Asia

North Korea launches its eighth missile test of the year

7:30am October 19, 2021

The test appears to be its first submarine-launched ballistic missile in two years. It comes as the U.S. and Asian allies are meeting to discuss how to get North Korea back to the negotiating table.

India may replace car horns with the sound of musical instruments

5:33am October 19, 2021

The country's transportation minister says he will introduce a measure to replace all vehicle horns with the sounds of traditional Indian musical instruments. He's also looking into changing sirens.

President Biden told Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta that the U.S. would donate 17 million COVID vaccine doses to the African Union. The U.S. is also working to boost production on the continent.

The world needs more COVID vaccines, so the U.S. is helping finance overseas plants

5:07pm October 18, 2021

by Franco Ordoñez

The Biden administration has been criticized for hoarding COVID vaccines when millions of people around the world are unvaccinated. Now they're looking at how to help finance plants overseas.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, commander in chief of Myanmar's armed forces and head of Myanmar's coup regime, attends the 9th Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow in June.

World News

Myanmar will release 5,600 anti-regime prisoners

2:26pm October 18, 2021

by Scott Neuman

The move comes days after a regional bloc of nations snubbed the country's ruling junta, disinviting coup leader Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit.

Health & Safety

News brief: Haiti kidnappings, China's economy slows, COVID boosters

6:52am October 18, 2021

A group of U.S.-based aid workers and their families are kidnapped in Haiti. The growth rate for China's economy has slowed. More big moves on COVID-19 vaccine boosters are expected this week.

Queue Listen Now

Amid a construction slowdown, China's economic growth weakens

6:00am October 18, 2021

Concerns about a faltering property company and widespread power shortages have resulted in China's slowest economic growth figures in a year.

Chef Zainab learned to cook traditional Afghan food from her mother in Kabul.

National

She barely made it out of Kabul. Now she's welcoming Afghans with a familiar meal.

6:00am October 18, 2021

by Joel Rose

A restaurant in Washington, D.C., is offering donated welcome meals of traditional food to newly arriving Afghans. The chef cooking those meals knows what it's like to leave home and family behind.

National

Anti-Asian violence creates a void for non-Asian parents of Asian adoptees

5:34am October 18, 2021

by Ashley Westerman

Following the Atlanta spa shootings in March, many Asian adoptees reported feeling unable to express their fear and sadness to their white families. Adoption agencies are trying to bridge the gap.

How life has changed for Afghan women and girls since the Taliban takeover

5:06am October 18, 2021

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Pashtana Durrani, a political rights activist based in Kandahar, Afghanistan, about what life is like for females under the Taliban regime.

Squid Game actor Anupam Tripathi / Production Still

What 'Squid Game' gets right and wrong about Pakistani migrant workers

8:11am October 17, 2021

by Benazir Samad

One of the characters in the global Netflix hit is Ali Abdul, a Pakistani migrant working (and exploited) in South Korea. Pakistanis are weighing in on the character — and the casting.