no flowers nearby.  

"Suddenly, a blinding light appeared above the spot," she said. "I saw an impression of what looked like a foot or a shoe, it was surrounded by this light. My husband was at prayer, I called him to come quickly."

VIDEO: Miracle in Pakistan?

Atari's husband, Tanveer, 30, is soft-spoken and has the dignified stance of a wizened philosopher, like someone who has suddenly had a great responsibility thrust upon him. 

"When I came home from the mosque, it was quite dark but this image was shining," Tanveer said.  I called the Imam (the leader of the mosque) and all my friends to come and see and we started to recite the holy verses."

He said his mother told him that this image resembled the pictures that exist in Turkey and Egypt of the Holy Prophet's sandal.

True or not, it is just the sort of grand tale that can capture the emotions of thousands and create a wellspring of excitement and hope, beyond the reach of reason.

After the local TV channels broadcast the strange happenings in Dharabi, a village with less than 15,000 inhabitants, thousands more came to see. They traveled on foot, by car and in buses, from all over the country; the religious clerics came too. At heart, for all, was one question: was this a paranormal event?

Today, "The Miracle at Dharabi," as it is called, even has its own Facebook site. 

Contrary view?
"This is a scam. It's scandalous," said Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a noted Pakistani nuclear physicist.

He gave what he thinks is the likely explanation for the phenomenon. "These people cook sweet rice in the ground with twigs and organic flammable materials. After the rains, the organic flammable material decays and converts into methane, or marsh gas, which catches fire spontaneously. The illumination these people saw was probably this decaying matter which caught fire."

Try telling that to the crowds in Dharabi on a recent day. Arriving at the site, they rubbed their arms with the sacred soil, as if a spell had been cast upon them;  then they prayed. Men, women and even children, pushed and shoved to get close. Many placed bottles of water and bags of sweets directly on the site as they wanted to eat and drink holy food.

The local police ordered Tanveer to fence in the area and place a cement cover over the alleged shoeprint; they were afraid they could no longer keep the swelling mobs of worshippers and curiosity seekers under control.

Mufti Abdul Aziz Hanif, a jurist of Islamic law, argued that the occurrence at Dharabi was against all probability. "No such incident has taken place in Islam in 1500 years – so how come it happens now."

Cashing in
Nevertheless, that hasn't stopped some people from making money from the alleged miracle.

Shortly after the incident occurred, Muhammed Iqbal abandoned his work in the village fields and opened a stall on the road leading to Tanveer's house. He sells bottled water, sweets and twinkling images of the holy shoeprint, and he isn't the only one.

Hawkers line the road for miles turning this once dusty dirt pathway into a bustling bazaar. It seems like everyone was cashing in on the mysterious ways of God. 

Iqbal told us that business was very good. "Listen," he said, recalling what happened. "I came that night because I had to see this for myself. Religious scholars came too. How can you explain that the ground remained illuminated for three days? There is no explanation, it is a miracle."

Maulana Hassin-ud-din-Shah, the chief cleric of one of Pakistan's leading religious schools didn't want to rule anything out. "We cannot say that the Holy Prophet visited this place," he explained. "That would be blasphemous. But we do think that this impression could be an image of the sandals he wore."

Tanveer had to move his family to another location. His house is swamped, day and night, with worshippers.

When we asked those who had gathered, whether they believed that a miracle had occurred here, everyone responded much the same. "Yes," they said. There was no doubt.

"Those who have come and seen, they have made this decision on their own," Tanveer pointed out. "It's not our job to make people believe."

MAINZ, Germany – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her governing center-right Christian Democrats suffered a landslide defeat Sunday in local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. 

The result is a stinging set-back for the German leader and will make it more difficult for her to govern. With a likely loss of the government coalition's majority in the upper house of parliament, important legislation initiatives on Merkel's political agenda could face strong resistance from opposition parties.

By Jack Reese
NBC International News, London bureau

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News correspondent

SHANGHAI, China – I was keen to get a passport.

All around me, folks were waving their travel documents, rushing from country to country, and elbowing one another to get them stamped.

"They're fun," said a man who had traveled all the way from Hainan Island, China's southernmost province. In his hand were a dozen passports with stamps from seven or eight countries. "The one from Saudi Arabia is the best."

NBC News/Adrienne Mong

Visitors hanging out beside the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

I wouldn't know. The line to enter Saudi Arabia's pavilion was seven or eight people deep and wrapped around the block. We had too much ground to cover to spend what appeared to be at least an hour's wait.

But here at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, it's all about the passport.

First though, a bit on the Expo.

"I had no idea what an Expo was," confessed a native San Franciscan taking in the sights.  "But I want to know where the next one will be!"

Described by some journalists as the biggest and most lavish party that most of the world probably hasn't even heard about, the Expo is basically a souped-up world's fair for the 21st century.

Taking eight years to prepare, the event cost $4.2 billion to pull together – more than twice what was spent on getting Beijing ready for the 2008 Summer Olympics – although some have estimated it to be nearer to $45 billion once you throw in the facelift of Shanghai's infrastructure to accommodate all the visitors (a new airport terminal, new subway lines, etc.) 

An estimated 240 countries, international organizations, and companies are taking part in the Expo – most with their own pavilions laid out over a sprawling 2.5 square miles on prime riverside property in Shanghai. Opening on May 1, organizers are hoping to attract about 70 million visitors until it closes at the end of October of this year.

About 95 percent of those visitors are expected to be Chinese. 

NBC News/ Adrienne Mong

Denmark shipped in the Little Mermaid statue for the Shanghai Expo.

"Events [like this and] the Olympics are a way for the Communist Party to sort of broadcast their legitimacy," said Adam Minter, an American writer who has been following the travails of the construction of the USA Pavilion. (It nearly didn't get built, precipitating a potential diplomatic fracas between the U.S. and China.) 

But even in today's era of high-speed jet travel, the Expo still captures a bit of the original spirit of the world's fair and gives people a glimpse of places they will probably never get to.  

"We've never been overseas," said Hu Xin Yi, an elderly woman who sat with her husband on a bus for eight hours from Anhui province just to visit the Expo. "We've only traveled around China."
 
"China is not a terribly cosmopolitan place yet, despite the image we have of it," said Minter.  "Part of the idea from the Chinese government and the Shanghai government's point of view is let's bring the world to the Chinese people, because most Chinese people are not going to have the opportunity to travel abroad."

Stamping our way around the globe 
So back to those passports.

Everywhere we saw Chinese men with piles of passports.  It reminded me of the contractors I used to see on the Iraq-Jordan border, waiting to process the immigration paperwork for dozens of what the U.S. military called TCNs. ("Third Country Nationals," refers to Sri Lankans, Indians, Filipinos hired as contract labor to staff the dining facilities and other services on U.S. military bases.) 

Inevitably, we began judging pavilions on the basis of the national stamp. Especially the ones that didn't have a stamp, like Brazil.

A sign hung prominently at the exit: "We don't have the stamps yet, sorry for any inconvenience caused!" Some others missing stamps were several African and Caribbean countries, as well as Serbia, Armenia, and Greece. (OK, maybe under the circumstances, we may want to give Greece a pass.) 

We pitied the women with harried expressions standing behind counters at the pavilions for Moldova, Peru, or Pakistan – where people shoved their documents underneath their noses to get stamps.  We liked the "self-service" pavilions, where the stamps sat next to ink pads on counters for visitors to stamp their passports on their own.

But it's a shame that so many people seemed keener to collect their stamps instead of stopping to take a look around the displays. After all, the world's fair back in its day was responsible for introducing everyone to wondrous technological advances like the Eiffel Tower.

Adrienne Mong/ NBC News
The Axis of Evil corner at the Shanghai Expo

Befriending China
In addition to learning about countries many will never get to, the Expo is shining a light on countries that some might not have even heard of.  Like San Marino.

Packed into a row of bite-sized nations like Malta, Lichtenstein, and Cyprus, San Marino's pavilion beckoned visitors inside, where a tourist might learn that San Marino is one of the world's oldest republics and the only surviving city-state. 

Moreover, it made Abraham Lincoln an honorary citizen in 1861, and over a century later it became "one of the first Western States to recognize and establish official relations with the People's Republic of China in May 6, 1971."

One display panel stood out, however, reminding us just why governments and corporations might have felt compelled to participate in the Expo. Photos and posters proudly proclaimed San Marino's economic advantages: "tax relief for reinvested profits in anti-pollution and energy-saving projects," and a "corporate tax at 17 percent."

Slawomir Majman, commissioner-general of the Poland Pavilion, a stunning structure that resembled a giant paper cut-out – referencing a traditional Polish craft – explained why attendance is so important.

"From the Polish perspective, there is no other opportunity in the number of generations to come to make such a promotion in China," said Majman. "It's an absolute must to be here and to make use of the fact the Chinese government treats the Expo as a priority. We should never be able to tell so many people so many things about our country during any national promotion."

An extra nudge from China to encourage attendance probably helped, too. 

"It was made very clear by the Chinese – this was not a rumor – that failure to attend would be considered a diplomatic snub and there would be diplomatic and trade consequences," said Minter.

SLIDESHOW: Around the world at the Shanghai ExpoÂ

'Axis of Evil corner'
As a result, participants as varied as the U.S. and North Korea have pavilions on display, both of which were subsidized in part by China. But that was perhaps the only thing each had in common. 

We were not allowed to enter the USA Pavilion. ("We're not doing media tours this week," USA Pavilion staffers told us).

But we had no problem walking into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Pavilion,  which to the delight of cynics happened to sit next to Iran's Pavilion.  (It didn't take long for the "Axis of Evil corner" moniker to take hold in describing this particular pocket of the Expo.)

Inside the DPRK Pavilion, dozens of Chinese and the occasional South Korean posed in front of a giant poster of Juche Tower and a small bridge over Taedong River.  Archive video of the Korean War played on a loop in the background. 

And by the exit was yet another put-upon fellow, a skinny North Korean man, stamping passports.

LONDON – As daylight broke over the U.K. this morning, a cloud of uncertainty hung over Downing Street.

The people had spoken in the country's general election but – to quote a Labor minister – "we don't know quite what they have said."

For the first time since 1974 there's no outright winner. The Conservatives may claim to have won, but Labour isn't accepting it has lost.

SLIDESHOW: Britain goes to the polls

And the third party Liberal Democrats – who thought they had gotten a new political bandwagon rolling – were left looking at its flat tires after all the air had come out.

The political battle resumed at 10 p.m. sharp last night as politicians from the rival parties slugged it out all over the media over who had won the right to form the next government.

It was summed up neatly in an early exchange on the BBC, when one prominent Conservative politician told her Labor counterpart:  "You're losing your legitimacy to govern."

And he replied: "But you don't seem to be acquiring it."

VIDEO: Polls point to dead heat in U.K. election

Deal making begins
So now the horse-trading has begun, and the phones are buzzing between the political dealmakers in all the parties with seats in parliament. 

While publicly the leaders will talk of doing what is right for the country, the behind-the-scenes conversations will be a little less noble: Support us so we can form the government – and tell us what you want in return.

The biggest surprise of the night came not from the politicians, but from the voters, in what may turn out to be the U.K.'s very own "hanging chad" moment.  Many hundreds – perhaps thousands – found themselves unable to vote in time because of long lines at the voting stations.

They were angry, and in some cases the police were called to calm things down.

One told Sky News: "There's British troops dying to give Afghans the vote, and here – in the mother of democracies – lots and lots of people are being disenfranchised."

This morning there's talk of legal challenges, and demands to reform an archaic system that can no longer cope. 

As the morning mist becomes a grey afternoon, who gets to live in 10 Downing Street is anyone's guess right now. With one exception perhaps.

The British media reports that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called David Cameron last night to congratulate him on his "victory."

He may, in the end, turn out to be right. But not yet.

Click here for a helpful guide to the extensive coverage of the British elections

Newsweek: Cameron already in over his head

MANILA, Philippines – Will a computer memory card bring chaos or calm to the Philippines?

With more than 50 million Filipino voters expected to go to the polls for the 2010 general election, there are fears that a new high-tech ballot scanner that reads and transmits votes in real time – designed to cure the ballot tampering and cheating that have notoriously characterized Philippines elections in the past – is technologically unstable and lacking safeguards that may lead to the very election failure it was designed to prevent.  

With some 85,000 candidates running from numerous political parties for 17,000 positions – from town council member to president – and a ballot sheet that runs more than two feet long, the election presents a chaotic spectacle on a good day.

Critics of the automated machines, including several of the presidential candidates, are demanding a parallel manual count, which authorities have dismissed as unnecessary and too late to implement.

Pat Roque / AP

A young girl extends her hand to ask for promotional items distributed to the crowd during a campaign sortie of former President Joseph Estrada on May 6 in suburban Quezon City north of Manila, Philippines. Â

Earlier this week, the Commission on Elections discovered a problem with the memory cards of the optical counting machines, forcing them to recall the cards in about 76,000 machines after tests found they failed to read ballots and print accurate results.

Election officials and the manufacturer of the new machines assured Filipino voters they were correcting the defective memory cards and that the election would go on as scheduled on Monday.

But with just days before the archipelago goes to the polls, the last-minute glitch only fueled previous suspicions about possible vote-rigging and fears that a political crisis could be on the horizon.

Voters have a choice between nine candidates competing for the presidency, but pundits have narrowed the main battle as being between Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, son of the late former President Corazon Aquino, and Senator Manuel Villar "Manny" Villar, a real estate tycoon with a rags-to-riches story. Both are leaders of opposition parties promising reforms after nearly a decade of the Arroyo presidency.

Another candidate from the past is former First Lady Imelda Marcos, now 80, who is trying to make a political comeback as a candidate for the lower house of congress. Adding to the mix, boxing legend Manny Pacquiao – the only boxer in history to have won seven world titles in seven weight divisions – is also aiming for a congressional seat, despite anecdotal reports that people might not elect him because they want him to continue winning honors for the country and not hang up his gloves.

Even outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, leaving due to term limits after nearly a decade in power, is joining the fray as a candidate for congress. Her candidacy, unprecedented for a president, is fueling speculation of a sinister plot to prolong her grip on the presidential palace, which critics say would be neatly aided by a power vacuum that could result from an election failure.

"I can categorically state that the president will step down on June 30 and, if elected, will revert to being a congressman from her home province," presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar told NBC News, when asked about the president's intentions at the end of her term.

Bullit Marquez / AP

Poll watchers look at test ballots as Election Precinct chair Syren Arceta, left, prepares to insert the new compact flash card that would be used to replace the defective card prior to retesting the Precinct Count Optical Scan machine for Monday's first automated presidential elections, at Manila's financial district of Makati city on Thursday May 6. Â

The new automated system being used in the election is essentially a high-tech ballot scanner. The $160 million project includes 82,000 "precinct count optical scans," as well as supporting components like servers, printers, power generators, memory cards, batteries, and broadband and satellite transmission equipment. (Ironically, parts of the ballot counter were manufactured in China, giving the one-party state an unlikely involvement in the Philippines' democracy.)

The system is ready to deliver "fast, accurate and auditable" tallies, according to Cesar Flores, the spokesperson for Smartmatic, the private consortium that won the contract to computerize the system. "This will be the best election in the history of the Philippines. It won't be perfect but it will be the best," Flores recently told the media.

The Philippines election commission estimates that thanks to the automated machines, election results could be known within 48 or 72 hours – a sharp contrast to the more than 40 days that it took for the 2004 elections results to be proclaimed. The votes will be subject to audit by random manual count, as required by election law.

Still, the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the machines need to work properly to ensure a smooth electoral transition.

"This is a critical election for two reasons," said Olivar. He cited the automation as a "big step towards erasing the chronic cheating and inefficiencies of past elections and thus stabilizing our democracy by boosting public confidence in the integrity of suffrage and legitimacy of our elected leaders."

"And second, the leaders we elect in May will assume office with a huge responsibility to keep pace with the spread of global recovery and continue the unbroken economic growth that has been achieved by this administration," he added.

Bullit Marquez / AP

Election Precinct chair Syren Arceta shows the new compact flash card that would be used to replace the defective card for Monday's first automated presidential elections, at Manila's financial district of Makati city on Thursday.

Fearing the worst case scenario
Nelson Navarro, an analyst and political biographer, said transparency is particularly important in light of problems during the last election. 

"The 2004 election was marked with so much fraud that there is the popular belief that President Arroyo stole the elections," said Navarro. 

"Already the Philippines is a laggard in Southeast Asia, so we need to clean up our act, we need a popular president with clear indisputable mandate, who can prevent the country from further falling apart," added Navarro.

"If the election does not produce a clear leader, if the results are not convincing, then there will be another period of instability," he warned. "A government without a clear mandate will be unable to govern, which means the door will be open to possible military takeover or dictatorship."

In fact, international observers fear just that.  

The Pacific Strategies and Assessments, an Asia-focused business risk consultancy group, recently issued a hard-hitting report about the election.

"If the poll automation falters or fails, the country could very well experience levels of political instability and constitutional crisis that would drastically increase its overall risk climate for years to come," the report warned. "There is no official record of any country in the world transitioning completely from a pure manual to full automated elections system in one electoral exercise."
 
"The pursuit of poll automation represents the most serious risk to conducting a credible election," said Pete Troilo, Director of Business Intelligence for the Pacific Strategies and Assessments consultancy group, while conceding that automation is a reasonable attempt to deal with election fraud and mismanagement.

"If locally-borne protests reach a critical tipping point in terms of number and intensity, the entire electoral exercise could be compromised and disputed," warned Troilo, noting that the country "simply does not have the democratic institutions, procedures, or leaders to endure the non-proclamation of the next president and vice-president."
 
"Any formidable popular revolt would require the mobilization of the middle class, the support of civil society – including the Catholic Church – as well as the military, these are the parties to watch closely through the elections period," he added.
 
Still, Olivar, the presidential spokesman, believes that the election-failure scenario is merely a pretext by certain quarters "to mount street adventurism" in the event of election defeat.

"On a scale of zero to ten, I would rate the chances of clean credible elections a 9.9, certainly much higher than any previous elections," he said.

By Shawna Thomas, NBC News Producer

Shawna Thomas is an NBC News producer on assignment in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to cover a pre-trial military commission hearing for Omar Khadr.

Thomas is one of 37 print and television journalists from across the world covering Khadr's proceedings.

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA – The hearing on whether to suppress Omar Khadr's statements has been put on hold until the prosecution has a chance to complete a psychological evaluation on him. The judge said he would inform everyone next week of the new schedule.  That means the hearing will have to resume here at Gitmo, probably in June, and then push the trial date further into the future.

So after 10 days that became 11, there's no resolution.  But in this last day of testimony, there were many developments.

First, we finally came face-to-face (via video teleconference) with the infamous Interrogator #1.  (Interrogator #1 has a protective order that bars the media from releasing his name, although his name has been reported in the past.)  Interrogator #1 was the self-proclaimed lead interrogator of then 15-year-old Khadr while he was at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan before being sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Interrogator #1 said that he, at times, would utilize "Fear Up" techniques to interrogate Khadr, though he admitted that these techniques usually didn't illicit actionable information.  "Fear Up" is pretty much anything that scares the detainee. Interrogator #1 said he screamed at Khadr. "I cussed at him because I knew he didn't like it." He also said, "I flipped a bench once."

While Interrogator #1 did not corroborate every allegation of mistreatment in Khadr's affidavit, he did tell a chilling story about a rape tale that he and other interrogators at Bagram invented to scare the detainees. 

The interrogator said that during the detainee interviews they found out that Afghans were "terrified" of rape and "general homosexuality."  The story they created involved a fictitious Afghan man who is sent to an American prison for lying.  The man comes into contact with a "bunch of big black guys" and skinheads who don't like Muslims because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Interrogator #1 said the tale ended with the Afghan being raped by "four big black guys" in the shower and dying.

Interrogator #1 said interrogators would tell detainees such a story to try to scare them into cooperation, but that the story was "never about the detainee."  He continued, "It's all a fictitious story to make them afraid of American prisons."  He said he told Khadr the story, but he didn't recall exactly when. 

Khadr's affidavit recounts being threatened with rape.

The defense is attempting to have Khadr's statements to investigators declared inadmissible. A key element of the prosecution's case is a video of the boy helping to make bombs and plant them. So the defense is hoping to directly link the information obtained from Khadr to the finding of the video – but Interrogator #1's testimony today didn't do that. It's also unclear if other mistreatment that the defense alleges, like the use of barking dogs and bright lights on Khadr, happened at Bagram.

It will be at least a month before we know how the judge rules on the last two weeks' proceedings.

A media controversy played itself out at the end of our time here at Gitmo. Four journalists who are covering Khadr's hearing were told late this afternoon that they would be barred from coming back to Guantanamo Bay because they violated a court order to protect the identities of witnesses that were referred to by aliases in the courtroom.

Specifically, they published the name of Interrogator #1. At issue is the fact that Interrogator #1 has been identified in the press before today. One reporter who has been reprimanded even interviewed Interrogator #1 herself in 2008.

Below is the video of Maj. Tanya Bradsher, who works for Defense Department Press Operations, reading part of the statement informing the journalists that they would be barred from covering further proceedings at Gitmo. The statement makes clear that their news organizations are not barred from sending other reporters to the island.

Watch video of Maj. Tanya Bradsher reading the statement

By Marian Smith, msnbc.com

LONDON – It's the tightest election in decades in Britain. For Americans, here are some ways to keep tabs on the vote, the issues and the outcome.

The latest polls put the Conservative party ahead of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party, but the race is far from over – the Independent newspaper reported today that four in 10 voters were undecided.  

If the Conservatives do pull out ahead as predicted, that doesn't guarantee their control of parliament, however. Here's where most Americans start scratching their heads. Just how does this system work exactly? Check out this Q &A from Reuters. 

Meantime, Britain's feisty tabloids kicked off their coverage with a typical slice of opinion Thursday.

www.thesun.co.uk

The cover of the conservative-leaning Sun tabloid on the U.K.'s election day, May 6, 2010.

The left-leaning Daily Mirror ran a picture of Cameron along with the words, "Prime Minister? Really?"  The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun superimposed Cameron's face onto the ubiquitous "Hope" poster from President Barack Obama's election campaign.

Other newspapers were no less colorful – the left-leaning Guardian rounded up 14 election day front pages on its website.

There are excellent resources across the political spectrum on the Web for anyone curious about the election. Some of the best are: SKY News' election timeline, the BBC's useful interactive on where all the candidates stand on the key issues, and its thorough election seat calculator.

However, despite the excitement, the British media are prohibited from saying anything to sway the outcome of the election on voting day, so TV coverage will be a bit muted during the day.

But as results start coming after 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. EST), the BBC will post live TV coverage online. An extensive list of BBC complete coverage links can be found here.

The SKY News channel's live TV player will also show election coverage online, but American viewers will only be able to see a reduced version.

Both the BBC and SKY are running live blogs on election day, as is Channel 4 News, which also posts clips of its news program online. 

Other good live blogs to watch are: The Guardian, The Times, and The Telegraph.

VIDEO: BBC's Matt Frei discusses the British elections with NBC's Savannah Guthrie

Until the final results are in, The Telegraph's assessment of five possible outcomes can provide comfort, inspire panic, or otherwise just inform.

And to read more from the parties themselves, go to official websites of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

So what will happen next? "The normal thing is someone wins, someone loses, the guy who loses will resign by lunchtime and will advise the queen to call for the person who's won," Peter Riddell, senior fellow at the Institute for Government, told the Associated Press.

SLIDESHOW: Britain goes to the polls

But with an election so tight, a "normal" outcome isn't likely. The first exit polls are expected at 10 p.m. (5 p.m. EST) but a clear winner – and potentially a coalition partner – might not emerge for days.

LONDON – There's an uneasy calm in the British media right now – a truce in the middle of a battle.

After a four-week barrage of partisan politics, frenzied speculation, measured analysis, debates, insults, apologies and entreaties – otherwise known as a general election – it's suddenly gone quiet.

Peter Muhly / AFP - Getty Images

An elderly couple leave a polling station in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Thursday after casting their votes.

At 7 a.m. today the voting stations opened and the first of many millions of Britons began turning up to cast their votes for who will govern the country. British electoral law prevents anything being said or written to try to influence the outcome until 10 p.m. tonight – when voting stops and counting starts. 

So the fighting is over for now, and one of the parties is preparing for a victory parade.

But which one? Strangely, it's still too close to call with any certainty.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown – a rugged political heavyweight – has had a disappointment-strewn campaign that has left him trailing in the opinion polls. His party's been in office for 13 years and for many the glitter has worn off.

For their main rivals – the Conservatives led by David Cameron – Labor's fall from grace could have given them a shoo-in. But while Cameron's in the lead in the opinion polls, he's not home and dry.

This traditional two-horse election race has been complicated by a surge of support for the Liberal Democrats – for long the "also-rans" in U.K. politics. Their previously unknown but charismatic young leader Nick Clegg – with his campaign call for a change in the "old politics" – has given many voters cause to rethink their allegiances.

So the outcome may be highly unusual. While Cameron may win the popular vote and become prime minister, he may still end up with a minority of seats in the House of Commons. That will make his job of governing the country even tougher.

The only sure thing after the result is known?  The political battle will recommence – with a vengeance.

Q & A: How Britain's elections work