Category: International

This year the U.S. has experienced devastating natural disasters.

Outbreaks of tornadoes leveled entire neighborhoods.

Flooding trapped people in their homes.

Wildfires burned out of control.

When people go missing during these catastrophes, it’s a race against time to find them alive – or their remains.

That crucial search is often carried out by specially trained dogs.

FEMA has 280 certified detection dogs trained to find people in disasters. Another 80 dogs are trained to search for human remains.

NPR’s Scott Detrow visits a Maryland training facility where dogs, and their handlers, learn skills that could save lives.

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It’s olive harvesting season in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But farmer Ayoub Abu Hejleh hasn’t been able to harvest olives from any of his 370 trees yet this year.

He says Israeli soldiers and settlers have blocked him from his land since the war started. That was back on October 7, when Hamas insurgents attacked Israel, killing more than 1,400 people.

While the world has focused on Israel’s response in Gaza, violence in the West Bank is also spiking.

The International Crisis Group estimates more than 130 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war began.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly and her team traveled to Abu Hejleh’s village. They saw first-hand how the war between Israel and Hamas is upending lives for Palestinians in the West Bank, sometimes in extremely frightening ways.

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Across America, big cities facing an influx of migrants, struggling to provide basic resources.

At the Supreme Court on Tuesday, justices seemed inclined to uphold a federal law that bans anyone covered by a domestic violence court order from having a gun.

But if they do that, the decision will likely be a narrow one, leaving many questions about the future of gun regulations unanswered.

NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.

A note to listeners, there is a graphic description of violence in this episode.

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Since the Rafah border opened between Egypt and Gaza opened last week, it has been flooded with people hoping to leave.

With food, water and electricity in short supply, thousands of people in Gaza are hoping for a chance to flee to Egypt.

But so far, only a trickle of people have been allowed to pass through, a few hundred at a time.

NPR’s Mary Louis Kelly is reporting from Tel Aviv, and spoke with an American citizen who managed to make it out of Gaza.

If you have ever bought a home, or are thinking about buying one, you know it can be expensive. For most people a home is the most expensive purchase they will ever make.

But selling a home can be expensive too. In part, that’s because of the commissions real estate agents collect when a home is sold.

Depending on the price of the home commissions can be tens of thousands of dollars.

A class action lawsuit brought by a group of Missouri home sellers against the National Association of Realtors argues that these fees hurt consumers by artificially inflating home prices.

This past week, a federal jury awarded the home sellers $1.8 billion dollars.

Adrian Ma and Wailin Wong, co-hosts of NPR’s The Indicator, breakdown how that decision could change the entire real estate industry.

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On October 31st Israeli military forces bombed the Jabalia refugee camp just north of Gaza City.

They said the area was a Hamas stronghold that included underground tunnels and a command center, and that they were targeting a Hamas commander there.

The health ministry in Gaza says the strike caused a large number of civilian casualties. So what are the rules of war that might apply to such situations?

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Tom Dannenbaum, an associate professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy about the rules of war in an urban setting.

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The two older sons of former President Donald Trump spent Thursday in a New York courtroom testifying in the civil fraud case against them and their father.

The trial accuses the two brothers, as well as their father, of knowingly committing fraud by submitting statements of financial condition that inflated the value of their properties and other assets.

During testimony, Eric and Donald Jr. repeatedly distanced themselves from The Trump Organization’s fraudulent financial statements and declarations to banks.

NPR’s Andrea Bernstein and Ximena Bustillo report on the trial and what’s at stake for The Trump Organization.

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After weeks of being bombarded by Israeli airstrikes, following the Hamas attacks of October 7th, some in the Gaza strip are finally able to leave the besieged territory.

Hundreds of people – including wounded Palestinians and individuals with foreign passports – have now crossed into Egypt.

The opening of the Rafah Border is a small diplomatic success in a war that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians. But it’s unclear just how many people will be allowed to make the crossing.

Consider This co-host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NPR’s Aya Batrawy, who’s in Dubai and has been reporting on the situation.

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The deadly mass shooting this month in Maine shone a spotlight on the small city of Lewiston.

Once again, like far too many American communities, the people of Lewiston face the challenge of trying to move forward after the loss of family members, friends and neighbors.

For many survivors of a mass shooting, charting a path forward can mean searching for purpose in the wake of senseless violence.

Kimberly Mata-Rubio’s, Lexi daughter, was killed in May of 2022, at her elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. In total, 19 students and two teachers were killed in Uvalde.

Mata-Rubio has decided to turn her anger and grief into action. She is running for mayor of Uvalde.

Host Juana Summer spoke with Mata-Rubio, prior to the shootings in Lewiston.