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Taking a Stand

Trump or Clinton? That's the question du jour in the US, so we have two stories on the leading presidential candidates. First, we head to East Boston, where Latino immigrants are pushing back against Donald Trump supporters in their neighbourhood. Then, we hear about the disconnect between the Hillary Clinton foreigners see, and the one Americans see.

Also, why novelist Ayelet Waldman is sending writers to the West Bank; the effort to keep Syrian refugees out of the midwestern state of Kansas; and how the cellist Leyla McCalla connects history, identity and song on her latest album. Plus: hundreds of thousands marched in the US for immigrants’ rights a decade ago. What's happened since?

Image: Latinos and European Americans live together in East Boston. But the politics of Donald Trump is resurrecting old racial wounds. (Credit: Phillip Martin/WGBH)




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Is There an App for That?

Trump still uses his personal mobile phone. Security experts are baffled. Also: A lack of immigrant labour in the US has some farmers planning for robots to pick produce; a Dutch teenager came up with a plan to clean up the world’s oceans and now he’s got funding for it, but at least one expert does not think it will work; fake turtle eggs get fitted with GPS trackers to catch poachers; plus we meet a Yoruba priest who also makes hypnotic electronic music. (Image: Donald Trump speaks on his mobile phone in in Potomac Falls, Virginia, U.S., on Thursday, April 30, 2009. Credit: Mannie Garcia/ 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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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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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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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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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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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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Baby Guaranteed

One in six Americans is affected by infertility, according to a recent study by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The US has legal commercial surrogacy programmes, but they can cost more than $100,000, so some couples are looking abroad.

This week, we explore the global surrogacy industry by travelling to Ukraine, which has become the go-to spot for foreign couples seeking surrogates, and then to India, where commercial surrogacy may soon be banned.

(Image: Kateryna (not her real name) lives in a rural village in Ukraine. She decided to become a surrogate so she could get ahead and earn extra money. Credit: Anastasia Vlasova/PRI’s The World)




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Untold Afghanistan

In the early 2000’s the US helped fund Afghanistan's first private university. It was part of an effort to help rebuild Afghanistan's education system. Over time, the American University of Afghanistan has become a symbol of hope for many young Afghan men and women who dream about higher education. But that very hope has also made those students, and their campus in Kabul, targets for extremists.

Also: First Lieutenant, Erica MacSwan, prepares for her deployment to Afghanistan; Lt. MacSwan recalls her family’s personal experience with the 9/11 attacks; and we step inside a fashion boutique in the heart of Kabul.

(Two years after the attack on the American University in Kabul, school officials have stepped up security. That means the campus has the look and feel of a military compound. Credit: Farzanah Wahidy/PRI)




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Trade and Tariffs

The nearly 25 year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is to be replaced by the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA). The name might be very different but US reporter Jason Margolis says the substance seems very familiar.

Also: Roland Paris, Justin Trudeau’s former foreign policy advisor talks about the path to reaching the deal; we hear what the new trade deal could mean for the US auto industry; in cattle country NAFTA is still a point of contention; and we meet soya farmers on the front lines of Mr Trump’s trade war with China.

(President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference to discuss a revised U.S. trade agreement with Mexico and Canada in the Rose Garden of the White House Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)




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City of Angels

On the night of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968, a photographer caught an image of the presidential candidate just after he was shot. In it, a young hotel worker named Juan Romero cradles Kennedy's head, looking up, stunned. At the time, Romero was just 17-years old. That night, that photo, and everything that followed changed his life forever.

Also: In Los Angeles, gentrification is affecting immigrant communities as once gritty downtown neighbourhoods become trendy places to live Activist and lawyer Lizbeth Mateo becomes the first unauthorised immigrant named to a statewide post in California; In Mexico City we visit a neighbourhood called ‘Little LA’; Finally, we take a tour through a score of Los Angeles’ of global ice cream shops.

(Senator Robert F. Kennedy stands among supporters in the main ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel, just after claiming victory in California's presidential primary. The Senator was shot moments later as he left the ballroom. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)




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Un-Thanksgiving

In November of 1969, a group of Native Americans occupied the notorious prison island of Alcatraz to protest about federal policies that discriminated against their people. The movement gained momentum on Thanksgiving when hundreds of Native American activists joined the occupation. To this day, every Thanksgiving, Native American groups hold an event on the island that they call Unthanksgiving Day.

Also: We tell the real story of Squanto, the Native American at the centre of the Thanksgiving legend; We look into the history of Native Americans being forcefully separated from their families; We recount the ongoing case of the indigenous Sinixt, a tribe that the Canadian government says doesn’t exist; Finally, we dive deep into a story about the lost language of the Miami tribe.

(The welcome sign at the entrance to Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay Credit: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)




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The Migrant Caravan

President Trump has been determined that the migrant caravan not be allowed to enter the US. Now his administration has extended the deployment of more than 5,000 troops on the US-Mexico border to the end of January, 2019. Many of the migrants are now waiting in the Mexican border town of Tijuana for a chance to seek asylum in the US. We find out what life is like for them.

Also: A group of gay and transgender migrants find safety in numbers as they wait to seek asylum in the US; we find out how the US government is using biometric data to gather intelligence on members of the migrant caravan; we hear the story behind the now-iconic photo of a mother and her two daughters running away from tear gas on the US-Mexico border; also we learn about the tiny American town where tear gas is big business; Plus, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sonia Nazario shares her thoughts about possible solutions to the Central American migrant crisis.

(Central American migrants rest after being relocated to a new temporary shelter in east Tijuana, Mexico. Credit: Guillermo Arias/Getty Images)




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Taboos, Bans and Barriers

Ada Hegerberg is a professional football player from Norway. In December Hergerberg won the first Ballon d'Or for women, one of football's most prestigious awards. Hergerberg sees this moment as an opportunity to encourage young girls all over the world.

Also we’ll hear from Japanese student Kazuna Yamamoto about her petition that forced a tabloid magazine to apologize for a sexist article; In Afghanistan we visit filmmaker and activist Sahar Fetrat; we meet a ballet dancer bringing a much needed change to ballet slippers; plus we take a trip down memory lane to ‘Soul Alley’, a hangout spot for African-American GI's during the Vietnam war.

(Olympique Lyonnais' Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg brandishes her trophy after receiving the 2018 Women's Ballon d'Or award for best player of the year. Credit: Franck Fife/Getty Images)




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Transatlantic Sins

Four hundred years ago pirates brought enslaved Africans to Virginia’s shores.




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The boy in the caravan

Vladi was just 15 years old when he joined a migrant caravan, travelling all the way from El Salvador, to Tijuana on the US-Mexico border. He arrived there last autumn with his grandmother. But by November, Vladi, was on his own. His grandmother needed to return to El Salvador, and Vladi remained at a youth shelter for other unaccompanied migrants like him. Many were hoping to seek asylum in the United States. So was Vladi. But ahead of them is the hostility of the Trump administration. The story of one family in America’s migrant crisis.

(Vladi, center, is from El Salvador. He says the gangs try to recruit you when you turn 14 or 15. He's 15. He says instead of joining a gang, he joined the migrant "caravan" headed toward the United States. Credit: Erin Siegal McIntyre/Frontline)




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Signs and signals

Seattle, Washington, is widely seen as a pro-immigrant city. So many residents were shocked to learn that a nearby airport has been used to deport some 34,000 people in the last eight years. Now King County, where the airport is located, is signalling its opposition to those deportations. We also learn about a subversive hand sign adopted from Hollywood and used in Thailand; we visit a radio program whose signals connect families split between central California and southern Mexico; we meet a teacher who’s helping kids feel proud to communicate in their native tongues; we hear from a man who learned how to deal with a misreading of his name; and we hear the music of a man who won’t yield to pressure to spell it all out.

(Detainees are loaded onto a Swift Air charter flight at King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in Seattle, WA, for a February 26 ICE Air flight. Credit: Still image from video by Alex Montalvo and Wadii Boughdir for the University of Washington Center for Human Rights)




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Travel plans

Immigrants and refugees from Syria and Iraq lead tours at Philadelphia’s Penn Museum. They help visitors understand where the museum’s artefacts come from and add historical context to the objects. Also, “voluntourism” is a growing part of the travel industry, but critics say there’s sometimes a human cost for volunteer’s good deeds; we meet Terry Tickhill Terrell, who in 1969 became one of the first women to join a US scientific expedition to Antarctica; a long, lost manuscript and its connection to Christopher Columbus; and a restaurant in Casablanca inspired by the classic Hollywood film.

(Image: Abdulhadi Al-Karfawi, a Global Guide at the Penn Museum, talks about an ornate headdress, which was found with the body of Queen Puabi in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, on a Sunday afternoon tour of the Middle East Galleries in 2018. Photo by Raffi Berberian, Penn Museum.)




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Oath of allegiance

The United States census gets underway next year and the Trump administration wants to ask everyone if they're a US citizen. Critics say the question will discourage some immigrants from participating and lead to an inaccurate census. The Supreme Court will rule on the matter later this month. Also, a same-sex married couple has two sons ; one gets US citizenship while his brother does not; immigrants in New York find it harder to win asylum; a Russian grandmother becomes a US citizen; and a Brazilian-born musician took the oath of allegiance a year ago and now calls Texas home.

(Image: Demonstrators rally at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2019, to protest a proposal to add a citizenship question in the 2020 Census. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)




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Action plan

The US is reported to have plans for a potential cyber attack that would cripple Iran’s cities. Whether such a plan would be implemented is open to question but it would take cyberwarfare to a whole new level. Also, a doctor in Puerto Rico prepares pregnant women for hurricane season; a plan to change the sound New York City; a NASA scientist is caught up in a clampdown on political dissent in Turkey, with severe consequences for his life back in the US; and Latinos in Texas mix a rite of passage with civic duty.

(Image: A man is seen portraying a hacker with binary code symbols on a laptop in this photo illustration on October 15, 2018 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)




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Waste land

The coastal lowlands along Malaysia’s side of the Strait of Malacca are a mostly lush place, studded with fat palms and forest canopies dripping with vines. But over the past year and a half, black pillars of smoke have appeared above the treetops. We investigate how plastic waste American municipalities send for recycling, is piling up in illegal dumps thousands of miles away. Also, tiny plastic pellets, called 'nurdles' are the product of plastics producers, but why are these pellets appearing on the US Gulf Coast?; Americans have few options when it comes to recycled tissue products and that's having a devastating impact on Canada's northern forests; Meal kits are becoming very popular in the US, but are they helping us to reduce waste?

(Plastic waste at an abandoned factory in Jenjarom, a district of Kuala Langat, outside Kuala Lumpur. From grubby packaging engulfing small Southeast Asian communities to waste piling up in plants from the US to Australia, China's ban on accepting the world's used plastic has plunged global recycling into turmoil. Credit: Mohd Rasfan/Getty Images)




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State of anxiety

In recent months, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other Trump Administration officials have been trying to convince Congress that Iran has ties with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Some say that the Administration is trying to establish this connection because of a law that the US Congress passed three days after the 9/11 attacks. That law gave then President George W. Bush the authority to go to war with al-Qaeda and any related organisation without Congressional approval.

Also, we meet Iranian-Americans who are feeling particularly anxious as tension between the US and Iran escalates; and we find out what possessions people in Tehran are looking to sell, to find out how sanctions are affecting ordinary Iranians.

(President Donald Trump signs an executive order imposing fresh sanctions on Iran in the Oval Office of the White House. Next to Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Credit: Oliver Contreras/Getty Images)




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Means of destruction

In 1987, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. It led to the elimination of more than 2,500 nuclear missile. But as of this week, the INF treaty is no more after the Trump administration announced its withdrawal. Former Secretary of State George Schulz thinks today’s politicians underestimate the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

Also, roughly a year after the US announced that it’s creating a military space force, now France is following suit. It’s a 21st century military version of the space race; how hypersonic missiles could transform the future of war and diplomacy; and the widespread use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war has consequences beyond Vietnam’s borders.

(U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty in the East Room at the White House in 1987. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)




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The evangelical edition

As the 2020 presidential campaign in America heats up, evangelical Christians will be getting more and more attention in the US news media. They always do during election season as they have long been seen as reliable Republican voters. But people who identify as evangelical or born-again Christians are more than just a voting bloc. Evangelicals make up a huge swath of the US population and they are rapidly becoming more diverse than ever before.

(Jason Petty is shown on stage performing under his spoken word artist and rapper name, Propaganda. Credit: Matthew Bell/The World)




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Power and diplomacy

The impeachment inquiry has exposed some of the ways in which the US diplomatic corps feels undermined and undervalued by the Trump administration. We visit two US universities training a future generation of US diplomats to find out whether students there are reconsidering their career choice. Also, Samantha Power reflects on some of the toughest decisions she had to make while US Ambassador to the UN; we visit the Museum of the Palestinian People that is just blocks away from the White House; the rise and fall of Richard Holbrooke, a statesman known for his diplomatic breakthroughs and outsized ego; and beatboxers on a musical mission to bring the world together.

(Photo: A view of the Washington Monument and the US Department of State's flag in Washington, DC. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)




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Unwanted attention

Impeachment hearings have entered the public phase in Washington DC. Congress is investigating allegations that President Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to pressure it to deliver political favours. But in Ukraine they are focused on the conduct of their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a now infamous phone call with Trump.

Also, star basketball player Enes Kanter tells us how he became an enemy of Turkey’s president; a student suing the Trump Administration has her day in court; a controversial meme in the US gets a rebranding in Hong Kong; millennials tell boomers the world they have inherited is not okay; a song that got protesters in Lebanon to dance.

(Photo: Members of the media gather as State Department deputy assistant secretary, George Kent and acting US ambassador to Ukraine, William B. Taylor appear for a House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearing in Washington, DC. Credit: Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images)




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Wars and peace

A US hacker faces criminal charges for allegedly helping North Korea launder money through cryptocurrencies, but those who know him have a different story to tell. Also, President Donald Trump’s long obsession over tariffs; the long, tempestuous history of NATO; the fight against drug cartels smuggling narcotics across the US-Mexico border; plus the band Che Apalache wants to make bluegrass music more inclusive.

(Photo: In this photo illustration a double exposure picture with bitcoin coin and American flag. Credit: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)




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The allegiance edition

Susan Rice, National Security Advisor and UN ambassador during the Obama administration, joins us to talk about impeachment, Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine, and the enduring legacy of Benghazi. Also, we look into President Trump’s latest executive order, which relies on a controversial definition of anti-Semitism; and there’s been a surge in applications for US citizenship ahead of elections in 2020 but wait times are getting longer and longer.

(Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice speaks at the J Street 2018 National Conference in Washington, DC. Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)




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Power balance

Retired US Army General David Petraeus has vast military and intelligence experience in the Middle East. He led US troops during some of the most critical years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, with the assasination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, General Petraeus has some thoughts about the significance of this action.

Also, after its initial retaliation for the killing of general Soleimani, Iran still has other options, like cyber-attacks against US targets; we’ll also take a look at how governments around the world use internet shutdowns to control the free flow of information; next, like with Iran, US-North Korea relations are also tense, but how did we get to this point?; and our own Rupa Shenoy looks back at a decade of protests around the world.

(Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani (C) attends Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's meeting with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Tehran. Credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)




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Persian projects

The Trump administration insists that the president has a firm legal basis for ordering the attack that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Legal scholars, though, are skeptical. We look into the American constitutional issues surrounding the president’s use of force.

Also, the United States and Iran may no longer be on the brink of war, but Iran’s proxies, like Hezbollah, are armed and ready for revenge; An Israeli spy thriller goes on location in Iran, the story behind the production is a thriller unto itself; In Los Angeles, thousands of kilometres from Tehran, Muslim and Jewish Iranians come together for a long-awaited high school reunion; and Iranian-American author Dina Nayeri reflects on her refugee experience.

(Anti-war activist march from the White House to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Demonstrators are protesting the US drone attack which killed Iran's Major General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq. Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)




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Exchange and influence

Late last year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology signed a five-year extension of a multimillion-dollar partnership with Skolkova, a Russian technology research institute. This partnership has long raised espionage fears among foreign policy experts and the FBI. The contract renewal was a reversal in an MIT-Russia partnership that appeared to be dormant. The extension came just three months after the US federal government announced it is investigating MIT’s compliance with reporting requirements for the Russian money it has received in connection with the project.

Also, the Trump administration is taking a closer look at funding from Chinese donors because it suspects widespread economic espionage; and President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines says he's following through on a promise to kick US troops out of his country.

(Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Viktor Vekselberg (L-R centre front), Renova Group Board Chairman and Skolkovo Foundation President, visit the Skolkovo Technopark in Moscow. Credit: Alexander Astafyev/Getty Images)




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Pandemic

The World Health Organization says every effort is now needed to contain the coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Some nations have well-developed plans for dealing with the outbreak of a new virus, others are just starting to catch up. Jane Halton, the former health secretary of Australia, and a past chair of WHO’s executive board says there’s a lot to be learned from models that simulate similar outbreaks.

Also: health officials have warned people not to touch their face, but that’s easier said than done; understanding personal versus collective responsibility around coronavirus; millions of kids are home from school and they have some thoughts to share; after being on lockdown, a California family stranded in China ventures outside; and three Mexican nurses have become heroes in the global fight against coronavirus, thanks to a video they made on the correct way to wash hands.

(From L) World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme Director Michael Ryan, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove attend a daily press briefing on COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images)




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Refugee island

Nine years have passed since Syrians took to the streets to demand the ouster of the government of Bashar al-Assad. During those nine years, thousands of lives have been lost, many have been displaced and much of the country is in ruins. For many Syrians, displacement has led them to look for a new life in Europe, which has meant spending time on the Greek island of Lesbos. Tens of thousands of Syrians and migrants from other countries have passed through Lesbos. We’ll hear from Syrians reflecting on the crisis in Syria and from migrants who are now seeking asylum, while waiting in limbo in makeshift camps on Lesbos.

Photo: A drone image shows a displaced camp in the town of Kafr Uruq southwest of the town of Sarmada in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/Getty Images




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This pandemic life

The US has been planning for catastrophe on a national scale since the beginning of the Cold War and the advent of the nuclear age. Now, with the new coronavirus, the US and the world face a very different challenge, but the approach is similar. Author Garrett Graff examined this intersection between national security and national emergency in his book Raven Rock, named after one of the major bunkers used by the US government in times of emergency.

Also, more than 300 million students in China are stuck at home and getting their schooling through online classes - how are they coping? As more people across the globe work from home, the team-messaging application Slack is having a big moment. International students in the US, displaced by COVID-19, face new challenges with online classes. In the US, farmworkers are considered essential so they still go out and work, but there are increasing concerns about their safety on the job. And Mr. Motivator wants you to have fun while exercising under quarantine.

Photo: An American flag is seen at sunrise at the Pentagon. Credit: Salwan Georges/The Washington Post/Getty Images




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I can't breathe

The homicide of George Floyd, an unarmed man, while he was in police custody has sparked demonstrations and protests in the US and across the globe. From London and Berlin to Australia and the Netherlands, thousands marched in solidarity after a video showed a white police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes before he died. The incident touched off outrage in the United States, amid a polarizing presidential campaign and the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work. Darnella Wade, an organizer for Black Lives Matter in St. Paul, Minnesota, hopes that this becomes a galvanizing moment for lasting change.

Also, black Americans once largely fought alone against police brutality, but as Somali American kids grew up in the same environment, they began to join Black Lives Matter; Dr. Michelle Morse, a professor of medicine at Harvard University explains why the racism in public health is so harmful in the age of Covid-19; America's adversaries are using global attention on the George Floyd protests as anti-US propaganda; and America’s foreign adversaries are also using social media to deepen division in the US.









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Jodi Picoult’s ‘Nineteen Minutes’ tops PEN America of books banned in schools

Earlier this month, PEN issued a report that expands upon numbers released in September for Banned Books Week, when libraries and stores around the country highlighted censored works.

The post Jodi Picoult’s ‘Nineteen Minutes’ tops PEN America of books banned in schools appeared first on Boston.com.




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American Airlines tests boarding technology that audibly shames line cutters

American Airlines is testing a new technology at three airports across the country during the boarding process that aims to cut down on passengers who try to jump the line

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Federal agencies say Russia and Iran are ramping up influence campaigns targeting U.S. voters

The Russian Embassy called the officials' announcement “baseless” in an emailed statement, saying Russia “has not interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States.”

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Stocks and bitcoin soar after Trump’s victory, while inflation worries rise; Dow surges 1,200

Trump has pledged to make the country “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin.

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Racist text messages referencing slavery raise alarms, prompt investigations in Mass. and other states

Some students of color at Stoughton High School were among those who received such messages, according to a statement from Stoughton Public Schools.

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