Post Reports

Iranian authorities are cracking down on protests inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman arrested for improperly wearing the hijab. But that hasn’t stopped demonstrators. Reporter Miram Berger explains what’s different about this moment. 

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Read about how a viral song became an anthem for protesters in Iran. 

Tactics of repression: How Iran is trying to stop Mahsa Amini protests

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about a damning new report on systemic abuse in women’s soccer.

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Sports columnist Sally Jenkins said that abuse within women’s sports has been a long-standing problem, but it’s only recently that there’s been a public reckoning about it. 

“These are some of our top athletes in the country, and nobody did anything. They treated the women like they were the problem,” Jenkins said. “The systemic issue is men in suits at the top of these organizations who do not take complaints from athletes seriously.”

Jenkins joined “Post Reports” to explain how deep and far-reaching abuse is within not just soccer, but many other Olympic sports as well, and why the culture of abuse has gone on for so long.

For months, Republican leaders have been escalating a campaign against President Biden’s border security policies by transporting migrants from their states to Democratic-led areas, without providing a plan for what happens when they arrive. 

In a high-profile case in September, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew dozens of asylum seekers from Texas up to Martha’s Vineyard, a Massachusetts island. It prompted a legal backlash that alleged the plan was “fraudulent and discriminatory.” 

Beyond Martha’s Vineyard, thousands of migrants have been transported in a similar manner from Arizona and Texas to Washington, D.C., and other Democratic-majority cities. And those liberal areas are now struggling to accommodate them. In today’s episode, we hear from several people about their experience, as well as from reporter Antonio Olivo about what’s behind these broader actions.

Today on “Post Reports,” a show about how our bodies have changed during the pandemic. We hear from our listeners about how their bodies have surprised, delighted and worried them after these past few years. 

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Here on the “Post Reports” team, we’ve been thinking a lot about…our bodies. Specifically, how they’ve changed over these past two years, as we’ve gone through lockdowns, isolation and return-to-work. We reached out to our listeners to hear how their bodies have evolved over the course of the pandemic and got lots of fascinating stories, of both big and small evolutions. Today on the show, stories from our listeners and our newsroom, on everything from getting a lung transplant to growing out an afro. 

Plus, we talk with Well+Being editor Tara Parker-Pope about how to understand the changes we’ve gone through — and what the pandemic can teach us about caring for our communities. 

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about Ian’s historic destruction in Florida, and why the story of this storm has only just begun.

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Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday in southwestern Florida as one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the United States. Millions of people are without power, and the full extent of the destruction may not be clear for days. 

We hear from Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Brittany Shammas, and Brady Dennis about what we know so far about the damage from Hurricane Ian. And why Florida is more vulnerable than ever to these storms, given its growing population and the effects of climate change.

Maps show how millions of people have moved into Hurricane Ian’s path.

Black men who have sex with men are contracting monkeypox at a higher rate than any other group in the United States. But they are among the least likely to be vaccinated. Today, the creative outreach to get at-risk groups vaccinated against monkeypox.

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Monkeypox cases might be going down, but there are still at-risk groups. While Black gay men are more likely to get monkeypox than other demographic groups, they’re also less likely to be vaccinated. Johnny Wilson, an employee with a county health department in North Carolina and a Black gay man himself, tried to address this disparity by providing monkeypox vaccines at nightclubs. Reporter Fenit Nirappil on how representation makes a difference when trying to close vaccine gaps.

Conservative Giorgia Meloni is Italy's presumed next prime minister. Who is she? And what do the results of Italy’s historic election mean for the strength of the far-right movement in Europe? 

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This week Italian voters sided with the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia, also known as the Brothers of Italy. The election results could also mean the country gets its first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. 

On today’s “Post Reports,” Rome bureau chief Chico Harlan dives into Meloni’s history, how she rose to prominence in Italian politics and her party’s proposals — including stricter limits on migration. And though the Brothers of Italy may not stay in control for long, Harlan says that in Europe the “signs to suggest that momentum has returned for nationalist parties” are piling up.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about how Black coaches have been excluded from the NFL’s top jobs, despite years of attention on this issue – and why the problem is actually getting worse. 

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Since 1989, only 25 head coaches in the National Football League have been Black, and in the more than a century long history of the NFL only 26 Black men have held the title. 

Despite 60 percent of the league’s players being Black, an investigation by The Washington Post found that the NFL’s hiring and firing practices still disadvantage Black coaches at every turn. 

Sports enterprise reporter Michael Lee and sports columnist Jerry Brewer join us today to discuss their reporting about how the NFL sidelines Black coaches.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is doubling down in Ukraine – holding staged referendums in occupied territories and drafting men to the war. Today on “Post Reports,” we’ll talk about how Russians are reacting to the dramatic escalation.

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This week in Ukraine, Moscow began staging referendums in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories and drafted hundreds of thousands of Russian men to join the war effort. The escalation sparked protests, arrests and sold-out flights as some Russians – who had tried for months to ignore the war – suddenly found their lives thrown into chaos as they were summoned to duty.

With the announcement of a military mobilization in Russia came a veiled threat: that Russia would use nuclear weapons, if necessary. The Biden administration has been sending messages to Moscow about the grave consequences that would follow, according to U.S. officials.

The death of Mahsa Amini is igniting protests across Iran — and it’s drawing global attention to Iranians’ anger and frustration with their ultra-conservative leaders.

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Earlier this month, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained by the so-called morality police in Tehran for violating Iran’s law on headscarves and died several days later. In the days since, protesters have flooded the streets in cities across Iran. Many have been burning hijabs, symbolizing their frustration with the Islamic republic’s restrictive rules and oppressive treatment of women. 

None of this comes without aggressive pushback from the Iranian government, however — including restricted internet access and cell service, police beatings of protesters, and enormous deployment of security forces. 

Foreign affairs reporter Miriam Berger explains the significance of these protests and what could happen next.