Category: International

User-generated content specific to TikTok has propelled songs old and new to viral success. Whether it’s someone lip-syncing to a song, or participating in a dance or trend using that song, it’s made music discovery more participatory.

Success on the app can lead to success on the charts, and record labels are looking to TikTok for their next stars.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Masks and at-home COVID-19 test kits have become staples of pandemic life. The Biden Administration announced in January that it would distribute 400 million free N95 respirators to pharmacies and grocery stores around the country. The U.S. Postal Service has begun taking orders for free at-home test kits. Supply remains limited, so many are still purchasing masks and tests on their own, and the costs can easily add up.

Wendy Edelberg is a Senior Fellow of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution who studies household spending and saving habits. She explains how time is one of the hidden costs associated with obtaining high-quality masks.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

China has been detaining and arresting ethnic Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang en masse while their children are often sent to state boarding schools.

China closely guards information about Xinjiang, including about these forced family separations. But NPR’s Beijing correspondent Emily Feng managed to talk to two children who made it out of one such school and are sharing their story for the first time.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The world is watching as Russia continues it’s threat of invasion with troops at the border of Ukraine. But close to that border, in the Donbas region, people look at you a little funny if you ask whether they’re worried about war with Russia, because they are already living through it.

Areas of Eastern Ukraine have been at war since 2014 when Russia-backed separatists moved in and declared breakaway republics. And that’s where NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly has been, talking with residents about what this new threat might mean for them.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Before he took office, President Joe Biden said stopping domestic extremism would be a priority for him. His administration has now created the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships to stop radicalization before it starts. But critics say it’s a repackaging of failed strategies and inadequate.

NPR correspondent Odette Yousef has been reporting on the efforts of this new program built on old strategies.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Cases rates are dropping, but the number of people dying each day is not. Many hospitals are still overwhelmed. NPR’s Will Stone reports.

Deaths are a lagging indicator — meaning they, too, will soon fall as the omicron wave continues to recede. What does the next phase of the pandemic look like? NPR’s Allison Aubrey explains why some public health experts think the coronavirus may not disappear — but become easier to live with.

In the meantime, workplaces are still reeling from the surge as employees call out sick or must quarantine. NPR’s Andrea Hsu says it’s even worse than last winter’s pre-vaccine surge.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Minimalist lifestyles are in vogue. From books to blogs, to Instagram to YouTube, Marie Kondo and other influencers have popularized living with less.

But many of the dominant voices ignore the ways history and culture influence how and why we consume.

Enter Christine Platt, The Afrominimalist.

Platt is a lifestyle strategist and author of The Afrominimalist’s Guide To Living With Less. She examines how a history of oppression shapes a community’s views on ownership and consumption.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Writer-Director Joss Whedon has responded to his former colleagues’ accusations of bullying on set. NY Magazine reporter Lila Shapiro interviewed Whedon, and his accusers, for a profile in Vulture called “The Undoing of Joss Whedon.”

Motherboard’s Gita Jackson considers Whedon’s influence on his fans and, more broadly, pop culture, and freelance tv critic Robyn Bahr talks about the reasons why she doesn’t think she’ll ever rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer again.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

After 27 years on the Supreme Court, liberal justice Stephen Breyer is retiring. His departure won’t change the balance of the court, but it will give President Biden a chance to put his stamp on it — and cement a new, younger justice in place for decades.

NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg explains who might replace Breyer, and NPR political editor Domenico Montanaro outlines how the process will unfold.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Tensions are not abating as the U.S. and NATO continue efforts to avoid armed conflict with Russia. This week President Biden said a Russian invasion of Ukraine would “change the world.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price tells NPR what leverage the U.S. has to prevent that from happening.

Mary Louise Kelly reports from Kyiv, where some people are preparing for an invasion, even as the Ukraine government urges calm.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR’s Michele Kelemen and Daniel Estrin.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.