Boston Calling

Two journalists set off on a quest to hand deliver a letter to a grandmother in Puerto Rico from her family on the mainland of the United States.

Also: we learn why Che Guevara is being honoured on a postage stamp in Ireland; we admire the art of Martin Ramirez which has been featured on postage stamps in the US; plus we read one of the most timeless job application letters in history, sent by a copywriter, Robert Pirosh, to studio directors in Hollywood, in 1934.

(Image: Janet Franceschini Colon (left), Jennifer Santos Franceschini (middle), Jenelyn Santos (right) and Jennifer's two daughters are pictured. Credit: PRI’s The World)

“There is no statute of limitations on the truth.” Vince Pankoke, a former FBI agent, has launched a probe into who betrayed Anne Frank.

Also: we investigate why American diplomats in Cuba have mysteriously fallen ill; we learn the backstory of the two women accused of assassinating Kim Jong-nam; we meet the disgraced real-life French diplomat who inspired the play, “M. Butterfly,’’ plus we find out why talks between North Korea and South Korea may hinge on a group of twelve singing waitresses.

(Image: Anne Frank's facsimile diaries on display in the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam on November 1, 2009. Credit: Ade Johnson/AFP/Getty Images)

Tereza Lee, the woman sometimes referred to as the first “Dreamer,” has been fighting for immigrant rights for nearly two decades.

Also: the turbulent history of the US Virgin Islands; a remembrance for a little-known Soviet colonel who probably averted a nuclear war; a look at how Tiki bars inspired Star Wars creator George Lucas; a progress report on a project to digitize the notebooks of Harvard’s female astronomers; plus a folk song dedicated to a modern hero: the street cart vendor.

(Image: Protestors gathered at the US Capitol on September 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Marco Werman climbs aboard the largest passenger ship ever to sail through the Northwest Passage.

Also: we speak to residents of the Arctic with mixed feelings about cruise ships sailing past their towns; we meet climate change scientists risking their lives to gather data in the field; we visit a marshland that's worth millions of dollars; we spend the day with teens saving songbirds in Washington, DC; and we learn how American climate change policies have changed this past year.

(Image:The Crystal Serenity docked at the Boston cruise terminal near the end of its 32-day Northwest Passage journey. Credit: PRI’s The World)

What impact did Russian internet “trolls’’ have on the 2016 US presidential election?

Also: we hear about wealthy Russians coming to America to give birth to US citizens; we learn why the poet Langston Hughes went to the USSR to work on a Soviet propaganda film in 1930s; we visit a Korean-Uzbek-Russian cafe in New York; we meet two science fiction writers who advise the US government on the future of warfare; and we find out why Tchaikovsky's concerto No. 1 had its world premiere in Boston.

(Image:The Kremlin stands in Red Square in Moscow on March 7, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

President Trump is scrapping a programme that protects hundreds of thousands of young unauthorised immigrants. We hear two different perspectives on this decision.

Plus; we meet an immigrant from Northern Ireland whose troubled past is haunting his future; we learn why some evangelical Christians are speaking out against the President; we find out about a proposal from Canadian Senator Ratna Omidvar for Canada to open its doors to DACA recipients; plus we visit Quebec where immigrants fearing Trump are pouring in.

(Image: Julio Ramos is a medical school student and a DACA recipient in New York City. Credit: Reynaldo Leanos Jr.)

M.J. Khan, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, who spent a sleepless night monitoring relief efforts, tells us what Houston’s residents are doing to help each other.

Also: experts weigh in on how Houston can plan for future flooding events; a brewer in Amsterdam turns rain into beer; an activist vows to keep the Marshall Islands from disappearing beneath rising seas; we learn if climate change is behind extreme hurricanes; plus a port city in Maine revitalizes its economy by shipping pregnant cows to Turkey

Bashar al-Assad seems to have a fan base in the United States. White supremacists and neo-nazis have worn pro-Assad T-shirts at rallies, while others have shown their support for the Syrian president on social media.

(Image: A photo taken on March 4, 2015 shows a banner bearing a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a street in the city of Damascus. (Credit: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)

On Monday, a total solar eclipse will cross 14 states from Oregon to South Carolina. We find out people all across the country are preparing.

Also: we meet an eclipse chaser traveling to the US from Australia; we speak to a cloistered nun who has been getting calls from concerned Catholics worried about the end of times; we learn what solar eclipses have revealed to us about our universe throughout the ages; plus how a new technology can help blind people experience the coming eclipse as well.

(Image: Solar Eclipse related items are offered for sale in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Hopkinsville is located near the point of greatest totality for the August 21 eclipse. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Maytag built washing machines in Newton, Iowa, for more than a century. The company left in 2007, and the town collapsed. Now, it's rising again.

Also: why are people from Australia selling houses in Detroit; what the closure of a coal fired power plant will mean for one Navajo family; Montreal welcomes refugees coming from the US; will a new Canadian pipeline be the next Standing Rock; plus we remember Haruo Nakajima, the man inside the original Godzilla suit.

(Image: Frank Liebl, executive director of the Newton Development Corporation, is pictured in front of the old Maytag headquarters. Credit: Jason Margolis)