State of the World from NPR

Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine whose population numbered in the hundreds of thousands before Russia’s invasion of the country. Just a fraction of those people live there today.

Russia occupied Kherson for a few months in the early days of the war and ever since Russian forces withdrew across the Dnipro River, the city has largely been under siege with frequent shelling and drone attacks. But a limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine this past weekend gave residents of Kherson a break from fighting. Allowing them to walk the streets and see friends again.

We go to a temporarily peaceful Kherson to hear how residents are living under the constant threat of bombing and drone attacks.

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Many places in the Persian Gulf like Dubai, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have spent decades modernizing and inviting investment from around the world. But that effort has been stymied by wars that have landed on their doorstep– including conflicts in Yemen and Iran.

We go to Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, to hear how these wars are threatening the kingdom’s plans for the future. And we hear how other Gulf states are worried about the possibility of renewed attacks on Iran and the retaliation that could follow.

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With his crooked cowboy hat, thick black beard and oversized belt buckles, Carín León looks every bit the macho Mexican superstar singer that he is. But beneath the swagger is a romantic with a talent for heartbreak. Proving that even the toughest hombres have a soft spot and a song for every wound. We go to Leon’s hometown of Hermosillo, Sonora to meet the singer.

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Politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado has returned to Venezuela. She led the opposition to authoritarian leader Nicholas Maduro and fled Venezuela in 2025 after more than a year in hiding.

This is Machado’s first time back in her country following the U.S. arrest of Maduro in January. We hear how her presence is putting pressure on the U.S.-backed Venezuelan regime to hold elections.

And with this year’s ‘super El Nino’ expected to bring flash floods and landslides to Kenya, thousands of workers in Nairobi have been preparing. A youth employment group called the Green Army is clearing drainage systems and waterways to try and prevent flooding this winter. But there are tradeoffs to this large-scale cleanup effort.

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Israel has held an important election– its first since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on that country.

The vote is a referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu who was in power when the attacks occurred and presided over the military responses that followed. And so far, there is no clear winner.

With more than half the votes counted neither Netanyahu nor his center-right challenger Gadi Eisenkot have the majority needed to form a government. We hear what happens now and an analysis of what it means.

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Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a very limited ceasefire to help a Ukrainian city that’s been under Russian occupation for nearly five years. We hear about the horrific conditions residents have been living under in the city of Oleshky.

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We look at unexpected election results in different parts of the globe, in which the youth vote played a major role.

In Brazil, the leftist incumbent in his 80’s cinched a stunning come-from-behind win. And in Serbia a student movement that emerged from years of anti-corruption protests toppled the long-time leader.

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The Russia-Ukraine war is sometimes compared to the static, deadlocked, trench warfare of World War I.

Yet it’s also been the defining conflict of the 21st century, dominated by drones that have created a so-called “kill zone” along the front line. We hear about what the kill zone is like and what it means for the future of warfare.

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Chinese manufacturers have not had it easy these past few years, with U.S. tariffs as well as the wars in Ukraine and Iran pushing up their costs and shrinking profits.

But there is one sector that is thriving despite all of this, the manufacturers of this Chinese tile-game, called mahjong. It’s been trending in the U.S. and that has given a boost to one mahjong manufacturing hub.

We go to eastern China to understand the global implications of this trend.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at http://plus.npr.org/.

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In the Israeli occupied West Bank, dozens of Americans have been detained, including a politician running for Congress.

Settler violence and detentions by the Israeli military have been on the rise for years in the Palestinian territory, which is occupied by Israel. But according to two Israeli lawyers, this is the largest mass detention of activists there in a decade.

A team from NPR witnessed the detention of a group made up primarily of American and Israeli rabbis, activists and U.S. Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander. They had been helping Palestinian families harvest their olives to try to prevent attacks by Israeli settlers.

We hear from our reporter who witnessed the event and one of the American rabbis who was detained.

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Sometimes it feels like when we aren’t worried about AI destroying humanity — we worry about it replacing white collar jobs like lawyers, accountants, coders. But tech companies have plans for AI-powered robots to replace blue collar jobs as well.

We go to southern India, where our correspondent found domestic and factory workers being enlisted to train AI, sometimes without their knowledge.

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Israel holds an election on October 27th, electing members of the Knesset, their parliament. And this election will decide the future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is the first vote since Hamas-led attacks of October 7th, 2023 and the Gaza war. And a major question shaping the elections is whether the prime minister should be held responsible for the Hamas attacks. We go to Israel, to hear how Israelis are thinking about this election.

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Ukraine finds itself in a difficult situation. It has endured increased airstrikes from Russia, especially in the capital Kyiv.

One way the country fights back is by hitting Russian energy infrastructure, a way to deny Russia the money it needs to conduct the war. But President Trump has blamed those strikes on the high cost of diesel in the United States. He has pressured Ukraine to stop its attacks and he has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel.

In today’s episode we hear from Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about his relationship with President Trump, whether Ukraine is to blame for energy prices, and what he thinks a path to peace looks like.

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In the new documentary “NAZA”, two dozen anonymous Israeli military and intelligence officers describe how they used an AI-powered system to kill Palestinians in Gaza. The film’s premiere received a 25-minute standing ovation at Venice International Film Festival. But in Israel, it has caused a major backlash.

We hear from the filmmakers and reaction from Israelis.

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The arrest last week of Germany’s former intelligence head, August Hanning, has left the country in shock. He’s suspected of sharing state secrets with other governments. That’s also worrying Western agencies like the CIA, which share intel with Germany.

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With a battered economy made worse by war, many Iranians are looking for ways to provide for their families. Some decide to travel days over land to make their way to Turkey where they can work under the table. But the jobs they’re looking for don’t always materialize. We meet a bus of Iranians arriving in Istanbul in search of employment.

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In this encore episode, we learn about our evolving understanding of an ancient find. When a 9,000 year-old grave of a shaman was discovered in 1930s Germany, the discovery was quickly politicized to support Nazi propaganda. But new analysis shows those assumptions were all wrong.

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We go to Mexico’s gulf coast to learn about fandango. It is a joyous musical tradition born in the Mexican state of Veracruz that’s been going on for more than 300 years and whose popularity has spread around the world.

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It has been three years since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that led to Israel’s invasion of Gaza. It’s a war that has yet to end, despite a ceasefire.

On yesterday’s episode we heard about the rebuilding happening on the Israel side of the border with Gaza. Today, a look at what Gaza is like today. Our reporter in Gaza speaks to one man about what his life is like now. And we hear from some doctors who have volunteered in Gaza about the state of the medical system.

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Three years after the October 7th attacks, Israel’s southern border with Gaza is undergoing a dramatic rebound. That region was nearly abandoned after thousands of Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities. That attack killed nearly 12-hundred people, and 250 more were taken hostage.

Now, residents are back. Some are driven by solidarity with the victims of October 7th. Others say they feel safer with the heavy Israeli military buildup along the border as Israel continues to occupy most of Gaza.

We go to southern Israel.

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