Category: International

There’s a very real possibility that the 2024 presidential election could come down to a few thousand votes in a few pivotal states.

One of those states is Michigan, which is home to a large Arab American community — with some two hundred thousand registered voters. Many of those voters say that the White House has disproportionately supported Israel, while doing little to protect the lives of Palestinians. And that position could cost President Biden their votes.

Meanwhile, the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows how the Israel-Hamas War has divided Americans along racial and generational lines.

NPR National Political Correspondent Don Gonyea reports from Detroit on the concerns of Arab American voters. And Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR Senior Political Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro about what the latest polling tells us about Americans’ changing views on Biden’s support of Israel.

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The United Auto Workers secured its biggest victory in decades in deals with the Big 3 car companies after weeks of strikes.

While the union won a lot of concessions for workers: big pay raises, cost of living adjustments tied to inflation and increased retirement contributions, some workers are focused on what the new contracts are missing.

NPR Labor and Workplace Correspondent Andrea Hsu reports on what the historic contracts include and what they don’t. Host Ari Shapiro speaks with NPR business reporter Camila Domonoske about how the UAW is looking to build on its gains.

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Elections in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and elsewhere showed slightly surprising Democratic strengths and the enduring power of abortion as a campaign issue.

Meanwhile, a series of polls indicate that President Joe Biden is unpopular, and struggling against former President Donald Trump, a year out from the elections.

In the background, Trump’s multiple criminal cases which could impact his popularity going forward.

Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR Senior Political Editor/Correspondent Domenico Montanaro and White House Correspondent Asma Khalid about the emerging battle lines in the 2024 election.

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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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