Politics
Venezuelans head to the polls on Sunday with many hoping for a change in leadership
This Sunday, there’s a crucial presidential election in Venezuela that has brought high hopes for change. The country’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro is seeking reelection. During his 11-year rule, the country’s economy collapsed, repression escalated and millions of people left, contributing to a migrant surge across Latin America and the United States. According to most polls, Maduro is not a popular president, but it’s not clear if he will give up power if he loses.
‘I will probably never be able to go home again’: Russian American journalist Masha Gessen on their Moscow court conviction
A court in Moscow handed Russian American journalist Masha Gessen an eight-year prison term in absentia for criticizing the Russian military. Gessen, who lives in the US and is a columnist for the New York Times, could end up being imprisoned if they travel to a country with an extradition treaty with Russia.
How much change can reformist President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian bring to Iran?
Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, has won Iran’s presidential election. Host Marco Werman speaks with Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, about what this means for politics in Iran, as well as predictions for how the new president will govern alongside Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The left defies expectations in French elections
A week ago, France’s far-right National Rally party was poised to win the June snap parliamentary election by centrist President Emmanuel Macron. That victory was thwarted by a coalition of center and left parties unifying at the last minute to defeat the far-right. The World’s Gerry Hadden gets reactions in rural villages, where the National Rally party draws much of its support, to understand better the concerns of ordinary French people outside big cities.
A far-right Dutch politician who once railed against Islam now spends his time defending it
Anti-Muslim policies are a key tenet of the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) led by Geert Wilders. Many of those policies were devised by former lawmaker and once close confidante of Wilders, Joram van Klaveren. Today van Klaveren dedicates his life to defending Islam.