More than 50 people were killed and many others injured in bomb attacks in two different Pakistan provinces, officials have said. In the southwestern province of Balochistan, a powerful bomb exploded on Friday near a mosque in Mastung city, where people were...

Violent Extremism

A suspected suicide bomb blast during a procession to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad has left more than 50 people dead and many more wounded in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province. It was not the only attack on Friday. Host Carol Hills speaks with Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace, about the growing instability in Pakistan caused by...

Violent Extremism

US soldier Travis King, who fled from South to North Korea in July, is in American custody after being expelled by Pyongyang, officials say. Pvt King was transferred into US custody in China before being flown to a US military installation. The 23-year-old reconnaissance specialist illegally crossed into North Korea in July. North Korean media said he had fled because of...

Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s team plans “to take control once again” of a valuable lagoon occupied by China's forces, an intention that could escalate the simmering dispute over sovereignty in...

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

U.S. President Joe Biden launched his summit of Pacific Island nations on Monday with an apology and an acknowledgment. First, he gave his regrets for canceling a visit to Papua New Guinea earlier this year amid domestic political drama. And then he hailed U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Cook Islands and the tiny island nation of...

Democracy & Governance

Iran's government has put forth a new spokesperson to defend its policies toward women: the president's wife. Jamileh Alamolhoda accompanied her husband to the annual meeting of the United Nations in New York. She took questions from NPR as her country marked the one-year anniversary of nationwide uprisings that were triggered by the death of...

Fragility & Resilience

On 21 September, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad landed at the Hangzhou airport in China for an extended visit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Except for visits to Moscow, this trip constituted Assad’s first travel outside the Middle East since the...

Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

A group of Ukrainian Army soldiers pierced by Russian grenades and mortar shells arrived at a hospital recently in need of surgery. It would have been a familiar scene from the bloody war grinding on in Ukraine, except for two crucial differences: Most of the wounded soldiers were American, and so was the hospital — the U.S. Army’s flagship medical center in Germany. The Army has quietly started to treat wounded Americans and other fighters evacuated from...

Conflict Analysis & Prevention