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How A Spanish City Went Boom, Then Bust

Credit Marie McGrory / NPR

Valencia spent more than $1.5 billion to build the City of Arts and Sciences, the museum complex shown here in a photo from summer 2011.

Credit Alberto Saiz / AP

In 2009, Formula One driver Fernando Alonso (from left), Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa ride in a Ferrari driven by Valencia's then-regional government president Francisco Camps.

Originally published on Mon February 4, 2013 1:29 pm

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The Spanish region of Valencia has been called the "California of Spain" for its gorgeous Mediterranean coastline and modern architecture.

But now Valencia epitomizes the worst of Spain's problems. It had the country's most inflated property market and the biggest crash. Its landscape is littered with empty and half-finished buildings. Valencia has also had an unusually high number of politicians indicted for corruption.

1:19 pm

Tue January 29, 2013

Paul Krugman's Unconventional Outlook On The Economy

Originally published on Tue January 29, 2013 5:24 pm

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Over the past several years, Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on how address the problems of deficit and debt, but there's broad consensus that we need to reduce both by significant numbers, and soon. In his columns in New York Times and in a book called "End this Depression Now!" Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman defies the conventional wisdom. He argues for more spending, not less, says the deficit's not too bad, and that a little inflation might be a good thing.

1:18 pm

Tue January 29, 2013

In Night Clubs, The Steps Taken To Prevent Tragic Fires

Originally published on Tue January 29, 2013 5:24 pm

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Boston, November 1942: 492 people died in a fire at the Cocoanut Grove. June 1974: 24 dead at Gulliver's in Port Chester, New York. In February 2003, 100 killed at The Station in West Warwick in Rhode Island. Tragedies that seared back into memory following the death of at least 230 on Sunday at the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, preventable tragedies that could have been mitigated or stopped altogether by adherence to fire safety laws.

1:03 pm

Tue January 29, 2013

For Your Next Caribbean Vacation, Haiti ... Maybe?

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Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Mont Joli Hotel looks out over Cap-Haitian in northern Haiti. The owner says he's usually fully booked and plans to double the hotel's capacity. Haiti is trying to expand its tourism infrastructure and tap in to the multibillion-dollar Caribbean travel market.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

The Allure of the Seas is the newest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet and the largest cruise ship ever built. It sits at a pier at Labadee on the coast of northern Haiti. Guests go ashore to an enclosed private beach.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

The Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas sits behind the fishing boats and water taxis near the village of Labadee in northern Haiti. Guests of the cruise ship come ashore but are not allowed beyond a fence that separates the locals from the tourists.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Street vendors peddle cool drinks to drivers stuck in one of the daily traffic jams on Highway 1, which is the main route out of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, to the north. Traffic is one of the obstacles to tourism development in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Henri Christophe built the Sans-Souci Palace between 1810 and 1813. Christophe was a former slave who declared himself king of northern Haiti in 1811. He was known as the Roi Christophe or King Henri I.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

A motorcyclist rides along the main promenade in Cap-Haitien next to the harbor and the bay. Haiti has miles of undeveloped beaches and coastline that tourism officials say should be used to attract foreign investment.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

The Sans-Souci Palace, or "Palace Without Worry," in Milot is one of the sites Haitian tourism officials hope will attract visitors. Former slaves built Sans-Souci in the early 1800s, soon after they overthrew the island's French colonial rulers.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Haitian President Michel Martelly, also known by his stage name "Sweet Micky," is a former musician and businessman. Martelly says tourism can be a major tool to eradicate poverty in his country.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Haiti Tourism Minister Stephanie Villedrouin is attempting to market Haiti as a unique Caribbean vacation spot. "My goal is to reposition Haiti as a tourism destination and attract the leisure tourism," she says.

By Jason Beaubien

Originally published on Mon February 4, 2013 1:29 pm

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Haiti used to be a tourist hot spot in the Caribbean. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton regularly recounts how he and Hillary honeymooned in Haiti in 1975. There used to be a hopping Club Med just outside Port-au-Prince, but it closed in the '90s.

Now, the Haitian government is trying to revive some of its former allure, launching an aggressive campaign to market the poorest country in the hemisphere as a vacation hub.

President Michel Martelly says tourism could be a major driver of economic growth and could help lift Haitians out of poverty.

12:56 pm

Tue January 29, 2013

The Challenges To Democracy In Egypt

Originally published on Tue January 29, 2013 5:24 pm

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan, in Washington. Today, Egypt's defense minister warned that rising conflicts and chaos in the country could result in the collapse of the state and that it poses a threat to the future of coming generations, this after days of violent anti-government protests and demonstrations in cities across Egypt, including Cairo, the capital, and Port Said, just north of the Suez Canal.

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1:43 pm

Tue January 29, 2013