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On Jan. 6, three Fox News hosts desperately urged former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get the president to tell supporters to stop attacking the Capitol building. The texts, which were made public this week as the House of Representatives voted to hold Meadows in contempt, reveal a starkly different message than the one those same Fox hosts delivered to their audiences about th...

The COP26 Summit, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last month brought together people from all over the world. And everyone had stories of how climate change is already affecting their lives. But, did the conference accomplish what it set out to do? Alok Sharma, president of COP26, gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what the conference felt like from the inside,...

Five days after tornadoes first touched down in the Midwest and South of the U.S., survivors are coming to grips with what they have lost. Of the several states that the storms tore through last weekend, Kentucky was the hardest hit. At least 74 people have been confirmed dead there. Many more are unaccounted for. As survivors, volunteers, and officials sort through and pick up what's left, how mi...

Kevin Dawes, an American from California, traveled to Syria in 2012 with hopes of a launching a career as a foreign correspondent. But shortly after crossing the border he was arrested and jailed for three-and-a-half years. And he hasn't shared his story publicly until now. NPR correspondent Deborah Amos interviewed Dawes about his nightmarish experience in a Syrian prison, how he's seeking to bri...

Almost two years into the pandemic, at-home rapid tests can still be difficult to find in the U.S. If you do find them, they're often expensive. Other countries are faring better, like the U.K. and South Korea, which provide free tests each day to anyone who wants them. Why is the U.S. different? NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will...

After seven days of testimony directly from Elizabeth Holmes, her defense announced it had rested its case this week in a federal fraud trail that began in September. Holmes, a former Silicon Valley luminary, was CEO of the blood-testing startup Theranos. She told jurors she was not responsible, as prosecutors allege, for fleecing investors of millions of dollars and delivering flawed results to p...

During oral arguments last week in a major Supreme Court case, Justice Amy Coney Barrett brought up the idea of adoption as an alternative to abortion. But many people who choose not to have a child do not consider adoption and abortion equal and opposite choices, sociologist Gretchen Sisson tells NPR. Plus, one woman shares her experience of relinquishing her rights as a parent. In participating...

At least six conservative broadcasters who spread misinformation about COVID-19 and questioned coronavirus vaccines have now died from just this year. Their deaths may mirror a wider trend in the United States: Americans who live in pro-Trump parts of the country are less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to die from COVID-related complications. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports on new analysis f...

In October of 1941, a young soldier was on leave in southern California when he met the woman he was sure he would marry. Then, two months later while stationed in Hawaii, Art "Bud" Montagne witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor firsthand, and was swept up in the conflict that followed. NPR special correspondent Renee Montagne tells the story of what her father witnessed on that day 80 years ago, a...

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai made an assault allegation in November, then disappeared from the public eye. She has since re-emerged, but in protest of her treatment, the Women's Tennis Association's has now suspended all tournaments in China. That decision by the WTA could cost the organization and its players hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe more, in revenue. And it's the threat of losing...

Banning books from classrooms and school libraries is nothing new, but it's recently become a topic of considerable political debate. How should parents react to this news, and to the books their children are reading? In this episode of NPR's It's Been A Minute senior editor Barrie Hardymon and Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast, joined guest host Ayesha Rascoe to talk about banned book list...

It was only a matter of time before cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant started popping up in the U.S., and now, it's here. Although it's too early to tell how this virus strain will spread, the threat it poses has already lit a fire under public health messaging. President Biden announced a new strategy to avoid a winter surge of cases that involves free at-home testing, a vaccine booster messa...

Buying stuff is a part of this country's DNA. It's a tradition that really took off near the end of World War II, when the American economy was thriving and the market exploded with products Americans didn't even know they wanted. And even in an economy rocked by a pandemic, buying is on track to exceed 2020 levels this holiday season. The result of all that spending means consumption drives 70% o...

Getting an abortion in Mississippi has never been easy, but it hasn't been impossible. Now, a case before the Supreme Court that centers on a clinic in Mississippi could upend abortion rights for pregnant people across the country. Today, the conservative-leaning court heard arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization . The clinic, which is the only abortion provider rema...

After years of jokes about unsuccessful Infrastructure Weeks, months of deliberation, and bouts of gridlock on the political left, a $1.2 trillion package made its way through Congress at long last. The president signed it into law earlier this month. Now, the challenge of actually getting the money where it needs to be remains. NPR's White House Correspondent Franco Ordonez followed President Bid...

The World Health Organization is warning that the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which was first detected in South Africa, has a "very high" global risk because of the possibility that it spreads more easily and might resist vaccines and immunity in people who were infected with previous strains. On Monday, President Joe Biden said this this variant is a "cause for concern, not a cause for pa...

This Thanksgiving week, we're sharing a segment from our special series Play It Forward , in which artists tell us about their own music and the musicians who inspire them. This episode, opera singer and funk keyboardist Constance Hauman speaks to Ari Shapiro about her new album, Tropical Thunderstorm , her experiences as a multi-genre musician and an artist she's grateful for: Daf player Asal Mal...

For Thanksgiving Day, we're sharing a segment from our special series Play It Forward , in which artists tell us about their own music and the musicians who inspire them. In this episode, funk legend George Clinton speaks to Ari Shapiro about the longevity and enduring influence of his band, Parliament-Funkadelic, being a hype man for other musicians, and an artist he's grateful for: opera singer...

The commonly-told version of the first Thanksgiving story leaves out a lot: The indigenous Wampanoag people who lived in a complex society long before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock; Squanto escaping bondage in Spain before becoming an emissary to the Pilgrims; and the long legacy of violent displacement that followed. Paula Peters, a writer and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, sti...

CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job. But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering fro...

CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job. But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering fro...

For those living with long COVID, daily activities like going for a walk, washing the dishes, or being on a Zoom call can be incredibly draining. These long-term effects of a COVID infection - called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, PASC, or more simply long COVID - have been a reality for many patients since the start of the pandemic. While it is not known exactly how common long COVID is, it i...

Migrants from faraway countries are stuck in Belarus, just across its border with Poland. They've traveled there to seek asylum in the EU. But Poland has refused to accept them. How did they get there? They were invited — and in some cases, their travel facilitated — by the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. EU leaders say Lukashenko and his backers in Russia are 'weaponizing' mig...

Afghanistan is facing its worst drought in decades, but that's not the only reason it is on the verge of a hunger crisis. After the Taliban took over, much of the country's international development aid was suspended, and the United States froze $9.5 billion in Afghan government assets. The economy has plummeted. Richard Trenchard, country director for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organ...

This week's virtual summit between President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping may have restored a tone of respect between the world's two largest powers, but U.S. intelligence is telling a different story. NPR's Greg Myre reports on a national security conference held in Georgia last month where former and current U.S. intelligence officers were surprisingly candid about what they see as...