Month: February 2022

User-generated content specific to TikTok has propelled songs old and new to viral success. Whether it’s someone lip-syncing to a song, or participating in a dance or trend using that song, it’s made music discovery more participatory.

Success on the app can lead to success on the charts, and record labels are looking to TikTok for their next stars.

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China has been detaining and arresting ethnic Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang en masse while their children are often sent to state boarding schools.

China closely guards information about Xinjiang, including about these forced family separations. But NPR’s Beijing correspondent Emily Feng managed to talk to two children who made it out of one such school and are sharing their story for the first time.

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Masks and at-home COVID-19 test kits have become staples of pandemic life. The Biden Administration announced in January that it would distribute 400 million free N95 respirators to pharmacies and grocery stores around the country. The U.S. Postal Service has begun taking orders for free at-home test kits. Supply remains limited, so many are still purchasing masks and tests on their own, and the costs can easily add up.

Wendy Edelberg is a Senior Fellow of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution who studies household spending and saving habits. She explains how time is one of the hidden costs associated with obtaining high-quality masks.

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The world is watching as Russia continues it’s threat of invasion with troops at the border of Ukraine. But close to that border, in the Donbas region, people look at you a little funny if you ask whether they’re worried about war with Russia, because they are already living through it.

Areas of Eastern Ukraine have been at war since 2014 when Russia-backed separatists moved in and declared breakaway republics. And that’s where NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly has been, talking with residents about what this new threat might mean for them.

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Before he took office, President Joe Biden said stopping domestic extremism would be a priority for him. His administration has now created the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships to stop radicalization before it starts. But critics say it’s a repackaging of failed strategies and inadequate.

NPR correspondent Odette Yousef has been reporting on the efforts of this new program built on old strategies.

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