The World Next Week

This special episode of The World Next Week features a summerlong feast of reading, watching, and listening treats. Deborah Amos, the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University and a former international correspondent for National Public Radio, joins CFR’s TWNW hosts Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss good reads they recommend, books they are looking forward...

Ukraine’s surprise incursion of Russia’s Kursk region captures territory and stuns the Kremlin; the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago with concerns of divisions in the party over support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip; U.S. intelligence is on high alert after foreign hacking attempts on both former President Donald Trump’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential...

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, campaign ahead of the party’s convention; world leaders and diplomats reach out to Iran and Israel to head off a wider regional war after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran spurred retaliation threats; Bangladesh prepares an interim government after former Prime Mini...

The Middle East braces for the possibility of a full-scale war between Israel and Iran-backed forces after the assassinations of Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr; Venezuelans protest the results of the presidential election that grant incumbent President Nicolás Maduro a third term; the Edinburgh Festival Fringe spotlights wide-ranging, new talent; imprisoned j...

Global leaders react to U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination; France ramps up security measures as the Summer Olympics kick off in Paris; Diplomacy continues over a potential Israel-Hamas cease-fire after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the U.S. Congress; and a Russian court sente...

The world reacts to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the selection of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as former President Donald Trump’s running mate; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress; Cyprus marks fifty years since the Turkish invasion that left the country still split in two; and Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli...

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) wraps its seventy-fifth summit, pledging to keep Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership while concerns grow about the future of U.S. commitment; Japan hosts the tenth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting to counter China’s influence in the region; France struggles to form a government as party differences intensify; and President-Elect Masoud Pezes...

This special episode of The World Next Week features a summerlong feast of reading, watching, and listening treats. Deborah Amos, the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University and a former international correspondent for National Public Radio, joins CFR’s TWNW hosts Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss good reads they recommend, books they are looking forward...

France’s governance is at stake as it holds snap elections for its National Assembly, with the far-right National Rally looking to build on its success in the European Parliament elections; the United Kingdom (UK) has its own snap general elections with Keir Starmer and his Labour Party looking to end the fourteen-year rule of the Conservatives; Iran’s snap presidential elections could signal unit...

A Russian court moves judicial proceedings for detained U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich to Yekaterinburg for a closed-door espionage trial; the success of far-right parties in the European Parliament elections challenges the power of several incumbent European Union (EU) leaders; the Boeing Starliner "Calypso" spacecraft prepares to return from the International Space Station after delays; and Is...

Ukraine pushes for wider international support and endorsement of its proposed peace process at Switzerland’s Ukraine peace summit; the UN Security Council deliberates how to assist Sudanese civilians and de-escalate the civil war; diplomatic pressure builds for a U.S.-backed cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip; and Russian ships arrive in Cuban waters for exercises.    Mentioned on the Podcast   Ro...

All twenty-seven European Union (EU) member states vote in European Parliament elections with polls showing right-wing parties poised to gain more seats; the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrial democracies meet in Italy with a sizable agenda, including support for Ukraine and trade concerns with China; the United States prepares for an above-normal hurricane season; and the Organization of the...

U.S. President Joe Biden faces increasing international and domestic pressures on his policy toward the Israel-Hamas war amid worsening humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip; Western leaders commemorate the eightieth anniversary of D-Day with Russia’s war in Ukraine front of mind; Mexico holds massive general elections that are likely to usher in the country’s first woman president; and North...

Iran’s regime carefully vets candidates for new presidential elections after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash; Israeli leadership reacts to the International Criminal Court (ICC) request for warrants to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant; South Africa prepares for a general election that could contest the ruling African National Con...

Ukraine rushes to push back against a new Russian offensive in its northeast Kharkiv region; U.S. President Joe Biden invites Kenyan President William Ruto for a state visit, the first U.S. state visit for an African leader since 2008; London’s High Court decides on whether to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to stand trial; and tens of thousands protest in Tbilisi,...

Israel’s newest military operation in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah stirs concerns of catastrophe for Palestinians in Gaza, and prompts the United States to condition its offensive military aid for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war broke out; Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Ankara, Turkey, to continue their diplomatic effo...

In this special episode to mark World Press Freedom Day, Jeffrey Gedmin, cofounder and editor-in-chief of American Purpose and former president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, joins Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss the global state of press freedom. They cover the challenges that a growing number of journalists face in exile or imprisonment, the U.S. role in upholding freedom o...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken wraps his second visit to China as tensions mount over Beijing’s military support of Russia’s war in Ukraine and ongoing threats in the South China Sea; International Workers’ Day on May 1 comes at a time of revived labor activism over wages and inequality; and U.S. President Joe Biden approves a $61 billion foreign aid package providing critical military assistan...

Concerns grow over the widening Middle East conflict after Iran launches three hundred ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel; European Union (EU) leaders discuss how to bolster aid to Ukraine amid an uptick in Russian attacks and the situation unfolding in the Middle East; India kicks off the world’s largest democratic election—spanning more than forty-four days—where the incum...

Congress returns from recess and grapples with contentious agenda items, including reauthorization of a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and a Ukraine aid package; Sudan enters a second year of civil war with more than half of the country’s population in need of aid and millions more displaced; and Ecuadorian police breach international law by raiding the Mexican embassy in Qui...

Rwanda marks thirty years since its genocide against the Tutsis; U.S. President Joe Biden hosts the first trilateral leaders’ summit with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Philippines President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.; music fans celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Swedish pop group ABBA’s Eurovision win; and Ekrem İmamoğlu is elected mayor of Istanbul, in a rebuke to President Recep Tay...

The fallout after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip ​​and release of all hostages further reveals a growing strain between the United States and Israel; Russia reels from the ISIS-K terrorist attack on concertgoers near Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin deliberating how to respond; the Cuban government cracks down on recent protes...

Senegal holds its postponed presidential election amid fears of democratic backsliding; Slovakia chooses a new president in voting that could bolster Prime Minister Robert Fico’s illiberal tilt; Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan exchange blows after a string of terrorist attacks on Pakistani territory; nuclear energy gets a boost at a first-ever summit in Brussels, Belgium; and the Europ...

Russia holds its presidential election with the Kremlin aiming to orchestrate a sweeping endorsement of President Vladimir Putin; the U.S. Congress continues its partisan battles over the 2024 budget as concerns of shutdown and aid to allies mount; the U.S. Library of Congress flexes its soft power by awarding Elton John and Bernie Taupin with the Gershwin Prize; and the crisis in Haiti worsens. ...

Negotiators attempt to establish a six-week cease-fire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas before the start of the sacred Islamic month of Ramadan; Portugal holds a snap parliamentary election with a far-right party gaining traction; international films gain prominence at the ninety-sixth Academy Awards; and Chinese President Xi Jinping breaks with the thirty-year tradition of the p...