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The Father’s Day Edition

“What I remember about my dad is that he had this penetrating smile.”

We recall the life of Tony Acevedo; from child of unauthorised immigrants from Mexico, to US soldier in WWII, to concentration camp survivor, to inspirational father.

Also: the daughter of an American spy reveals secrets about her childhood; a father remembers telling his children that he was going to be deported; Vincenzo Bruno, an activist in Costa Rica, comes out as transgender to his son; and Tami Neilson closes out the programme with her song “The First Man.’’

(Image: Tony Acevedo at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's 20th Anniversary Tribute event in Los Angeles, February 2013. Credit: Courtesy of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)




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The Unforgettable Edition

): Young Navajo in the southwest grapple with a traumatic chapter in US history.

''Nobody shares these stories with me, and I don’t understand why I feel the way I feel. I want to know what happened.''

We learn how the story of the 1864 Long Walk slipped from US history; we dig into the legacy of the Chinese Exclusion Act; a House for Sale sign appears in France and brings back a flood of memories for a New Jersey real estate agent; a museum holds writing workshops for Holocaust survivors; and jazz musician Guillermo Nojechowicz sets his family’s immigrant story to music.

(Image: “The Long Walk was a huge initiative undertaken by Kit Carson and his team of various military branches,” Vanessa Roanhorse explains, “to round up as many Navajos as they could, and force them on this walk.” Credit: Warren Montoya)




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The Automated Edition

Bananas and foreign travel: What it means to be a computer hacker in North Korea.

In North Korea’s spy agency, operatives aren’t just trained to gather intel. They also hack banks. We hear from a couple of North defectors about what it’s actually like to be a government hacker.

Also on the programme: we meet a robot assistant breaking down gender stereotypes; we get to the bottom of a robocall scam; we check our own voicemail box for messages from our listeners; and we visit a restaurant where the chefs are robots.

(Image: North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves from a car on April 27, 2018. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)




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The Heist Edition

North Korea’s cyber-hackers have raked in millions of dollars. Also: US border agents on the search for illegal animals; the cheese smugglers of Canada; and we dip into our inbox to find out where you’re listening from. (Image: Students at Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, a prestigious academy in Pyongyang. Credit: KCNA)




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The Deadline Edition

As NAFTA talks grind on, thousands of skilled workers wonder if they will keep their jobs.

A Trade NAFTA or "T-N visa” allows citizens of Canada and Mexico to work in the US in a range of job categories. It could now be in jeopardy as the Trump administration seeks to renegotiate the trade agreement by the end of the year.

Also: There is a shortage of summer workers in Cape Cod, partly due to changes to a temporary worker visa program; as the US and China talk trade and tariffs, some in Shanghai wonder what it will mean for them; the end of Temporary Protected Status for some immigrants has an unexpected impact on US labour unions; plus we find out how TV reporter Lisa Howard changed the course of the Cold War.

(Image: Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo gives a message to the media during the seventh round of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) talks in Mexico City, on March 5, 2018. Credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/Getty Images)




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Inside the Box

As traditional business models continue to break down, entrepreneurs have their sights on one more area to disrupt: traditional orthodontics.

Also: biodegradable six-pack holders finally go on the market; a former ambassador tells us what's in a diplomatic pouch; the French consider adopting 'le doggy bag' for restaurant leftovers; we ride along with 23 greyhounds across the US/Mexico border; and composer Idan Raichel performs a song for us using an assortment of improvised musical instruments.

(Image: Candid Co. sends customers a kit to take impressions of their teeth from home. An orthodontist then remotely comes up with a treatment plan. Credit: Candid Co.)




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On the Move

Alabama used to be known for its textile industry. Now, it’s becoming the automotive hub of the South.

Also: we find out what it’s like to fly on Air Koryo, North Korea’s national airline; we meet Dean Huang, a Taiwanese-born immigrant who was living his dream life in the US when he got a letter from Taiwan’s military that changed everything; plus director Miao Wang tells us about her documentary Maineland, which follows the lives of two teens from China studying at a boarding school in Maine.

(Image: Hyundai cars roll down an assembly line during the grand opening ceremony of the South Korean auto manufacturing plant in 2005 in Montgomery, Alabama. Credit: Robert Sullivan/Getty Images)




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American Justice

All over the world, countries are imprisoning women at higher rates than ever before.

On the programme: We visit a new kind of drug treatment program for women in the Midwestern state of Ohio; we hear about why more and more mothers in Mexico are serving time for selling drugs; and we go to court with a Canadian woman named Cheyenne Sharma whose case ends up changing the law. The programme ends with the song ‘The One Who Stands In the Sun’ by Choctaw musician Samantha Crain.

(Image: Lisa Duncan, Ashley Porter, Sheena Kimberly and Stephanie Cleveland, all of whom are in the Tapestry program in Ohio, are pictured from left to right. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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Crimes and Misdemeanours

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promises to dedicate resources towards fighting hate speech. People in Sri Lanka have been asking for that for years.

Also: policy makers in Thailand consider legalizing drugs; unauthorized workers in the US fight for their wages under threat of deportation; the film "Our New President" tells the story of how Russians learned about the 2016 US election using all real news clips yet no true statements; plus Jimmy O. Yang publishes his first book, and his parents don't like it.

(Image: Mark Zuckerberg appears for a hearing on Wednesday April 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. Credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images)




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The Incredible Journey

In 2015, Summer Nasser traveled from her home in New York City to marry Muntaser Yaghnam in his home country, Yemen. Then, civil war broke out. They tell us about what it was like to get married amid airstrikes and their long wait to travel back to the US.

Also on the programme: US car companies scramble to figure out how to market their cars to Saudi women; a high-tech video portal offers one Milwaukee neighborhood a global perspective; plus we create the perfect playlist for your next journey, with jams by Cosmo Pyke and Frank Ulwenya.

(Image: Muntaser Yaghnam and Summer Nasser at home in New York. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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Friends and Followers

In India, revelations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official app has been sending user data to a third party provoke outrage.

Also: Author Mona Eltahawy starts #MosqueMeToo to give Muslim women an outlet to speak out against abuse and it goes viral; two friends from Iran start a popular website about sexual health specifically for Farsi speakers; some researchers worry that we are not teaching our robots to be ethical enough; plus a woman named Ivanka Majic has an uninvited brush with fame.

(Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his picture taken with a mobile phone on September 2, 2014. Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)




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Undercover

Vitaly Bespalov wrote fake news at a Russian troll farm. He tells us the real story of what he found.

Also: Boston author, Louie Cronin, on how she lost her Boston accent; we meet a professional accent coach who can teach you to impersonate anybody; we find out why the US military tried to erase the story of Donald Nichols, an Air Force officer who played an outsize role in the Korean War; plus we remember World War II spy hero Jeannie Rousseau de Clarens.

(Image: The Internet Research Agency, or IRA, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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It’s Not Easy Being...

The American economy may be strong, but the wage gap remains a huge concern. Also: solar panel tariffs could be a boon for US producers; residents in small coastal community in Florida prepare for climate change, mostly alone; a seed company connects Japanese-Americans with their roots; smoking pot could get you deported; and Green Day shatters a myth. (Image: Personal care workers Marilyn Sorensen (left) and Candice Bateman in Denver, Colorado. Wages for American workers are ticking upwards, but the US remains one of the world’s most inequitable nations. (Photo: Jason Margolis)




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Reunited

As Trump ends Obama-era protections for Salvadorans; a family in Minnesota has few good options to stay together.

Also on the program: An American family finds their way in Mexico after deportation; a group of indigenous people from South West Africa visit a museum in New York City to view the remains of their ancestors; A Korean adoptee meets his birth mother and winds up moving in with her; plus why 'Arirang' is the perfect song for a divided Korea.

(Image: David, who came to the US from El Salvador without papers, has three children who were born in the US. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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Walls We Don’t See

It’s not just the wall. There are lots of invisible barriers keeping immigrants from coming into the US. On this edition we explore some of those barriers.

We meet a three-year-old on Canada’s no-fly list; we speak to a student from India who grew up in the United States yet his visa expires as soon as he turns 21; we find out how much it costs to smuggle someone across the border and the lasting impact that debt can have on a family; and lastly we get a little loopy with musician Joe Kye.

(Image: A border patrol officer stands guard along the U.S.-Mexico border February 7, 2018 in San Ysidro, California. Credit: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)




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Right to Bear Arms?

Former homeland security adviser Fran Townsend says we need new methods of addressing gun violence.

Also: we learn how the gun lobby brought gun violence research to a halt in one US agency; a constitutional scholar puts America’s right to bear arms in a global context; Russian bots seize on the Parkland shooting to amplify divisions; gun rights supporters say Israel could serve as a model for the US but some Israelis disagree; and what does a year of mass shootings sound like ... in piano notes? Listen here.

(Image: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez speaks at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 17, 2018. Credit: Rhona Wise/Getty Images)




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Roots

"I got out of the car and I looked at the people and they all looked like me… and at that moment I realised where I came from."

On the programme: A fourth-generation Chinese American travels to his ancestral village in China; two Chinese adoptees return to their orphanage to help those left behind; Reem Kassis hopes her cookbook 'The Palestinian Table' will help her kids connect to their heritage; some residents of New Mexico have received surprising news about their ancestry; plus a man in California embarks on a dangerous quest to revive Yemeni coffee.

(Image: After a long search, 64-year-old Russell Low (left) visited his great-grandfather's ancestral home in Guangdong Province in southern China in May 2016. Credit: Ariana Lai)




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The Local Edition

Six stories that all take place within greater Boston.

#MeToo echoes through a play about Nigeria; a black church provides sanctuary to an unauthorised immigrant from El Salvador; two Rohingya refugees start a new life; a chef brings back lessons from a three-star restaurant in Paris; a university student prepares to be the first black ice hockey player to skate for team USA in the Olympics; and a preview of a show by The James Hunter Six coming to Boston soon.

(Image: A rainbow arcs over the skyline of Boston University in Boston, MA. Credit: Darren McCollester/Getty Images)




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On the Waterfront

Levi Draheim, 10, is suing the US government over climate change with 20 other young people.

Also: fishermen in Greenland are doing better than ever, and that’s in part thanks to climate change; instead of fighting global competition, Alaska's wild salmon industry (reluctantly) embraces it; a researcher imagines what the US would look like if sea levels were to rise by two meters; solar power entrepreneurs come to Puerto Rico; plus what it’s like to fly in a plane when most of the passengers are pets.

(Image: Levi Draheim, 10, lives in Satellite Beach, Florida. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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The Breakthrough Edition

Fewer international students are coming to the US for post-graduate degrees in science and engineering. We look into why.

Also: Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine but many US patients can’t get it without breaking the law; a tech start-up synthesizes Marco Werman’s voice; tomato pickers in Florida work together to stop sexual abuse; a bioengineer has a plan to defeat disease-bearing mosquitoes with mobile phones; plus the band Mosquitos releases their first album in 10 years and the buzz is that it’s great.

(Image: Stanford bioengineer Haripriya Mukundarajan, center, began the Abuzz project after contracting malaria while she was in college. Credit: Kurt Hickman)




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The Protest Edition

Jasiel López never expected to be an activist. Then he learned that the DACA programme, which allows him to stay in the US, could be rescinded.

Also: why the jarana, a guitar-like instrument from Mexico, is showing up at protests in the US; women veterans want their voices to be heard in the #MeToo movement; we remember Mathilde Krim, who played a pivotal right in the fight against AIDS; and we speak to the authors of a biography of Josephine Baker, singer, dancer, and civil rights activist.

(Image: Jasiel López is a student at Florida International University in Miami. Credit: PRI’s The World )




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Better Together

For George Lampman and Lee Sook Ei it was love at first sight. Then, the Korean War broke out.

Also: A monastery in Missouri, about to close its doors, is saved by monks from Vietnam; Spanish speaking actors in Miami unionise to fight for better working conditions; doctors in the US get lessons from doctors in Cuba in how to reduce infant mortality; an amateur mathematician from Tennessee discovers the largest known prime number; plus we listen to Bjork and reminisce about unrequited crushes. (Image: Lee Sook Ei and George Lampman met at the US embassy in Seoul. Credit: Courtesy of the Lampman family)




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Face Value

Flying out of the US? You might have to go through a facial scan at the airport. We discuss the implications of that.

Plus: we find out why a selfie app that drastically alters the way you look is all the rage in China; we get introduced to the women artists of the Renaissance who have been hidden in the archives; we meet a man who survived the Holocaust by drawing portraits of his Nazi guards; plus comedian Dean Obeidallah discovers that for a moment he was literally the face of fake news. (Image: Passengers have their luggage screened at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)




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All Dressed Up

About 80 percent of garment industry workers are women. For the past few months, Jasmine Garsd has travelled the globe to meet these workers, in person.

We start in Roanoke Rapids in North Carolina, a formerly bustling cotton mill town, that’s gone quiet. Next, we go to Los Angeles, were we learn how a sweatshop raid in 1995 changed the garment industry in the US forever. Lastly, we got to Bangladesh, where a large portion of our clothing now gets made.

Want to find out how fair your fashion is? Here’s the website mentioned in the programme: https://interactive.pri.org/2017/fair-fashion-quiz/

(Image: Mother and daughter, Rongmala Begum (standing) and Mayna Begum, both work in clothing factories in Bangladesh. Credit: Ismael Ferdous/PRI)




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The Case of the Stolen Fortune Cookie Fortunes

"Some men dream of fortunes. Others dream of cookies." This is a real fortune cookie fortune. It would be a prescient fortune for Yongsik Lee. He invented the fully automatic fortune cookie machine in the early 1980s and built a business on his invention. The Korean immigrant sold fortune cookie machines and fortunes to companies all over the US. It was a good business until one day, one of his employees stole his fortunes and his customers. We get to the bottom of a theft that forever changed Yongsik Lee's life.

(Image: Fortune cookies on display at The Ritz Carlton in Miami Beach, Florida. Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)




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The Ripple Effect

Edmaris Carazo, a blogger in San Juan, adjusts to life in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Also: the destruction in Puerto Rico has a ripple effect on hospitals on the US mainland; reporter Jason Margolis investigates where trickle-down tax policies have been tried and worked outside of America; Jamaica tries to get in on the marijuana market but some farmers worry about being left behind; a conversation with Rainer Weiss, the Nobel Laureate, who detected ripples in the fabric of space and time.

(Image: Hospitals in the US mainland are facing shortages of IV fluids and medicine because of Hurricane Maria's damage to Puerto Rico. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)




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Dance Lessons

It’s the beat that drives the bugaloo and mambo. Ayana Contreras travels to Cuba to understand the clave.

Plus, we go beneath a motorway flyover in Rio de Janeiro, where US hip-hop from the 1990s gets re-imagined every Saturday night; we meet a 9-year-old boy who is preserving his family’s Cambodian history through dance; South African superstar Johnny Clegg tells us how he helped form an interracial dance troupe during apartheid; and we remember Johnny Hallyday, “the French Elvis Presley”.

(Image: Dancers at the weekly Saturday night charme dance in Madureira, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro's North Zone. Credit: Catherine Osborn)




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The Second Amendment

"Every time you hear a piano note, that's another mass shooting." A new way to hear the stark numbers on gun violence.

Also: Adam Lankford, a criminology professor, turns to data to explain why the US has more mass shootings than any other country; Susan Cruz, a Salvadoran-American, remembers holding a gun at the age of six; two sisters with different opinions on guns go to a shooting range; we learn about the origins of the Second Amendment; plus we hear from faith leaders all over the US.

(Image: Visitors view gun displays at a National Rifle Association outdoor sports trade show on February 10, 2017 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Credit: Dominick Reuter/Getty Images)




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At the Movies

Hollywood has been criticised for its practice of whitewashing. Now, the voice acting world faces questions.

Also: Kelvin Han Yee, a Chinese-American actor, broke his parents' heart and wonders if it was worth it; a birdwatcher begs Hollywood to get its bird sounds right; Disney/Pixar’s “Coco,” which was a hit in Mexico, comes to the US; Laela French, a Star Wars buff, explains the origins of Darth Vader’s costume; and in the documentary “Dreamland” the Wabanaki people take back their narrative.

(Image: For years, G.K. Bowes was the official voice of Barbie. Credit: Courtesy of G.K. Bowes)




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The Taste of Victory

Wilmot Collins came to Helena as a refugee. Now he’s been elected as the city’s mayor.

Also: Abdi Nor Iftin tells us what it feels like to win the green card lottery; we find out what award-winning olive oil tastes like (it’s kind of peppery); the Boston Red Sox get their first Latino manager; beauty contestants in Peru stage a protest against gender-based violence that goes viral; and a blind man, hoping to kayak across the Bosphorus Strait, turns to mythology for inspiration.

(Image: For Maddie, left, and Wilmot Collins, coming to the US wasn't easy. In their first few months in Montana, their home was graffitied with "Go back to Africa" and "KKK." But they stayed. Credit: Courtesy of Wilmot Collins)




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The Future is Now

Selina Wang, a tech reporter for Bloomberg News, says that Twitter could still do more to stop Russian and Ukrainian spam accounts from spreading misinformation on the platform.

Also: people on social media keep blaming “Sam Hyde’’ for mass shootings, even though he's innocent, and we finally find out why; Facebook saves a dying mill town in the Pacific Northwest; Uber meets its match in Lebanon; a robot becomes a Saudi citizen; and a couple of amateur astro-explorers plan a trip to Mars.

Image: Colin Stretch, general counsel at Facebook, Sean Edgett, acting general counsel at Twitter, and Richard Salgado, director of law enforcement and information security at Google, testify before Congress on October 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images




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The Scientific Edition

Victoria Barrett, a college student in Wisconsin, aged 18, is suing the Trump administration over climate change.

Plus: we meet one of the first meteorologists to talk about climate change on TV in the US; we learn the history of the design of nuclear fallout shelter signs made during the Cold War; we visit the laboratory of a “wood detective” in Germany; we hear the “voice" of an iceberg and it’s pretty eerie; and we dance to some “ye-ye” music sung by a NASA scientist in California.

(Image: Victoria Barrett is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Credit: Courtesy of Victoria Barrett)




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Speak Out

Thousands of French women post the name of their sexual harasser on Twitter, using the hashtag, "Squeal on Your Pig".

Plus: we meet a woman helping undocumented immigrants in the US experiencing sexual harassment; we find out why the reaction to the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Russia is the opposite of the reaction in America; we learn about a burgeoning feminist movement in China; we hear about efforts to combat sexual harassment at work in Nigeria; and we close with the song "Come with Me" by Nneka.

(Image: Attorney Gloria Allred (L) and her client Heather Kerr speak during a press conference regarding the sexual assault allegations that have been brought against Harvey Weinstein on October 20, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)




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At Your Civil Service

Dave Rank, a high ranking diplomat, resigned over Trump’s climate change policy.

Also: a former sheriff worries that new legislation in California to protect unauthorised immigrants will make it harder for police officers to do their jobs; a member of India’s lowest caste moves to New York and becomes a train conductor; a journalist travels around the world to see how people pay taxes; Harry Truman’s grandson impersonates him in a play; plus we meet some four legged civil servants: bomb sniffing dogs.

(Image: Dave Rank is the former head of the US embassy in Beijing. Credit: Ashley Ahearn/Terrestrial. http://kuow.org/programs/terrestrial )




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Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

Two journalists set off on a quest to hand deliver a letter to a grandmother in Puerto Rico from her family on the mainland of the United States.

Also: we learn why Che Guevara is being honoured on a postage stamp in Ireland; we admire the art of Martin Ramirez which has been featured on postage stamps in the US; plus we read one of the most timeless job application letters in history, sent by a copywriter, Robert Pirosh, to studio directors in Hollywood, in 1934.

(Image: Janet Franceschini Colon (left), Jennifer Santos Franceschini (middle), Jenelyn Santos (right) and Jennifer's two daughters are pictured. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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The Mystery Edition

“There is no statute of limitations on the truth.” Vince Pankoke, a former FBI agent, has launched a probe into who betrayed Anne Frank.

Also: we investigate why American diplomats in Cuba have mysteriously fallen ill; we learn the backstory of the two women accused of assassinating Kim Jong-nam; we meet the disgraced real-life French diplomat who inspired the play, “M. Butterfly,’’ plus we find out why talks between North Korea and South Korea may hinge on a group of twelve singing waitresses.

(Image: Anne Frank's facsimile diaries on display in the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam on November 1, 2009. Credit: Ade Johnson/AFP/Getty Images)




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Unsung Heroes

Tereza Lee, the woman sometimes referred to as the first “Dreamer,” has been fighting for immigrant rights for nearly two decades.

Also: the turbulent history of the US Virgin Islands; a remembrance for a little-known Soviet colonel who probably averted a nuclear war; a look at how Tiki bars inspired Star Wars creator George Lucas; a progress report on a project to digitize the notebooks of Harvard’s female astronomers; plus a folk song dedicated to a modern hero: the street cart vendor.

(Image: Protestors gathered at the US Capitol on September 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)




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Coast to Coast

Marco Werman climbs aboard the largest passenger ship ever to sail through the Northwest Passage.

Also: we speak to residents of the Arctic with mixed feelings about cruise ships sailing past their towns; we meet climate change scientists risking their lives to gather data in the field; we visit a marshland that's worth millions of dollars; we spend the day with teens saving songbirds in Washington, DC; and we learn how American climate change policies have changed this past year.

(Image:The Crystal Serenity docked at the Boston cruise terminal near the end of its 32-day Northwest Passage journey. Credit: PRI’s The World)




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From Russia with Love

What impact did Russian internet “trolls’’ have on the 2016 US presidential election?

Also: we hear about wealthy Russians coming to America to give birth to US citizens; we learn why the poet Langston Hughes went to the USSR to work on a Soviet propaganda film in 1930s; we visit a Korean-Uzbek-Russian cafe in New York; we meet two science fiction writers who advise the US government on the future of warfare; and we find out why Tchaikovsky's concerto No. 1 had its world premiere in Boston.

(Image:The Kremlin stands in Red Square in Moscow on March 7, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)




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In Limbo

President Trump is scrapping a programme that protects hundreds of thousands of young unauthorised immigrants. We hear two different perspectives on this decision.

Plus; we meet an immigrant from Northern Ireland whose troubled past is haunting his future; we learn why some evangelical Christians are speaking out against the President; we find out about a proposal from Canadian Senator Ratna Omidvar for Canada to open its doors to DACA recipients; plus we visit Quebec where immigrants fearing Trump are pouring in.

(Image: Julio Ramos is a medical school student and a DACA recipient in New York City. Credit: Reynaldo Leanos Jr.)




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Water, Water, Everywhere

M.J. Khan, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, who spent a sleepless night monitoring relief efforts, tells us what Houston’s residents are doing to help each other.

Also: experts weigh in on how Houston can plan for future flooding events; a brewer in Amsterdam turns rain into beer; an activist vows to keep the Marshall Islands from disappearing beneath rising seas; we learn if climate change is behind extreme hurricanes; plus a port city in Maine revitalizes its economy by shipping pregnant cows to Turkey . (Image: A flooded road is seen during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on August 30, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)




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Get It Off Your Chest

Bashar al-Assad seems to have a fan base in the United States. White supremacists and neo-nazis have worn pro-Assad T-shirts at rallies, while others have shown their support for the Syrian president on social media. Also, white supremacists wear t-shirts emblazoned with a picture of a notorious Romanian fascist; and if you're in Turkey, leave your 'HERO' T-shirts at home; plus, if you lived in East Germany during the Cold War, it may have been verboten to wear a Frank Zappa T-shirt, but somehow his music made it in.

(Image: A photo taken on March 4, 2015 shows a banner bearing a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a street in the city of Damascus. (Credit: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)




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The Eclipse Edition

On Monday, a total solar eclipse will cross 14 states from Oregon to South Carolina. We find out people all across the country are preparing.

Also: we meet an eclipse chaser traveling to the US from Australia; we speak to a cloistered nun who has been getting calls from concerned Catholics worried about the end of times; we learn what solar eclipses have revealed to us about our universe throughout the ages; plus how a new technology can help blind people experience the coming eclipse as well.

(Image: Solar Eclipse related items are offered for sale in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Hopkinsville is located near the point of greatest totality for the August 21 eclipse. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)




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Under Construction

Maytag built washing machines in Newton, Iowa, for more than a century. The company left in 2007, and the town collapsed. Now, it's rising again.

Also: why are people from Australia selling houses in Detroit; what the closure of a coal fired power plant will mean for one Navajo family; Montreal welcomes refugees coming from the US; will a new Canadian pipeline be the next Standing Rock; plus we remember Haruo Nakajima, the man inside the original Godzilla suit.

(Image: Frank Liebl, executive director of the Newton Development Corporation, is pictured in front of the old Maytag headquarters. Credit: Jason Margolis)




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Breathcatcher

Two teenage reporters, Teddy Fischer and Jane Gormley, interview the US Secretary of Defence.

Also: an unauthorized immigrant dreams of white picket fences; a Mexican street cart vendor in Los Angeles becomes an overnight celebrity; oil brings wealth and trouble to a small town in North Dakota; Laleh Khadivi’s latest novel is about a surfer-dude turned jihadi; plus we meet a man who listens to trees.

(Image: U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis listens to a reporter’s questions at the Pentagon on July 7, 2017 in Arlington, Virginia. Credit: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)




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Entanglements

Until recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin was deeply suspicious of the world wide web. What changed his mind?

Also: the curious parallels between love and quantum physics; the Native American tribe that invented lacrosse gets nation status in the sport’s World Cup; fans of 'The Bachelorette' react when the reality TV show features a Sikh convert; two immigrant entrepreneurs create virtual reunions; and the Colombian rock star Juanes just wants to make his world better.

(Image: Russian President Vladimir Putin uses binoculars as he visits an air show outside Moscow on July 18, 2017. Credit: Alexey Nikolsky/Getty Images)




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Are You Afraid of The Dark?

In 1878, scientists all over the US witnessed a total eclipse of the sun. After that, American science was never quite the same.

Also: Sona Hosseini learns that being an astronomist….can be depressing; photographer Joel Sartore goes on a quest to take pictures of endangered animals before they disappear; why the American TV drama Twin Peaks took off in Russia; and we remember director George Romero who changed how we think about zombies.

(Image: A total solar eclipse is seen in Indonesia on March 9, 2016. Credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)




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Is It Safe?

David Eubank, an American relief worker, decides to bring his whole family with him to Mosul.

Also: Choi Seong-guk, a North Korean refugee, draws a popular online comic strip series about his defection; presenter Marco Werman joins the US Coast Guard on patrol; scientist Milo Nordyke remembers a time when the US government tried to use a nuclear bomb as a bulldozer; and Mexican-American musician Lila Downs dedicates her latest album to “dangerous’’ women.

(Image: Smoke plumes billow in Mosul on July 10, 2017. Credit: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)




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I’m on Your Team

Russia, it turns out, accidentally helped the US win its independence.

Also: we meet two sisters who will go to the Olympics together but on competing teams; we remember when North and South Korea teamed up to beat China at table tennis; we go a few rounds with a boxer who’s inspiring young women in Jordan; we learn why an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan is going to be competing virtually in a US competition; and we get the backstory to a popular baseball podcast hosted by three fans of the sport who also happen to be blind.

(Image: People watch fireworks as they celebrate US Independence Day on July 4, 2017 in Washington, DC. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/Getty




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A Crime to Hate

Five months after Jewish graves were vandalised in St. Louis, questions remain.

Also: a resolution condemning racism causes chaos at the Southern Baptist Convention; why refugees from Myanmar draw inspiration from the action movie, Rambo; the story of a murder that got manipulated to serve more than one political agenda; why a hate crime survivor tried to save the life of his attacker; plus Renee Goust has something to say to people who thinks she’s a “feminazi” and it comes in the form of a song.

(Image: Karen Aroesty is the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. Credit: Daniel A. Gross)