Category: International

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that a lot of Americans are worried about the state of democracy in the United States.

According to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted after the midterm elections, more than 8 in 10 Americans feel there is a serious threat to Democracy in the U.S.

Ranked choice voting has become the latest political change touted as a way to strengthen democracy.

Instead of choosing one candidate, in ranked choice voting a voter picks a favorite candidate, a second favorite, and so on.

Voters in almost 50 American cities and states have switched to a ranked-choice voting system. So even if you’ve never heard of ranked choice voting, it may be coming to a polling place near you.

NPR’s Miles Parks reports on whether ranked choice will live up to the hype as a cure-all for the country’s deep partisan divides.

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Every year world leaders gather at the Conference of the Parties, or COP, to devise solutions to what amounts to a growing existential crisis for humankind: our rapidly heating planet.

The United Arab Emirates is hosting COP28 this year. The goal of the conference is to decrease emissions and protect the planet. But leading the climate talks is the head of one of the biggest oil companies in the world, in a nation that derives much of its wealth from oil. Are the goals of this meeting truly in sync with the goals of the hosts?

NPR’s Miles Parks speaks with NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy from COP28.

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Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was viewed as brilliant by some and a war criminal by others. The only man to ever hold the jobs of National Security Advisor and Secretary of State at the same time died at his Connecticut home at the age of 100.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks to author and historian Jeremi Suri about Kissinger’s complicated legacy.

Listen to Throughline’s deeper dive on Kissinger here.

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Former first lady Rosalynn Carter leaves behind a rich and expansive legacy, including fierce and enduring advocacy for better mental health care in the US.

But her commitment to the issue extended well beyond her role as First Lady.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks to Anne Mahoney Robbins, a friend of the Carters and member of President Jimmy Carter’s mental health commission, about how Rosalynn Carter supported her during her own crippling depression.

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In different places throughout the country, police are pushing back against the policies of progressive prosecutors.

NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer tells the story of one such struggle in St. Louis where a detective wouldn’t testify in a case. That refusal may have helped a man charged with murder walk free.

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Dozens of hostages have been released by Hamas over the last four days. Now after 50 days in captivity, and joyous reunions, the long journey of healing and rebuilding begins.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks to Hostage US executive director Liz Cathcart about that process.

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Next year Gen Z and Millennials will make up nearly half of the electorate. What exactly that will mean in the 2024 election is an open question.

Host Scott Detrow talks with NPR political reporter Elena Moore about the different ways new voters approach politics than older voters.

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Consumer spending is a huge part of the economy and sends a strong signal about how Americans feel about the financial health of the country.

Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR business correspondent Alina Selyukh about what Black Friday shopping says about where the economy has been and where it might be headed.

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For this holiday episode, we’re bringing you a story from the Radio Diaries podcast, The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island.

Hart Island is a narrow strip of land in New York, off the coast of the Bronx.

More than a million people are buried there in mass graves, with no headstones or plaques.

Annette Vega never met her biological father. She had been searching for him for decades.

That search finally led to Hart Island.

Along the way, she found the family that she never knew.

On Wednesday, Israel and Hamas announced details of a deal that calls for the freeing of at least 50 Israeli women and minors taken hostage during last month’s Hamas attack on Israel in exchange for at least 150 Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli jails.

NPR correspondents Brian Mann in Israel, and Lauren Frayer in the occupied West Bank, report on how Israelis and Palestinians are reacting to this moment.

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