Asia

Pakistan's government vows harsh steps against rival Imran Khan

7:50am March 22, 2023

Pakistan's parliament will meet Wednesday to discuss the tense political situation. Local media suggest members will consider outlawing the party headed by former prime minister Imran Khan.

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World News

For Russia and China, ties with the West are strained

5:15pm March 21, 2023

China's leader Xi Jinping is in Moscow this week on a highly watched state visit.

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West watches Xi-Putin meetings to see what they might mean for the war in Ukraine

5:10am March 21, 2023

China's president Xi Jinping and Russia's president Vladimir Putin begin their second day of a state visit in Moscow. Center stage is what this may — or may not mean — for the war in Ukraine.

China's President Xi Jinping is in Moscow for a 3-day state visit with Russia's Putin

7:46am March 20, 2023

The meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin is expected to focus heavily on the war in Ukraine, and comes after a surprise weekend trip by Putin into Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.

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Music & Culture

In the Philippines, superfans of BTS are not limited to the younger crowd

7:23am March 20, 2023

by Ashley Westerman

The Korean pop group BTS is on a bit of a break right now, but their fans are not. Especially one group of fans in the Philippines — all of them of a certain age.

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China sees itself as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war, but many nations disagree

5:10am March 20, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Yun Sun, who directs the China Program at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Stimson Center, about China's president traveling to Moscow for talks with Russia's leader.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during an awarding ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on June 8, 2018. Xi is traveling to Moscow to show support for Putin.

World News

China's Xi Jinping flexes his diplomatic muscle with a visit to Moscow

10:07pm March 19, 2023

by John Ruwitch

Analysts say China's role as a mediator in the past suggests limits to what it may achieve when it comes to Ukraine.

World News

A symbolic Moscow meeting between Xi and Putin

5:43pm March 19, 2023

NPR's Pien Huang speaks with Joshua Yaffa, author of the book Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia, about Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow this week.

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A woman holding her daughter looks at a view of Seoul in 2019. The fertility rate in South Korea, which has the world's lowest rate, hit 0.78 in February.

World News

South Korea has the world's lowest fertility rate, a struggle with lessons for us all

7:00am March 19, 2023

by Ashley Ahn

South Korea's government has moved aggressively to encourage more childbirth, but its ongoing struggles point to the complexity of a challenge that is only becoming more salient around the world.

A raccoon dog looks out of its cage in a Chinese live animal market in January 2004. Raccoon dogs could have been an initial host for the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

World News

Raccoon dogs may have been linked to the pandemic. What are they?

11:40am March 18, 2023

by Kaitlyn Radde

The wild animals are more similar to foxes than to domesticated dogs. Data that suggested a link between raccoon dogs and the origins of the COVID pandemic was removed from an international database.