We remember Paquita la del Barrio, who sang about romantic heartbreak and the pain of infidelity, spitting out insults with relish, and empowering a whole generation of women. Our correspondent in Mexico explains what she meant to her fans.

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After 14 years of a devastating civil war, Syria is in the process of reinventing itself. One big question is how the country will be governed now that the more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family has come to an end. For clues on what the future might hold, our correspondent goes to the city that was run by a rebel group during the war. That group led the toppling of the Assad regime and now controls the interim government.

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Germany's economy boomed as the world underwent globalization. But since then, too little investment, too much bureaucracy and a nearby war in Ukraine has cause Europe's largest economy to stagnate. The issue has played a big role in the upcoming German election. Our Berlin correspondent tells takes us to a German factory.

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Ireland considers becoming the first western country to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The move is controversial, but Ireland has a history of leading the way with effective boycotts. We hear about the past and present of Irish activism.

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Members of the Trump Administration will meet with counterparts from Russia this week to discuss a possible peace deal with Ukraine. Notably, the Ukrainians are absent from these talks. Other European nations are also not invited, even though as a whole Europe gives Ukraine more aid money than the United States. We get updates from three NPR reporters covering various parts of the story.

And we meet a street sweeper in Mexico with a golden voice who became an overnight pop star.

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Syria is reinventing itself following a 14-year bloody civil war and the rapid crumbling of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad regime in December. As NPR's Emily Feng travelled the country reporting on the new Syria, she kept seeing one man's face on flags, posters and vehicles everywhere she went. So, she decided to find out more about him.

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Giving a bouquet of flowers to your beloved is a classic Valentine's Day gesture of love. But as we hear from our correspondent in Colombia, growing those flowers comes at a steep environmental cost.

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President Trump had separate phone calls with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine on the same day. Following the calls, Trump posted on social media that both leaders want peace and he said that he wanted negotiations on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine to begin immediately. We hear about what this could mean from NPR's White House correspondent. We also hear about how the U.S. relationship with NATO is expected to change under Trump.

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President Trump has made clear his desire for the U.S. to take Greenland saying the territory is vital to U.S. economic security. Greenland is an autonomous territory of U.S. ally Denmark. And as we hear, Danes have had a variety of reactions to Trumps words.

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The Trump administration is dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. They had been doing humanitarian work in more than 100 countries. We hear from NPR correspondents around the world about what the agency had been doing on the ground and what it's elimination could mean.

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