State of the World from NPR

It’s been three months since the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Ordinary Venezuelans reflect on what that night of the Maduro capture was like, and on what may be ahead for their country. They say they’re now able to openly talk politics and demonstrate in the streets. Still, the most difficult part of transforming their country may lie ahead.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Israel has invaded Lebanon as the war in Iran expands in the region. Israel says the move is in pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters— Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel last month in support of Iran. Israel’s invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon with over a million civilians displaced and more than 1,300 killed in Israeli attacks, according to Lebanon’s government. And among the dead are at least 53 paramedics. Human rights groups say some of those first responders were targeted. We go to Beirut to examine that claim.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

On Monday, President Trump threatened to destroy civilian infrastructure across Iran, including the country’s desalination plants, vital for drinking water in the arid Gulf. Kuwait authorities said Iran had attacked one of their desalination plants earlier that day. Deliberately attacking essential civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. Yet both sides have hit civilian infrastructure in this conflict. We ask a legal expert about accountability in war.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

A conversation with an advocate for the regulation of Artificial Intelligence. He has thought a lot about what it could mean for the future of the the global economy, the working lives of people and how it’s use or misuse on the battlefield could change war in frightening ways.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

For almost a month now, a twenty-eight-year old Iranian writer in Tehran has been sharing her diary entries with NPR. The entries give us a view of the war from inside Iran as it is being lived. This is her second dispatch and she expresses the complicated emotions some Iranians have about this war.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It’s been a month since the U.S. and Israel began the war on Iran. President Trump pointed to what he said has been progress in talks when he extended his deadline for Iran to open up the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping channel. He has threated to destroy Iran’s energy facilities if ships aren’t allowed to pass.Meanwhile attacks continue in Iran, Israel, Gulf States and Lebanon. Israel’s Defense Minister vowed to intensify strikes against Iran… while Iran’s Ambassador to the UN accused the U.S. and Israel of deliberately targeting civilians. In today’s episode, we look at a month of this war, by hearing from the people experiencing it. We meet weary Iranians, fearful Israelis, shaken residents of what was a safe haven in the Gulf, and Lebanese citizens enduring massive displacement. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Southeast Asia is among the areas hardest hit by Iran’s cutoff of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, with many nations there almost entirely dependent on foreign energy — and quickly running out. We hear how the effects are being felt.And Iran has been not only launching missiles around the region but also firing off memes around the internet. We hear that although war propaganda has a long history, it now travels faster and to a wider audience than ever before. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Britain’s upper house of parliament is known as the House of Lords and it’s has a lot of old traditions: powdered wigs, a gold throne, lawmakers addressing each other as “noble lord” or “baroness”. But one tradition has recently received scrutiny— dozens of the legislators inherit their seats. We go to London to learn about the practice that has been in place for nearly a thousand years.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

After weeks of war with Iran, Israeli support for the conflict is high but waning. Israel has endured frequent airstrikes from Iran disrupting lives and killing at least fifteen so far. We hear from some Israelis about how they’re feeling.And while more than one thousand ships are idle, unable to go through the Strait of Hormuz due to Iranian attacks on vessels, a few are getting through the economically vital waterway. We hear about which ships are getting through and why.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

After days of brinkmanship, President Trump announces a sudden delay in threatened strikes on Iran’s power grid, citing “very good and productive” talks aimed at de-escalating the war. Our reporter tells us what we know about those talks.And at one underground disco along Turkey's border with Iran, Iranians ponder death and the destruction of their country while celebrating the traditional new year holiday of Nowruz. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Entering the Ukrainian town of Izium brings the odd sight of roads and sidewalks completely covered in wide stretches of overhead netting. It’s a low-tech defense against the latest deadly Russian drones known as, FPV, or first-person view drones. FPV’s can fly up to 15 miles and are piloted by unjammable fiber optic cables. Cities in eastern Ukraine are preparing for an advancing front line as Russia’s full-scale war enters its fifth year.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR has learned that mediators have quietly given Hamas a proposal to hand over all its weapons to ensure Gaza’s reconstruction. And Iran has imposed a near-total internet blackout as the war with the U.S. and Israel rages on. Some Iranians are sending voice memos to share a glimpse of what life is like inside the country.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Unmanned drones are cheaper than missiles, easy to mass-produce, can travel long distances, and strike with precision. For all these reasons they are reshaping conflicts around the globe. We hear from NPR correspondents about how drones are changing the nature of war and the balance of power in Ukraine, Sudan and Mexico.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Israel says it has killed two top Iranian leaders in airstrikes, dealing another blow to Iran’s remaining leadership. One of the men was believed to be directing the current war effort, and these deaths come after Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader on the first day of the war. We hear more about who was killed and what this might mean for Iran.And over a million Lebanese have been displaced since Israel intensified its campaign against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. We meet some of the displaced.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ever since the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran, oil prices have been on a rollercoaster but overall have been trending higher. An increase in the price of oil has world-wide consequences with winners and losers. To get a snapshot of where things stand, we hear from three reporters around the world— in Russia, Germany and Taiwan.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Understanding exactly what is happening inside Iran is difficult. The government rarely gives visas to western journalists and closely monitors those that do enter the country. The internet is closely controlled by the regime. For the past two weeks, since the U.S. and Israel began their war in Iran, a writer in Tehran has been sharing entries from her diary with NPR about this war. We hear some of her writings which offer an intimate look at her life under bombardment.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Five months ago, President Trump declared ceasefire in Gaza, having negotiated a deal that includes phased Israeli withdrawal from the territory and Hamas disarmament. But that was before the U.S. and Israel launched a war in Iran taking the Trump administration’s attention away from the Palestinian territory. We go to Gaza and find it’s still cutoff from the outside world and gains towards a durable peace have been paused or reversed.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah militants backed by Iran have been firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s war in Iran. And Israel has been firing back hard. Almost 700 thousand Lebanese have been displaced, mostly fleeing Israel’s strikes.We go to both sides of this renewed conflict. In northern Israel daily rockets are keeping people on edge but also defiant. In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s wide popularity has been eroded by the fighting.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine recently passed the four year mark. And over that time it has become the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. Over 1.5 million people are dead, injured or missing, according to western governments and think tanks. Our correspondent in Moscow tries to answer one of the most persistent and difficult questions of this war: do Russians support it?To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

As we enter the second week of U.S. combat operations in Iran, NPR’s Leila Fadel considers the similarities and differences with the last time the United States waded into war in the region, in Iraq in 2003. Leila covered that war as well and talks to some experts about what lessons can be drawn.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy