The World

Whoever wins the November election will be inheriting an enormous foreign policy challenge in the Middle East. The most important US ally in the region — Israel — is fighting a multifront war with no end in sight. So, how would Kamala Harris and Donald Trump differ in the ways that they approach the region? Today, we speak with two foreign policy advisers on the Middle East, including one who's worked with Trump and the other with Harris. Also, Cuba just suffered its second blackout in less than 24 hours. There are numerous reasons for the crisis, but an aging power grid has been a problem for years. And, Jonquel Jones won the MVP for helping the New York Liberty capture its first-ever WNBA finals Sunday night in overtime. People in the Bahamas are celebrating, too. Jones left her home country as a teenager to pursue her basketball dreams in the US.

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Bangladesh has issued an arrest warrant for the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Also, a bespoke press is now focusing solely on Asian American literature to counter discrimination among that demographic. And, the FBI has announced charges against Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Team Canada, for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring and being involved in the murders of four people. Plus, a walk along the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.

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The Israeli military says it has killed Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. Also, the governor of La Rioja province in Argentina has put an alternate currency called "chachos" into circulation. And, Italy passes the most restrictive law against international surrogacy in the West. Plus, the US now has a new Arctic ambassador.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has outlined a five-point "victory plan" to his nation’s parliament. Also, Turkish authorities have revoked the license of independent radio station Açık Radyo — or Open Radio — taking it off the air today. And, the Dominican Republic has deported more than 10,000 Haitians in the last week, the first of many planned weekly deportations. Plus, a UK-based group is rewilding a herd of long-horned animals resembling cattle into the Scottish Highlands to fill the ecological role once played by an extinct wild ancestor of today's grazing livestock.

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Israel’s attack on a hospital complex in central Gaza, which led to a massive fire that killed at least four people and injured many more, has renewed calls for Israel to uphold international humanitarian law. Also, Canada has expelled India’s top diplomat in the country along with five others, with India responding in kind and expelling six Canadian diplomats. And, the first people to be intercepted at sea by the Italian navy under a controversial migration deal are on their way to Albania to have their asylum claims processed. Plus, 11 months after the National Zoo in Washington sent three pandas back to China, a new pair of bears has arrived. They’ll make their public debut in January.

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The United States has the highest number of international students in the world. Last year, the number of students who came to America were almost back to prepandemic levels at over 1 million. Many come in the hope of staying and living the American dream. But that's not so easy. On the flip side, some American students seek to expand their horizons by studying abroad. We hear about how going to school overseas can support working abroad. And, one US student shares his love for Japan and his desire to stay there in the long term.   

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This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been announced: the honor goes to Nihon Hidankyo, a group of survivors of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They united in 1956 to speak out about the suffering caused by nuclear warfare. We'll hear some of their stories. Also, a Ukrainian missile strike in Russian controlled territory last week killed several North Korean military officers, according to officials in Ukraine and South Korea. The Kremlin calls those reports "fake news." But we'll hear why experts who have been closely following Ukraine since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion think it's plausible. And, Friday is the International Day of the Girl, so designated by the UN to address the particular challenges many girls face worldwide. We hear the story of a South Asian film called "Maya: Birth of a Superhero," bringing viewers into a virtual reality designed to alleviate the shame and isolation that accompany menstruation in some cultures.

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Iranians have been on edge, waiting for retaliation ever since Tehran attacked Israel with waves of ballistic missiles. Officials in Israel have hinted they might target Iran's gas or oil infrastructure. Or they might go even further. We'll hear how Iranians are viewing the standoff. Also, Argentina's president, Javier Milei, garnered votes by promising to fix his country's economy. But since he took office in December, the poverty rate has increased. He says it's just a rough patch; critics aren't so sure. And, hear about the musical collaboration behind a new Afrobeat album called "Lagos Paris London." 

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As Hurricane Milton nears Florida's west coast, the State Assistance Information Line has opened 24/7 phone lines in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole. Today on The World, how language and storm preparedness intersect for immigrant communities. Also, Turkey has blocked the instant messaging platform Discord. This comes amid public outrage over Discord users responding to the recent murder of two women in Istanbul by cheering on the violence. We'll get a better understanding of how Discord works, how people use it, and what's motivating Turkey's objections to it. And, have you ever wondered how an elephant's trunk works, and what that wrinkly pachyderm skin might have to do with it? Wonder no more.

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Israel is expanding its ground incursion into southern Lebanon and Israeli air strikes continue to target Beirut's southern suburbs. About a million Lebanese have been displaced in recent weeks and many in Lebanon are feeling abandoned by the international community. Also, British Canadian scientist Geoffrey Hinton has been called "the godfather of artificial intelligence" because his research laid the groundwork for advancements in AI. But that doesn't mean he's a proponent. In fact, he's known for speaking out about the dangers of the technologies he helped invent. We'll hear his reaction to Tuesday's announcement that he's won the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics. And, Tunisian President Kais Saied has claimed a second term in a landslide election that critics say was rigged, with his closest challenger getting only 7% of the vote. We'll get analysis on the state of Tunisian democracy, given that this largely predicted scenario has come to fruition.

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