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 and the Middle East about what the move could mean.

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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 London.

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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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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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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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