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World News

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

• Danish prime minister heads to Greenland as Trump seeks control of the territory
  Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced plans for her visit after U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited a U.S. air base in Greenland last week and accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory.
  
• Paraguay recalls ambassador to Brazil over espionage revelations
  Brazil's foreign ministry revealed that the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing predecessor of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had conducted espionage against Paraguay.
  

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

• Trump is betting the economy on his tariff theory
  In President Donald Trump's telling, tariffs are the political equivalent of duct tape: you can use them to fix anything.
  
  For example, they're a negotiating tool — he used the threat of tariffs to pressure Canada and Mexico to implement border policies he liked. He also sees tariffs as a revenue source that might help offset his proposed $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and as a shield to protect American manufacturing jobs from overseas competition.
  
  With all of these potentially conflicting aims, and with another major round of tariffs expected to be announced on Wednesday, what is the strategy behind them?
  
  Rana Foroohar, a Financial Times columnist and the author of Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World, says they're an "experiment" that could lead to a big change in the way the global economy works.
  
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  Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
  
• China's Global Electric Vehicle Boom
  Sales of electric vehicles worldwide have been growing and the largest manufacturer of EVs is China's BYD. Their global revenue was over $100 billion in 2024, beating Tesla. To keep up that growth and to try to stave off the pain of U.S. tariffs, BYD is expanding in emerging markets. One of the markets where their cars are selling big is Brazil, where BYD is investing nearly a billion dollars in a factory. But as our Brazil correspondent tells us there have been some difficulties along the way.
  
• More billionaires than ever ranked in Forbes' annual list. Here are the top 10
  There are now more than 3,000 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes' annual ranking of the wealthiest people. They collectively hold about $16.1 trillion in wealth.
  
• What U.S. tariffs look like from a Chinese trade city
  NPR's Steve Inskeep visited the source of your stuff. And heard how China's manufacturers are handling U.S. tariffs.
  
• Palestinian soap gets UNESCO recognition as Israel's military operation closes in
  An age-old Palestinian tradition of making soap in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was recognized by UNESCO. A visit to one factory tells you why.
  
• China practices attacks and blockades in fresh military exercises around Taiwan
  China launched major military drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, simulating attacks and maritime blockades, in what Beijing called a warning after Taiwan's president labeled China a hostile foreign force.
  

Monday, March 31, 2025

• South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
  Last week, South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that Korean adoption agencies were responsible for widespread fraud, malpractice and even human rights violations.
  
  More than 140,000 South Korean children were adopted by families living abroad in the decades after the Korean war. The report documented cases in which agencies fabricated records and others in which abandoned children were sent abroad after only perfunctory efforts to find living guardians.
  
  Documentarian Deann Borshay Liem was an adult when she first learned the story she'd been told about her identity was a lie. She was adopted by an American family from California in 1966, when she was eight years old. Her adoption records said she was an orphan, but she eventually discovered her birth mother was alive, and she had a large extended family in South Korea.
  
  She shares her adoption story, her reaction to the commission's report, and her thoughts on what justice looks like for adoptees.
  
  For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
  
  Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
  
• Trump Policies Lead to a Wave of Reverse Migration
  During his campaign, President Trump promised to stem migration to the United States. And since taking office his administration has deported plane loads of people, some of whom were in the U.S. legally. Hundreds of deportees have been sent to prison in El Salvador. And President Trump has essentially closed the door to immigrants seeking to enter the country through the border with Mexico. These policies have provoked so-called reverse migration, where people go back to the places they once fled. And that has knock-on effects for other countries. We go to a tiny island in Panama to see the effects of U.S. immigration policy.