Unexploded bombs and other ordinance are hidden throughout Gaza posing a threat to civilians now and they will continue to potentially kill long after the war is over. We hear about a victim of one of these munitions and of the challenges of removing such threats as civilians are fleeing fighting.

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Russia launched a surprise new offensive in northeast Ukraine, near the second largest city of Kharkiv. Russian troops are continuing to advance, we get the latest from our Ukraine correspondent. And in another development in that war, Russia's President Putin replaced the country's defense minister. We get context on both events from a retired U.S. Lieutenant Colonel who used to oversee European affairs at the National Security council.

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Prabowo Subianto will become the president of Indonesia in the Fall. Critics worry that the former general under a previous authoritarian government will roll back democracy. That presents a challenge for the U.S., which once trained and supported Prabowo, then subsequently banned him from entering the U.S. for twenty years.

And a TV song contest in Venezuela in which every song is about the authoritarian president.

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Ukraine uncovers what they say was a sophisticated network of spies working with Russia to kill President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top officials. And in Russia, during a celebration marking the USSR's victory over Germany in World War II, Russia's president again drew parallels between that fight against fascism and the war in Ukraine. We hear from Russians who attended the event.

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Scams that target people via direct message and texts in an effort to steal money have become pervasive. But the scammer on the other end of the communication might be a victim too, in a human-trafficking scheme. We hear the story of one such victim.

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Mexico's general election will be held at the beginning of June and it will mark the end of a campaign season of record violence. Some thirty candidates have been assassinated in the past month. Our reporter goes to one of Mexico's most violent towns to talk to candidates who are brave enough to run for office.

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Increasingly, Israelis and Palestinians are experiencing the war in Gaza in completely different ways. Critics charge Israeli media outlets with failing to cover the extent of civilian suffering in Gaza. And Palestinian news media is accused of downplaying the level of violence committed in the October 7th attacks on Israel. We hear from news consumers and journalists on both sides.

For more coverage of all sides of this conflict, go to npr.org/mideastupdates

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As protests over the Israel Hamas war roil college campuses across the U.S., similar protests are happening elsewhere in the world. We hear from some of them. And a quirky festival in Colombia celebrates the donkey.

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After months of delay in Congress, Ukraine is finally receiving the U.S. military aid it says is crucial in winning its fight against Russia. But after two years of war, what it means to win is increasingly complicated. We hear about the state of the conflict from our correspondent in Kyiv and our Pentagon correspondent.

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European countries that border Russia are concerned that they'll be invaded next if an emboldened Russia is successful in Ukraine, even though they're members of the NATO alliance. We go to the Baltic nation of Estonia and hear from people who are making preparations in case of invasion.

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Israel has been public with it's plan to conduct an assault on the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, absent a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Such a military operation could be catastrophic for more than a million Palestinian civilians there, many having fled there from fighting elsewhere in Gaza. We hear the voices of people who are weighing the risks of staying and wondering where they can go.

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