World News

People can do more with lump sum of money than payments, experiment in Kenya suggests

5:56pm December 05, 2023

by Nurith Aizenman

The first results are in from a charity experiment in Kenya. Those who got a lump sum of money were far more likely to start a business — and earn more — compared to those who got monthly payments.

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10 years after Nelson Mandela's death, his party may soon lose the majority

5:56pm December 05, 2023

by Kate Bartlett

A decade after the death of Nelson Mandela, many South Africans are asking what the anti-apartheid icon would have thought of the current state of the country and the direction it's heading in.

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An Israeli man remembers his Gazan friend

4:55pm December 05, 2023

by Fatma Tanis

A Palestinian living in Gaza and a Jewish Israeli bonded over their hopes for peace and dreamed of one day getting a coffee together. But with one killed in the war in Gaza, that's now impossible.

A pedestrian walks along the roadside amid heavy smoggy conditions in New Delhi. Delhi is considered the world's most polluted megacity, with a melange of factory and vehicle emissions exacerbated by seasonal agricultural fires.

Can anything stop the toxic smog of New Delhi?

4:03pm December 05, 2023

It's, considered the world's most polluted megacity. The air is so bad that a new report estimates that on average each resident loses 12 years of life. Here's what they're doing about it.

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Nigerian President Bola Tinubuspeaks at a panel at a G20-led summit for Africa in Berlin in November.

World News

Nigerian president calls for investigation after army drone strike accident kills 85

12:02pm December 05, 2023

by Emmanuel Akinwotu

People were gathered for a Muslim celebration in Kaduna state when a drone struck, in what the president called a "bombing mishap."

Sultan al-Jaber is the president of this year's climate talks and the head of the UAE's state-run oil company. Oil companies have a big platform at the climate conference, and experts say their language is important because it can make it into policy.

World News

Oil firms are out in force at the climate talks. Here's how to decode their language

11:36am December 05, 2023

The oil industry has a huge voice in this year's climate talks. But what are oil companies actually saying? And why does it matter? We break down their pledges and statements into plain English.

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Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold signs reading "Death to America, Death to Israel," as they attend a rally on March 26, 2023, in Sanaa, Yemen.

World News

After Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, fears of a wider Middle East conflict grow

10:40am December 05, 2023

by Joe Hernandez

The Iran-backed rebel group attacked multiple ships in the Red Sea over the weekend. The Houthis control large swaths of Yemen's territory.

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President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after meeting in November.

The U.S. supports China's growth if it 'plays by the rules,' commerce secretary says

9:10am December 05, 2023

China's president says success for the U.S. and China can be mutually beneficial. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says that the reality is a bit more complicated than that.

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Palestinian Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish with four of his five surviving children in Gaza in May 2009. Several months earlier, an Israeli tank shell killed three of his daughters in their home. Abuelaish has worked in Israeli and Palestinian hospitals and is an outspoken advocate for peace. He now lives in Canada, but on Nov. 7, an Israeli airstrike killed 22 members of his extended family in Gaza.

World News

A Palestinian doctor pushes for peace, but suffers a devastating blow from war

8:10am December 05, 2023

by Greg Myre

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish has served in both Israeli and Palestinian hospitals. He's an outspoken advocate of peace. None of this has spared him from terrible tragedies in the conflict.

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A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza toward Israel on Oct. 10. Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel started Oct. 7. A senior Hamas official told NPR that its planning was kept a close secret.

World News

These were NPR.org's biggest international stories in 2023

5:08am December 05, 2023

by John Helton

Hamas' attack in Israel and the war that followed and the stalemate in Ukraine were our biggest international stories in 2023, but we also found some wonder around the world.