In Denmark, a Ford Focus costs $51,000 — $34,000 of which are taxes. The Danish economy has grown 78 percent, while cutting carbon emissions in half. The country has also become a net exporter of energy — wind alone has created 30,000 new jobs.

• Watch the signature video: Everyday Danes profit from pioneering wind power

Worldfocus correspondent Martin Seemungal reports from Ethiopia’s coffee country, where farmers are deciding to plant corn and khat, a leafy drug that is chewed with stimulating effects somewhere between caffeine and cocaine.

For more on Worldfocus’ coverage on Ethiopia, click here. Listen to Worldfocus Radio on Entrepreneurship in Ethiopia. Watch the PBS Wide Angle film “The Market Maker” about one woman who has created a commodities exchange and revolutionized agricultural distribution in the country.

For more on Worldfocus’ coverage on Ethiopia, click here.

For more on Worldfocus’ coverage on Ethiopia, click here.

For more on Sufism in Morocco, read about the music, mysticism and moderation.

Remittances of 2.5 billion dollars make up Afghanistan’s entire national budget.

Richard O’Regan reports from Tehran.

These days, the Iranian authorities do all they can to control what Iranian citizens see and hear. But as Worldfocus correspondent Bigan Saliani and producer Richard O’Regan discovered during a trip to Iran earlier this year, technology is making that virtually impossible.

As Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Seemungal reports, even building a subway in Rome is a delicate journey through ancient treasures.

Also, explore an interactive map of Rome’s Metro.

But as Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Seemungal reports, the costs of maintaining it all has some Romans worried it could break the bank.

For more, experience ancient Rome in recreated virtual world.

Iranian-American correspondent Bigan Saliani and producer Richard O’Regan traveled to Iran to explore the tensions between the expectations of many highly educated young Iranian women and the realities of their lives.

For more coverage of women in Iran, visit our Women in Islam extended coverage page.

(View full post to see video) Correspondent Bigan Saliani and producer Richard O’Regan travel to Iran to explore the tensions between the expectations of many highly educated young Iranian women and the realities of their lives. http://worldfocus.org/files/2009/09/th_iran_womeniniran.jpg http://worldfocus.org/files/2009/09/th_iran_womeniniran.jpg ]]> http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/09/08/women-in-iran-race-ahead-but-still-face-gender-block/7115/feed/ http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/05/13/bolivia-eyes-lithium-with-hopes-to-transform-economy/5368/ http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/05/13/bolivia-eyes-lithium-with-hopes-to-transform-economy/5368/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 17:51:55 +0000 Worldfocus http://worldfocus.org/?p=5368 Bolivia controls nearly half of the world’s reserves of lithium, a metal crucial for electric cars and other alternative energy technologies. But who will benefit from this discovery is creating controversy.

Worldfocus’ Ivette Feliciano, Bryan Myers and Ara Ayer venture to the “Salar de Uyuni” — the largest salt flat in the world, and one that may turn out to be the key to Bolivia’s future economic growth.

For more on how Bolivia and other developing countries might leverage their resources, listen to our online radio show on resources in the developing world.

It’s a proposal that has left many landowners unhappy. Worldfocus’ Ivette Feliciano, Bryan Myers and Ara Ayer report from Santa Cruz, where many of Bolivia’s largest landholders — ranchers, cattlemen and industrial farmers — live. 

But Bolivia’s leftist leader, Evo Morales — himself a former coca farmer — recently expelled U.S. drug enforcement agents from the country. As Worldfocus’ Ivette Feliciano, Bryan Myers and Ara Ayer discovered, many impoverished Bolivians depend on the coca plant for their livelihood.

Also, pass through a drug checkpoint in Bolivia’s mountains (web original video).

Worldfocus special correspondent Kristen Gillespie reports on sexual attitudes in Beirut. Read her blog from in the field: Beirut’s underground gay community congregates discreetly.

Worldfocus special correspondent Kristen Gillespie ventures through Lebanon’s vineyards.

Below, she blogs about her experience in the field.

From the Field

Let’s be up front about it: this story is unapologetically biased. I love Lebanese wine.

Putting together this story wasn’t exactly a hardship assignment. There are so many excellent producers in Lebanon, but I chose Chateau Belle-Vue because Naji and Jill Boutros represent a new generation of winemakers. It’s not just about the product — they are creating meaningful social change in their village while producing organically grown, award-winning wines. Jill made sure we had tasted plenty of samples from the oak barrels, which is where the wine from each specific grape variety lies for two years until it is blended to create a new vintage.

Chateau Ksara is one of Lebanon’s oldest producers, and aside from the consistent quality of their wines, the miles of mysterious, Roman-era subterranean tunnels fuel speculation as to what they were used for. Ksara graciously opened their doors, and their wine cellars, for us to film.

Another top producer not to be missed is Chateau Kefraya, which produces a reliably crisp Blanc de Blanc for about $6. For travelers to Lebanon, it’s available, along with many others, at Beirut’s airport.

Sahtain! (Cheers!)

- Kristen Gillespie

Worldfocus correspondent Kristen Gillespie reports from a college campus that promotes a radical idea in the Middle East: free speech and democracy.

One of the expected big winners is Hezbollah, which commands a huge and growing influence in Lebanon.

Some call it a state within a state; a movement that is all too willing to fill any gaps it perceives left open by the government. Hezbollah, with its close ties to Iran, has become very influential — and though the U.S. government considers them terrorists, they are heroes to their many followers.

Worldfocus special correspondent Kristen Gillespie reports on Hezbollah.

Read more and view pictures from Kristen Gillespie’s reporting experience in Beirut: Scenes of Hezbollah in south Beirut

Worldfocus special correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report on the scope of Latvia’s fall.

During the 50 years of Soviet occupation, Lithuanians clung to their language as a not-so-quiet form of rebellion. Today, as Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report, they want to protect it — not from an occupying force, but from other languages.