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Syria’s trying to emerge from a multi-layered financial crisis since opposition fighters toppled the regime late last year and formed a government. It’s been given a boost by the US lifting most sanctions, but efforts are hampered by a lack of liquidity.

Required by Congress, the reports no longer single out things like rigged elections or sexual violence against children as human rights violations.

The National Hurricane Center expects the storm to strengthen over the next several days and says it could become a hurricane by late Thursday.

Trump's expansion of federal authority over Washington, D.C., is in many ways unprecedented, but calls to mind other times the city has been under tighter federal control.

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After cryptic Instagram posts and a surprise countdown clock, Swift announced early Tuesday that her new album will be called The Life of a Showgirl. The cover art and release date remain a mystery.

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Cutting Medicaid can seem like an easy way to slash the budget. But, the costs can spread to all of us.

Inflation remained elevated last month as President Trump's tariffs continued to make their way into the prices that consumers pay. The average cost of living in July was up 2.7%.

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Washington, D.C., residents express concerns over what Trump's crime crackdown could mean for them. And, Ford plans to invest billions in building a new, cheaper electric truck

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Rates of the world's deadliest cancer appear to be low in sub-Saharan Africa. But that statistic is masking the scope of the disease, doctors say.

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Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb says Metropolitan Police Department officers must follow local policies that govern their policing, even as President Trump vows to crack down on crime.

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Russia lost a war in Crimea in the 1850s. To pay off war debts, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. Now presidents Trump and Putin will meet Friday in Alaska to discuss another war involving Crimea.

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President Trump's executive order extends a reprieve from the threat of rising tariffs between the world's two largest economies.

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Awdah Al Hathaleen was shot during a clash with an Israeli settler. His West Bank village hoped No Other Land, the Oscar-winning film about settler violence that he worked on, might help protect them.

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Some residents are skeptical President Trump's use of tough police tactics will work to solve complex social ills.

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AOL debuted the service in 1991. Dial-up has largely been replaced by broadband internet.

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Dredging waterways for navigation is a centuries-old practice, but this project is controversial because the mud being dug out of the channel is put into other parts of Mobile Bay.

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Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif and five of his colleagues at the network were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting Gaza's most recognized television journalist.

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Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was unlikely to be included in talks he described as a "feel out meeting" to better understand Russia's demands for ending its war in Ukraine.

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Insulin needles. Sleeping bags. Nutella. These are items Arwa Damon’s charity — International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance — has tried to send to Gaza and Israel has rejected. It’s a glimpse into the harsh reality of a humanitarian crisis with no end in sight. Today on the show, we talk to Damon about the economics of running a humanitarian nonprofit and what’s stopping more aid from reaching Gaza. 

Related episodes: 
Why Israel uses diaspora bonds 
Why the U.S. helps pay for Israel’s military 
What could convince Egypt to take Gaza’s refugees? 

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. 

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A Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, made a shocking announcement to the world in 2018: He had secretly engineered the birth of the first gene-edited babies. The birth of the twins was seen as reckless and unethical by the scientific community. That’s because, among other things, the CRISPR gene-editing technique Jiankui used was so new. NPR science correspondent Rob Stein has been following the controversial world of gene-editing and human reproduction, including some companies’ recent quests to push gene-editing technology forward.

Read more of Rob Stein’s reporting on the topic here.

Interested in more science news? Let us know at shortwave@npr.org. 

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