Today we take a break from the serious and often depressing international news beat to bring you the sound's of Soviet Central Asia in the 1970's and 80's. Our Moscow correspondent introduces us to an anthology of songs that came out of a record factory in Tashkent documenting a wide variety of music from the silk road in that time period.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The Trump administration has made good on it's threat to apply 25% tariffs to the two biggest U.S. trading partners, Mexico and Canada. China also had its tariff increased from 10 to 20 percent. Canada and China are hitting back with retaliatory tariffs and Mexico has promised to follow suit. We hear about the reaction and impact.

And the Trump administration has announce it is suspending military aid to Ukraine. Our correspondent in Kyiv says Ukraine is figuring out how it can continue despite losing support from the country's single most important ally.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Our correspondent takes a look at the near future of the the war with Hamas in Gaza through the eyes of Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He is being pulled in opposite directions politically: President Trump wants the ceasefire in Gaza to continue, while influential right-wing members of Netanyahu's political coalition want fighting to resume.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

A Palestinian man serving 18 life sentences for a pair of bus bombings in 2004 speaks to NPR days after his release. And, the average person in Lagos, Nigeria, spends over 6 hours of their day in traffic - have new Chinese-backed railways made a difference?

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The Trump administration has been dismantling the US Agency for International Development, and the headquarters have been closed for weeks. But, on Thursday, workers got to go back to their desks - to clean them out and leave.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Brazilians are flocking to the theaters to see its Oscar-nominated film I'm Still Here. It tells the story of a family devastated by the military dictatorship that ruled from 1964. There has never been a truth commission to investigate abuses or prosecutions of those accused of wrongdoing during a two-decade-long rule. Advocates hope the film might lead to a better understanding of that dark past.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

During the Assad regimes, Western nations placed crippling economic sanctions on the country. Some have been lifted, but most are still in place, so how does a country shattered by civil war rebuild? And we follow the return to Damascus of one US Syrian Jewish leader, after decades in exile.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The man poised to become Germany's new Chancellor says the US administration doesn't care about the fate of Europe. And, on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine what has been the impact of the largest conflict in Europe since the second world war?

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy