On today's show: China has released political prisoner Liu Xiaobo on medical parole. We discuss Xiaobo's case and other Chinese dissidents with Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. WBEZ film contributor Milos Stehlik, director at Facets, joins us to review the film The Big Sick, starring Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano. On Weekend Passport, performances from participants in the Bitter Jester Music Festival.

On today's show:  As Canada celebrates the 150th anniversary of its confederation, we look at how our neighbor to the north and U.S. have evolved alongside each other over that time.  A Global Activism conversation with Wendi Dwyer, who works to provide reading instruction in South Sudan.

On today's show: We discuss the record fine European Union regulators gave to Google for squeezing out the competition on its shopping platform.  We take a closer look at why Catholicism and Marxism don't traditionally intersect much, though they both claim moral standing against greed and inequality.  And on Global Notes: the latest release from the desert punk Songhoy Blues quartet. 

On today's show: We discuss what’s behind the Supreme Court’s action permitting part of President Trump's travel ban with Michael Jarecki, the Chicago Chapter Chair for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  We hear more about a Singaporean first-family feud with Dr. Meredith Weiss, professor of political science at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany, SUNY. And from the BBC, a report looking back at the first ever low-cost flights across the Atlantic.

Worldview teamed up with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to examine if insider plotting poses real threats to elected governments, or if deep state accusations are just a political ploy. During a live taping of Worldview at the Chicago Council, host Jerome McDonnell spoke with Michael Glennon and Mike Lofgren. Glennon is a Professor of International Law at Tufts University and former Legal Counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee whose book is “National Security and Double Government.” Like Glennon, Lofgren also worked in Congress--for 28 years. His book is The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of the Shadow Government.

Stanton Kawer, CEO and chairman of the Chicago-based Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide, is an outspoken advocate for the benefits of yoga in the workplace. The United Nations invited him to speak at its 2017 International Day of Yoga celebrations. Kawer, who wrote a blog post on the topic for Forbes magazine titled “Yoga Made Me a Better CEO,” told Worldview that yoga “helped me become a better leader with its emphasis on focus, clarity of vision and developing a strong, positive community.” 

On today's show: With military powers like Iran the U.S. and Russia fighting in close proximity in Syria, “near misses” are commonplace. We dig into the politics with University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole. On Weekend Passport: a play set in space that explores colonization and conquest. Milos Stehlik interviews the filmmakers behind Letters From Baghdad.

We dedicate this hour of Worldview to the practice of yoga — which came to America through Chicago in 1893. Chicago-based historian Jatinder Singh Bedi talks us through the history. Plus, a look at how yoga can change the workplace and a deep dive into "yoga veganism."

On today's show: We discuss a conservative climate solution supported by big oil companies with the legislative director of Citizens' Climate Lobby.King Salman of Saudi Arabia replaced his nephew, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, as crown prince on Wednesday. We talk about the royal upheaval with Joseph Kechichian, a senior writer for the Dubai-based Gulf News.Radio M host Tony Sarabia joins us to reviewing a film: Radio Dreams. It’s a narrative film which tells an only-slightly fictional-story of Afghanistan’s first rock band.

The fight for a separatist republic in Nigeria, Biafra, ended 50 years ago. Worldview talks to a Chicago family who lived through it.