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. Support public media by joining NPR+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including sponsor-free listening for State of the World.

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Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk says that Russia is planning “accidental” strikes on countries supporting Ukraine. This comes after a number of incidents, blamed on Russia, in countries that are part of the NATO alliance.
And Russians vote in parliamentary elections for the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine over four and half years ago.  Russia has gained minimal territory and their causalities number in the hundreds of thousands.  But despite that, don’t expect the war to be up for debate. 
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A Russian election and a warning to Europe about Russian aggression

Russia is believed to be holding thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians as prisoners of war. In addition, Russia is tormenting the families of these prisoners by contacting them on social media and demanding favors.  We hear from some of these family members.
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Russia is blackmailing the families of Ukrainian POWs

For decades, the European Union and Canada have each had strong bonds with the United States. In trade, diplomacy, military cooperation, their close relationships with the U.S. were taken as a given.  But the Trump administration has shaken up that status quo with tariff wars and other demands on allies.  So now the EU and Canada are now looking at each other and thinking they might feel a spark.  We hear about the special status their relationship may soon have.
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The romance between Canada and the European Union gets serious

In Turkey, gold is gifted throughout life's major milestones and stashing it safely at home is also a time honored practice. Turks have long used gold to safeguard their fortunes as a hedge against the country’s sometimes volatile economy. But officials say all that gold hoarding is hurting Turkey’s financial future. We go to Istanbul to understand why.
And President Trump claims Ukraine and Russia have agreed to stop striking each other’s energy sites. But neither country has said they formally signed off on such a deal.  Our reporter in Kyiv unpacks the claims and reality.
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Why are people in Turkey hoarding gold?

Raja Shehadeh, one of the world’s leading Palestinian writers, has been on a mission to save his most personal work: his diaries documenting decades of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. NPR’s Daniel Estrin has this conversation with the award winning author and the story of his secret effort to preserve his archives.
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A Palestinian writer’s secret effort to preserve his diary

The 25th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the United States are being observed across the U.S.  Those events left marks on countless lives across this country and you can hear and read that coverage at our website.  Because our podcast has a global focus, we’re going to hear how those events impacted someone overseas— a woman in Afghanistan. We hear about her journey in the quarter century since the attacks and the life-changing decision for her family that she was forced to make.
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The long tail of the 9/11 attacks for one Afghan family

Israel launched a ground invasion of neighboring Lebanon in March, after the Iran-backed group Hezbollah ramped up attacks following the U.S. and Israel war in Iran.  Israel said it was creating a “buffer zone” on the Lebanese side of the border and over a million civilians were displaced.
The U.S. brokered a ceasefire this summer, but since that time Israel has continued seizing territory and destroying villages.  Lebanese residents have not been allowed to return and Israel now occupies almost six percent of Lebanon.
Our correspondent accompanied UN peacekeepers to the part of Lebanon now controlled by Israel and she tells us what she saw.
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We go to the part of southern Lebanon that Israel now controls

When the U.S. and Israel launched a war in Iran over six months go, Iran retaliated by blocking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.  Iran also launched counterattacks on U.S. military targets across the Gulf.  They hit U.S. forces on air bases in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.   Now, as the war drags on, and even escalates in recent days, the future of those bases and U.S. troops in the region remains uncertain.  On today’s episode we’re going to explore that future with NPR’s Pentagon correspondent and international correspondent in the Gulf.
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What is the future of U.S. military bases in the Middle East?

The United Kingdom announced a major reset of its relations with Israel.  And the country’s foreign minister used surprisingly strong language in explaining the move.  The UK was joined by France, Canada and nine other countries who say they’re all banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.  Israel and its closest ally, the United States, condemned the move and Israel says it’s retaliating.  Our reporter in London explains what prompted this move.
And in Germany, there was an election over the weekend in a small eastern region of the country, but it sent shockwaves across Germany and into Europe more broadly.  The far-right AfD party won big and the party of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,  the conservative Christian Democrats, received a record low number of votes.  We here why the result is raising some tough questions about German democracy.
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The UK pushes back on Israeli settlements; a far-right win in Germany

In this encore episode, we examine the booming population along coastal corridor from the cities Lagos to Abidjan.  It 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.
You can see a stunning visual presentation of this reporting here.
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