Boston Calling

As NAFTA talks grind on, thousands of skilled workers wonder if they will keep their jobs.

A Trade NAFTA or "T-N visa” allows citizens of Canada and Mexico to work in the US in a range of job categories. It could now be in jeopardy as the Trump administration seeks to renegotiate the trade agreement by the end of the year.

Also: There is a shortage of summer workers in Cape Cod, partly due to changes to a temporary worker visa program; as the US and China talk trade and tariffs, some in Shanghai wonder what it will mean for them; the end of Temporary Protected Status for some immigrants has an unexpected impact on US labour unions; plus we find out how TV reporter Lisa Howard changed the course of the Cold War.

(Image: Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo gives a message to the media during the seventh round of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) talks in Mexico City, on March 5, 2018. Credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/Getty Images)

As traditional business models continue to break down, entrepreneurs have their sights on one more area to disrupt: traditional orthodontics.

Also: biodegradable six-pack holders finally go on the market; a former ambassador tells us what's in a diplomatic pouch; the French consider adopting 'le doggy bag' for restaurant leftovers; we ride along with 23 greyhounds across the US/Mexico border; and composer Idan Raichel performs a song for us using an assortment of improvised musical instruments.

(Image: Candid Co. sends customers a kit to take impressions of their teeth from home. An orthodontist then remotely comes up with a treatment plan. Credit: Candid Co.)

Alabama used to be known for its textile industry. Now, it’s becoming the automotive hub of the South.

Also: we find out what it’s like to fly on Air Koryo, North Korea’s national airline; we meet Dean Huang, a Taiwanese-born immigrant who was living his dream life in the US when he got a letter from Taiwan’s military that changed everything; plus director Miao Wang tells us about her documentary Maineland, which follows the lives of two teens from China studying at a boarding school in Maine.

(Image: Hyundai cars roll down an assembly line during the grand opening ceremony of the South Korean auto manufacturing plant in 2005 in Montgomery, Alabama. Credit: Robert Sullivan/Getty Images)

All over the world, countries are imprisoning women at higher rates than ever before.

On the programme: We visit a new kind of drug treatment program for women in the Midwestern state of Ohio; we hear about why more and more mothers in Mexico are serving time for selling drugs; and we go to court with a Canadian woman named Cheyenne Sharma whose case ends up changing the law. The programme ends with the song ‘The One Who Stands In the Sun’ by Choctaw musician Samantha Crain.

(Image: Lisa Duncan, Ashley Porter, Sheena Kimberly and Stephanie Cleveland, all of whom are in the Tapestry program in Ohio, are pictured from left to right. Credit: PRI’s The World)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promises to dedicate resources towards fighting hate speech. People in Sri Lanka have been asking for that for years.

Also: policy makers in Thailand consider legalizing drugs; unauthorized workers in the US fight for their wages under threat of deportation; the film "Our New President" tells the story of how Russians learned about the 2016 US election using all real news clips yet no true statements; plus Jimmy O. Yang publishes his first book, and his parents don't like it.

(Image: Mark Zuckerberg appears for a hearing on Wednesday April 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. Credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images)

In 2015, Summer Nasser traveled from her home in New York City to marry Muntaser Yaghnam in his home country, Yemen. Then, civil war broke out. They tell us about what it was like to get married amid airstrikes and their long wait to travel back to the US.

Also on the programme: US car companies scramble to figure out how to market their cars to Saudi women; a high-tech video portal offers one Milwaukee neighborhood a global perspective; plus we create the perfect playlist for your next journey, with jams by Cosmo Pyke and Frank Ulwenya.

(Image: Muntaser Yaghnam and Summer Nasser at home in New York. Credit: PRI’s The World)

In India, revelations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official app has been sending user data to a third party provoke outrage.

Also: Author Mona Eltahawy starts #MosqueMeToo to give Muslim women an outlet to speak out against abuse and it goes viral; two friends from Iran start a popular website about sexual health specifically for Farsi speakers; some researchers worry that we are not teaching our robots to be ethical enough; plus a woman named Ivanka Majic has an uninvited brush with fame.

(Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his picture taken with a mobile phone on September 2, 2014. Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)

Vitaly Bespalov wrote fake news at a Russian troll farm. He tells us the real story of what he found.

Also: Boston author, Louie Cronin, on how she lost her Boston accent; we meet a professional accent coach who can teach you to impersonate anybody; we find out why the US military tried to erase the story of Donald Nichols, an Air Force officer who played an outsize role in the Korean War; plus we remember World War II spy hero Jeannie Rousseau de Clarens.

(Image: The Internet Research Agency, or IRA, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Credit: PRI’s The World)

The American economy may be strong, but the wage gap remains a huge concern.

As Trump ends Obama-era protections for Salvadorans; a family in Minnesota has few good options to stay together.

Also on the program: An American family finds their way in Mexico after deportation; a group of indigenous people from South West Africa visit a museum in New York City to view the remains of their ancestors; A Korean adoptee meets his birth mother and winds up moving in with her; plus why 'Arirang' is the perfect song for a divided Korea.

(Image: David, who came to the US from El Salvador without papers, has three children who were born in the US. Credit: PRI’s The World)