PRI's The World: December 31, 2012

Anger is deepening in India, where residents are holding vigils in memory of a 23-year-old gang rape victim who died this past weekend. Ananya Vajpeyi, an associate Fellow with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi attended two very different protests on New Year's eve.

The Pakistani government has gone "ban-crazy" recently, in the name of national security. The most disruptive restriction, say critics, has been the ban on cell phone use. Fahad Desmukh reports from Karachi.

As the year comes to a close we remember late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and his involvement in the Free Tibet Movement.

Through 21 months of fighting in Syria, a French ex-pat has refused to leave the country. Instead, he runs a night club in Damascus. Bar-owner Jean Pierre Duthion explains to Host Marco Werman why he will host a New Year's celebration there in spite of the dangers and sadness of war.

More Syrians are trying to leave their war-torn nation. Many head for neighboring Jordan, but as The World's Matthew Bell discovered not all are welcome. The Jordanian authorities try to turn away Syrians with Palestinian IDs.

Reporter Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv tells the story of how a troupe of Russian directors founded one of Israel's most celebrated theaters.

Which African nation is building a new capital deep in the jungle in the middle of its territory? Clue: this is the only nation in sub-Saharan that includes Spanish as an official language.

To help promote their new single "Blue Ice," Swedish indie rockers Shout Out Louds reached out to a Stockholm ad agency to create working records out of ice.

Many New Year's celebrations have been cancelled in India's capital New Dehli, an act of solidarity with a young rape victim who died this weekend. Also, we remember late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who passed away this year, and his involvement in the Free Tibet Movement. And the nation of Equatorial Guinea, builds a new capital city deep in the jungle.