The World

President Trump has declared that northern Syria is no longer America's problem and that US troops are getting out. But troops aren't leaving the region entirely. What role will US troops play in Syria and Iraq? Plus, Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of building a long bridge, but it never came to fruition. Now 500 years later, MIT engineers wanted to know if the design could have worked. Also, how could Brexit impact Britain's fashion industry?

What does the impeachment inquiry look like to Ukrainians who rely on the US for assistance and security? Also, migrants crossing into the US may soon be forced to provide a DNA sample. And, the US House Tuesday passed a resolution calling on the Russian government to provide evidence of wrongdoing or else release former US Marine Paul Whelan. We speak to Whelan's twin brother, David Whelan, about his brother's case.

Five days ago, the Trump administration brokered what it called a "ceasefire" in the fighting in northern Syria. The fighting decreased, but never really stopped. Still, the truce lapses this afternoon. What comes next in the conflict in northern Syria? Plus, Canadian voters have given Prime Minister Justin Trudeau another term in office, but Trudeau lost his majority and will be forced to form a coalition to govern. And, the World Series starts Tuesday night and the lineups, as they are every year, are filled with Latino players. The Nationals have four regular players from the Dominican Republic, three from Venezuela and one from Cuba. We're looking at how the World Series is playing out in these nations.

People are taking to the streets across the globe from Ecuador to Chile to Hong Kong and demanding change. What's going on? Why has the protest movement exploded in 2019, and what makes for an effective protest? And in Turkey, we learn the story of a Kurdish woman who's part of a group of women who have demanded information on the whereabouts of their husbands, fathers and sons for more than 20 years. Also, the silver ants of the Sahara can run their body length in less than a hundredth of a second — 10 times faster than sprinter Usain Bolt. We hear how a researcher was able to measure the ants' speed, and examine why the ants move so fast.

If you want to know how sanctions are playing out in Iran, look no further than the classified ads. You’ll find folks selling unused cosmetics, pets and something even more unusual. But you might also come across people like Alireza Jahromi, an entrepreneur with a chain of trendy burger joints. He says sanctions are like a tsunami — destructive, but, if you know how to surf, you grab your board and paddle out. And he says Iran, metaphorically speaking, is a country of surfers. On this bonus episode from The World's partners at the Things That Go Boom podcast, host Laicie Heeley asks if US policymakers may have underestimated Iranian resiliency and whether President Trump’s suffocating sanctions are likely to lead to new nuclear negotiations or just reinforce a bitter feud.

Violence erupted in Culiácan, Mexico, when cartel members and security forces clashed. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has defended the decision to free a son of the jailed drug lord Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, whose discovery in a home sparked the ambush. How much power do the cartels have in Mexico? Plus, shelling continued in northern Syria on Friday, despite President Donald Trump's announcement that the US had brokered a pause in the fighting. And, we have a story about Pepe the Frog — a cartoon character and internet meme that has become a mascot of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters. Pepe is a provocative symbol in the US, widely used on message boards by white nationalists. Hongkongers don't seem to care about that and have rebranded the frog for their cause.

Turkey agreed on Thursday to pause its offensive in Syria for five days to let Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone" Ankara had sought to capture. Also at this week's Democratic debate, former Vice President Joe Biden raised the question: Is ISIS coming to America? We're doing a reality check on that. Plus, US President Donald Trump's tariffs against the EU take effect Friday. In Scotland, the new 25% tariffs could impact a beloved export: Scotch.

Turkey continued its offensive in northern Syria on Wednesday. Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Turkey to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to negotiate a ceasefire, but the Turkish president says he will not agree to a ceasefire until the border area is cleared of Kurdish fighters. Plus, we speak to an entrepreneur in Damascus to get a view from the Syrian capital. And, a world-class player of the Theremin comes to our studio to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the instrument. Host Marco Werman tries to play a tune.

With the US imposing economic sanctions on Turkey, what will NATO or the EU do? And, will Turkey's threat of releasing refugees into Europe stop the EU from acting? Also, a majority of Scottish citizens voted against independence from the UK a few years ago. Now, with Brexit on the horizon, many Scots are wondering if they really want to be tied to London anymore.

Money in politics is a little bit like an iceberg — there’s the stuff you can see, like lobbying firms, and then there’s all the stuff below the waterline. On this bonus episode from The World's partners at the Things That Go Boom podcast, host Laicie Heeley wades into the swamp. Heeley focuses on one of the loudest groups that weighed in on the Iran nuclear deal to get a better sense of how the system works. The story that emerges includes a Greek shipping magnate, a gold trader, an investigative reporter and the world’s largest collections of Rembrandts. The question at the center of it all: Is our foreign policy for sale?