State of the World from NPR

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A Ukrainian mayor, released from captivity, returns to a radically different city Apr 10, 2026

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Ukraine has been a country living through war for more than four years, since Russia’s full-scale invasion. But the experience of that war varies widely. Cities on the front line often bear the brunt of attacks, and yet residents a forced to persevere. In our second story from the southern Ukraine city of Kherson, we hear about a former mayor, taken captive, who returns to a city where life has been altered in horrifying ways by the technology of war.
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Life in a Ukrainian city dramatically changed by war Apr 09, 2026

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Weapons evolve over the course of a war, and for the war in Ukraine the use of drones has radically altered the battlefield. But those same weapons have an impact on civilian populations in frontline cities as well. We go to the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson where four years of war has forced residents to constantly adapt.
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A ceasefire with Iran is declared, why is there still fighting in Lebanon? Apr 08, 2026

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President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, just ahead of a deadline he imposed for the country to open the Strait of Hormuz or face catastrophic attacks on infrastructure. In the Middle East there are feelings of relief, anger and uncertainty, after the ceasefire was announced. We hear from NPR reporters in Israel and Lebanon to hear how people are reacting.
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Daring to dissent in Russia Apr 07, 2026

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One Moscow poet is making rare criticism of the Russian war on Ukraine. The Russian assault on Ukraine is now in its fifth year. For ordinary Russians, dissent against the war is dangerous. Poet Vadim Dzyuba is speaking out anyway. It’s cost him his job, and he faces an ongoing threat of jail.
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What 9,000 year old remains in Germany tell us about human development Apr 06, 2026

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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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Venezuelans are daring to hope again Apr 03, 2026

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It’s been three months since the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Ordinary Venezuelans reflect on what that night of the Maduro capture was like, and on what may be ahead for their country. They say they’re now able to openly talk politics and demonstrate in the streets. Still, the most difficult part of transforming their country may lie ahead.
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Paramedics pay the price of war in Lebanon Apr 02, 2026

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Israel has invaded Lebanon as the war in Iran expands in the region. Israel says the move is in pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters— Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel last month in support of Iran. Israel’s invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon with over a million civilians displaced and more than 1,300 killed in Israeli attacks, according to Lebanon’s government. And among the dead are at least 53 paramedics. Human rights groups say some of those first responders were targeted. We go to Beirut to examine that claim.
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Is the U.S. threatening to commit war crimes in Iran? Apr 01, 2026

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On Monday, President Trump threatened to destroy civilian infrastructure across Iran, including the country’s desalination plants, vital for drinking water in the arid Gulf. Kuwait authorities said Iran had attacked one of their desalination plants earlier that day. Deliberately attacking essential civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. Yet both sides have hit civilian infrastructure in this conflict. We ask a legal expert about accountability in war.
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Humanity’s future with Artificial Intelligence Mar 31, 2026

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A conversation with an advocate for the regulation of Artificial Intelligence. He has thought a lot about what it could mean for the future of the the global economy, the working lives of people and how it’s use or misuse on the battlefield could change war in frightening ways.
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A month of the Iran war through the eyes of a writer in Tehran Mar 30, 2026

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For almost a month now, a twenty-eight-year old Iranian writer in Tehran has been sharing her diary entries with NPR. The entries give us a view of the war from inside Iran as it is being lived. This is her second dispatch and she expresses the complicated emotions some Iranians have about this war.
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