State of the World from NPR

State of the World from NPR

Immerse yourself in the most compelling and consequential stories from around the globe. The world is changing in big ways every day. State of the World from NPR takes you where the news is happening — and explains why it matters. With bureaus spanning the globe, NPR reporters bring you facts and context from the ground so you can cut through the noise of disinformation. NPR's State of the World, a human perspective on global stories in just a few minutes, every weekday. State of the World was previously State of Ukraine. You'll continue to hear Ukraine coverage here, along with other international stories. Support NPR's reporting by subscribing to State of the World+ and unlock sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org/stateoftheworld

Episodes

February 16, 2026 8 mins

In Old Cairo, shoppers prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting and prayer. In Beijing, the Lunar New Year brings the Year of the Fire Horse, which represents action and risk-taking, but many people say they just want stability in this sluggish economy.

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The Washington Post laid off most of its foreign correspondents, including some of the last American and Western journalists working in authoritarian countries.

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February 12, 2026 7 mins
NATO launches the mission in response to Russian and Chinese ambitions in the high North, and to President Trump’s threat of a U.S. takeover of Greenland. Japan’s last pair of giant pandas returns to China. 

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Syria’s Jewish community fled the country’s repressive Assad regime. Now, a new government is encouraging their return by giving back ownership of synagogues and other property. Jane Arraf is there as one Jewish group turns the key on a synagogue’s door in the northern city of Aleppo.

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Cuba hasn’t received an oil shipment since December. The shortage has grounded air travel, and disrupted food production, hospitals and schools. Venezuelans stage open demonstrations in the streets that only weeks ago could have meant jail time.

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Cuba is in economic crisis. Its ally, Venezuela, is no longer sending oil, and the Trump administration is applying pressure. Life for Cubans is hard, but if they express their opinions they can get in a lot of trouble. So they’ve found other ways to tell you what they think, and a single phrase is doing a lot of the work. Our correspondent in Havana tells us what it is.

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As the Winter Olympics get underway in Milan and across the Italian Alps, our correspondent looks back at a bold pledge made by the organizers: that these games would be sustainable. They said they would slash the event’s carbon footprint and protect sensitive mountain ecosystems. Environmental groups say that’s not what is happening.

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February 5, 2026 10 mins

Ever since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, experts say Russia has stepped up its hybrid war on Western Europe. Attacks on critical infrastructure or using drones to shutdown airports are meant to undermine support for Ukraine. We go to Poland to see one such attack.

And in Kyiv, Ukrainians are getting through Russian attacks that have shut down the power grid in the c...

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The United States has been conducting military operations in Syria for more than a decade. Their mission has been to attack ISIS militants and to protect Syrian oil fields. With ISIS weakened and a new government in Syria, the U.S. may pull out the troops it has stationed in Syria. But doing so might hurt some U.S. allies. We hear from NPR reporters who cover the Pentagon ...

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While there has been political turmoil in the U.S. over the latest release of photos and emails in the “Epstein files”, the consequences in the U.K. have been more concrete. There, a prince had already been stripped of his title over his connections to the late accused sex trafficker. Now a member of the House of Lords has been forced to step down. We get the latest from Lo...

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February 2, 2026 4 mins

Protests in Iran have been ongoing for over a month and according to one human rights group, over 6000 people have died. As the internet blackout begins to lift, we’re learning more about what has happened. Our correspondent brings us the experiences of three Iranian women.

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January 30, 2026 5 mins

While debate rages in the U.S. about the merits and risks of Artificial Intelligence in schools, in China, it’s a state-mandated part of the school curriculum. Authorities there want to create a pool of AI-savvy professionals. But like in the U.S., some parents have mixed emotions about how and when their kids use A.I. 

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President Trump approaches Middle East peacemaking as a business deal. In today’s episode we go to Israel and the Palestinian territory of the West Bank to hear about the different ways that those economies are being affected by war, and what that means for the peace process going forward.

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In the past year, President Trump has often threatened or turned to military force. Yet he likes to present himself as a peacemaker, and that includes his new plan for a global Board of Peace. We hear from two NPR correspondents about what the Board of Peace could be.



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Despite dozens of lethal U.S. strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, figures show drug flows to the U.S. continue to rise and coastal communities in countries like Colombia are paying the price.

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In Israel, families whose sons have died in the war in Gaza have the option of having sperm samples retrieved for future offspring. Many have agreed to the procedure. That has raised complicated questions of what can and should be done with this genetic material. 

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Dollars are trickling back into Venezuela, they’re the proceeds from the oil seized and by the U.S. That is helping to stabilize runaway prices in Venezuela—at least on paper. But for ordinary shoppers in Caracas, market prices remain dizzying, and families still struggle to make ends meet.

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The booming population along coastal corridor from the cities Lagos to Abidjan has the potential to be a bustling West African economic engine, tied together by a long-promised superhighway that could slash travel time and supercharge trade. But the task of harnessing that potential has barely been met. We travel along a section of the road to understand why.

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January 21, 2026 7 mins

We meet a woman in India who estimates she has dozens of biological children. And she says there are many more women like her, because India has a thriving black market for human eggs. Rules constraining the supply of donated eggs, have given rise to this underground supply which have risks for the women giving up their eggs. Our reporter investigates.

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It has been a year since President Donald Trump took office for his second term. And in that year many relationships between the United States and countries around the world have begun to be redefined. In this episode, a conversation between four of NPR’s international correspondents in Great Britain, Russia, China and Mexico about how global politics have changed in the las...

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